I do not know whether you are brave or crazy or worse! :-) Honestly, to be wanting to organize another festival in the US probably puts you in the "crazy" category in the best case scenario.

Your committment to the scene is not in question. That you would deserve to have another go and be successful (i.e. at least break-even) is not disputable. Whether the whole thing is realistic? This is where I have serious doubts.

I have never attended Firefest but from what I gather, albeit successful, I would guess that over the 3 days there are not more than 1,500 individuals attending. All things considered this is a rather modest amount of people, even more so when one sees that the bands they book are rather "big" at least in the MR world.

In my views, it is financially suicidal to even consider a MR festival in the US with the bands mentioned in this thread. The bands that do well tour on their own and are expensive. What is the real appeal of Harem Scarem or Velocity or Zebra? These guys never made it big when the genre was popular. What makes someone think they would be a big draw today?

I hate to say this but unless there is a revival on a large scale in the US for this genre, it is pointless to even try as it is a loss-making guaranteed adventure. And even if there was to be a revival, IMHO, only bands with a "hits history" would be able to get a fair share.

With all due respect but even JSS or Glenn Hughes are not selling out 2,000 seaters today.

If you are going ahead, I will assist you financially because your perseverence (craziness? LOL) deserves to be rewarded. But if you were to be 100 % realistic, as of today, you should not even think about it.