THE BEAST

This just posted on the official page for Tennessee Metal Devastation Music Fest:

Good morning, metal heads!  A few announcements:

Many of you have been asking about a date for Tennessee Metal Devastation Fest 2023.
We do not yet have a firm date, since we are waiting for a decision on whether we can use the same venue as last year.  I will know more about that after the Chamber of Commerce has their meeting about it on January 18th.  Regardless of their decision, the fest is 100% happening, and we expect it to be approximately the same time of year as last year (late September or early October).

Here is some additional information about that, since I know so many have been asking: 

As many of you remember, a handful of super conservative religious folks freaked out over our last fest, creating a mini “Satanic Panic”.  They fought very hard to get our fest shut down, but we did not back down and the venue did not back down (we already had a contract as well).  The fact that we were allowed to go ahead with our fest angered these people so much that they complained to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA).  I got word the day after our fest that we were “going to have issues” booking for 2023, which made no sense to me because our event was perfect.  We shut things down by 11pm as they requested, we left the venue perfectly clean, and followed their rules by the book.  We had no security issues, and no major issues with disorderly conduct (minus one overly drunk guy and one creepy protestor).  When I called the venue on October 12th, 4 days after our successful fest, I was told that they could not rent the stage out to anyone at this time.

I spent a month calling various agencies trying to figure out what was going on.  Finally, I figured out that the local chamber would be deciding whether or not they will be taking over the stage at Beech Lake, as well as if they will be renting it out at all, to anyone. (I do see that they have been having events there, and even have some scheduled for 2023 already, so perhaps this new rule only applies to us.) I have been busy behind the scenes, talking to various mayors and chambers in surrounding cities/towns and having meetings with many other potential venues.  However, we have decided to not book a venue or secure a date until we know the decision on January 18th, because they people of Lexington have passionately stated that they do not want their town to lose this fest.  We will wait and see the decision, and see what other hoops they expect us to jump through.  

Some of the townsfolks who attended the 2022 fest are passing around petitions and getting signatures, and there is an online petition, too, if any of you would like to sign it (the link is in the comments).  I will be taking these signed petitions to the Chamber prior to their meeting.  
While we wait to learn if we can use Beech Lake again, we continue to work very hard in planning the fest and we know that no matter where we have it, it’s going to be another amazing day/night of music, filled with amazing metal and friends, and we cannot wait!!  Bands, don’t forget that submissions must be emailed to me at raven@metaldevastationradio.com by the end of January so we can make final decisions on our 2023 lineup.   
We promise to announce venue and date asap, when we know more.  Thank you for your patience and support! \m/

If you would like to help, sign the petition here at this link: https://chng.it/HGWfbCM5dH