Shadow Circus and Edensong at NJ Proghouse

Last night I drove about an hour and twenty minutes to see two very good modern prog bands. Shadow Circus were up first even though I kind of assumed they would be headliners. At a rather small and intimate place(a bar/restaurant/lounge with a stage)I suppose it doesn't really matter and there probably is no real headliner anyway just two bands of relatively equal stature sharing the bill.

Anyway, Shadow Circus were quite excellent. I was only familiar with their debut so I was eager to hear more. I told one of the band members that if that is considered their weaker album I'll probably be blown away by the others. I certainly was blown away by their performance. I would describe their sound as modern symphonic although it's kind of hard to pinpoint specific influences. I'm sure the band have listened to The Flower Kings and Dream Theater as well as the old standards like Yes and Genesis and probably many others although they don't really sound like any one band. They seemed to have played mostly material from their latest album "On a dark and Stormy Night" with maybe a few from the previous album "whispers and screams." I didn't recognize anything from their debut however. If you like modern symphonic prog with great playing and tight complex yet melodic arrangements then definitely check out this band.

Edensong were a surprise for me. They had a very interesting stage presence with at least two of the members having full beards and the flautist wearing no shirt at all. Their music was often complex and unpredictable yet they were not difficult to enjoy. Being that the band sported a flautist the immediate and easy comparison would be Jethro Tull. However, to me they didn't sound much like Tull. They did have some folky elements but over all I would not call them folk prog. I would say they are maybe a more modern take on the Italian heavy prog sound(like maybe New Trolls, Osanna, Biglietto Per Linferno and basically any heavy Italian band with a flute). They were quite interesting. Although I think I enjoyed Shadow Circus more because they play a style closer to what I usually like I still picked up their cds and look forward to more from them.

So to sum it all up I witnessed two great tri state area bands who deserve more respect then they currently seem to have. There were maybe 40 people in attendance which I suppose is not bad considering but if you ask me Edensong should be opening up for Jethro Tull and Shadow Circus should be opening up for Dream Theater or Spock's Beard.

Edited by Prog_Traveller - November 18 2013 at 13:57

Well, I live in PA and we have Rosfest. We've also already had Nearfest which was obviously a huge success and had a great run. There was also 3RP which ran for a few years. Yeah, I don't think I need to defend my states prog credibility. :) Btw, you're not giving us the third degree are you? 

Edited by Prog_Traveller - November 20 2013 at 21:39