Closest You Have Been To A Prog Great

Yeah, that is disturbing. Why would you have a wet dream about Rick
Wakeman? Dream about jamming on stage with him, sure, but a wet dream?

I´ve been met:

Alan Parsons (and says hi!)

Godfrey Townsend (got an autograph)

PJ Olsson (got an autograph)

Matráz (got an autograph)

Tryo (got an autograph)

Evolución (got an autograph)

Toccata (got an autograph)

Premiata Forneria Marconi

Akineton Retard (got an autograph)

Omni

Saw Rush in Milwaukee on the Vapor Trails tour. Had the best seats I've ever gotten for a major (arena-size) concert, second row right in front of Geddy.

That was cool enough, but during one of the solo sections, Alex wandered over to my side of the stage to jam with Geddy. He starts hamming it up a bit for the crowd, and looked right at me. In my best aging dork style, I pointed at him and mouthed the phrase "You the man!"; he dropped his hands to his sides very quickly and shrugged his shoulders with a "Who me? Aw shucks" kind of look on his face and went back to playing without missing a beat.

Highlight of my sad sad life. Well...highlight of my musical life at least...

I haven't met any major prog players, but I did shake hands and chat with the guys from King's X on a couple of occasions; semi-prog maybe. They play mainly clubs and bars these days and are quite sociable with the fans (well, sometimes Ty Tabor doesn't stick around for the meet & greets, I think he's shy).

Edited by Ben2112

emersontarkus23 wrote: Yeah, that is disturbing. Why would you have a wet dream about Rick Wakeman? Dream about jamming on stage with him, sure, but a wet dream?

Relax! He probably just fell asleep in the bath...

 

or maybe even on a leaky waterbed! 

I think King Of Loss stalks Daniel Gildenlow.

stonebeard wrote: I think King Of Loss stalks Daniel Gildenlow.

i got my right shoe autographed by mike portnoy

My avatar is self explanatory (I am the one on the right ...

right here's my ultimate, highly embarassing and
personally not very benefitting fanboy-story:

i've met quite a few prog greats, mostly just for a
quick chat or an autograph, but meeting the boys
from MARILLION on the "radiation" tour was very
special. i am a die-hard fan of them and i have
followed them through all their musical phases and
experimentations and, yes, pun very much intended,
progressed with them as a listener but also as a
human being.

"radiation" is still an iffy album for them and their fan
base and the entire period was certainly not the
happiest time in the life of the band MARILLION. the
reasons are well documented elsewhere. anyway,
they played their show in the club "docks" on the
reeperbahn in hamburg – to a slightly reduced crowd
than usual, i must add – but they delivered an
exciting, fresh and very stubborn set that was all
about reinvention and moving forward.

a friend of mine who worked for the local office of
their then record company was also at the concert
and after the show, when i basically turned to collect
my coat, she beckoned me over (knowing me and
my appreciation of MARILLION), basically saying
"you're not going anywhere". so, off we were into the
hallowed halls of the grubby "docks" backstage area!

well, you all know, what it is like to meet personal
heroes and icons, whatever. you always come out
afterwards, feeling a bit jilted or shortchanged,
mostly on one's personal account by imagining not
having asked the right questions or said the right
words. it is also well known that all of MARILLION
are really down-to-earth and friendly blokes, so this
was going to be a real no-brainer. obviously it gets
even better when the first thing that mark kelly does
is to hand over a bottle of beer! i got to talk to every
single band member and all of them were very
accomodating and genuinely interested in my
opinions on them (and i am always critical as well)
and were eager to talk about all sorts of things and i
am still grateful for this unique insight into the five
men's personalitied that make up the best band on
the planet. fanboy? so what!

however – here's the catch. my left pocket was full of
CD-booklets that i had originally intended to get
signed by them. imagine how stupid i would have
felt, after having exchanged so much more than just
harmless chit-chat and the ususal fan-grovelling and
feeling genuinely welcomed by them after a very
tiring and demanding gig in this rather bleak period
in the band's life, if i had pulled out these
CD-booklets and asking for a meagre autograph? it
would have been the ultimately disrepectful
anti-climax for all involved and i would very possibly
have hung myself afterwards –

so – h, steve, mark, ian, pete – i (still) salute you!!!


PS: another good experience on several occasions:
geoffrey downes – always eager to meet up with
fans and always in for a laugh or a beer! wonder how
that ASIA reunion is going to affect that...

I had shake hand with van der Graaf Generator in 1975 at a signature event for the release of Godbluff, in Brussels. (Hammill, Evans, Banton, Jackson). As a souvenir, I have the original LP versions of H to He and Pawn Hearts signed by the four.

I discussed a few moments with Tangerine Dream (early version) back in 1970,

I discussed with Yes (Anderson, White, Howe and Squire) giving an unplugged short concert at the FNAC record shop in Paris, a couple of years ago (we were 30 to attend)

I once found myself in the same hotel than Supertramp and Marillion.

And I met several times various belgian "chamber prog" musicians when I was living in Brussels (not to forget going to school with Marc Ysaye)

Not that bad, finally.