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September 20, 2005

Prog Power VI Reviews

The lowdown...

My three words...
CON-CEP-TION!!! (Ok Three syllables).

Onto the reviews.

Pre-Party

• Outworld - Truth be told, I was too busy schmoozing in the back. It's pretty tough. I have not seen these people in a year and there was so much drinking and catching up to do. OK, from what I heard this band is amazing. Patrick mentioned the guy uses an 8 string guitar. Never seen one. He said his fingers are a smokin'. From what I heard, he ain't kidding. Heard some great kez too. I should not have missed it
  
• Orphaned Land - Acoustic - By this time I had decided to go out and listen. I knew this was a very different type of band. Death metal vox mixed with middle eastern influnces in a prog way. Sounded interesting (except for the vox) I figured, eh, this is going to be an acoustic version, how bad can it be. Well in fact it was dam good. I was almost afraid to like it. Cuz if the electric set the next day was not as good I would surely be let down. The whole acoustic middle eastern influence did it for me. Classy.
  
• DC Cooper - Acoustic - I knew this would be good. I've seen DC Cooper in a very small club in Pittsburgh. I've seen him with Silent Force in a prior Prog Power. I was sure this was going to be good. And it was. Great Vox, Good sound balance. From what he said, all the musicians were really just winging it. However, they were right on the money until the last song. The final song was a genesis cover. Supposedly it was going to be Mama with some guys from Angra. That did not work out so they did a Peter Gabriel song. This was a bit messy. They had to find the right key, then retun the guitar. it wasn't as clean as I had expected. Franbly, as mentioned, they did not practice it, so I have to give credit where it's due. They did a decent job of it after all the kings were worked out. it's just that all the prior songs were so right on the money I was expecting the same for this. Still enjoyable.
  Hey DC.. Take of the sunglasses. It's so impersonal.
  
• Dreamscape - This was a full electric set. Both Tricia and I stayed out to listen to this. It was well done. High energy. alot of contact with the crowd. It was good to see them in a smaller moer intimate setting. A few people made comments about this being a demotion because they played at the actual prog power event in a prior year, however this did not faze them. They played thier hearts out. In fact they brought demo cd's of the up coming CD and threw them out into the crowd. I ended up with one. You had to see me doing jumping jacdks in the air.. over here!! over here!!! Some guy walking by gave one to Tricia as we were standing there at the shows end. Thanks Mate.
  

The Main Event - Day 1 (Friday)

• Manticora - RAWWWKK. WOW. I did not expect to like them as much as I did. It was funny having the the CD's and feeling mediocre about it, then seeing it live and getting pumped.. I did run to the vendors table for the latest CD thereafter. Lars... Got Energy? Sheesh, what did you have for breakfast?
• Circus Maximus - Loved it. This was my first hearing. (as some may know I've been on a lay off). Great stuff! Loved the harmonies and sound. That seems to get me every time.
• Orphaned Land - The jury is still out on this for me. Again first "electric" hearing. Love the middle eastern influences, hated the screaming vox, loved the clean singing. Guess you can not have it all. Someone gave me a hint as to the nature of vocal transition. Teri & Jim recommended the double CD set and even sported me a copy. I'll give it an honest couple spins and determine more later.
  Loved the acoustic set at the pre-party.
• Conception - So Glenn was able to have the band reform (after many years) just to play Prog Power... How cool is that? Jeeze. it just blew me away. I could not have been more pleased. Well Actually. I was thrilled to see these two hands on the monitor and this "visor" wigging out... Then to see it was the boss man (Glen) himself! The performance was stunning, Choice of songs excellent. Khan's smooth vocals always impress. Tory's guitar work on target, top notch and to the tee (for me). They were able to capture many of the nuances in sound I had grown to love. I felt no wrong here and was in my glory. Phew. cleanup.. Row 3! Glenn I think you outdid yourself!
• Angra - Not initally thrilled to see them. I guess second sightings are not as exciting as the first. In addition, someone had to knock me off the conception cloud. In all fairness, angra did a great job. Although I had barely enough steam, they seemed to muster more out of me, I stayed, banged and enjoyed. Playing was as I expected and loved the percussion piece. I heard many comments about the vocals, but to me I did not have an issue with it. I was wondering if placement or the mix had something to do with it.

The Main Event - Day 2 (Saturday)

• Stride - one word.. WOW! I loved them too. Although I felt a bit partial towards the instrumentals, I liked what was performed. Last year someone mentioned to me, don't worry, you will like the singer.. and I did. Loved the touch of polaroids crowd shots, then sharing them with a toss into the crowd. heh free shirts too! The Rush cover was done well.
• Symphorce - Oh My Gawd - That fricken wall of guitar sound! The forceful drums and one of our favorite front men! This totally rocked. I was wishing for more the second they stopped playing. Impressive. A highlight for me!
• Pink Cream 69 - This was another I was not thrilled about. Then again, I've never seen them, so why forgo the chance. besides, they had to get past my symphorce sweat. After about 2 songs the light went on and I thought. Oh that's why I like these guys. The vocal harmonies. I thoroughly enjoyed this set. I was wishing there was a little more to the drum work. For what PC69 is... It's dam good. Hey.. Anyone know the story about the name? I'v e heard some pretty odd rumors.. ;-)
• Therion - An anticipated highlight, that did not disappoint. wow.. Another wall of sound effect. The vocal operatic choir/harmonies went over well (in my book) I know some did not appreciate them much, but this is what grabbed me from them. Wall of sound guitars, mixture of vox, choirs. I did not think they were going to pull it off, yet they did! and raised it up a notch or two.
• Stratovarious - I had ideas of what to expect here. They met them, some to the positive, some to the negative, but what I expected. As interesting as the opening was, It was a bit too long (IMO) (jeeze I can't remember who elses opening was painfully long.. go figure). Again, I had last band syndrome here and ran out of steam. I was able to feed off some fellow proggers who gladly contributed (Thanks Kyle, Jeremy, Rod & Ken). Still, Stratovarious wore me thin. Too much sameness for me. The 6 songs I really love, sounded great. Performance top notch, the rest.. it was hard to keep my eyes open. Part of this was also due to the mix. I felt it was painfully loud and seemed to blur it all out. Again, this could be listening position, but even with earplugs alot was lost. a few DB lower and I think i would have enjoyed it more. It would be hard for me to go out and seem them perform again. BTW, not that I'm into solos, I did love the bass solo.

Posted by Me on September 20, 2005 10:30 PM

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