Def Leppard have always had a spot here on The Prog Report, largely because of the shred ability of lead guitarist Phil Collen. The band have also been in the news of late with their announcement of a tour with Journey and releasing their catalog on streaming services.
Here Phil Collen of Def Leppard returns to talk about his tour with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci for G3, the new live Delta Deep album, the tour with Journey, Def Leppard, and more. The new album with Collen’s blues outfit Delta Deep, East Coast Live is out now and can be found here: http://radi.al/DeltaDeepEastCoastLive For the full audio interview click the link below or download the podcast on iTunes.
If you don’t know about Al Joseph, it is time to get acquainted because this new guitarist and singer is one of prog’s rising guitar shredders. With a new band, Hyvmine, and a debut album out this past Jan 19th called earthquake, everything is now in place to make Joseph a household name. In this interview we talk about his influences, the new band, the new album, and more, including his love of guitar gods like Satriani and Petrucci.
With the full backing of music cruise producer On The Blue (OTB), Cruise To The Edge’s Late Night LIVE Prog Experience may be the largest live Prog pro-am stage project on earth. Organizers are unaware of anything that resembles it, especially since it is hosted on the second-largest indoor stage on a cruise liner.
“Indeed, all music cruises have passenger singalong bars, which is great,” says OTB’s Larry Morand. “We recognized, though, that CTTE’s Late Night LIVE Prog Experience deserved our production company’s resources to give it sea legs. Late Night LIVE’s 11:30 p.m.-3 a.m. stage operates like any other pro stage on the ship, replete with a full backline, engineers and ample space, but it’s up to the passengers to organize, plan and coordinate the eventual five-night showcase. Replicating something like this anywhere else would be daunting. Today, safe to say, Late Night LIVE has earned its onboard motor,” added Morand.
“This year, more than 60 auditioned passengers will gather from far-away places like South Africa, Central America, England, Iceland, Canada and across the United States,” said Rob Rutz, the project’s emcee-coordinator and liaison with Morand’s OTB team. In all, passengers suggested about 120 songs, which was narrowed to 73 final selections. The 2018 song list includes ‘Supper’s Ready’ and an album side of ‘Close To Edge’, but also features deep cuts including Steve Lukather’s ‘Party In Simon’s Pants’ and Tool’s ’46 & 2′. “This is the perfect storm that combines a passionate talent pool, a dedicated Late Night LIVE volunteer production team and the seamless guidance, gear and assistance of OTB’s executive producers, staff and crew. We don’t know how many collective hours everyone contributes, but many volunteers work year-round to ensure we have a solid program,” added Rutz.
Among the volunteer coordinators are Floridians Bill and Devora Goldman, who also host a pre-cruise “Prog On The Ranch” festival at their home prior to CTTE. “We gathered prior to disembarkation from 2017’s CTTE vacation to form 2018’s Late Night LIVE project plan,” said Bill. “Everyone is focused on continuous improvement each year, never taking for granted what everyone contributes along the way. The song list, player profiles and player instructions all come together through a dedicated website www.ctte-grid.com and an active Facebook page (CTTE-Grid),” said Goldman, who also serves as a co-keyboard advisor for Late Night LIVE. “It’s about open collaboration and keeping things as simple as possible.” Communication systems are important. This year, passengers will be able to view a continuously-projected “ribbon board” on the ship to convey song schedules each evening.
Other production team personalities include prog band Circuline’s bassist, Joel Simches, who serves as Late Night LIVE’s volunteer stage manager with assistance from his wife Carolyn. Suzanne Mulhall of Florida, along with UK residents Ken and Kate Slater, work closely with the Goldmans on scheduling and project details. Samy Salib, a Canada resident, provides onboarding guidance for new players. Instrument advisors include veteran keyboardist Bob Harris and South Africa’s ‘Prog Nick’ drummer and music industry attorney Nick Matzukis. Additional instrument and stage advisors include Tim Palsson, Dennis Mahon and Greg Bennett, all of whom are long-time musicians in local bands.
Among the professional headliner talent joining passengers on songs? Dave Kerzner, Durga McBroom and Fernando Perdomo of Dave Kerzner Band, Paul Bielatowicz and Simon Fitzpatrick of Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, Jonas Reingold of Karmakanic and Steve Hackett’s current touring band, Steve Babb, Fred Schendel and Aaron Raulston of Glass Hammer, Jez King of IO Earth, John Young of Lifesigns, Jorge Tenesini of Bad Dreams, Mike Thorne and Dean Meehan of Saga and, likely, many other headliner musicians. Last year, Jon Davison stepped up to sing The Musical Box, which marked the first time the Yes frontman ever sang a Genesis song in public.
Michael Colter Photography
CTTE will kick off with a Pre-Cruise party at Ferg’s LIVE in Tampa on Friday, February 2, followed by the five-day Yes-Steve Hackett-Marillion-headlined cruise that includes stops in Belize and Costa Maya. Feb 3-8.
Another great year for prog! We continue our approach from last year by listing our best albums of the year as a group rather than a ranking but we did pick our Album of the Year. It was especially difficult this year with so many albums to choose from from some incredible artists, ranging from some classic bands who returned with amazing albums, to brand new groups who released impressive debuts. This list of 15 albums represents our favorites 2017 in alphabetical order.
Album of the Year – Big Big Train – Grimspound: Big Big Train have been on a mad tear since releasing both English Electric albums 5 years ago. Since then they released the Wassail EP, Folklore, The Second Brightest Star, the recently released Merry Christmas single, multiple live albums and our choice for 2017 Album of the Year, Grimspound. A perfect mix of everything BBT is, the grand epics, stupendous instrumentality, glorious vocal harmonies and engaging storytelling are all present here. This was the album that, despite coming out back in April, we kept coming back to again and again. The tracks “Brave Captain” and “A Mead Hall in Winter” are among their best, along with the adventurous instrumental “On the Racing Line.”
Australia’s progressive metal powerhouse group Caligula’s Horse scored mammoth praise for their first release with InsideOut Music, Bloom, a couple of years ago. With their latest album, In Contact, the band have laid down the hammer and staked claim to being one of the premier new era prog bands around. In Contact is memorable, powerful, and takes risks where few bands of this ilk do. The single “Songs for No One” is a catchy arena-sized track, while the epic “Graves” is one of the best songs of 2017.
The Dear Hunter are as prolific as any band around but this year only teased fans with this EP of 6 songs. Despite the brevity of the collection, it proves that sometimes less is more. Each of the 6 songs is its own unique story and there is not a second wasted. From rockers to haunting ballads to acoustic Beach Boys influenced hooks, the EP has it all and is another reminder that this band is the most under-appreciated gem in music.
Norway’s Leprous use every album release as a chance to try out new things and their 2017 masterwork, Malina, continues this methodology. Leaving behind the precision metal-sounds of their last album The Congregation, Malina instead has more lush keyboards, sonic experimentation, and more emotion infused into the songs making Leprous another band that continues to surprise and therefore expands their audience with each release.
Lifesigns founder and main member John Young took a long time to record this follow up to the band’s debut album from 2013, but the wait was worth it. Cardington is a wonderful Neo-Prog collection of wonderful songs from the long epics like “N” and “Cardington” to the radio friendly “Impossible” and “Chasing Rainbows.” The musicianship is top notch and the hooks are plenty. Joining Young is a collection of great musicians that bring life to this solid group of tracks.
The Mute Gods – tardigrades will inherit the earth
Bassist extraordinaire Nick Beggs wrote the follow up to the bands debut album just a year later, but you wouldn’t know it. The sophomore release had even more depth and creativity to it and barrage of great singles from the intense “Animal Army” to the quirky new wavey title track which was also the video of the year. Great performance by Marco Minnemann and Roger King along with Beggs, who seems to have really found his footing as a frontman and lead vocalist.
The enigmatic vocalist for Steve Hackett’s live band delivered one of the best albums of the year with The Bride Said No, a surprisingly spirited mix of classic prog and modern rock. One of the highlights of the year was the ballad “What Have You Done” which finds Sylvan delivering his most powerful vocal performance alongside other-wordly guitar solos from Hackett and Guthrie Govan. Sylvan has proven to be a brilliant artist in his own right, one that can step out of the shadow of Genesis with supreme confidence.
This surprise instrumental supergroup from Haken, Between the Buried and Me, and Cynic members came out of nowhere and blew us all away. The songs on their 6 song debut The Further Side are complicated and technical but also highly melodic and brilliantly written. The opening track “Dancing Machines” perhaps perfectly encompasses what the album is about, a mix of metal, prog, jazz, fusion, and everything in between.
Progressive rock invaded Tennessee this Labor Day weekend as it was once again time for Morsefest, Neal Morse’s weekend of prog in his hometown of Cross Plains, just outside of Nashville. This was the 4th such weekend, which is rather shocking considering Nashville is not exactly the hotbed of prog. For anyone that doesn’t know, the Morsefest weekend consists of Neal Morse playing 2 of his albums on consecutive Friday and Saturday nights. In 2014, it was Testimony and One. In 2015, it was the ‘?’ album and Sola Scriptura. Last year, the unbelievable happened as Spock’s Beard reunited with Neal Morse and Nick D’Virgilio to perform Snow for the first time ever. This year the festival returned to its namesake as the now Neal Morse Band were set to perform Testimony 2 on Friday night and the mammoth Similitude of a Dream on Saturday night along with the usual addition of long epics and surprises. For anyone in attendance, the band and the weekend did not disappoint.
Having had the privilege of attending Morsefest two prior times, in 2015 and 2016, it is hard to come up with new words to convey the awesomeness of what this weekend is. To say that it’s just for overzealous Neal Morse fans would be to shortchange what has become a beautiful community of prog fans from all over the world. Since its inception in 2014, not only have the audio and visual elements grown beyond any expectation, but the festival has repeat visitors, many for the 4th consecutive year; fans who have become friends in the interim staying in touch on Facebook and planning the trip to Cross Plains together, with attendees from as far as Iceland, Japan, China, and South Africa just to name a few places. This time a couple even got married Saturday morning. It has become that type of family event.
The weekend is exactly that, a full weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, where barely a minute is left unaccounted for, other than to get a quick lunch. Friday and Saturday afternoon both began with a VIP session where the band played a take-off on Wheel of Fortune called “Neal of Fortune”. Guests from the audience were picked to complete and win prizes while trying to figure out difficult answers like Randy George’s solo album “In the Light of the King’s Countenance”. From there, the band did a signing session where each fan got to speak with each member and get anything they wanted signed. This lasted over an hour. Then they took pictures with each person. Once this 3 hour meet and greet was over, the band ran through a sound check before letting the full audience back in. Meanwhile, the VIPs in attendance were fed a nice dinner down the hall.
As announced a few months earlier, Nick D’Virgilio was scheduled to open each night but no one really knew exactly what would take place. Friday night he appeared with songwriter Stan Ausmus, a long-time Spock’s Beard collaborater, and the two ran through a variety of acoustic choices from the Octane track “There Was a Time” to Nick’s own “Mary Jane Says”. Nick surprised everyone by singing a Big Big Train song “Telling the Bees”. The set closed with a tremendous version of the Spock’s classic “The Doorway”. It was a great way to kick off the evening.
Neal Morse along with Mike Portnoy, Eric Gillette, Bill Hubauer, and Randy George, took the stage and jumped into the title track from the Lifeline album. From there, they played two 30-minute epics “So Many Roads” and “Seeds of Gold”, only taking a break between to the two to do a rousing acoustic rendition of the song “Supernatural” with Bill playing the lead on mandolin. The group segued into an impromptu version “I’ve Seen All Good People” inviting the audience of 700-800 people to sing along. Both “lost” epics were truly “Epic” but it was “Seeds of Gold” that had everyone on their feet by the time it was over. Gillette filled in on the Steve Morse solo proving he doesn’t need to take a back seat to any guitar player.
After a short break, the band returned to perform the album Testimony 2. From the opener “Mercy Street” through the challenging “Time Changer” the band were flawless. The addition of a horn and string section, along with a choir, elevated the proceedings to another level. Morse than performed “Jayda” the story of his daughter’s miraculous recovery from a heart defect as a baby. The emotional Morse was in tears at the end as his daughter ran onstage to embrace him. There was barely a dry eye in the house. The band then tore through the rest of story, recanting how Morse decided to get off the road, and leave Spock’s Beard. Epic moments like “The Truth Will Set you Free” and “It’s For You” were pure prog ecstasy. The closing track “Crossing Over” was a beautiful conclusion to the evening as everyone stood in awe of what they had witnessed.
Saturday began early for the few hundred Inner Circle members, Neal’s fan club, who were treated to a private acoustic show by Neal, who was only joined briefly by his son Will and female vocalist Julie Harrison.The relaxed set was made up mostly unreleased material, some new, that Neal had written upon the band’s recent European tour. One called “He Died At Home” told the tale a soldier who took his own life as a result of PTSD, a truly sobering moment that left most grown men claiming they had something in their eye..
After another VIP session Saturday afternoon, the lines began to form around the New Life Fellowship Church, where the weekend was held. The merch table was overflowing with guests purchasing anything from Cds, Dvds, and shirts designed specifically for the event, the most popular being a shirt that said “Makes Zero Sense” a reference from the song “Makes No Sense” from the Similitude album. For any non-prog fan that sees the shirt outside of Morsefest, the shirt will most certainly cause an on-looker to agree with that sentiment.
This night began with another Nick D’Virgilio performance, this time with a unique performance with his band UniKue, a group made up entirely of Ukulele players. The group of 6 members, with Nick on drums, was a real treat, one perfectly designed for this audience. Playing songs like “Closer to the Heart” and closing with “Roundabout”, the group surprised everyone with how creative and spectacular this group of ukulele could be.
Then came the Neal Morse Band again, ready to perform their highly successful double concept album from last year, The Similitude of a Dream. They had been on tour for the last few months performing the album in its entirety. The tour coincidentally began in Nashville and now the band were set for their 50th performance of the album, which would also be the last show of the tour. They would send the album and tour off in grand fashion as a band of about 20 players, professional lighting and video teams, sound-man extraordinaire Rich Mouser, video designer Christian Rios and a cast of dozens more, put on the show for the ages. For anyone that had seen these band on this tour before, it was like seeing it for the first time.
Neal, Mike, Bill, Eric and Randy, were in complete synch from the opening of Long Day and did not speak to the audience until halfway through the second act. Highlights from the first act included “Makes No Sense”, Bill Hubauer’s “The Ways of the Fool”, the rocking “So Far Gone” with Eric Gillette leading the way, and the grand “Breathe of Angels”. The choir was a glorious addition to an already transcendent number. Act 2 brought on a few “Sloth” masks in the audience when that song came on as Neal slithered across the floor. The closing sections beginning with “The Mask” through “Broken Sky/Long Day (Reprise)” kept the audience standing and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the performance. The group returned for the encore of “Author of Confusion”, “Agenda” and “The Call”. It was a perfect ending for this long tour that has cemented the Neal Morse Band as a major force.
Sunday followed with 2 church services by Neal to round out the weekend. And there it was, another Morsefest in the books. Amazing production, amazing performances and an all around great time. While the music, as expected, was incredible, it was the fans and community of proggers that made this weekend so special. Neal and the band, along with Joey and Amy Pippen, organized a great weekend for all involved and left everyone excited about the next one. It is rare to get such an intimate experience with a band like this. Let’s hope it’s not too long until it happens again.
Night 1 setlist:
Lifeline So Many Roads Supernatural (Acoustic) Seeds of Gold Testimony 2
Night 2 setlist:
The Similitude of a Dream Author of Confusion Agenda The Call
A sublime progressive feast for your musical senses
Words and Photos by Joel Barrios
As we passed the summer solstice and the year dives headfirst into its warmest season after the longest day of 2017 is gone, I look behind at the musical experiences of these initial 6 months and reflect about some of them. Today, I’d like to write about the second longest running progressive rock festival in the United States, The Rite of Springs Festival, also known by its shortened-name: RoSfest. The brainchild of George Roldan, this event has firmly established itself among the most important worldwide celebrations to acclaim the progressive-rock music as a thriving sub-genre. On its 14th edition, and dubbed as “The US Premier Prog-Rock Celebration of the Year”, RoSfest once again brought together prog-fans from every corner of the globe, who gathered together during three consecutive days under the roof of one of the greatest venues I’ve had the pleasure to visit, the stunning Majestic Theater in the heart of Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
You might wonder why I am writing this article after more than a month, and there are couple of good reasons: firstly, this year I was vested with the honor to be the festival official photographer and I tried to do my very best at capturing what happened during the last three days through my images, hence I kept working on all the pictures galleries for many days after the event was over. Secondly (and frankly, the main reason) is that being able to look back at all the fleeting moments seized by my cameras and reflected in my shots have re-enacted the lingering memories of another memorable weekend filled with great music and even better friends.
Describing in details the performances of each individual band would probably fill out pages, as the common denominator of the event was over-the-top musicianship and professionalism from each one of them, so I’ll do my best to keep the article concise and short. And please, remember that this is just my opinion, music is a subjective listening experience and my thoughts are no more valid than yours if we are on opposite sides of the fence.
FRIDAY:
The event’s festivities were opened by KYROS, the novel five-piece progressive rock band from London (formerly known as SYNAESTHESIA). They had played the festival two years before (that time under their previous moniker), and found themselves amidst a US tour supporting their last album “Vox Humana”, which was being played in its entirety at every show. You can perceive influences in their music from acts such as FROST, PORCUPINE TREE, MUSE and PAIN OF SALVATION; however, nothing farther from reality than categorizing them by the aforementioned bands. KYROS has progressed and evolved at an incredible pace, and led by the impressive stage presence of both, vocalist and main songwriter Adam Warne and bassist Peter Episcopo they served a one hour and 20 minutes kaleidoscope of musical chaos during: straight ahead heavy-prog with beefy twin guitar attack paired with beautiful melodies, carefully harmonized and constantly evolving to keep the creativity flowing throughout the whole set, which pretty much felt like one long beautiful song with all kind of musical variations and a spectacular finale.
Kyros
If KYROS opened with a very high note, MOON SAFARI closed the first night on another. Their golden vocal harmonies (You might be remembered of STYX, MANHATTAN TRANSFER, REO SPEEDWAGON, BILLY JOEL, etc.) deeply rooted in the European harmony vocal tradition with some strong jazzy overtones on some parts, multi-layered instruments, thick vintage Mellotron, and lush arrangements commanded the theater audience and sent beautiful, uplifting, pleasant and positive waves in every direction. If in their albums they continue to meet their own particular and exceptional high standards, their shows are no exception. Someone described their music as QUEEN meets BEACH BOYS meets KANSAS meets ABBA and a bit of GENTLE GIANT on moogy keyboards, and to these ears this is a blissful and winning recipe. During their lengthy set which spanned through their entire discography, the sextet received several standing ovations and watery eyes were seen amongst the audience.
Moon Safari
SATURDAY:
The second day (and first one to feature four bands), started out with THE AARON CLIFT EXPERIMENT. I must confess this band had flown completely under my radar, so I wanted to see why George had picked them up to be part of the festival ranks. Aaron Clift (a crazily tall guy, one of those who would make one feel like a dwarf) is the central figure, being the vocalist, keyboardist and main composer of the band’s music, and he sounds a lot like Echolyn’s Ray Weston (which is obviously a great thing). Their stock in trade is an intricate, subtle, and broad style of melodic compositions with raw passion at its core, songs with a classic rock nucleus embellished and augmented by progressive rock overtones. Drawing musical influences from the Gods of the genre (GENESIS, PINK FLOYD and RUSH came to mind) through inspiration and not pure imitation, these guys offered an exciting and very well executed performance, so it seems we can have Texas-style prog after all! Unquestionably a band worth listening to, I will make sure to pick up their second album “Outer Light, Inner Darkness” which was called “an impressive sophomore outing” by Prog Magazine, and “gorgeously emotive” by Progression Magazine amongst other raving reviews.
Aaron Clift Experiment
UNIFIED PAST took the stage at 2:00 PM fronted by Phil Naro, best known in the music world as the mic-man for Billy Sheehan’s band, “Talas”. I first knew about him when I bought “Second Sound”, a wonderful album by the Canadian based band DRUCKFARBEN, and once again when discovered “Through The Turbulence”, a 2014 exceptional eclectic prog-rock record by the Venezuelan band BACKHAND (which I wholeheartedly recommended to anyone reading), where Phil was the lead singer. Despite the band’s history being traced back to 1990 and a band then called LABYRINTH, they have revitalized and practically have come across as a new entity, their music now bearing a taste of symphonic heavy metal but with a positive vibe like Yes and Glass Hammer, which can be bombastic and very complex at the same time. Guitarist Stephen Speelman’s bright and dynamic guitar tone excelled throughout their gutsy combination of heavy riffs, symphonic synths and confident rhythm section, at their best on the longest of tracks when the band breaks most strikingly into the arrangements with structural variations and acoustic interludes. They also achieved an extra point for respect in my book since they performed after replacing their keyboardist only a month prior to the event, instead of taking cancellation as the easy way out. Their set included material from their 2015 record “Shifting The Equilibrium” which depicts gorgeous artwork created by international fantasy artist Ed Unitsky, and would be a worthy addition to your ever-growing musical collection.
Unified Past
A surprise VIP performance had been announced in the 5 PM time slot, and materialized in the form of UNIT D.B. a one-off live band made up by the combined forces of Mark Truey Trueack (vocals), Sean Timms (keyboards, vocals) Danny Lopresto (guitars, vocals), Brody Thomas Green (drums, vocals), and Steve Unruh (flute, violin). Basically, an amalgamation of UNITOPIA, SOUTHERN EMPIRE, RESISTOR and SAMURAI OF PROG. UNITOPIA were supposed to play the festival back in 2010, but sadly, they broke up before they could, hence this specific show was a kind of a long overdue apparition by the Aussies. I was impressed and really enjoyed their presentation, despite not being familiar with UNITOPIA’s back catalog or any of the other splinter bands. Gorgeous anthemic melodies which made a great contrast with the metallic edge of the previous show, Mark’s voice was warm and spot-on, and Steve Unruh added a myriad of soundscapes to the songs, playing strings, woodwinds and several other instruments. Provided in the form of flawless musical execution (after apparently only one actual rehearsal, which is additionally remarkable) their music had the ability to take you away somewhere else and at the end of the set soothingly bring you back to your seat. A pending schoolwork is now my necessity to explore further into the former history of these fine musicians while truly hoping they decide to put out a live recording of their set.
Unit DB
To close Saturday night, George had announced THE NEAL MORSE BAND as early as the last night of 2016. Neal and his bandmates released their latest album “The Similitude Of A Dream” this year, the second under the same band moniker and with the same formation of Eric Gillette (guitars) and Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals, sax and everything in between) alongside lifelong partners in crime Mike Portnoy (drums) and Randy George (bass), and the album really took the band to a whole new level and topped the progressive rock lists in many magazines worldwide. Being very familiar with Neal and Portnoy musical collaborations (Transatlantic, Flying Colors, etc.) and after beholding the band a couple of times during this very same tour, I knew their set would be a towering experience. I was surprised to note that due to the religious nature of the musical direction Neal has gone after he left Spock’s Beard, some considered him as the elephant in the room. Nonetheless, he had the largest crowd of the weekend by a fair margin, fact I can attest as I moved constantly up and down the stairs and aisles to get the best vantage points for my shots, so it seems the audience was unquestionably not bothered by the Christian message carried out by the music. Neal’s band presented the entire “The Similitude Of A Dream” album from start to finish with all the magnificent theatrics and splendid rear screen projections created by collaborator and visual artist Christian Rios, and once again they proved this band is no longer the sum of its parts opposed to Neal’s earlier solo tours, but a rock solid entity firing on all cylinders. Progressive, heartfelt, powerful, and rocking are some adjectives I could use to describe their show, with Neal showcasing real joy while unleashing his inner Peter Gabriel as he wore a variety of outfits and changed masks throughout the show to correlate with the different characters and events described throughout the album’s story; meanwhile his bandmates presented one of the most scorching and tightest performances of the event.
Neal Morse Band
Their exemplarily pristine and accurate spectacle encountered some hiccups, in the form of gear and practical issues, and by the end of the last song of the initial set, Morse’s computer went blank and died. While the techs were trying to figure out how to get his computer back on, he had to play the very end of the last song on acoustic guitar. Since they could not get off stage for the encores Neal said: “Well, anybody have any requests?” And somebody called out “We All Need Some Light” (A heart-touching ballad off the first Transatlantic album), so he played a little of that until the computer came back online… and then they closed out with “The Call” from their previous album “The Grand Experiment”. An overall fabulous performance (and one of the favorite sets for many I spoke with during the following days), paired with a real display of grace under pressure.
SUNDAY:
The last day was here and many were worn-out after prolonged hangouts at the hotel lobby for two consecutive nights (myself included). THE FIERCE AND THE DEAD were the openers, and boy, did they shake the house down. One of the best part of festivals of all musical styles is finding the band you never heard of and having them lobotomizing your skull. A true “Church of Prog, Wake-up Band”, these Brits combined post-rock picking with some brutally heavy riffing, flirting out with heavy-metal. Firm, vibrant passages alternated with ones with a looser, more open nature, occasional dipping into punk. Their all-instrumental sound could probably loosely be filed under the “Post-Rock/Math-Prog” category, yet it revolves around being non-conformative, sophisticated challenging, and intriguingly primitive sounding at times. I must say they were the perfect band to shake off the accumulated tiredness, establishing a great rapport with the audience. Tight musicians that know each other well, I was gladly impressed by Stuart Marshall’s relentless and at times maniacal way to pound his drumkit. My dear friend Octavia Brown who is behind the organizational team of the 2Days Prog + 1 Festival (a wonderful free-admission progressive rock celebration happening in Veruno, Italy every September) visited the US to enjoy her first dib at RoSfest and fell in love with these guys… even though they are Arsenal’s fans!
The Fierce and the Dead
I was very much looking forward to the EVERSHIP set, as their eponymous album from last year knocked my socks off at the first listen. Sean Atkinson and company had only played live two times prior to RoSfest, and while setting up the extra video cameras to help them record their performance I asked myself how nervous they could be before hitting the stage. They had all sorts of cool toys in their setup: a Theremin, a pink double-neck bass and even a CP-80… Curtains raised and technical difficulties made presence since the very beginning, but that did not prevent them to crank out their lyrically adventurous symphonic prog-rock, layered with acoustic guitar textures and adorned with a precise amount of heavy edge. They have an insanely gifted vocalist in Beau West with loads of prog goodness, and the songwriting, the lyrics, and vocals have a synergy that makes their music to stand out. Bombastic symphonics combining some Queen influences, highlighting rocket-propelled crunchy guitars and over the top lead vocals that tilt closer to opera and heavy metal, all shielded within a tight score with fluctuating arrangements and impossible to predict what is next down the pipes. Have I said I was in heaven? But wait, there was more… Since they have only one album out they needed to fill the gap in their set with a couple of covers… so they threw in two exciting renditions of STYX’s “Suite Madam Blue” and KANSAS’s “Portrait (He Knew)” which made the audience to clamor and applaud at unison. I will not say this is a band that will go places, as I believe they already set sail!
Evership
I had seen EDENSONG last year at Progtoberfest II and I knew what to expect. This band has come a long way in the last 8 years or so and have improved immensely as a live band. The material from “Years In The Garden Of Years” is much darker that “Fruit Fallen” and it comes across exactly that way in their live shows. Their musical palette is very hard to pin down, some passages come across as what could be the unborn child of Jethro Tull and King Crimson, while some others have a more eclectic nature, filled with expressive, memorable and playful variety. Their song structures sometimes reminiscent of the best of Genesis, also find familiarity with the mellotron sound and ofttimes whimsical nature of the transitions. A mixture of old and new, intricacy and aggression, the music features the flute in additional and compelling ways, wrapped with an extraordinary rhythm section full of driving base and Tony Waldman’s exquisite and varied drumming. There is enough complexity in EDENSONG’s music to leave you light-headed, but don’t let that prevent you from revisiting their albums.
Edensong
The final band for the night and the one to close the festival was ÄNGLAGÅRD. Everyone who knows me, knows they are my personal friends and one of my all-time favorite bands, therefore I won’t delve much into describing their performance, as I don’t want to sound excessively biased. Their set was divided in two parts with a short intermission which was actually a misunderstanding, as the initial idea was for them to never leave the stage. The first part consisted of songs spanning their second album “Epilog” and their third “Viljans Öga”, on which they did a magnificent job. Then for their second set they played their legendary first record “Hybris” in its entirety, using the giant video wall in the back to display visuals allegoric to the song thematic, and for whatever inexplicable reason, the band seemed even more cohesive and inspired during those four songs, nailing every note in some sort of uncanny manner. Änglagård’s music is not for everyone; you either love it and enjoy how it fries your brain or simply don’t understand it at all. It goes beyond complexity and challenges; it pushes the boundaries of your pre-defined conceptions of harmony and structural compositions. As I described myself once: “A sonic rollercoaster of aggressive music in odd meter, subtle parts and melancholic beauty, building suspense and abrupt stops, with a wondrous interplay of sounds”. For some it doesn’t click, but I know many were blown away and considered their virtuoso show an exceptional way to end the festival.
Anglagard
FINAL NOTES:
I know, I know, I said I would be brief, but hey, you read all the way to here! Is difficult to put such a large amount of happenings in black and white without writing a bit too much. A curated selection of sound coming from some of the best progressive bands in the planet, and running with Swiss clockwork punctuality, RoSfest continues to set standards in the way an event of such magnitude should materialize. Obviously it is impossible to please everyone, and I’ve heard opinions about the line-up lacking avant, zeuhl, krautrock, space, electronic, and fusion acts. While I respect everyone’s opinion, I can tell you that putting together an event of this significance is far from being your regular 9 to 5 job. There are so many variables and moving pieces, such a huge logistic to handle and so many details to nail like most of us have no idea; it could easily be the subject for your next never-ending nightmare. In my opinion the team led by George and his wonderful wife Beth continue to outdo themselves year after year, and they deserve the highest praise for their dedication and countless efforts to overcome any difficulty and keep offering their loyal attendees such an exciting and fulfilling and mind-blowing musical experience. Next year is their 15th anniversary, and I know George is “cooking” something special, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Caligula’s Horse – In Contact
The Dear Hunter – All Is As All Should Be
Lifesigns – Cardington
The Mute Gods – tardigrades will inherit the earth
Nad Sylvan – The Bride Said No
Nova Collective – The Further Side
