Symforce Festival II, Tilburg, Holland, 23 August

it is with immense pleasure that I can announce you that we have just (5 minutes ago !!!) added upcoming French sensation DEMIANS to the already incredible line-up for this year's Symforce II festival. After having seen the band in Paris last week supporting Oceansize I simply knew we had to have these guys. DEMIANS will perform after Textures and before Pain of Salvation in the main hall. The band's album "Building an empire" will be out on may 19th and they will bring the roof down !

full line-up of the 2nd Symforce festival to be held at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland is :

Main Hall :

OPETH (exclusive full two hour show)
PAIN of SALVATION (exclusive full two hour show)
DEMIANS (the band's Dutch debut with full line-up)
TEXTURES (exclusive progressive set)

Small Hall :

ALQUIN
MAGIC PIE (first concert with new singer outside Norway)
THE WATCH (featuring real Moog and Mellotron)
PBII (world premiere after 30 years of Plackband)

Batcave :

HYPNOS 69 (Belgian's best kept prog secret)
SOLSTICE (going strong for 20 years as UK's finest fiddle and female fronted prog)
QUANTUM FANTAY (where Ozrics left off these guys exalerated)
KRIMINAL HAMMOND INFERNO (drums and Hammond, bizarre costumes and Italian soundtrack and horror influences)

in all TWELVE bands delivering an incredible cross of the finest progressive rock around. Don't hesitate one second and get your tickets today (info at www.myspace.com/Symforce ) !

"may the symforce be with you" !

Bobo

although we promissed you two more names, we actually decided to add three more names to the festival making a total of eleven bands. These are the names we already had :

- OPETH (sweden) who will play an entire 2-hour show as opposed to their performances at forthcoming open air festivals making it a Symforce exclusive;
- PAIN of SALVATION (sweden) again a full 2-hour show making it yet another Symforce exclusive;
- TEXTURES (holland) these guys have promissed us a special progressive set exclusive for Symforce;
- ALQUIN (holland) still one of the better bands from the seventies and still going strong delievering ace new material next to their many classics;
- MAGIC PIE (norway) their very first visit to Holland and the introduction of their new singer. This band has been voted most promissing band in 2007 whilst both their albums were chosen as "album of the year". Magic Pie's visit to Symforce is their only appearance in Holland this year;
- THE WATCH (italy) going from strength to strength these guys deliver material which could be seen as unreleased vintage Genesis material. Singer Simone Rosetti sounds like a young Peter Gabriel whilst they bring along real Moog and Mellotron. It will be the only visit to Holland this year for the band;
- HYPNOS 69 (belgium) starting out in the stonerrock department Hypnos 69 has delivered one ace album after the other. Their most recent CD "The eclectic measure" can be seen as one of the alltime best prog albums by a Belgian band ever !
- KRIMINAL HAMMOND INFERNO (belgium) last year half of Beardfish became Bootcut when only drums and Hammond remained on stage. This year we do exactly the same by stripping all the instruments from the stage at the Batcave and putting the spotlights on drums and the mighty Hammond. Expect the unexpected with music full of Italian atmospheres, Morricone meets Goldfinger meets ... well you wait and see

and then the new names :

- SOLSTICE (england) this band has been going strong for a couple of decades now and has a very strong live reputation. Their entire output has recently been re-issued by F2 records whilst the band is eager to demonstrate their great skills. Featuring wonderful violin and crystalclear vocals amongst others, for sure SOLSTICE will be welcomed with open arms

- QUANTUM FANTAY (belgium) last year these guys smoked at the Herzburg festival in Germany. They even released a 2CD set from that performance which together with their two splendid studio albums have really set the wheels in motion. QUANTUM FANTAY continue where Ozric Tentacles left off years ago

- ???????? the final act can't be mentioned as yet due to contractual obligations. It will remain our "mystery act" for the time being. All we can say is that this band has reserved it's world premiere for Symforce II as they have never ever performed before under their new moniker ! It will be the icing on the cake !

For sure we have a very diverse line-up in stall for you. As always we want you to explore all territories of our beloved "progressive rock". Eleven acts, three stages, one day : 23rd august at the 013 in Tilburg, Holland. Snap up those tickets before it's too late !

Bobo

SYMFORCE II is pleased to announce the signing of MAGIC PIE. This Norwegian sixpiece was recently awarded "Progressive Rock Indie Artist of the Year 2007" which is a fantastic achievement. Their albums "Motion of desire" and "Circus of life" have achieved critical acclaim all over the world and with a new singer in their ranks things surely look fantastic. Rated as one of the best rock vocalists in Europe, Magic Pie's new leadsinger Eirikur Hauksson will still be a member of Ken Hensley's Live-Fire as well whilst he's also teaming up with Trond Holter of Wigwam fame to start a new band. MAGIC PIE will surely set the house on fire. Their presence at SYMFORCE II is a one-off !

When the final sounds from Opeth have died in the main hall, the afterparty will have started. In a similar style like last year's Bootcut, we have once again opted for a duo of Hammond organ and drums. KRIMINAL HAMMOND INFERNO is based in Brussels and delivers a mysterious groove mixed with obscure Italian soundtracks. Ennio Morricone meets Goldfinger meets Also sprach Zarathustra. You get the picture. A not the be missed event which we could describe as "progressive tongue-in-cheeck" so as to dust off the serious nature of our beloved musical genre

Four more names will be added so watch this space !

Bobo

Angelo wrote: Jared - make sure you get over here in August ;-)

Edited by fandango - February 19 2008 at 12:09

It is with great pleasure that we can announce that none other than OPETH will headline the second edition of Symforce. With a ninth studio album in the pipeline our Swedish friends are playing a one-off at Symforce II and they'll deliver their full show ! With a ninth studio album under their belt for sure this will a memorable concert !

Second band in the main hall will be none other than PAIN of SALVATION. Known the world over for their diversity and quality PoS is also playing a one-off at Symforce II and they will also play their entire show

Opening in the main hall will be a sixpiece from Tilburg called TEXTURES. These young guys will release their third studio offering in march/april. Known for their technical metal approach the band has promissed us to play a special progressive set exclusively for Symforce II.

Due to the length of the Opeth and Pain of Salvation shows there will only be three bands in the main hall !

Main attraction in the small venue will be Dutch classic proggers ALQUIN. The band has been around since 1971 and are one of Mikael Akerfeldt's alltime favourite bands. The last time the band played at the 013 they sold out the small venue. In 2008 the band will also record a brandnew album, songs from which will most certainly be played during Symforce II

These are the first four bands for you. Six more acts will be added as time evolves and we'll be informing you as soon as we can.

Tickets go on sale this coming saturday 23rd february priced 47,50 euro's

May the Symforce be with you !

more info at www.013web.nl

Bobo

^^you really are building this one up, Bobo...

the clock is ticking and I am so excited to reveal the first four names tomorrow ! All I can reveal right now is that these four names include two bands from Sweden and two from Holland. That's as far as this teaser goes :-)   This weekend I have finalized the other six bands which the people at 013 are currently booking. So things could go very fast from now on. In fact presales will start pretty soon and all I can say is be quick as we all fell this edition is going to sell out fast !

^^^and I think the date change, which avoids it clashing with the UK's own Summer's End festival, will also encourage more Brits to visit...

Just two weeks after I leave Europe. 

Wish Holland was closer to Poland. The two letters are much more than it seems...