Stratovarius Community

I called the pyramid club too the other day. I talked to a lady that was very rude. She said that four bands will be playing that night. She also said doors will open at 6.I would buy my tickets early too. Im not worried about VIP tickets.Its such a small venue that it wont be a problem in meeting the bands. WHere are all you guys coming from? IM driving down from Milwaukee WI.

Maribeth

I hear the same thing from everyone whose going to that show.
Foking Fiasco.
So glad I'm going to the Cleveland Show.

Rebel wrote:I hear the same thing from everyone whose going to that show.
Foking Fiasco.
So glad I'm going to the Cleveland Show.

I'm coming from Rantoul, Illinois; about two and a half hours south of Chicago. I'll probably be wearing a red Sonata Arctica buff on my head with the Unia artwork, if anyone wants to say hi!

Hey guys... I would like to know how much stratovarius make success in the USA? Do people known well the strato history?

Strato does not have the fanbase of Rolling Stones or Megadeth, of course, but in USA Stratovarius has quite a large number of people who like their music, buy their CDs and eagerly await their shows! So, YES, lots of people in USA enjoy Stratovarius!

Star_Ocean wrote:

Rebel wrote:I hear the same thing from everyone whose going to that show.
Foking Fiasco.
So glad I'm going to the Cleveland Show.

No! Don't tell me the Familiy guy and American Dad dudes did another knock-off!

Rebel wrote:I hear the same thing from everyone whose going to that show.
Foking Fiasco.
So glad I'm going to the Cleveland Show.

Did you see Drew Carey and his gang?

GuiHunter wrote:Hey guys... I would like to know how much stratovarius make success in the USA? Do people known well the strato history?

Stratovarius is an underground level band in the US selling around one 800 copies per album according to Nielsen soundscan (Downloads included).

They are usually playing to audiences varying from 50 to 250 making them an underground act unlike for example Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica.

POLIISI wrote:

GuiHunter wrote:Hey guys... I would like to know how much stratovarius make success in the USA? Do people known well the strato history?

Stratovarius is an underground level band in the US selling around one 800 copies per album according to Nielsen soundscan (Downloads included).

They are usually playing to audiences varying from 50 to 250 making them an underground act unlike for example Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica.

Honstly, it should be the other way around DG and SA should be underground while Stratovarius should tour larger halls.

Not seeing any reviews of the show in this forum, but there are a lot here.
Seems the general consensus was that the bands played well with a lot of energy despite being tucked in the corner of a sports bar that clearly wasn't accustomed to holding such events. It appears the crowd energy and enthusiasm made up for the otherwise lack of atmosphere.

Some quotes:

"I am what you would call a casual Stratovarius fan, I only own two albums and never really went out of my way to get more. After this show though I'm ready to buy their whole catalog. They played some killer fucking songs, and they played my favorite songs that I know."

"I had to miss Strato when they toured in 2005, so I was pretty excited to see them.
Great setlist, and performance. Once again though, there is something distracting in seeing a legendary band play the corner of a bar with nothing behind them but a crooked PABST BLUE RIBBON neon sign."

"The bands weren't too pleased with the venue, but they made the best of it. Boy, did they ever make the best of it! Aside from ProgPower, it was one of the best shows I've been to this year, despite the small venue."
It seems everyone, bands and fans, made the best of it, and had a HELL of a time.

"Truly a unique experience that goes down as one of my favorite shows of all time. The fact that PM and Stato did not compromise even though they were in such a weird setting is quite a testament to them."

"You know I suppose the lot of us should be thankful the venue stepped up in the unique circumstances of the Pearl Room closing down and took the show so it wouldn't be canceled entirely."

Anyway, just thought you might like to seem some actual commentary on the show. Seems to have been quite a unique experience.

POLIISI wrote:Stratovarius is an underground level band in the US selling around one 800 copies per album according to Nielsen soundscan (Downloads included).

They are usually playing to audiences varying from 50 to 250 making them an underground act unlike for example Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica.

Things are not quite that dire ... do I detect some wishful thinking there old chap?

It is actually true that initial Soundscan was something like 800 if I remember. However, just recently this week we had an update from Eagle Rock (the US distributor) with a sales figure for Polaris in the 5000 range. Although it was labeled "not for royalty accounting purposes", it would probably be the first time in world history that a label exaggerates a statement of record sales by an order of magnitude... or what would you say?

Shows have been a lot of fun anyway. The Pyramid club actually ended up being a real blast. It's a sports bar and one of the venues which is picking up the "slack" after the Pearl Room went belly up. A lot of bands have been rescheduled around the Chicago area this fall because of that.

In the end the it was great! The lights were a bit spartan. I think it's one of the first times they have tried to have metal concerts there.

Regarding Stratovarius, Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica, I don't know who is the mainstream act and who is not. This music is pretty much all subculture. But for sure Dragonforce's sales are stronger than Sonatas and Sonatas are stronger than Stratovarius at the moment.

What's more important is that all three of those bands' fans are having fun, we are actually out playing instead of announcing "massive world tours" that somehow never end up happening. By accident we were in Winnipeg on our day off when the DF/SA tour was in town. It was really a blast!!

JensJohansson wrote:

POLIISI wrote:Stratovarius is an underground level band in the US selling around one 800 copies per album according to Nielsen soundscan (Downloads included).

They are usually playing to audiences varying from 50 to 250 making them an underground act unlike for example Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica.

Things are not quite that dire ... do I detect some wishful thinking there old chap?

It is actually true that initial Soundscan was something like 800 if I remember. However, just recently this week we had an update from Eagle Rock (the US distributor) with a sales figure for Polaris in the 5000 range. Although it was labeled "not for royalty accounting purposes", it would probably be the first time in world history that a label exaggerates a statement of record sales by an order of magnitude... or what would you say?

Shows have been a lot of fun anyway. The Pyramid club actually ended up being a real blast. It's a sports bar and one of the venues which is picking up the "slack" after the Pearl Room went belly up. A lot of bands have been rescheduled around the Chicago area this fall because of that.

In the end the it was great! The lights were a bit spartan. I think it's one of the first times they have tried to have metal concerts there.

Regarding Stratovarius, Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica, I don't know who is the mainstream act and who is not. This music is pretty much all subculture. But for sure Dragonforce's sales are stronger than Sonatas and Sonatas are stronger than Stratovarius at the moment.

What's more important is that all three of those bands' fans are having fun, we are actually out playing instead of announcing "massive world tours" that somehow never end up happening. By accident we were in Winnipeg on our day off when the DF/SA tour was in town. It was really a blast!!

Music spreads in some pretty weird ways, someone put "Speed of Light" in some AMV on youtube and a friend of mine saw it in 2003, who proceeded to get me into the band in 2006 and I've been trying to spread the word as much as I've been able to since then.

Glad to hear the Pyramid Club was fun anyway, Jens! It certainly seemed like you were having fun up there, haha.

Regarding Stratovarius, Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica, I don't know who is the mainstream act and who is not. This music is pretty much all subculture. But for sure Dragonforce's sales are stronger than Sonatas and Sonatas are stronger than Stratovarius at the moment.

Nielsen Soundscan figures nevertheless:

Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage 214,216
Sonata Arctica -UNIA 54,816
Stratovarius -Polaris 800

Sad but true.

Only 800? In USA?
BULLSHIT!
People in Alabama alone have bought more than that!

Indeed, 800 seems a little... low. Our album Eternal Damnation (which is our first) sold around 500 in the USA during the first 4 months, and it's not an exaggeration to say that Stratovarius are a fair few orders of magnitude bigger than us as a band So I'd take that number with a rather large grain of salt. 5000 sounds far more believable.

POLIISI wrote:

Regarding Stratovarius, Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica, I don't know who is the mainstream act and who is not. This music is pretty much all subculture. But for sure Dragonforce's sales are stronger than Sonatas and Sonatas are stronger than Stratovarius at the moment.

Nielsen Soundscan figures nevertheless:

Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage 214,216
Sonata Arctica -UNIA 54,816
Stratovarius -Polaris 800

Sad but true.

Actually, neither sad nor true..

The figure '800' in that context sounds a bit.. round? Not 837? Or 816? Well whatever.

Anyway I saw the DF/SA show in Winnipeg. They seem pretty damn equal in audience reaction (also in merch sales I heard a rumour). Could be that SA is about to break big time in the States with this "days of grays", but who ever knows. Great gig in either case..

Soundscan (or sales in themselves) can never measure the energy at a gig, the reaction of an audience, etc. I suspect most real musicians don't care if they have an audience of 80 or an audience of 80000.

Anyway since you're already on soundscan obsessively looking stuff up, maybe you can also look up the sales for "SAANA WARRIOR OF LIGHT, RETURN TO CRYSTAL ISLAND"? There were supposedly something like 70,000 downloads the first day or whatever it was, much of that was to benefit the Saana Foudation of course, but surely a record of that major significance... something that massively popular, must also have at least some soundscan activity?

And while you're checking soundscan figures, what about the two RR releases.. how did they fare?

What is sad? What is truth? Entirely subjective matters both.

AMBR@BEC wrote:Not seeing any reviews of the show in this forum, but there are a lot here.
Seems the general consensus was that the bands played well with a lot of energy despite being tucked in the corner of a sports bar that clearly wasn't accustomed to holding such events. It appears the crowd energy and enthusiasm made up for the otherwise lack of atmosphere.

Some quotes:

"I am what you would call a casual Stratovarius fan, I only own two albums and never really went out of my way to get more. After this show though I'm ready to buy their whole catalog. They played some killer fucking songs, and they played my favorite songs that I know."

"I had to miss Strato when they toured in 2005, so I was pretty excited to see them.
Great setlist, and performance. Once again though, there is something distracting in seeing a legendary band play the corner of a bar with nothing behind them but a crooked PABST BLUE RIBBON neon sign."

"The bands weren't too pleased with the venue, but they made the best of it. Boy, did they ever make the best of it! Aside from ProgPower, it was one of the best shows I've been to this year, despite the small venue."
It seems everyone, bands and fans, made the best of it, and had a HELL of a time.

"Truly a unique experience that goes down as one of my favorite shows of all time. The fact that PM and Stato did not compromise even though they were in such a weird setting is quite a testament to them."

"You know I suppose the lot of us should be thankful the venue stepped up in the unique circumstances of the Pearl Room closing down and took the show so it wouldn't be canceled entirely."

Anyway, just thought you might like to seem some actual commentary on the show. Seems to have been quite a unique experience.

I'm very happy a lot of people felt the same way I did. It was one of those shows you didn't expect to work when you walk in to the venue, but it somehow did work anyway

Also the Pyramid was the last show with Pagan's Mind, who were a great support act.. nice people.

neither sad nor true.

That would make a great song title

Soundscan (or sales in themselves) can never measure the energy at a gig, the reaction of an audience, etc. I suspect most real musicians don't care if they have an audience of 80 or an audience of 80000.

Definitely.

What is sad? What is truth? Entirely subjective matters both.

I'm not sure how the truth of album sales can be subjective, it seem rather finite to be. There can be false claims, but the truth is out there.

The figure '800' in that context sounds a bit.. round? Not 837? Or 816? Well whatever.

This was from Blabbermouth news.

I suspect most real musicians don't care if they have an audience of 80 or an audience of 80000.

Gene Simmons said that those people who say this have never played to 80000 people.

Anyway since you're already on soundscan obsessively looking stuff up, maybe you can also look up the sales for "SAANA WARRIOR OF LIGHT, RETURN TO CRYSTAL ISLAND"? There were supposedly something like 70,000 downloads the first day or whatever it was, much of that was to benefit the Saana Foudation of course, but surely a record of that major significance... something that massively popular, must also have at least some soundscan activity?

I don't think that record has Soundscan figures because it seems to be available only as an import in the US.

And while you're checking soundscan figures, what about the two RR releases.. how did they fare?

According to the Soundscan they are not in their database at all.

What is sad? What is truth? Entirely subjective matters both.

Sad is that more records are not being sold and truth in this case is not subjective but can be verified in the Nielsen database.

Somebody asked about the popularity of Stratovarius in the United States. These are the official sales figures.

JensJohansson wrote: Also the Pyramid was the last show with Pagan's Mind, who were a great support act.. nice people.

Love those guys. They put on a killer show in Atlanta and were a blast to hang out with. Very sad they won't be on the western leg of the tour. My son really wanted to see them. Oh well, hopefully they'll be back.

Hey instead of spreading the word of what they have not accomplished.......lets spread the word and get them new fans....so they only sold small number in the US. If us as fans spread the music of Stratovarius maybe their sales can go up. The sad part part some people focus on this number 800 like a nail in the coffin. I was at the Baltimore show and yes the turn out was smaller but full of energy and I brought two people that did not know Stratovarius but by the end of the show they had picked up shirts and copies of Polaris........ Thats what us as true fans should do!

POLIISI wrote: Gene Simmons said that those people who say this have never played to 80000 people.

Tuomas Holopainen already played for 70.000 (at Wacken Open Air), and he still says what Jens said...

POLIISI wrote:

The figure '800' in that context sounds a bit.. round? Not 837? Or 816? Well whatever.

This was from Blabbermouth news.

I suspect most real musicians don't care if they have an audience of 80 or an audience of 80000.

Gene Simmons said that those people who say this have never played to 80000 people.

Anyway since you're already on soundscan obsessively looking stuff up, maybe you can also look up the sales for "SAANA WARRIOR OF LIGHT, RETURN TO CRYSTAL ISLAND"? There were supposedly something like 70,000 downloads the first day or whatever it was, much of that was to benefit the Saana Foudation of course, but surely a record of that major significance... something that massively popular, must also have at least some soundscan activity?

I don't think that record has Soundscan figures because it seems to be available only as an import in the US.

And while you're checking soundscan figures, what about the two RR releases.. how did they fare?

According to the Soundscan they are not in their database at all.

What is sad? What is truth? Entirely subjective matters both.

Sad is that more records are not being sold and truth in this case is not subjective but can be verified in the Nielsen database.

Somebody asked about the popularity of Stratovarius in the United States. These are the official sales figures.

Damn... I still have a LOT to learn, don't I?

The 800s was for the first week, before cds even appeared in my local stores, I live in Seattle, I imagine a big city could stock cds in a timely matter and that once cds are stalked people will buy more. Its one thing if a cd sits of the shelf for months because no one bought it and gets thrown in the discount bin, but another if the lack of sales is from lack of stock.

POLIISI wrote:

The figure '800' in that context sounds a bit.. round? Not 837? Or 816? Well whatever.

This was from Blabbermouth news.

POLIISI wrote:

What is sad? What is truth? Entirely subjective matters both.

Sad is that more records are not being sold and truth in this case is not subjective but can be verified in the Nielsen database.

Somebody asked about the popularity of Stratovarius in the United States. These are the official sales figures.

Official sales figures in a Blabbermouth article from June.

I would pay $40 a week to see a Stratovarius show every week if I could.

I know that there is less of a fan base in the US but thats only because people are spoon fed terrible music around here.

POLIISI wrote:Nielsen Soundscan figures nevertheless:

Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage 214,216
Sonata Arctica -UNIA 54,816
Stratovarius -Polaris 800

Sad but true.

Who cares? Is Britney Spears better than any of those bands?

About your other comment: I do remember Stratovarius playing for quite a big audience in Wacken.

Beast_Pete wrote:

POLIISI wrote:Nielsen Soundscan figures nevertheless:

Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage 214,216
Sonata Arctica -UNIA 54,816
Stratovarius -Polaris 800

Sad but true.

Who cares? Is Britney Spears better than any of those bands?

About your other comment: I do remember Stratovarius playing for quite a big audience in Wacken.

I believe the issue was the popularity of Stratovarius in the United States.