Chris Malmgren (Ovrfwrd keyboardist)

I'll get my thoughts together and later uncork another installment of the Mick off the cuff, uncensored review of Progday weekend.  

New legends were made...  existing legends were confirmed

Other musical highlights of the weekend included Pixie Ninja, who had a fairly short set, apparently they just have their one albums worth of material. I would have happily listened to them stretch out and jam a bit or play a cover. Karmic Juggernaut were fun with a Thank You Scientist & Mars Volta vibe with loads of energy, I personally could have done without the puppet show. Soften The Glare were pleasant enough fun fusiony metal stuff. Geph are a Boston based band I don't know, their dueling sticks were entertaining with a heavier vibe that the similarly equipped Stick Men. 

No bands were a disappointment though some were more in the good to listen to live but unlikely to buy camp. As usual ProgDay was very well run, the new food vendor was great and Star Points beer selections good & interesting. Had a fun beer swap with lots of good stuff to sample. 

Great to see so many friends at the festival. Had a great time.

and couldn't agree more,  her french horn was really up in the mix and absolutely loved it.  If I had been as .. umm...  out of body and mind yesterday as i was Saturday i might have got up and done some dancing.  That music really grabs you in deep places and entrances you.

As Ian touched on, it was f**king brutal out there, especially on Saturday. Whew... first time in years we had to retreat to the car for AC and think I missed completely a band on Saturday. Time can get a bit fuzzy mid afternoon on the surface of the sun and when you hit the 3rd or 4th 6 pack of high octaine gas haha.. 

 

I agree with my other half that five bands a day were too many, especially with that kind of weather. This did each day's closing act a disservice, because by that time people were already exhausted and ready to leave. I know that, by 6.15 at the latest, I was unable to absorb any more music, and all I wanted was to have a shower and some food.

Though I will always be immensely grateful to the organizers for all their hard work and dedication, and will continue to support the festival for as long as I can, I feel this year's lineup suffered from a few issues. First of all, too many bands that sounded similar, and not enough balance between instrumental-only bands and those with vocals. The bands that had the misfortune to play in the early afternoon (Pixie Ninja in particular) had to deal with the effects of the unrelenting heat and humidity on most of the crowd.

On the other hand, I am aware that most of my issues with this year's edition had to do with my own inability to concentrate on most music. Nowadays it takes much more than it did in the past to hold my attention, and only two bands out of ten managed to do that this year. In any case, I believe it was a good move on the organizers' part to spotlight so many US based bands - even though they know as well as I do that this is the perfect recipe to alienate many prog fans. The main problem was, as I have already stated, a certain lack of diversity - that diversity that, in my view, has always been one of ProgDay's strengths.

Some of my reservations also have to do with the general mood of this year's edition, which I found oddly subdued. For the first time, I noticed a cliquish bent in many of the attendees, rather than that "family" atmosphere I had always found so endearing and refreshing. However, as I said before, the fault may well lie with me and my diminished social skills. In spite of all that, I am still looking forward to next year's edition.

f**king Captcha... 

anyhow..   it was a real pleasure to meet the two of you. A real highlight of the weekend is the friends. Seeing old ones, meeting new ones.  Hopefully next year we can get the two of you in on our dinner party set.  This year wasn't quite as wild, the heat man, but we still rocked it.   Got the chance to eat and talk with Par Lindh.  I guess he had heard how rocking our dinners were and invited himself to join us haha.  Helluva guy, real sweetheart. 

None of the bands were known to me prior to their announcement for ProgDay (except for Par Lindh who I only knew from last year's ProgDay announcement). As I usually do, I listened to samples wherever I could find them, and formed some opinion of whether I would enjoy their performance or not. Oddly (or maybe not) most of my preconceived notions were completely turned around!  Bands that I thought I would love to hear live were disappointing, and bands that I didn't really care for became my favorites of the show.  A brief synopsis...

Ovrfwrd - I liked (and purchased) two of their studio albums, but their live performance left me wanting. They came across a little bit like a garage band or a jam band. Their compositions didn't shine as much as on their studio albums. Not as tight. But I still dig their music, and enjoy their studio work.

Par Lindh - Wow, what can be said? Fantastic keys, and a breadth of styles including classical, prog, blues, honky tonk, rag time, etc. His tribute to Emerson was touching.

Pixie Ninja - I didn't care for their studio work, so I took the opportunity to cool off in an air conditioned car.  I missed a lot of their performance. From what I did see, I really liked the bass guitar.

Karmic Juggernaut - This band was the big surprise for me.  After listening to some of their studio albums, I thought I would not enjoy their performance. Exactly the opposite happened! For me, it was the best performance of the weekend. Great bass, guitar, flute, vocals. Intriguing compositions. And the Cookie Monster sang! I'm looking for their setlist so I can buy the appropriate albums.

Soften the Glare - I loved Bon Lozaga's work with Pierre Moerlen, but his performance just didn't grab my attention.  On the other side of the stage, however, the bassist just blew me away!  I couldn't stop focusing on him the whole performance. Bright red hair aside -- the dude can wail on the bass. I gotta find some more of his work.

King Llama - Didn't care for them before. Don't care for them now. I thought they were just loud and noisy. No finesse. But that's just my ignorant opinion...

Alec K. Redfern - Another band that I thought I would not like (I'm not a big fan of RIO-type prog, but I do enjoy some now and then). They were absolutely captivating!  If someone asked my to describe their music I'd have to say "Klaus Schultz got together with Frank Zappa to play some zydeco music". On my purchase list now.

GEPH - I kinda liked these guys going in, and feel the same way now.  I like their heavy dark prog, but it comes across as a little noisy at times. A little more finesse in their dynamics would have sold me completely.

Fernando Perdoma - I like Fernando's personality, but I didn't find his guitar work particularly engaging. I liked his work with Dave Kerzner, so in fairness, I should give him another listen (or two).

Edensong - I absolutely love their studio albums, but their live performance was lackluster. I think they suffered from being the last band to perform while half the audience was either gone, or tearing down. I left my canopy and chairs untouched until they finished, BTW. The threat of a thunderstorm didn't help, and I think they were really hurt by the (bad) mixing job.  Whether it was their fault, or the mixer's, I don't know. I couldn't hear the keyboards or Koto. What a shame. Their studio work is still one of my recent favorites though!

All in all, my wife and I had a great time. Heard some new music. Made some new friends. She's already talking about attending next year! Woo hoo!