PROGPOWER XIII
Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
September 13-15, 2012
Where do the years go? The ProgPower festival is a stark reminder of the
passage of time, as this year marked Jen’s and my 12th annual
pilgrimage to Atlanta to partake of the event. At some point, all the
different installments of PPUSA blend together in my mind. Not much
changes from year to year. The fest is always held at the same venue, the
perfectly configured (albeit somewhat aged and decrepit) Center Stage music
hall in midtown Atlanta. Center Stage boasts a 900-seat “bowl” around a
300-person floor, with a quite large stage, comfortable concourses, ample bars,
and an adjoining room, Vinyl, that is used to house vendors and host spillover
socializing/drinking during the fest. Jen and I always stay at the same
hotel, the crappy (but thankfully cheap, safe, and more or less clean) Super 8
that is just a 10-minute walk from the venue. This year, the Super 8 has
been reflagged as an America’s Best Value Inn, but otherwise the song remains
the same. We see roughly the same people every year, and spend copious
amounts of down time out at the bar, sipping on beers, laughing, B.S.ing and
killing time with our friends. And the musical entertainment portion of
the event is always the same mixed bag of killer metal bands coupled with
boring prog acts and a few WTF? moments interspersed along the way. So in
some respects, the ProgPower fest is like our real-life ‘Groundhog Day’
movie. But we still have a ton of fun every year, so we continue to fork
over the cash, burn the vacation days, and chew up the long I-65/I-85 miles to
participate. Here’s how it went down this year:
Thursday, September 13, 2012
The formal festival didn’t start until Friday, but we drove up on Thursday
morning/afternoon to catch a couple of pre-fest kickoff events. The first
of these was billed as the Jon Oliva Workshop, a seated event for
approximately 300 people held in the Vinyl room from 5-7 p.m. We didn’t
quite know what to expect. Sure, we love Jon Oliva, and had an amazing
time in Tampa a few months ago attending the Hall of the Mountain King
25th anniversary gig. But this was a different animal
altogether. For starters, there was no band, just the Mountain King and
his drummer/producer/friend Christopher Kinder. The small Vinyl stage
(where vendors such as Sentinel Steel have hawked their wares in ProgPowers
past) was set up with Oliva’s keyboard rig, a Mac computer and some other studio
gear, two chairs and that’s about it.
What happened during this workshop was one of the most unique and magical
musical experiences I’ve ever witnessed. Mr. Oliva was in equal parts
storyteller, stand-up comedian, gifted musician, and informative tour
guide. The premise of the workshop was that he had been working on a new
song for the next J.O.P. album. He had worked out the riffs, the vocal
melodies, and the rhythm section arrangements, although he did not have many
lyrics. The idea was that he would show us how he and Kinder “build” the
song in the studio. So, right before our eyes, he recorded rhythm guitars,
then drums (of the electronic variety, played with his fingers on the keyboard),
then bass, then “lead rhythm” guitars (adding texture and depth to the main
riffs), then keyboards, then scratch vocals (more vocal melodies than actual
lyrics). There was an audience participation part where the 300 of us
belted out the words “Oh” and “No” repeatedly into the provided crowd mikes,
which duly captured and recorded our performance for the album. To an
outsider, the process was fascinating to watch, and it was remarkable (i) how
adept Jon is at playing all these myriad instruments, and (ii) how good the
“finished” version sounded after just two hours of single-take recordings in our presence.
But the song-building thing was just the tip of the iceberg.
Intermittently, Oliva would play a song or two for us on the keyboard, just the
man and his piano. So in this manner we heard Savatage classics like “If
I Go Away,” “Sleep,” “All that I Bleed,” a crushingly emotional “Alone You
Breathe,” and “When the Crowds Are Gone.” Jon’s voice sounded so strong,
and the atmosphere was so perfect, that this was spine-tingling, emotive,
powerful stuff. It’s no lie or exaggeration to say that I saw more than a
few damp eyes in the room. And maybe I’m a poser, but I felt the tears
welling up a time or two during “Alone You Breathe.” He played a Deep
Purple cover (“Child in Time”). He played a brand-new song that he’d
written just a week or two earlier, with a refrain about, “If it were up to me
/ There’d be no looking back” about a soldier who’d had his life basically
destroyed by combat injuries in the Middle East. You got the sense,
listening to Jon belt out these songs, that he was pretty much deciding what
songs to play on the fly, and that he’s got a vast repertoire (a human jukebox,
if you will) of songs that he could perform, unrehearsed and effortless, at a
moment’s notice. Remarkable.
So there was the interesting part of seeing how the recording process
goes. There was the emotional part of watching him play these
songs. And then there was the uproariously funny part of listening to the
man tell jokes and stories. Oliva’s a hoot, and had the room in the palm
of his hand with his hilarious anecdotes and comments. He told stories
about getting in trouble in school for being a better guitar player than the
guitar teacher, mouthing off, and getting called into the principal’s
office. The principal called his mother, and the conversation went like
this: “Mrs. Oliva?” “Yes.” “Your son’s in trouble again.” “Which
one?” “The fat one.” I thought I was going to die laughing.
He told stories about practicing with his brother Criss, and how Criss would
tease him because Jon couldn’t play so much of the guitar stuff that Criss did,
but Jon would say, “why don’t we work on a piano song,” just to needle his
true-metal brother. He talked about how he loathes playing “Sirens” after
all these years and how you never think when you write a song like that it will
stay with you forever. He told about recording J.O.P. albums in Kinder’s
laundry room, and beating on the washing machine to achieve a desired sound
effect. “Now there’s a new washing machine in there,” he deadpanned.
Then there was the poignant part that gave a little insight into Jon’s
soul. He said people ask him all the time how he does what he does.
It’s not that hard, he said. Many times, the chords are simple.
It’s just a matter of putting real emotion into what you do. He
demonstrated by playing/singing bits and pieces of “Heal My Soul” off the
‘Streets’ record. It’s not hard, he said. Anybody could write a
song, you just have to put emotion into it. And all of this discourse came
across as totally unscripted, genuine, and heartfelt. Basically, here’s
this guy who I think most metalheads would agree is a musical/songwriting
genius, and he’s up there going on in a self-deprecating way that it’s all
really simple and that any of us could do it. Had the message been
delivered differently, it could have sounded patronizing and contrived. As
it was, Jon sounded 100% humble and sincere. It was really a beautiful moment.
When the Workshop ended, festival promoter Glenn Harveston escorted those in our
group who had purchased tickets for the Nightwish/Kamelot show directly into the
main Center Stage venue. This allowed us to bypass the hellacious line
outside the front door that went all the way around the building. Some
people in that line had been waiting for 4 hours or more to get into the
gig. But we Jon Oliva Workshop guests were whisked into Center Stage ahead
of all of them. Fair? No, but Glenn has always gone out of his way
to give little perks to his core customers. This was one of them. So
Jen and I found a comfy spot over on stage left, in the second row. Nice
vantage point.
As Center Stage filled, it was a somewhat surreal sight to look around the
room. Definitely not a ProgPower crowd. Hell, it’d be a stretch to
call this a metal crowd. Lots of scrawny teenagers (male and female
alike) with Justin Bieber haircuts and goth clothes. Without question, I
am of a different generation than many, many of the folks attending that
concert. Thankfully, there were also familiar, usual PPUSA faces
intermingled with the crowd to cushion the blow a bit.
At 8:00 p.m., the Center Stage curtain lifted and Kamelot took the stage,
which was expansively customized for this opening act. A massive banner
depicting the forthcoming ‘Silverthorn’ album cover art occupied the back wall,
and there were several ornate steps and podiums around the stage allowing for a
multi-level experience. To my chagrin, drummer Casey Grillo’s kit was set
up at stage left, just a few feet from where we were standing. This was a
bummer because it meant we heard a shitload of drums in our mix. Vocals
were reasonably audible too, but I’ll be damned if I could hear much of Thomas
Youngblood’s guitar at all. It was a shame; however, the mix issues (where
were strictly a function of my vantage point) were the only fault I could find
with Kamelot’s performance. They were great. New singer Tommy
Karevik (Seventh Wonder) will make everyone forget the departed Roy Khan in the
blink of an eye. His voice has a similar timbre and emotional quality to
Khan’s, and he works the stage better than Khan ever did. Youngblood and
Medusa-haired bassist Sean Tibbetts were in constant motion from side to side
and up and down the platforms. And female backing vocalist Elize Ryd (also
of Amaranthe) spent several songs on stage, mostly standing atop a raised
platform in the rear middle of the stage. The 8-song setlist was well
chosen from the standpoint of a fan like me who prefers older, speedier Kamelot
to this new, moody, slowed-down crap they’ve been peddling for the last couple
of albums. Distilled into a short set, cuts like “Center of the Universe,”
“Karma,” and “Forever” hit hard indeed. I came away from Kamelot’s gig
much more impressed with them than I’ve been in some time, and am actually
anticipating the release of ‘Silverthorn’ now.
Setlist: Ghost Opera, Soul Society, Center of the Universe,
Karma, EdenEcho, Sanctimony (new song), Forever, March of Mephisto.
Unfortunately, I had the opposite reaction to Nightwish’s headlining
set. Oh, don’t get me wrong. The band are fantastic performers, and
I can chuckle at diminutive guitarist Emppu Vuorinen’s silly antics all night
long. Also, for all the flak she gets from certain quarters for not being
Tarja, singer Anette Olzon has really grown into the role of Nightwish
frontwoman and seems very comfortable and at ease, especially when she adopts
an evil persona and toys with the audience during “Scaretale.” I don’t
think she could have pulled that off on the last tour. Sure, some of her
mannerisms and style choices don’t exactly scream “heavy metal,” but she does
things her way and, in the context of the band, it works. Here’s what
doesn’t work: All of the slowed-down, mellowed-out, momentum-killing
parts of the set. It seemed like every time I blinked, there were roadies
moving little stools around the stage so that the band members could sit down
and play quiet songs. Early on we got an unwelcome, unwanted rendition of
the sultry jazzy “Slow Love Slow.” To paraphrase Olivia Newton-John,
“please mister please, don’t play ‘Slow Love Slow,’ I don’t ever want to hear
that song again.” Later on, just in case anybody was still awake, they
hit us with a toothless “The Islander” and “Nemo” featuring drummer Jukka
Nevalainen sitting in front of his drumkit tapping on a washboard. What
the hell? A further downer was “Higher than Hope,” which had Olzon
visibly shaken and tearing up as family members of the deceased fan for whom it
was written stood in the wings. And do we need the grey-haired
whistle/pipe player guy (Troy Donockley) out on stage for damn near half the
set? I don’t think so.
All of that reads pretty harshly, probably more harshly than I mean it to.
The Nightwish show did not suck. Absolutely, they are all entertaining,
super-professional performers. The opening salvo of “Storytime” into “I
Wish I Had an Angel” into “Amaranth” was pretty amazing. The folky, jiggy
“I Want My Tears Back” was a rousing, fun number. “Scaretale” definitely
has its moments, even if I always get annoyed at the Disney’s Haunted Mansion
bit in the middle. It was good to hear “Over the Hills and Far Away”
again, even if the vocal arrangement was totally different with Olzon singing
it. So yeah, it’s not like the gig was unsalvageable or anything.
But at the end of the night, I could not help but think that Nightwish has
probably gone a good way toward losing me as a die-hard fan. It started
with ‘Imaginaerum,’ which just seems overblown, forced, contrived, and errrmmm,
not very metal. And I carried over into their live set, which had way too
many (7!) of those damned ‘Imaginaerum’ tunes and not enough of the good
stuff. But you know what? I don’t think Tuomas Holopainen and his
crew are concerned in the slightest about turning me off. The crowd adored
them. They’re riding high on the crest of international superstardom, and
they’ve made far more fans with this new direction than they’ve lost.
Bully for them, I guess. Setlist: Long-ass boring
intro, Storytime, I Wish I Had an Angel, Amaranth, Scaretale, The Siren, Slow
Love Slow, I Want My Tears Back, The Islander, Nemo (acoustic), Into the Wilds,
Planet Hell, Ghost River, Higher than Hope, Over the Hills and Far Away, Song of
Myself, Last Ride of the Day.
Friday, September 14, 2012
I used to be one of those guys who spends the entire day at a festival chained
to the rail, so as to be in optimal viewing position for the bands I
love. The trouble with that strategy at PPUSA is that (i) many bands
along the way aren’t my cup of tea, and (ii) more importantly, I missed out on
lots of hilarity and hijinx at the bar. So it is rare these days for me to
find myself on the rail at ProgPower. But I did it today, albeit only for
Sinbreed, my most anticipated band of the festival. Why?
Their debut album from last year is a killer slab of Blind Guardian/Running
Wild/Seventh Avenue style German metal. And their live lineup features
not one but two members of Blind Guardian, including Marcus Siepen on second
guitar and Frederick Ehmke on drums. Plus their singer is none other than
Herbie Langhans of Seventh Avenue fame (?).
As expected, Sinbreed delivered a killer set racing through most of their ‘When
Worlds Collide’ album, as well as an excellent brand-new song entitled
“Reborn.” The choice of “Through the Dark” to kick off the show was
inspired, and the audience singalong in the middle of the awesome “Dust to Dust”
was a nice touch. Langhans proved to be a very energetic frontman, moving
constantly about the stage and giving his all. He was funny too, like when
he triumphantly held up his can of Budweiser (pointing to it as if to say, “Look
ma, I finally made it”) and laughing when guitarist Flo Laurin experienced
tuning problems, “It doesn’t matter if it isn’t in tune. This is heavy
metal.” My only criticisms were that, other than Langhans, the band was a
bit static, with the members choosing to headbang in place rather than moving
around. (Not really surprising for a band that likely has little live
experience.) Also, the reliance on backing tracks was occasionally
distracting, especially during times when the prerecorded parts were guitars and
neither guitarist was actually playing anything. But these are small
nits. Sinbreed definitely lived up to my expectations and kicked off
ProgPower XIII with a bang. Oh, kudos to them for not using the full 60
minutes they were allotted and instead hitting us hard with 45 minutes of their
best material, then taking their bows before they wore out their welcome.
Setlist: Through the Dark, Newborn Tomorrow, Enemy Lines,
When Worlds Collide, Dust to Dust, Reborn (new song), Salvation, Book of Life.
I spent the entire Kingcrow set at the bar, but heard enough to know their brand
of prog is not for me. Next up was Amaranthe from Sweden. I
know they’re something of a polarizing act in underground metal circles, with
some being enchanted by their catchy triple-vocal approach (female, clean male,
extreme male) even as others are repulsed by their formulaic, calculated
bubblegum stylings. I fall into the former camp, although I certainly
understand and appreciate the latter sentiment. My reaction to their
performance was similarly conflicted. On the one hand, they have some
incredibly catchy songs, and I can’t help but sing along and throw my fist to
tunes like “Hunger,” “Automatic,” “Call Out My Name,” and “Leave Everything
Behind.” All three singers (including the substitute growler) seemed
totally into it, and were highly entertaining to watch (okay, maybe especially
Elize Ryd, who definitely rocks out and is not exactly tough on the eyes).
On the other hand, there were aspects of the band’s look and performance that
didn’t really feel like metal at all. You’ve got one guy coming out on
stage in a red hoodie, with the hood pulled over his head. Another guy
looks like a refugee from a rap video. The bubblegum poppiness of the
material is hard to overlook (especially the ballad “Amaranthine”).
Ultimately, though, I give Amaranthe a thumbs-up for their performance at PPUSA.
They sounded good and definitely kept the audience’s attention throughout the
set. Later, I learned that it took a minor miracle for Amaranthe to play
this gig at all, as their backing tracks were in the luggage that Lufthansa lost
on the Transatlantic journey, requiring a last-second mad-dash scramble for them
to come up with a workaround that enabled them to play this gig. Well
done. Setlist: Leave Everything Behind, Enter the
Maze, Serendipity, 1,000,000 Light Years, Amaranthine, (some song I didn’t
recognize), My Transition, Rain, Call Out My Name, Automatic, Hunger.
It seems like every year, there are one or two bands at ProgPower whose albums I’ve
meant to spend quality time with before the festival but simply don’t get around
to. (Sometimes it kinda sucks to have a job, family, friends, a life,
interests outside of metal, etc., but it is what it is.) This year
Austria’s Serenity were the band that fell through the cracks. My
bad. Sounding something like earlier/better Kamelot with a Tony
Kakko-style vocalist, Serenity damn near stole the show. Everything was
flawless. Serenity brought a stellar batch of songs, drawn almost equally
from all three of their albums. They brought good stage presence,
accentuated at times by a female vocalist, Clementine Delauney (whom Jen
accurately described as looking like an Austrian Barbie doll). They
brought a sense of humor, with frontman Georg Neuhauser calling us “the best
audience we’ve ever had in America” (yep, it was their first show in the USA)
and offering to give out Delauney’s phone number to anyone who bought Serenity
merch. They brought gorgeous multi-part vocal harmonies, with keyboardist
Mario and bassist Fabio really making their presence felt. And they
brought the kind of giddy enthusiasm and joy that we sometimes see at ProgPower,
when a little-known European band crosses the pond to be treated with pure
adulation by the PPUSA audience. You can’t fake those ear-to-ear grins,
and the Serenity guys and gal looked positively ecstatic with their
reception. Fantastic gig, and definitely one of the best of the
weekend. Setlist: Rust of Coming Ages, Reduced to
Nothingness, Heavenly Mission, Far from Home, Fairytale, New Horizon, Coldness
Kills, Serenade of Flames, Velatum, Engraved Within.
I had penciled in Ireland’s Primordial as a good “dinner break” band;
after all, I had never heard a note of their music before. But my friend
Mark was talking them up beforehand, so Jen and I decided to check them out for
a few songs. Fascinating. I was expecting a cacophonous death metal
wall of noise, but what I heard was something far more interesting, with enough
melody in the riffs to offset the brutality and basically clean (albeit fairly
monotonous) vocals. Visually, Primordial were quite a spectacle
too. First of all, the front of the stage was so spartanly lit that the
band were performing in deep, dark shadows. The bass player and
(especially) singer Alan Averill were decked out with corpse paint covering
their faces, bald domes and (in the singer’s case) arms. Averill is a
highly intense performer with quite a flair for the dramatic, as he squeezes
every lyric from the depths of his soul. No, I didn’t stay for their
entire set (dinner beckoned, after all). No, I won’t be running out to buy
their discography. But Primordial were definitely far more interesting
than I had expected, and I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to watch them
do their thing onstage for 20-25 minutes.
Redemption are something of a “house band” at PPUSA, this being their
third performance over the years (not counting Ray Alder’s separate visit with
Fates Warning a few years ago). Tonight was special, though, because they
were filming the show for an upcoming DVD release. And they spared no
expense. The centerpiece of their stage set-up was a massive video screen
behind the band that was well integrated into their set, from kaleidoscopic
images to flashing the band’s logo to heartfelt portrayals of “Warriors” and
“Fallen but Not Forgotten” metal artists during “Stronger than Death,” the
anti-cancer part of the evening. (Guitarist/mainman Nick Van Dyk is
himself a cancer survivor, so this all hits close to home.) The crowd’s
roar when Ronnie James Dio’s picture hit the screen sent shivers down my spine,
as did the “Cancer Is My Bitch” line that flashed up there shortly
thereafter. Cancer may have brought Van Dyk to his knees, and damn near
to his grave, but here he was, still standing, smiling and rocking out for us
in Atlanta. Now, my patience for prog metal is vanishingly close to zero,
but Redemption have a special place in my heart. I think it’s the
combination of Alder’s emotive vocals and Van Dyk’s gutwrenching lyrics that
just hits me. Or maybe I’m becoming a wimp in my old age. All I
know is that I enjoyed the hell out of their set, especially when they went
back-to-back with “Parker’s Eyes” (never played live before) and “Fall on You,”
two of the most emotionally resonant songs in their repertoire. The widdly
diddly parts still annoy/bore me, but when the emotional payload is that
satisfying, I can endure the other gratefully. I’ll be first in line to
buy that DVD, no doubt. Setlist: Threads, Suffocating
Silence, Dreams from the Pit, Parker’s Eyes, Fall on You, Noonday Devils,
Stronger than Death, Black and White, Death of Faith and Reason, Walls.
Tonight’s headliner was Epica, all the way from the Netherlands.
I’m just a casual fan, so I’m not very familiar with most of their material,
but I was expecting a good show nonetheless. What I was not expecting was
a 1+ hour delay in their start time. By the time the curtain dropped and
Mark Jansen’s troops hit the stage, it was around 12:45 a.m. That’s
ridiculous. I’d been in the building for 11 hours. I’d been
drinking beer for about 9 hours. I was tired. And I wasn’t
alone. There was a distinct lack of energy in the audience, even though
the room remained nearly full. Still, Epica powered through as best they
could, delivering a quality 90-minute set of their patented
beauty-and-the-beast metal. Female vocalist Simone Simons is, of course,
visually stunning, but she also sounded great. The interplay between her
ethereal vocals and Jansen’s vicious screams from the bowels of hell is
something to behold. Also, all members of Epica (including Simons) are
truly fantastic headbangers, and they’ve reduced the skill of flailing hair to
an art form. I would stand there, mesmerized by the rhythmically swaying,
swinging and twirling follicles on the stage. I think the effect was so
hypnotic that it actually made me sleepy, because I caught myself nodding off a
time or two. The other cool effect that Epica brought with them was a set
of CO2 jets that sent blasts of compressed air from the floor to the rafters of
the theater at various well-timed intervals. It was cool as hell until
some of the jets ran out of CO2 and stopped blasting anything up to the
ceiling. Overall, I was pleased to see Epica tonight, but definitely
wouldn’t call it a transformative live experience or anything. Epica do
what they do, and I think it’s pretty cool, but I’ll probably never truly “get” that band.
It was well after 2:00 a.m. when Epica called it a night. All that
remained for the first official day of PPUSA XIII was the ceremonial roster
announcement for next year. Per tradition, after the show ends on Friday,
promoter Glenn Harveston rolls a video presentation announcing all the bands
who have been confirmed to play next year. It’s always interesting to
hear the reaction of the crowd to particular bands. What will 2013 bring
for ProgPower? ARMORED SAINT. Woo-hoo. Oh, and SABATON.
And WOLF. And Matt Barlow’s new band. And REINXEED. But
mostly ARMORED SAINT. Yep, the Ekmans will be there.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Okay, today definitely got off to a slow start. First on the bill at 2:30
p.m. was Germany’s prog-rock combo Beyond the Bridge. People seemed to
like them, and gosh they were moving a lot of merchandise, but I had pretty
much zero interest, even with Herbie Langhans on lead vocals. So,
predictably, I was killing time at the bar when I struck up a conversation with
Seven Kingdoms guitarist Camden Cruz. Incidentally, Seven Kingdoms (who
were not performing this weekend) used PPUSA to stage an all-out promotional
blitz for their forthcoming CD, ‘The Fire is Mine.’ The goodie bags given
to fest attendees bore the Seven Kingdoms logo, and all 7K members were present
at the door to hand out the bags personally. There was an enormous Seven
Kingdoms banner in the entranceway to the venue, and the world premiere of
their new video clip for “After the Fall” aired on the concert hall’s video
screens after the Pretty Maids set tonight. Anyway, Camden and I were
talking, and he offered to give me a sneak peak of the new album. Hell,
yes. So the two of us went out to the Seven Kingdoms PT Cruiser of death,
and he proceeded to play about 30 minutes of ‘The Fire is Mine’ for me in a
private listening session, complete with running commentary about the songs and
production process. In all honesty, I was blown away. I’ve always
enjoyed Seven Kingdoms, both on disc and on stage, but ‘The Fire is Mine’
elevates their game substantially across the board. Songwriting,
production, choirs, vocals, arrangements … wow. Get ready for ‘The Fire
is Mine’ to turn some heads when it is unleashed upon the world next month on
Nightmare Records.
I emerged from my Seven Kingdoms listening session in time to catch most of
Lanfear’s set. The Germans have always been something of a tough
case for me. To be sure, they neatly straddle the line between progressive
and power metal, and they’ve recorded some very solid albums, but they’ve also
recorded some duds. Quite honestly, I’ve never paid them a great deal of
attention, although I own a couple of their albums. Watching them live was
not a superlative experience, but it was enjoyable and pleasant for what it
was. Extra points are awarded to their singer for being such a
goofball. He was hilarious. At one point, a propos of nothing, he
introduced the crowd to the bass player Kai, and had us all say, “Hi Kai”
several times. He then implored us to say “Hi Kai” every time we see the
bass player for the rest of the day, whether it’s at the bar, in the men’s
room, wherever. He made fun of his own German accent. And he
indicated that the band was about to play a brand new song that lasts 25 hours
and is going to be made available only on a “double hard-drive edition” because
it’s so long. The name of the song, he said, is “Silence.” He then
paused for a couple of seconds, and said “thank you very much. Now, for
our next song ….” What a ham. It was worth it to watch Lanfear’s
set just to hear what the singer would say next.
The third band of the day was modern melodic death outfit Solution .45
from Sweden. They announced that this was their first show ever, which
had me scratching my head as to what they were doing here. Their brand of
paint-by-numbers Soilwork mimicry sounded totally uninteresting to my
ears. I guess they were booked because their singer used to be in Scar
Symmetry, and built up a fair amount of notoriety for himself through that
venture? I don’t know. Some people really enjoyed the band, but
after three or four songs, I had had enough and made my way back to the bar.
Fortunately, the festival kicked into high gear with Mystic Prophecy’s
7:00 p.m. set. Given the lackluster start to the day, PPUSA was in dire
need of an adrenalin shot, and that’s precisely what R.D. Liapakis’ crew
brought to the party. These guys didn’t so much play as they did attack
the stage, bearing a kind of ferocity and no-holds-barred intensity that
brought to mind vintage Brainstorm. Guitarists and bass player were a
blur of energy as they careened across the stage, hair flailing, heads banging
in reckless abandon. And Liapakis presided over the affair with power and
grace, clad in his black leather cowboy hat and spectacles, albeit expressing
occasional irritation that so many fans had parked their fannies in the
seats. The setlist was culled mostly from the new ‘Ravenlord’ platter (5
songs) and 2007’s ‘Satanic Curses’ (4 songs, including the somewhat pointless
“Paranoid” cover), but the whole thing pretty much ripped. Not quite sure
why they ignored their first 3 albums, but no matter: Mystic Prophecy kicked
major ass and left the hardcore rivetheads in attendance thoroughly
satisfied. (Of course, the proggers turned up their noses, as I heard a
number of snarky comments from the peanut gallery after their set, but that’s to
be expected from slide-rule-and-pocket-protector crowd.) Best of all, the
whole thing was filmed, and Liapakis promised that the footage will surface as a
bonus DVD to the band’s next album, expected to surface in early 2013.
Awesome. Setlist: Eyes of the Devil, Savage Souls, Die Now,
Sacrifice Me, Endless Fire, Hollow, Dark Forces, Satanic Curses, We Kill! You
Die!, Ravenlord, Paranoid, Evil Empires.
Next up was Mayan, which is the “other band” of Epica’s Mark
Jansen. It’s more death-metal-and-brutality oriented than Jansen’s day
job, so I wasn’t expecting much. As it happens, though, I lasted for more
than half their set, simply because of the interesting guest singers Mayan
employed. There was a black-haired, tattooed, mustachioed, heavyset guy
who came out and sang amazing clean vocals during several tunes. I didn’t
recognize him, and was dumbfounded to learn afterwards that it was none other
than Henning Basse of Metalium fame. Honestly, it looked nothing like
him. The other marquee guest vocalist was the one and only Floor Jansen
(After Forever), for whom a compelling case could be made that she is the best
female vocalist in heavy metal today. Eventually, however, the incessant
blast beasts and predominant extreme vocals wore me down and wore me out, and I
beat a retreat to the relative tranquility of the Center Stage lobby for another brew.
It took 30 years, but Denmark’s Pretty Maids had finally arrived on
American shores. There was definitely a “buzz” about Pretty Maids all
weekend long, with many attendees proclaiming them to be their most anticipated
act of the fest. Jen and I found a nice spot close to the stage, and
settled in for what was a memorable 75-minute performance. Visually,
Pretty Maids proudly took the 80s glam look and ran with it: Big hats,
colorful outfits, you know that whole L.A. sleaze appearance. To be sure,
singer Ronnie Atkins (is he Biff Byford’s grandfather?) and guitarist Ken
Hammer show their years, but it didn’t matter when the performances were this
good. Pretty Maids did a masterful job of mixing up their heavier
(better) material with their wimpy AOR stuff, and successfully promoted their
newish ‘Pandemonium’ opus while still finding time to hit most of the classics
that people expect. Hearing stellar renditions of such metal evergreens
as “Back to Back” (my favorite), “Future World,” “Red Hot and Heavy,” and
“Yellow Rain” was simply sublime. I had less patience for the wimpy part
of the program like “Walk Away” and “Please Don’t Leave,” but I understand
that’s always been part of Pretty Maids’ schtick. Anyway, they went over
brilliantly with the ProgPower crowd, and looked to be enjoying themselves
immensely. I didn’t particularly enjoy their detour out of “Red Hot and
Heavy” and into “Smoke on the Water,” but whatever. Glenn Harveston
definitely didn’t enjoy that detour, which resulted in the band overrunning
their time by a minute or two. In a disappointing gesture of
small-mindedness (the fest was already running quite late because of delays
that had nothing whatsoever to do with Pretty Maids), Harveston ordered the
curtain closed before the band could even take their final bows. The last
thing I saw was the bass player pleading with the crew to hold off on the
curtain for just a moment, to no avail. Disrespectful and petty, I’d say,
and it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth after an outstanding Pretty
Maids show. Punishing Pretty Maids because the Fest hadn’t been running
on time all day is not the way I would have played it, had it been my
call. Setlist: Pandemonium, I.N.V.U., Hell or High
Heels, Walk Away, It Comes at Night, Yellow Rain, Back to Back, Rodeo, Little
Drops of Heaven, Please Don’t Leave Me, Love Games, Future World, Red Hot and Heavy.
It was another backbreaking, 1-hour set changeover as we waited for tonight’s
headliner. Something really should be done to get these headliners on
stage before 12:45 a.m. They’re scheduled to go on at 11:30.
It’s a long day, people are tired from standing on their feet and drinking
alcohol all day long (plus not sleeping all weekend), and that last hour of
waiting really sucks the life out of the audience. The headliners notice
it, for sure, and often comment from the stage that the crowd needs to wake
up. It really does a disservice to audience and bands alike. (Glenn
knows it too, as he took the microphone and urged/demanded/ implored people to
stick around for Symphony X tonight. Had the Fest run on time, that
wouldn’t have been necessary.) But whatever. The pleasant diversion
of the new Seven Kingdoms video helped kill some of the time. The video
went over well, as the concert hall remained mostly full while it was playing,
and there was an enthusiastic roar of applause from the crowd when it
ended. Hopefully it was worth the sizeable expenditure of promotional
resources for Seven Kingdoms to position themselves before the PPUSA audience in
this manner.
Finally, at around 12:45 a.m., the curtain lifted and Symphony X took the
ProgPower stage for the first time in 9 years. I’ll be damned if they
didn’t put the crowd to sleep from the get-go by opening with the 20-minute
“Divine Wings of Tragedy” epic. After that, the band whipped into a
selection of heavier, more aggressive new tunes from the ‘Iconoclast’ disc but
the damage had been done. The crowd was beat. I was beat.
“Dehumanized” got my attention, as did the incredible “Set the World on Fire”
from ‘Paradise Lost,’ but I was still struggling to stay awake. It wasn’t
the band’s fault. Russell Allen was singing his ass off, and Michael
Romeo was delivering the kind of masterful guitar clinic that we’ve all come to
take for granted by now. But the fact remains that the room had only a
fraction of the energy that it did during Pretty Maids’ set. It’s a
pity. As Symphony X came back for their encore, Jen was congratulating
herself for having stayed awake for the entire Festival. Victory was in
sight. Then Allen announced they were playing the 26-minute opus, “The
Odyssey,” as their encore. First Jen wanted to know if he was
joking. When I assured her that he wasn’t, the storm clouds gathered,
Jen’s brow furrowed, and she made a number of comments not suitable for
printing in a family publication. During the interminable musical journey
that followed, she kept saying things like “I could have gotten Ulysses back
home by now” or “Couldn’t they just play ‘Sirens’ by Savatage and call it a
night” or “Even Homer nods.” To her credit, she did indeed stay awake
until the end. I doubt, however, that she’ll be signing up to attend a
Symphony X gig anytime soon. Setlist: Divine Wings of
Tragedy, Iconoclast, End of Innocence, Dehumanized, Electric Messiah, Serpent’s
Kiss, Set the World on Fire, The Odyssey.
So once we finally got Ulysses back home to Ithaca, another ProgPower experience
came to an end. No, it’s not the transcendental event that some would have
you believe. It’s got plenty of warts. But the Fest is always a
really fun weekend, as much for the socializing and hanging out with friends as
for the concert itself. Once again, we were happy and content as we turned
back onto I-85 and pointed the car south on the morning of September 16.
See y’all next year.
~ Review by Kit Ekman ~
Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
September 13-15, 2012
Where do the years go? The ProgPower festival is a stark reminder of the
passage of time, as this year marked Jen’s and my 12th annual
pilgrimage to Atlanta to partake of the event. At some point, all the
different installments of PPUSA blend together in my mind. Not much
changes from year to year. The fest is always held at the same venue, the
perfectly configured (albeit somewhat aged and decrepit) Center Stage music
hall in midtown Atlanta. Center Stage boasts a 900-seat “bowl” around a
300-person floor, with a quite large stage, comfortable concourses, ample bars,
and an adjoining room, Vinyl, that is used to house vendors and host spillover
socializing/drinking during the fest. Jen and I always stay at the same
hotel, the crappy (but thankfully cheap, safe, and more or less clean) Super 8
that is just a 10-minute walk from the venue. This year, the Super 8 has
been reflagged as an America’s Best Value Inn, but otherwise the song remains
the same. We see roughly the same people every year, and spend copious
amounts of down time out at the bar, sipping on beers, laughing, B.S.ing and
killing time with our friends. And the musical entertainment portion of
the event is always the same mixed bag of killer metal bands coupled with
boring prog acts and a few WTF? moments interspersed along the way. So in
some respects, the ProgPower fest is like our real-life ‘Groundhog Day’
movie. But we still have a ton of fun every year, so we continue to fork
over the cash, burn the vacation days, and chew up the long I-65/I-85 miles to
participate. Here’s how it went down this year:
Thursday, September 13, 2012
The formal festival didn’t start until Friday, but we drove up on Thursday
morning/afternoon to catch a couple of pre-fest kickoff events. The first
of these was billed as the Jon Oliva Workshop, a seated event for
approximately 300 people held in the Vinyl room from 5-7 p.m. We didn’t
quite know what to expect. Sure, we love Jon Oliva, and had an amazing
time in Tampa a few months ago attending the Hall of the Mountain King
25th anniversary gig. But this was a different animal
altogether. For starters, there was no band, just the Mountain King and
his drummer/producer/friend Christopher Kinder. The small Vinyl stage
(where vendors such as Sentinel Steel have hawked their wares in ProgPowers
past) was set up with Oliva’s keyboard rig, a Mac computer and some other studio
gear, two chairs and that’s about it.
What happened during this workshop was one of the most unique and magical
musical experiences I’ve ever witnessed. Mr. Oliva was in equal parts
storyteller, stand-up comedian, gifted musician, and informative tour
guide. The premise of the workshop was that he had been working on a new
song for the next J.O.P. album. He had worked out the riffs, the vocal
melodies, and the rhythm section arrangements, although he did not have many
lyrics. The idea was that he would show us how he and Kinder “build” the
song in the studio. So, right before our eyes, he recorded rhythm guitars,
then drums (of the electronic variety, played with his fingers on the keyboard),
then bass, then “lead rhythm” guitars (adding texture and depth to the main
riffs), then keyboards, then scratch vocals (more vocal melodies than actual
lyrics). There was an audience participation part where the 300 of us
belted out the words “Oh” and “No” repeatedly into the provided crowd mikes,
which duly captured and recorded our performance for the album. To an
outsider, the process was fascinating to watch, and it was remarkable (i) how
adept Jon is at playing all these myriad instruments, and (ii) how good the
“finished” version sounded after just two hours of single-take recordings in our presence.
But the song-building thing was just the tip of the iceberg.
Intermittently, Oliva would play a song or two for us on the keyboard, just the
man and his piano. So in this manner we heard Savatage classics like “If
I Go Away,” “Sleep,” “All that I Bleed,” a crushingly emotional “Alone You
Breathe,” and “When the Crowds Are Gone.” Jon’s voice sounded so strong,
and the atmosphere was so perfect, that this was spine-tingling, emotive,
powerful stuff. It’s no lie or exaggeration to say that I saw more than a
few damp eyes in the room. And maybe I’m a poser, but I felt the tears
welling up a time or two during “Alone You Breathe.” He played a Deep
Purple cover (“Child in Time”). He played a brand-new song that he’d
written just a week or two earlier, with a refrain about, “If it were up to me
/ There’d be no looking back” about a soldier who’d had his life basically
destroyed by combat injuries in the Middle East. You got the sense,
listening to Jon belt out these songs, that he was pretty much deciding what
songs to play on the fly, and that he’s got a vast repertoire (a human jukebox,
if you will) of songs that he could perform, unrehearsed and effortless, at a
moment’s notice. Remarkable.
So there was the interesting part of seeing how the recording process
goes. There was the emotional part of watching him play these
songs. And then there was the uproariously funny part of listening to the
man tell jokes and stories. Oliva’s a hoot, and had the room in the palm
of his hand with his hilarious anecdotes and comments. He told stories
about getting in trouble in school for being a better guitar player than the
guitar teacher, mouthing off, and getting called into the principal’s
office. The principal called his mother, and the conversation went like
this: “Mrs. Oliva?” “Yes.” “Your son’s in trouble again.” “Which
one?” “The fat one.” I thought I was going to die laughing.
He told stories about practicing with his brother Criss, and how Criss would
tease him because Jon couldn’t play so much of the guitar stuff that Criss did,
but Jon would say, “why don’t we work on a piano song,” just to needle his
true-metal brother. He talked about how he loathes playing “Sirens” after
all these years and how you never think when you write a song like that it will
stay with you forever. He told about recording J.O.P. albums in Kinder’s
laundry room, and beating on the washing machine to achieve a desired sound
effect. “Now there’s a new washing machine in there,” he deadpanned.
Then there was the poignant part that gave a little insight into Jon’s
soul. He said people ask him all the time how he does what he does.
It’s not that hard, he said. Many times, the chords are simple.
It’s just a matter of putting real emotion into what you do. He
demonstrated by playing/singing bits and pieces of “Heal My Soul” off the
‘Streets’ record. It’s not hard, he said. Anybody could write a
song, you just have to put emotion into it. And all of this discourse came
across as totally unscripted, genuine, and heartfelt. Basically, here’s
this guy who I think most metalheads would agree is a musical/songwriting
genius, and he’s up there going on in a self-deprecating way that it’s all
really simple and that any of us could do it. Had the message been
delivered differently, it could have sounded patronizing and contrived. As
it was, Jon sounded 100% humble and sincere. It was really a beautiful moment.
When the Workshop ended, festival promoter Glenn Harveston escorted those in our
group who had purchased tickets for the Nightwish/Kamelot show directly into the
main Center Stage venue. This allowed us to bypass the hellacious line
outside the front door that went all the way around the building. Some
people in that line had been waiting for 4 hours or more to get into the
gig. But we Jon Oliva Workshop guests were whisked into Center Stage ahead
of all of them. Fair? No, but Glenn has always gone out of his way
to give little perks to his core customers. This was one of them. So
Jen and I found a comfy spot over on stage left, in the second row. Nice
vantage point.
As Center Stage filled, it was a somewhat surreal sight to look around the
room. Definitely not a ProgPower crowd. Hell, it’d be a stretch to
call this a metal crowd. Lots of scrawny teenagers (male and female
alike) with Justin Bieber haircuts and goth clothes. Without question, I
am of a different generation than many, many of the folks attending that
concert. Thankfully, there were also familiar, usual PPUSA faces
intermingled with the crowd to cushion the blow a bit.
At 8:00 p.m., the Center Stage curtain lifted and Kamelot took the stage,
which was expansively customized for this opening act. A massive banner
depicting the forthcoming ‘Silverthorn’ album cover art occupied the back wall,
and there were several ornate steps and podiums around the stage allowing for a
multi-level experience. To my chagrin, drummer Casey Grillo’s kit was set
up at stage left, just a few feet from where we were standing. This was a
bummer because it meant we heard a shitload of drums in our mix. Vocals
were reasonably audible too, but I’ll be damned if I could hear much of Thomas
Youngblood’s guitar at all. It was a shame; however, the mix issues (where
were strictly a function of my vantage point) were the only fault I could find
with Kamelot’s performance. They were great. New singer Tommy
Karevik (Seventh Wonder) will make everyone forget the departed Roy Khan in the
blink of an eye. His voice has a similar timbre and emotional quality to
Khan’s, and he works the stage better than Khan ever did. Youngblood and
Medusa-haired bassist Sean Tibbetts were in constant motion from side to side
and up and down the platforms. And female backing vocalist Elize Ryd (also
of Amaranthe) spent several songs on stage, mostly standing atop a raised
platform in the rear middle of the stage. The 8-song setlist was well
chosen from the standpoint of a fan like me who prefers older, speedier Kamelot
to this new, moody, slowed-down crap they’ve been peddling for the last couple
of albums. Distilled into a short set, cuts like “Center of the Universe,”
“Karma,” and “Forever” hit hard indeed. I came away from Kamelot’s gig
much more impressed with them than I’ve been in some time, and am actually
anticipating the release of ‘Silverthorn’ now.
Setlist: Ghost Opera, Soul Society, Center of the Universe,
Karma, EdenEcho, Sanctimony (new song), Forever, March of Mephisto.
Unfortunately, I had the opposite reaction to Nightwish’s headlining
set. Oh, don’t get me wrong. The band are fantastic performers, and
I can chuckle at diminutive guitarist Emppu Vuorinen’s silly antics all night
long. Also, for all the flak she gets from certain quarters for not being
Tarja, singer Anette Olzon has really grown into the role of Nightwish
frontwoman and seems very comfortable and at ease, especially when she adopts
an evil persona and toys with the audience during “Scaretale.” I don’t
think she could have pulled that off on the last tour. Sure, some of her
mannerisms and style choices don’t exactly scream “heavy metal,” but she does
things her way and, in the context of the band, it works. Here’s what
doesn’t work: All of the slowed-down, mellowed-out, momentum-killing
parts of the set. It seemed like every time I blinked, there were roadies
moving little stools around the stage so that the band members could sit down
and play quiet songs. Early on we got an unwelcome, unwanted rendition of
the sultry jazzy “Slow Love Slow.” To paraphrase Olivia Newton-John,
“please mister please, don’t play ‘Slow Love Slow,’ I don’t ever want to hear
that song again.” Later on, just in case anybody was still awake, they
hit us with a toothless “The Islander” and “Nemo” featuring drummer Jukka
Nevalainen sitting in front of his drumkit tapping on a washboard. What
the hell? A further downer was “Higher than Hope,” which had Olzon
visibly shaken and tearing up as family members of the deceased fan for whom it
was written stood in the wings. And do we need the grey-haired
whistle/pipe player guy (Troy Donockley) out on stage for damn near half the
set? I don’t think so.
All of that reads pretty harshly, probably more harshly than I mean it to.
The Nightwish show did not suck. Absolutely, they are all entertaining,
super-professional performers. The opening salvo of “Storytime” into “I
Wish I Had an Angel” into “Amaranth” was pretty amazing. The folky, jiggy
“I Want My Tears Back” was a rousing, fun number. “Scaretale” definitely
has its moments, even if I always get annoyed at the Disney’s Haunted Mansion
bit in the middle. It was good to hear “Over the Hills and Far Away”
again, even if the vocal arrangement was totally different with Olzon singing
it. So yeah, it’s not like the gig was unsalvageable or anything.
But at the end of the night, I could not help but think that Nightwish has
probably gone a good way toward losing me as a die-hard fan. It started
with ‘Imaginaerum,’ which just seems overblown, forced, contrived, and errrmmm,
not very metal. And I carried over into their live set, which had way too
many (7!) of those damned ‘Imaginaerum’ tunes and not enough of the good
stuff. But you know what? I don’t think Tuomas Holopainen and his
crew are concerned in the slightest about turning me off. The crowd adored
them. They’re riding high on the crest of international superstardom, and
they’ve made far more fans with this new direction than they’ve lost.
Bully for them, I guess. Setlist: Long-ass boring
intro, Storytime, I Wish I Had an Angel, Amaranth, Scaretale, The Siren, Slow
Love Slow, I Want My Tears Back, The Islander, Nemo (acoustic), Into the Wilds,
Planet Hell, Ghost River, Higher than Hope, Over the Hills and Far Away, Song of
Myself, Last Ride of the Day.
Friday, September 14, 2012
I used to be one of those guys who spends the entire day at a festival chained
to the rail, so as to be in optimal viewing position for the bands I
love. The trouble with that strategy at PPUSA is that (i) many bands
along the way aren’t my cup of tea, and (ii) more importantly, I missed out on
lots of hilarity and hijinx at the bar. So it is rare these days for me to
find myself on the rail at ProgPower. But I did it today, albeit only for
Sinbreed, my most anticipated band of the festival. Why?
Their debut album from last year is a killer slab of Blind Guardian/Running
Wild/Seventh Avenue style German metal. And their live lineup features
not one but two members of Blind Guardian, including Marcus Siepen on second
guitar and Frederick Ehmke on drums. Plus their singer is none other than
Herbie Langhans of Seventh Avenue fame (?).
As expected, Sinbreed delivered a killer set racing through most of their ‘When
Worlds Collide’ album, as well as an excellent brand-new song entitled
“Reborn.” The choice of “Through the Dark” to kick off the show was
inspired, and the audience singalong in the middle of the awesome “Dust to Dust”
was a nice touch. Langhans proved to be a very energetic frontman, moving
constantly about the stage and giving his all. He was funny too, like when
he triumphantly held up his can of Budweiser (pointing to it as if to say, “Look
ma, I finally made it”) and laughing when guitarist Flo Laurin experienced
tuning problems, “It doesn’t matter if it isn’t in tune. This is heavy
metal.” My only criticisms were that, other than Langhans, the band was a
bit static, with the members choosing to headbang in place rather than moving
around. (Not really surprising for a band that likely has little live
experience.) Also, the reliance on backing tracks was occasionally
distracting, especially during times when the prerecorded parts were guitars and
neither guitarist was actually playing anything. But these are small
nits. Sinbreed definitely lived up to my expectations and kicked off
ProgPower XIII with a bang. Oh, kudos to them for not using the full 60
minutes they were allotted and instead hitting us hard with 45 minutes of their
best material, then taking their bows before they wore out their welcome.
Setlist: Through the Dark, Newborn Tomorrow, Enemy Lines,
When Worlds Collide, Dust to Dust, Reborn (new song), Salvation, Book of Life.
I spent the entire Kingcrow set at the bar, but heard enough to know their brand
of prog is not for me. Next up was Amaranthe from Sweden. I
know they’re something of a polarizing act in underground metal circles, with
some being enchanted by their catchy triple-vocal approach (female, clean male,
extreme male) even as others are repulsed by their formulaic, calculated
bubblegum stylings. I fall into the former camp, although I certainly
understand and appreciate the latter sentiment. My reaction to their
performance was similarly conflicted. On the one hand, they have some
incredibly catchy songs, and I can’t help but sing along and throw my fist to
tunes like “Hunger,” “Automatic,” “Call Out My Name,” and “Leave Everything
Behind.” All three singers (including the substitute growler) seemed
totally into it, and were highly entertaining to watch (okay, maybe especially
Elize Ryd, who definitely rocks out and is not exactly tough on the eyes).
On the other hand, there were aspects of the band’s look and performance that
didn’t really feel like metal at all. You’ve got one guy coming out on
stage in a red hoodie, with the hood pulled over his head. Another guy
looks like a refugee from a rap video. The bubblegum poppiness of the
material is hard to overlook (especially the ballad “Amaranthine”).
Ultimately, though, I give Amaranthe a thumbs-up for their performance at PPUSA.
They sounded good and definitely kept the audience’s attention throughout the
set. Later, I learned that it took a minor miracle for Amaranthe to play
this gig at all, as their backing tracks were in the luggage that Lufthansa lost
on the Transatlantic journey, requiring a last-second mad-dash scramble for them
to come up with a workaround that enabled them to play this gig. Well
done. Setlist: Leave Everything Behind, Enter the
Maze, Serendipity, 1,000,000 Light Years, Amaranthine, (some song I didn’t
recognize), My Transition, Rain, Call Out My Name, Automatic, Hunger.
It seems like every year, there are one or two bands at ProgPower whose albums I’ve
meant to spend quality time with before the festival but simply don’t get around
to. (Sometimes it kinda sucks to have a job, family, friends, a life,
interests outside of metal, etc., but it is what it is.) This year
Austria’s Serenity were the band that fell through the cracks. My
bad. Sounding something like earlier/better Kamelot with a Tony
Kakko-style vocalist, Serenity damn near stole the show. Everything was
flawless. Serenity brought a stellar batch of songs, drawn almost equally
from all three of their albums. They brought good stage presence,
accentuated at times by a female vocalist, Clementine Delauney (whom Jen
accurately described as looking like an Austrian Barbie doll). They
brought a sense of humor, with frontman Georg Neuhauser calling us “the best
audience we’ve ever had in America” (yep, it was their first show in the USA)
and offering to give out Delauney’s phone number to anyone who bought Serenity
merch. They brought gorgeous multi-part vocal harmonies, with keyboardist
Mario and bassist Fabio really making their presence felt. And they
brought the kind of giddy enthusiasm and joy that we sometimes see at ProgPower,
when a little-known European band crosses the pond to be treated with pure
adulation by the PPUSA audience. You can’t fake those ear-to-ear grins,
and the Serenity guys and gal looked positively ecstatic with their
reception. Fantastic gig, and definitely one of the best of the
weekend. Setlist: Rust of Coming Ages, Reduced to
Nothingness, Heavenly Mission, Far from Home, Fairytale, New Horizon, Coldness
Kills, Serenade of Flames, Velatum, Engraved Within.
I had penciled in Ireland’s Primordial as a good “dinner break” band;
after all, I had never heard a note of their music before. But my friend
Mark was talking them up beforehand, so Jen and I decided to check them out for
a few songs. Fascinating. I was expecting a cacophonous death metal
wall of noise, but what I heard was something far more interesting, with enough
melody in the riffs to offset the brutality and basically clean (albeit fairly
monotonous) vocals. Visually, Primordial were quite a spectacle
too. First of all, the front of the stage was so spartanly lit that the
band were performing in deep, dark shadows. The bass player and
(especially) singer Alan Averill were decked out with corpse paint covering
their faces, bald domes and (in the singer’s case) arms. Averill is a
highly intense performer with quite a flair for the dramatic, as he squeezes
every lyric from the depths of his soul. No, I didn’t stay for their
entire set (dinner beckoned, after all). No, I won’t be running out to buy
their discography. But Primordial were definitely far more interesting
than I had expected, and I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to watch them
do their thing onstage for 20-25 minutes.
Redemption are something of a “house band” at PPUSA, this being their
third performance over the years (not counting Ray Alder’s separate visit with
Fates Warning a few years ago). Tonight was special, though, because they
were filming the show for an upcoming DVD release. And they spared no
expense. The centerpiece of their stage set-up was a massive video screen
behind the band that was well integrated into their set, from kaleidoscopic
images to flashing the band’s logo to heartfelt portrayals of “Warriors” and
“Fallen but Not Forgotten” metal artists during “Stronger than Death,” the
anti-cancer part of the evening. (Guitarist/mainman Nick Van Dyk is
himself a cancer survivor, so this all hits close to home.) The crowd’s
roar when Ronnie James Dio’s picture hit the screen sent shivers down my spine,
as did the “Cancer Is My Bitch” line that flashed up there shortly
thereafter. Cancer may have brought Van Dyk to his knees, and damn near
to his grave, but here he was, still standing, smiling and rocking out for us
in Atlanta. Now, my patience for prog metal is vanishingly close to zero,
but Redemption have a special place in my heart. I think it’s the
combination of Alder’s emotive vocals and Van Dyk’s gutwrenching lyrics that
just hits me. Or maybe I’m becoming a wimp in my old age. All I
know is that I enjoyed the hell out of their set, especially when they went
back-to-back with “Parker’s Eyes” (never played live before) and “Fall on You,”
two of the most emotionally resonant songs in their repertoire. The widdly
diddly parts still annoy/bore me, but when the emotional payload is that
satisfying, I can endure the other gratefully. I’ll be first in line to
buy that DVD, no doubt. Setlist: Threads, Suffocating
Silence, Dreams from the Pit, Parker’s Eyes, Fall on You, Noonday Devils,
Stronger than Death, Black and White, Death of Faith and Reason, Walls.
Tonight’s headliner was Epica, all the way from the Netherlands.
I’m just a casual fan, so I’m not very familiar with most of their material,
but I was expecting a good show nonetheless. What I was not expecting was
a 1+ hour delay in their start time. By the time the curtain dropped and
Mark Jansen’s troops hit the stage, it was around 12:45 a.m. That’s
ridiculous. I’d been in the building for 11 hours. I’d been
drinking beer for about 9 hours. I was tired. And I wasn’t
alone. There was a distinct lack of energy in the audience, even though
the room remained nearly full. Still, Epica powered through as best they
could, delivering a quality 90-minute set of their patented
beauty-and-the-beast metal. Female vocalist Simone Simons is, of course,
visually stunning, but she also sounded great. The interplay between her
ethereal vocals and Jansen’s vicious screams from the bowels of hell is
something to behold. Also, all members of Epica (including Simons) are
truly fantastic headbangers, and they’ve reduced the skill of flailing hair to
an art form. I would stand there, mesmerized by the rhythmically swaying,
swinging and twirling follicles on the stage. I think the effect was so
hypnotic that it actually made me sleepy, because I caught myself nodding off a
time or two. The other cool effect that Epica brought with them was a set
of CO2 jets that sent blasts of compressed air from the floor to the rafters of
the theater at various well-timed intervals. It was cool as hell until
some of the jets ran out of CO2 and stopped blasting anything up to the
ceiling. Overall, I was pleased to see Epica tonight, but definitely
wouldn’t call it a transformative live experience or anything. Epica do
what they do, and I think it’s pretty cool, but I’ll probably never truly “get” that band.
It was well after 2:00 a.m. when Epica called it a night. All that
remained for the first official day of PPUSA XIII was the ceremonial roster
announcement for next year. Per tradition, after the show ends on Friday,
promoter Glenn Harveston rolls a video presentation announcing all the bands
who have been confirmed to play next year. It’s always interesting to
hear the reaction of the crowd to particular bands. What will 2013 bring
for ProgPower? ARMORED SAINT. Woo-hoo. Oh, and SABATON.
And WOLF. And Matt Barlow’s new band. And REINXEED. But
mostly ARMORED SAINT. Yep, the Ekmans will be there.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Okay, today definitely got off to a slow start. First on the bill at 2:30
p.m. was Germany’s prog-rock combo Beyond the Bridge. People seemed to
like them, and gosh they were moving a lot of merchandise, but I had pretty
much zero interest, even with Herbie Langhans on lead vocals. So,
predictably, I was killing time at the bar when I struck up a conversation with
Seven Kingdoms guitarist Camden Cruz. Incidentally, Seven Kingdoms (who
were not performing this weekend) used PPUSA to stage an all-out promotional
blitz for their forthcoming CD, ‘The Fire is Mine.’ The goodie bags given
to fest attendees bore the Seven Kingdoms logo, and all 7K members were present
at the door to hand out the bags personally. There was an enormous Seven
Kingdoms banner in the entranceway to the venue, and the world premiere of
their new video clip for “After the Fall” aired on the concert hall’s video
screens after the Pretty Maids set tonight. Anyway, Camden and I were
talking, and he offered to give me a sneak peak of the new album. Hell,
yes. So the two of us went out to the Seven Kingdoms PT Cruiser of death,
and he proceeded to play about 30 minutes of ‘The Fire is Mine’ for me in a
private listening session, complete with running commentary about the songs and
production process. In all honesty, I was blown away. I’ve always
enjoyed Seven Kingdoms, both on disc and on stage, but ‘The Fire is Mine’
elevates their game substantially across the board. Songwriting,
production, choirs, vocals, arrangements … wow. Get ready for ‘The Fire
is Mine’ to turn some heads when it is unleashed upon the world next month on
Nightmare Records.
I emerged from my Seven Kingdoms listening session in time to catch most of
Lanfear’s set. The Germans have always been something of a tough
case for me. To be sure, they neatly straddle the line between progressive
and power metal, and they’ve recorded some very solid albums, but they’ve also
recorded some duds. Quite honestly, I’ve never paid them a great deal of
attention, although I own a couple of their albums. Watching them live was
not a superlative experience, but it was enjoyable and pleasant for what it
was. Extra points are awarded to their singer for being such a
goofball. He was hilarious. At one point, a propos of nothing, he
introduced the crowd to the bass player Kai, and had us all say, “Hi Kai”
several times. He then implored us to say “Hi Kai” every time we see the
bass player for the rest of the day, whether it’s at the bar, in the men’s
room, wherever. He made fun of his own German accent. And he
indicated that the band was about to play a brand new song that lasts 25 hours
and is going to be made available only on a “double hard-drive edition” because
it’s so long. The name of the song, he said, is “Silence.” He then
paused for a couple of seconds, and said “thank you very much. Now, for
our next song ….” What a ham. It was worth it to watch Lanfear’s
set just to hear what the singer would say next.
The third band of the day was modern melodic death outfit Solution .45
from Sweden. They announced that this was their first show ever, which
had me scratching my head as to what they were doing here. Their brand of
paint-by-numbers Soilwork mimicry sounded totally uninteresting to my
ears. I guess they were booked because their singer used to be in Scar
Symmetry, and built up a fair amount of notoriety for himself through that
venture? I don’t know. Some people really enjoyed the band, but
after three or four songs, I had had enough and made my way back to the bar.
Fortunately, the festival kicked into high gear with Mystic Prophecy’s
7:00 p.m. set. Given the lackluster start to the day, PPUSA was in dire
need of an adrenalin shot, and that’s precisely what R.D. Liapakis’ crew
brought to the party. These guys didn’t so much play as they did attack
the stage, bearing a kind of ferocity and no-holds-barred intensity that
brought to mind vintage Brainstorm. Guitarists and bass player were a
blur of energy as they careened across the stage, hair flailing, heads banging
in reckless abandon. And Liapakis presided over the affair with power and
grace, clad in his black leather cowboy hat and spectacles, albeit expressing
occasional irritation that so many fans had parked their fannies in the
seats. The setlist was culled mostly from the new ‘Ravenlord’ platter (5
songs) and 2007’s ‘Satanic Curses’ (4 songs, including the somewhat pointless
“Paranoid” cover), but the whole thing pretty much ripped. Not quite sure
why they ignored their first 3 albums, but no matter: Mystic Prophecy kicked
major ass and left the hardcore rivetheads in attendance thoroughly
satisfied. (Of course, the proggers turned up their noses, as I heard a
number of snarky comments from the peanut gallery after their set, but that’s to
be expected from slide-rule-and-pocket-protector crowd.) Best of all, the
whole thing was filmed, and Liapakis promised that the footage will surface as a
bonus DVD to the band’s next album, expected to surface in early 2013.
Awesome. Setlist: Eyes of the Devil, Savage Souls, Die Now,
Sacrifice Me, Endless Fire, Hollow, Dark Forces, Satanic Curses, We Kill! You
Die!, Ravenlord, Paranoid, Evil Empires.
Next up was Mayan, which is the “other band” of Epica’s Mark
Jansen. It’s more death-metal-and-brutality oriented than Jansen’s day
job, so I wasn’t expecting much. As it happens, though, I lasted for more
than half their set, simply because of the interesting guest singers Mayan
employed. There was a black-haired, tattooed, mustachioed, heavyset guy
who came out and sang amazing clean vocals during several tunes. I didn’t
recognize him, and was dumbfounded to learn afterwards that it was none other
than Henning Basse of Metalium fame. Honestly, it looked nothing like
him. The other marquee guest vocalist was the one and only Floor Jansen
(After Forever), for whom a compelling case could be made that she is the best
female vocalist in heavy metal today. Eventually, however, the incessant
blast beasts and predominant extreme vocals wore me down and wore me out, and I
beat a retreat to the relative tranquility of the Center Stage lobby for another brew.
It took 30 years, but Denmark’s Pretty Maids had finally arrived on
American shores. There was definitely a “buzz” about Pretty Maids all
weekend long, with many attendees proclaiming them to be their most anticipated
act of the fest. Jen and I found a nice spot close to the stage, and
settled in for what was a memorable 75-minute performance. Visually,
Pretty Maids proudly took the 80s glam look and ran with it: Big hats,
colorful outfits, you know that whole L.A. sleaze appearance. To be sure,
singer Ronnie Atkins (is he Biff Byford’s grandfather?) and guitarist Ken
Hammer show their years, but it didn’t matter when the performances were this
good. Pretty Maids did a masterful job of mixing up their heavier
(better) material with their wimpy AOR stuff, and successfully promoted their
newish ‘Pandemonium’ opus while still finding time to hit most of the classics
that people expect. Hearing stellar renditions of such metal evergreens
as “Back to Back” (my favorite), “Future World,” “Red Hot and Heavy,” and
“Yellow Rain” was simply sublime. I had less patience for the wimpy part
of the program like “Walk Away” and “Please Don’t Leave,” but I understand
that’s always been part of Pretty Maids’ schtick. Anyway, they went over
brilliantly with the ProgPower crowd, and looked to be enjoying themselves
immensely. I didn’t particularly enjoy their detour out of “Red Hot and
Heavy” and into “Smoke on the Water,” but whatever. Glenn Harveston
definitely didn’t enjoy that detour, which resulted in the band overrunning
their time by a minute or two. In a disappointing gesture of
small-mindedness (the fest was already running quite late because of delays
that had nothing whatsoever to do with Pretty Maids), Harveston ordered the
curtain closed before the band could even take their final bows. The last
thing I saw was the bass player pleading with the crew to hold off on the
curtain for just a moment, to no avail. Disrespectful and petty, I’d say,
and it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth after an outstanding Pretty
Maids show. Punishing Pretty Maids because the Fest hadn’t been running
on time all day is not the way I would have played it, had it been my
call. Setlist: Pandemonium, I.N.V.U., Hell or High
Heels, Walk Away, It Comes at Night, Yellow Rain, Back to Back, Rodeo, Little
Drops of Heaven, Please Don’t Leave Me, Love Games, Future World, Red Hot and Heavy.
It was another backbreaking, 1-hour set changeover as we waited for tonight’s
headliner. Something really should be done to get these headliners on
stage before 12:45 a.m. They’re scheduled to go on at 11:30.
It’s a long day, people are tired from standing on their feet and drinking
alcohol all day long (plus not sleeping all weekend), and that last hour of
waiting really sucks the life out of the audience. The headliners notice
it, for sure, and often comment from the stage that the crowd needs to wake
up. It really does a disservice to audience and bands alike. (Glenn
knows it too, as he took the microphone and urged/demanded/ implored people to
stick around for Symphony X tonight. Had the Fest run on time, that
wouldn’t have been necessary.) But whatever. The pleasant diversion
of the new Seven Kingdoms video helped kill some of the time. The video
went over well, as the concert hall remained mostly full while it was playing,
and there was an enthusiastic roar of applause from the crowd when it
ended. Hopefully it was worth the sizeable expenditure of promotional
resources for Seven Kingdoms to position themselves before the PPUSA audience in
this manner.
Finally, at around 12:45 a.m., the curtain lifted and Symphony X took the
ProgPower stage for the first time in 9 years. I’ll be damned if they
didn’t put the crowd to sleep from the get-go by opening with the 20-minute
“Divine Wings of Tragedy” epic. After that, the band whipped into a
selection of heavier, more aggressive new tunes from the ‘Iconoclast’ disc but
the damage had been done. The crowd was beat. I was beat.
“Dehumanized” got my attention, as did the incredible “Set the World on Fire”
from ‘Paradise Lost,’ but I was still struggling to stay awake. It wasn’t
the band’s fault. Russell Allen was singing his ass off, and Michael
Romeo was delivering the kind of masterful guitar clinic that we’ve all come to
take for granted by now. But the fact remains that the room had only a
fraction of the energy that it did during Pretty Maids’ set. It’s a
pity. As Symphony X came back for their encore, Jen was congratulating
herself for having stayed awake for the entire Festival. Victory was in
sight. Then Allen announced they were playing the 26-minute opus, “The
Odyssey,” as their encore. First Jen wanted to know if he was
joking. When I assured her that he wasn’t, the storm clouds gathered,
Jen’s brow furrowed, and she made a number of comments not suitable for
printing in a family publication. During the interminable musical journey
that followed, she kept saying things like “I could have gotten Ulysses back
home by now” or “Couldn’t they just play ‘Sirens’ by Savatage and call it a
night” or “Even Homer nods.” To her credit, she did indeed stay awake
until the end. I doubt, however, that she’ll be signing up to attend a
Symphony X gig anytime soon. Setlist: Divine Wings of
Tragedy, Iconoclast, End of Innocence, Dehumanized, Electric Messiah, Serpent’s
Kiss, Set the World on Fire, The Odyssey.
So once we finally got Ulysses back home to Ithaca, another ProgPower experience
came to an end. No, it’s not the transcendental event that some would have
you believe. It’s got plenty of warts. But the Fest is always a
really fun weekend, as much for the socializing and hanging out with friends as
for the concert itself. Once again, we were happy and content as we turned
back onto I-85 and pointed the car south on the morning of September 16.
See y’all next year.
~ Review by Kit Ekman ~