Another year, another huge blast! The 11th Terra Incognita Convention ended last night in Québec City somewhere around midnight after a superb performance by Kaipa Da Capo. The Stolt brothers (Roine & younger brother Michael), along with Mr.'s Bergman, Eriksson & Lorentz, blew us away from one song to the next! I've never seen Roine Stolt in such a joyous mood, exchanging with the crowd & making jokes: thank you very much, Mr. Stolt! It will be one of my best souvenirs!
This year's program was as diversified as it was good! The artists were, in order of appearance; Anton Roolaart (USA), So-Projet Gabriel (Canada), Huis (pronounce House) (Canada), Elephants Of Scotland (USA), Anekdoten (Sweden), Frogg Café (USA), Il Castello Di Atlante (Italy) and, of course, Kaipa Da Capo (Sweden). The 3-day Convention began Friday the 15th with a 30-minute performance by Anton Roolaart. Maybe fatigued by the road trip to Quebec City, Mr. Roolaart seemed a bit nervous and it took the 30 minutes he had to really get a reaction from the crowd. Shame he only had that much time to play 'cause it was getting interesting! We then had a tribute band called So-Projet Gabriel which, as the name says, covers the songs of Peter Gabriel throughout his solo career. The singer used to be in a Gabriel-era Genesis tribute band and it showed throughout the show: he mimicked the gestures & walks which Gabriel used in his concerts with & without Genesis. Good song listing and professionally played. A nice surprise!
Saturday the 16th began around 14:00 with the usual tables set in the main hall where used & new LP's, CD's & DVD's were sold at a reasonable price. Band merchandise were also available at the same place throughout the Convention. Then Anton Roolaart gave his second representation of the weekend around 16:30. What a difference from the day before! He seemed more at ease on stage and with the crowd and it showed in his performance! Even though the shows were acoustic versions of his songs usually performed by a band he delivered a very good show. He even started his performance by playing us a cover of Porcupine Tree's song Nine Cats. A pleasant performance!
Next came the Montreal-based band Huis. This is guitarist Michel St-Père's side project from his other great Canadian Prog band called Mystery. A blast of great Prog-rock with strong musicianship and a mix of all Prog eras! Mellotron, Neo-Prog, a dash here & there of all musical sauces! Some parts reminded me of Riverside, some of Galahad, some other of Hackett-era Genesis! I enjoyed it very much! The crowd of 300-some also!
After a supper break, we were back to hear & see the Burlington, Vermont-based band called Elephants of Scotland. Another band which blew us away! There are 3 singers in the band and each one has a very different tone of voice. The synth & bass players have «mainstream» voices, while the guitarist has a Geddy Lee-like voice! The drummer hammered his drums so hard that he had some trouble finishing the show! They seemed to enjoy playing the show as much as we enjoyed listening to them! Another beauty of a show!
We finished the 2nd day of the Terra Incognita Convention with Anekdoten. What a show! The band members seemed at their best for the Convention. All their hits & more were served on a silver plate for us to absorb & digest! I was so energised at the end that I had trouble sleeping that night! And there was still another day of the Convention left!
Sunday's shows began with Frogg Café, a great & crazy bunch of Long Island musicians with Zappa influences all over their Jazz-tinted music! Energized like they were, we also got charged by their hot presentation! If you like Jazz-Rock and/or Zappa, you won't regret listening to their albums! A must-see concert!
We were blessed to have Il Castello di Atlante come play for us for the second time in 3 years! Their musicianship & humor have always been appreciated and I suspect that they also like our small chapel & the craziness of its audience! The Italians played for us lots of old & forgotten compositions which the audience recognized almost immediately! Another magical moment!
Last but not least was Kaipa Da Capo, or the first generation of Kaipa. It was the third presence of Roine Stolt at the Convention (first with Agents Of Mercy in 2011, then with The Flower Kings in 2013). The old repertoire was visited, much to the audience's delight! Roine Stolt even shared souvenirs of the band's first representations in Quebec City some 35-40 years ago and, yes, some of the audience were there back then!! It probably explains why the average age of the crowd is over 50!
So ends another great weekend with star performances by international stars, far & near! It was, as usual, masterminded by Michel Bilodeau, a Prog maniac who would give his shirt to listen what he likes best! Thanks to him, we have a place where we can share our «crazy» tastes for Prog. We meet friends, old & new, and share our passion while opening our musical boundaries a bit more at each new Convention. And most of the artists mingled in the crowd at one moment or another to talk about, what else, music!! Such a delight for us crazed fans! Still worth every dollar paid! Can't wait for the next Terra Incognita Convention!
Edited by skreamer - May 19 2015 at 08:54
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11th Terra Incognita Convention
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