Being a rock star, the Playing With Matches way

A) book a show at a local venue, hopefully with national acts
B) the night of the show, feign ignorance of the lineup and insist you are the headliner
C) convince the venue and the other bands that its in their "best interest" to let you headline because, after all, you bring in the peeps
D) end up with no fans watching your show because they have middle school in the morning

At A Wilhelm Scream last night, Playing With Matches again committed their rock crimes. As I arrived at the Rockwell, a friend told us that Playing With Matches was added to the lineup. Okay, fine, local bands are often added to lineups at the last minute here in Springfield, especially for nationally touring acts. My friend went on to say, however, that the lineup had changed; it seemed that Playing With Matches was now headlining. Yup, you read that right: headlining for a nationally touring act.

When I dug deeper into the story, a Rockwell guy gave me the scoop: it seems the Rockwell was concerned that A Wilhelm Scream wouldn't draw enough of a crowd, so they (the Rockwell) decided to add Playing With Matches and have them headline to up ticket sales. First of all, Playing With Matches was not on the original concert flyers (see photo at right), so many people didn't even know they were playing. Secondly, the Rockwell didn't deliver tickets to the ticket outlets, decreasing ticket sales dramatically anyway. Third, it was a summer Monday in a college town, your drinking crowd isn't even interested.

I have difficulty believing that it was the Rockwell's idea to have Playing With Matches ultimately headline. I'm sure they enforced it, but I suspect that the band used a little sway to make that happen. The evidence:

1) At a John Galt Line Show at the Blue Room, the crowd eagerly anticipated the metal show that was about to take place. At the last minute, John Galt Line was informed that Playing With Matches, who were scheduled to play second-to-last, were to be headlining instead. The reason? More ticket sales. After the John Galt Line finished playing, however, most of the crowd left, leaving Playing With Matches to play with themselves.

2. At the Growl Benefit Concert, Fallen From the Nest, a Texas band, was the headliner, with Playing With Matches the second-to-last act. The concert started at 8:45p, and at 9:15p, Playing With Matches suddenly "realized" that they were not the headliner, and began whining that they were told they were the main attraction. Besides their unprofessional attitude when the coordinator attempted to book them in the first place, this usurpation did not endear them to the concert promoter. Check out the flyer, kiddies, and tell me who you think was the headliner.

I ask you, do you want asshats of this degree musically representing the 'Field? Remember what your mother always told you: Playing With Matches is not cool or safe.

EDIT: In response to the comment "Way to help the scene in Springfield..."

Yeah, I agree. This is no way for Playing With Matches to help the scene in Springfield.