Closest You Have Been To A Prog Great

Do ye know what James Labrie sings to warm up his voice?

Had a beer with Dave Cousins (The Strawbs) on their recent acoustic tour.

Had a two minute chat with Peter Gabriel during his first solo tour.

The best was with Steve Hackett, I and a friend had made our own Steve Hackett T-shirts back in the early 90's using the (at that time) new Canon digital colour copier - my friend worked at a print shop. We copied the 'Time Lapse' cover onto our T-shirts along with the current tour info and went to see him play at a small club. During the set break this guy comes up to our table and goes on about our shirts and asks if we have any to sell. Answer is no, we only made the two - good thing because it turns out the fellow is the road manager for Hackett and he we would have probably been arrested and charged if we tried to sell a shirt. So after the show he comes back and introduces himself properly (at this point we still had no idea he worked for Steve) and asks if we would like to meet Steve Hackett - are you kidding! So we meet Steve, he looks at our shirts, signs them for us, answers a couple of questions and leaves. The road manager then tells us that if we are interested in selling shirts we would be allowed to make them and tour with Hackett, gives us his phone number and tells us to meet him in Michigan in two days. Never did go, ah well, it was a hell of an evening anyways.

Lindsay Lohan wrote: Do ye know what James Labrie sings to warm up his voice?

Ma-a-a-a-i-i-aaaa...

Feel its something special? A dedication maybe?

Lindsay Lohan wrote: Ed_The_Dead wrote: Lindsay Lohan wrote: Do ye know what James Labrie sings to warm up his voice? Ma-a-a-a-i-i-aaaa... Feel its something special? A dedication maybe? Ah and on ghost reveries Mikael Akersfeldt sings: Drown in the deep ma-a-a-i-i-aaaa...i should really sue them for using my name

Oi, so you have hard, military, german tendencies? Its not Maja (Maia?)? A hard, edgy Maier! or Maybe Major? 

btw... Maybe Akerfeld is singing Down deep in Maaaaaiiiiaaaa? ()

The Song is Baying of The Hounds (Though  we get a feeling of deja-vu when listening  to Beneath The Mire)... And Akerfeldt  pronounces it quite hard... I can hear an "r" there...

Funny though... in the the Baying I always hear "Everything you believed is a lie, Everyone you loved is a dead burger..."

Well, of all my "brush with prog greatness" moments, the best was when I met and shook hands with Bill Bruford, who was in the crowd at a Van der Graaf Generator concert in Holland last year.

The closest I ever came to prog greatness was in 1987 when I saw Marillion on the "Clutching At Straws" tour at a little dinner theater in San Clemente California called "The Coach House".

My wife and I were early and were waiting in front of the club with about 15 other people when Fish, Steven, Peter, Mark and Ian walked right by us just inches from my wife and I to enter the club and do a soundcheck. It happened so fast I didn't realize it was happening until the band had entered the club. 

My wife and I were able to score killer seats right up in front near the stage since I slipped the doorman a $20. Mariilion blew us all away, Fish even stood on top of the table that my wife and I were sitting at and danced while singing just inches from us, Totally unreal.

This was one of my all time greatest concert experiences that I will never forget.

angegabriel wrote: Fish also stood on my table during their 1st tour for the Script album in Montreal. However, I've got a much more memorable one. It was 1987 at the Montreal Forum. Me and a friend decided at the last minute to head down to the Peter Gabriel concert and pick up a couple of tickets from our favorite ticket scalper who used to work the street before big shows. We lucked out more than we could have imagined. 2nd row on the floor, dead centre !!!  During the show, Peter performed "Lay Your Hands On Me" and allowed himself to fall into the audience. Me and my friend had him right in our grasp for what seemed like a good half-minute. There we were, holding Peter Gabriel above our heads. A very memorable moment indeed ......

That is a great story angegabriel. I too saw Peter Gabriel in 1987, I had floor seats but I was 20-30 rows back. Also I had about 4 or 5 giant guys in front of me blocking my view of the show, they were only there to hear "sledgehammer". I didn't get anywhere near Gabriel.

It was still a great show though.

I stood next to Bill Bruford at the bar in a local arts centre where the Earthworks were playing. I didn't know what he looked like at the time, and didn't realise who he was until he sat behind the drums at the gig, 30 minutes later...

I grunted a 'Hi' at Harvey Bainbridge of Hawkwind once at a HW gig. He grunted a vague greeting back at me.

I shook Dumpys (Dumpys Rusty Nuts) hand at a festival. He was scary, and he smelt funny.

I also met Andrew Eldritch of 'The Sisters of Mercy' he was an arsehole.

..oh and Wayne Hussey of 'The Mission' at a Cure concert back in the 80's. He was very pleasant.