Not bad...should be fun with KIX, Wasp, Steel Panther, Danger Danger, Steelheart, Tuff, Love/Hate, Trixter, Poison (Brett) and Twisted

KINGS X!

Pretty underwhelming. I would go if it was in my town, I would not travel for it.

horrible. just horrible. This will be the first one I dont attend. just absolutely horrible lineup.

That's just a bad lineup, and the band who is headlining is band that would have been player smaller stages on Sweden Rock or any other european festival.

I am relieved, because I can't go, but seriously.... If they got Europe, I'd be devastated.

I'm ok with the lineup. However the M3 pre-Party will definitely help. Pumped about WASP Kix Loudness SteelPanther Jackyl. Bret Michaels band. Blah. Twisted sister blah.
I know nothing about Kings X
Will be a fun weekend regardless.

I am surprised to see Tuff on there, to be honest.

Horrible lineup ? Seriously ? Not for this cat. Rock on man !!

amazing list for that show i love wasp and kix. i could go without kings x though not to big on them, the rest are killer, great white bret michaels, damn!

Pretty excited to see some new blood on the show like Tuff Love/Hate, the Vixen girls, and WASP. And theres some REALLY fun bands like Steel panther and Danger Danger and, of course, Kix that make this appealing as well. The best question has to be, though, is why in the blue hell is Bret Michaels headlining over Twisted Sister? T

Well, it's not Great White, it's Jack Russell, who has been a write off for a while. If you live locally, this is worth seeing, for sure. But, no-one is going to travel far for a bunch of low level club bands, without an exciting headliner.

I'm really excited about the fest this year. I think they failed with the headliner saturday but whatever...the other bands make up for it imo (SO SOOOO EXCITED about Jackyl, Steelheart, L/H, Vixen,Steel Panther and the return of Danger Danger, Firehouse, of course KIX, and trixter). Twisted Sister is always a lot of fun live, it'll be interesting to see what happens with WASP and I'm curious about Loudness and Tuff. I know many ppl think its a weak lineup but let's face it, this festival doesn't have the big budget that many other festivals have. This was never meant to be Sweden Rock or Download. Looking forward to returning to M3 this year! YAY!

They should have booked Spread Eagle and JOhn Corabi though to just seal the deal instead of Jack Russell, and three unknown/local bands.

They Should have booked WICKED!!! Get Some fresh Rock in there!!!

I had WICKED on my radar for the pre-party. Pretty cool band. Maybe next year.

I will go for...

THURSDAY:

Diemonds at the M-Pre Party! Their latest album is one of THE Best of 2012 and now we get to see them Kick A*s Royale!

FRIDAY:

W.A.S.P. Everyone knows Lawless is a nutter but I have it on good authority that if he shows up, he will bring it. Though the likes of Chris Holmes, Johnny Rod and Steve Riley are long gone, I hear his new line-up of Doug Blair, Mike Duda and Mike Dupke are no slouches, either. If Lawless and his fellow Metal Desperadoes deliver, W.A.S.P. will be THE headliner of M3, but they will just so happen to be playing on Friday.

KIX will deliver, though I really wish they would play those deeper cuts I always mention -- "Rock And Roll Overdose", "Luv-a-holic" and "For Shame" -- especially considering they're playing to a hometown crowd.

SATURDAY:

FIREHOUSE is a total mind blower. They were totally flawless on The Monsters of Rock Cruise. I look forward to catching them again here.

STEEL PANTHER: I've got all of their stuff and look forward to finally seeing this comic novelty act -- I guess it'll be the equivalent of watching a great comedian warming up the crowd before a REAL band comes on after them.

LOUDNESS: I missed these guys when they played M3 last year but I look forward to catching them this time. "Crazy Nights"!

LOVE/HATE: Can't wait to catch these guys! I hear Pearl is in top form and he's got the original guitarist with him. And he's got the excellent Robbie Crane on bass, to boot. If they've got the equipment behind them and really crank it, they will certainly give W.A.S.P. a run for their money.

STEELHEART: HUGE! To finally hear Michael Matejivic live will be an honor and a privilege! What a monster voice!

TUFF: Loved their first record. And I know Stevie Rachelle is kind of a weenis (He's commented on here before, too, and those comments would also lead you to that conclusion, hahaha!!!), but I'm still willing to check them out, regardless of the fact he's a jerk. I like their songs.

The rest of the bunch don't really do it for me, especially Michaels without Poison. Kings X is horrible. I had to witness this in person at The Cat Club in NYC back in the heyday. Again, another Prog Rock act masquerading as a Metal band and probably not even by choice as I suspect they would look down upon being classified as "Metal".

I could be wrong, but the others don't even seem worth mentioning, except maybe Trixter who did finally redeem themselves when they put out a surprisingly good Metalesque Hard Rock album two years ago. Though I really don't like any of their stuff that came out before that album, I saw them at M3 several years ago and I had to admire their performance. Total pros. But I'm not going to go out of my way to see 'em.

Which gets us to an interesting point. Like someone else who tipped me off weeks ago that W.A.S.P., Danger Danger and Brett Michaels were to play M3 this year, I will be heading to the after party before Michaels even hits the stage.

Now, if it had been Poison announced today, that would have been a whole different story.

And that brings me to an even larger point -- Here we go again. Why do I feel like it's déjà vu all over again from last year? What is with these M3 promoters? They tried to get M3 sold out without a real headliner. Sure, they had Queensryche, but Queensryche does not a headliner make. When they weren't moving the tickets, they finally had to bite the bullet and get a REAL act to headline. RATT.

Who knew RATT was going to bring it, actually making Glam METAL history by getting their original bass player back for the first time in 19 years and turning in a now legendary performance of epic proportions, only to up and quit right after, quite possibly creating their very own Zeppelinesque O2 Arena Moment, most likely making it the last time they ever perform together or, at the very least, the last time they perform together for quite sometime.

And THAT is what made last year's M3 so memorable. This year, not so much. Big Headliner! Oh, Big Headliner! Where art though, Oh, Big Headliner?!

Britny Fox, where are you?!

p.s. I just have to laugh, Christian, yet again. Calling these bands playing M3 this year -- bands who once played to sold out arenas -- "low level club bands" is a bit of a stretch, to put it lightly. As I mentioned, I saw Firehouse on The Monsters of Rock Cruise last year and they didn't come across like that at all. In fact, I feel like I witnessed nothing short of a total miracle when hearing the flawless vocal performance of C.J. Snare hitting the highest of high notes and watching these total pros play. It was LARGE, not "low level" or clubbish in any way. And I expect the same from Steelheart and Danger Danger! Those three bands are known for their superhuman glass shattering hyena singers. I, for one, look forward to their unofficial battle to hit the elusive 8th octave, a feat all three singers are known for.

Sh*te!...

DANGER DANGER: What the h*ll?! I don't know how I skipped highlighting these guys. Killer band! So far, FRIDAY is shaping up to be the better night with Kix and W.A.S.P.!

Metalboy! You sure about Love/Hate bringing the original guitarrist? They've lined up shows in Britain with some other dude on six-string.
Also, Steel Panther will play the pants off everyone, not calling them a real band makes no sense.

Just to clarify. Love/Hate - although they did a 3/4 original lineup reunion in December, this is Jizzy Pearl & a bunch of sidemen. The guitarist is Kerri Kelle, who's no slouch. Played a TON of gigs w/ the original Love/Hate back in the day.

Steel Panther will be the surprise hit of this... Those boys can outplay most of the "real" bands.

Now only if Blackie could swallow his ego & put the "Last Command" lineup together, then this would REALLY be something. He's always be a consummate performer, he'll bring it , when W.A.S.P. hits the stage.