Why are promoters needing gimmicks - isnt it destroying the music?

[eppertheleper]

Some of its demographics.

Young people who don't know much about who they are listening to, or even what they are listening to are more likely to fork over hard earned cash for something that sounds like it will be good.

Older more seasoned veterans want to hear people at the top of their game delivering the goods.

I was surprised at Awakenings that drift and I seemed to know more about the artists than anyone there. Two of the people near us ended up at the Advent and Industrialyzer by sheer dumb luck. They had no idea who Cisco Ferreira was. They'd never heard Bad Boy or Mad Dog. They certainly didn't know that G-Flame (Colin McBean) used to be the other half of that cookie, back when Ricardo was getting his first short and curlies. I think the dude even asked, "Are they any good?"

Bloodstar may be right. The glut of material and talent right now has devalued the entire scene. Over here I monitor message boards of neighboring cities on the off chance that some decent talent might come through once or twice a year. I took a weekend vacation to Dallas just to see Kenny Larkin, for God's sake! Even New York City gets maybe ten good names a year, and half of them are spinning minimal. A single festival like Awakenings or I Love Techno gets more quality name talent than the US gets in an entire year outside of DEMF, and that's just a weekend-long minimal plonkfest.

I think you may have too much of a good thing, honestly. There are a lot fewer techno fans stateside, but those of us who are here are more knowledgable and dedicated than your average European festival-goer, simply because we have to be.