Nearfest cancelled

Tony R wrote: micky wrote: Tony R wrote: It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of the organisers, surely there is more to this than meets the eye. regarding the cancellation itself, they did over at PE's if you did not see it.  Yes, I read the explanation. I'm just wondering how they thought they could sell that lineup and it smacks of "someone's" bright idea going badly wrong.

'selling the lineup'? You really are too kind, perhaps without me around to kick about, you've gone whimpy and got in touch with your feminine side and learned the art of tact  The merits of the idea of having contemporary headliners are debatable.. what isn't perhaps is that they sure seemed to made little effort to expand the audience base beyond the friendly, backslapping, confines of one website. .  Did I actually read .. here on a prog site.. a post that someone would have gone, if they knew about it.   I believe they had a FB page that was never updated or used to promote it. Granted PA's is a mess but to not even try to sell it to a large prog site?  People can go on and on about the lineup, but where it really failed was relying on a core group and obviously not caring or wanting to expand past that group.  I suspect that if NF continues, that was a lesson they will have learned the hard way.  We'll see what happens. 

Calprog has no FB page outside of the promoters page.  I am really at a loss to say why that is. It seems to me these social network sites, well maybe not Myspace anymore, can get your info in front of a lot more new people with friends sharing your links and posts than you could reach with any conventional advertising. Last year through my wifes hairdresser (who is a music fan but not really a prog fan but likes Neal Morse) I met a guy who wanted to see Spock's Beard.  When i talked to him he said he knew about The Flower Kings, SB, Dream Theater etc but had never heard of Calprog, Progressive ears or PA.  He lived 15 minutes from the Calprog site too.  I am wondering if you are really trying to reach people when guys like this fall through the crack.  

micky wrote: ooohhh.  That is obviously one way to look at it Sherry.  The festival didn't give the core audience what it wanted.  At what point though should the organizers start to ask.  What happens when those classic bands that draw so many aren't around to headline these shows.  (hint.. we got a preview this year) ...

moshkito wrote:   I am of the opinion that the real issue in these is lack of support, care and attention ... between all of us web sites and progressive anythings ... and until the day we do ... we're going to suffer ... I just happened to go through the Gong's website ... and Nearfest is not mentioned! ... and Gong played there, I imagine! But it also tells you that the Nearfest (or anyother Fest) is not interested, or keeping track of the bands to allow people to stay up on them ... see today ... gone tomorrow ... dead the following week!   Maybe we need to have some more, and better appreciation about what "progressive" really means ... and then see what we have left! Because for something to not make it ... that bad ... there probably was a lot of it missing in the first place!   It's a good time for a really good reality check ... even for a PA or equivalent!

I was on my way back out the door and saw your post.  Great post.  That is why I crawled out from the rock I've been living under. That is a point I felt strongly about.   A great summation of the real issues at play within the so-called progressive community. If it is important to people they'll support these bands, if not and all they are interested in are the moldy oldies then the community will die hand in hand with classic bands.  The question I'm left with everything I've seen, and read over the last couple of weeks.  I'm wondering if it might not be a good thing for the music itself to let these festivals die, and let 'prog fan' sit at home and listen to their Genesis albums and post of prog sites and discuss if Band A is more proggy than Band B, thus freeing(forcing) bands to reivent themselves and find new and RECEPTIVE audiences. Reinvent? not musically but in how they are perceived and marketed.  Perhaps 'prog' is an anachronism and should die with the last of the classic bands.  We'll see what happens.. until then our butts will planted in seats and checking out all these new/unknown groups. 

Cheers guys for some great and thought provoking posts. 

The economy was a lot worse in 2009. Why was it a massive success that year and not this one?

What was different about NEARfest itself that year?

That's your reason.

So a year has come and gone and Nearfest had it's last hurrah.  So where does that leave the state of progressive rock and festivals here in the states?  Interesting subject.  I especially like something Raff said near the end of her review.

' It was deeply saddening, but in some ways also quite cathartic. To me, it felt as if that performance (which, in any case, most of the audience seemed to love) signaled the end of an era, and showed that it was time for the prog community to shed its Seventies obsession and move forward.'

micky wrote: So a year has come and gone and Nearfest had it's last hurrah.  So where does that leave the state of progressive rock and festivals here in the states?  Interesting subject.  I especially like something Raff said near the end of her review. ' It was deeply saddening, but in some ways also quite cathartic. To me, it felt as if that performance (which, in any case, most of the audience seemed to love) signaled the end of an era, and showed that it was time for the prog community to shed its Seventies obsession and move forward.'

I said this in another thread and it's worth repeating, I think....this is what a so called consumerist approach to art leads to.  An artist attempts to communicate his emotions and the audience must also make efforts to understand what he is trying to say.  If that sounds idealist, then perhaps wishing for prog at your doorstep is also daydreaming...especially if it HAS to be exactly the kind of prog you want and nothing else.  Think about how many things that we may have once found utilitarian have gone out of production now.  If somebody still has a nostalgic yearning for a typewriter because it brings back glorious memories of his childhood, that is probably not sufficient justification for a manufacturer to set up a production line for it yet again. 


Edited by rogerthat - July 01 2012 at 05:55

TechnicallySpeaking wrote:  A new festival was announced to be the follow-on to the great NEARFEST legacy – it is called FARFEST. Look for it on the internet.  The lineup looks great.

It does, but a follow-on to Nearfest?   That is somewhat like following the car in front of you off the cliff isn't it just because the view is killer! haha

I don't think it is a stretch to believe that Farfest will have the same problems and ultimate self-inflicted mortality  Nearfest did, if what is being sold is the old music by groups that aren't going to be around that much longer.  He managed to get a great lineup this year. What about the next year, and the year after that.  Perhaps it is only a one shot deal. I tend to think it is, especially with that kind of focus on the old warhorses when I think most see that is a dead end street as the audience and especially the bands are no longer around.

I must admit to finding the timing of Farfest quite curious, and especially inconvenient. Of course my wife is going but my bosses happen to love me and want me around thus sort of frowning on me taking all kinds of time off of work hahah and will only let me out of the cage only so often.  Progday is coming up and we won't miss that for anything.  Hopefully he'll sell enough tickets to not lose his ass and perhaps come back next summer (not fall when people have work and school to deal with) with something that might have a chance to be a true follow-on. Something stable we can look forward to year after year. 

Going on complete intuition and have heard nothing to support it, but it wouldn't surprise me if after a year or two break that Nearfest is resurrected, not in name, but a successor by many of the same names and faces. The Nearfest name being retired because the new festival will not be 'Nearfest' but a festival bringing the best of the many many .... MANY...wildly, diverse, creative and modern crop of bands making music today. The emphasis put upon the all the great music of today, not as a sideshow/warm up to nostaligia driven bands, but the actual focus of the festival itself.  Perhaps it is more dream than anything, but that is what I hope rises from the ashes.


Edited by micky - July 02 2012 at 19:16

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: micky wrote: This would be my hope, I'd love to see a diverse festival focused on more modern bands. Maybe that's ProgDay? I have a nasty suspicion (that I hope is wrong) that Greg is going to cancel Farfest or lose his shirt on it.

That certainly is Progday, which is one reason we love it so much. It is small and unpretentious, yet the focus has usually been on newer/unknown groups which to be completely honest Ian, is really what gives me a charge. Have you been to one yet?  It is Raff and I's favorite actually, even with the frickin heat down there. Much more intimate and friendly, especially for terminally shy people like me who normally need 5 or 6 Newcastles to strike up conversations haha.


I do have that suspicion as well, I'd hate to see it, but it wouldn't surprise me a bit. 

micky wrote: That certainly is Progday, which is one reason we love it so much. It is small and unpretentious, yet the focus has usually been on newer/unknown groups which to be completely honest Ian, is really what gives me a charge. Have you been to one yet?  It is Raff and I's favorite actually, even with the frickin heat down there. Much more intimate and friendly, especially for terminally shy people like me who normally need 5 or 6 Newcastles to strike up conversations haha. I do have that suspicion as well, I'd hate to see it, but it wouldn't surprise me a bit.

I haven't been to a ProgDay yet though I certainly intend to at some stage. I've only really got back into this scene heavily in the last few years. In 2010 I did Nearfest, then last year I did RIO & Cuneifest, this year it's RIO & Nearfest.

I was on the verge of going to ProgDay last year (I think) while Uz Jsme Doma were still on the bill.

Next year depends on the RIO, ProgDay & ROSfest line-ups. I'll probably do two of them. Given my lack of interest in Neo (though I do like a lot of dark symphonic, especially if it's instrumental) ProgDay is looking pretty likely at this stage.


Edited by Nogbad_The_Bad - July 02 2012 at 20:32