Behold... The Arctopus for PPUSA X!

[lasercd]

Jason:

You may have the perception that Nearfest has certain requirements for each edition but that is not correct. Nothing is madated that an RIO band or Italian band must appear. The organizers simply try to present a balanced presentation of the different facets of progressive rock. Some years are more successful than others. Everyone likes ice cream but no one wants to eat nothing but ice cream.

In my opinion a festival like ProgPower would best be served in the long run if it presented a broader scope of bands. Perhaps I give attendees too much credit but I think they would warmly embrace a variety of styles, rather than the narrow range we get now. Having said that - it ain't my gig - it's Glenn's and he does what he wants. Its my job to show up and be a pain in his ass as often as possible.

Ken Golden

 

[Stingray11214]

Its my job to show up and be a pain in his ass as often as possible.

Ken Golden

That said, if Glenn WAS going to bring in an instrumental band, there are far more superior ones.

Anyone ever heard of Apocalyptica?

 

[rms]

you mean the band that has a singer?

 

[lasercd]

Stingray:

I won't debate which is superior - your taste in music is obviously different than mine. In my opinion Apocalyptica is a bad example because:

1. They now use vocals.
2. Performing Metallica cover tunes on cello (no matter how clever) is not exactly stretching the boundaries of music, or the scope of this festival.

Ken Golden

P.S. - generally speaking I like Apocalyptica.

 

[TheLongshot]

You may have the perception that Nearfest has certain requirements for each edition but that is not correct. Nothing is madated that an RIO band or Italian band must appear. The organizers simply try to present a balanced presentation of the different facets of progressive rock. Some years are more successful than others. Everyone likes ice cream but no one wants to eat nothing but ice cream.

You are right, it is a perception. But, it does seem like in most years that is the 'pattern' that NEARFest has gotten into in recent years, that you can count on a RIO band being on the roster and an Italian band of some sort. Course, that's probably because it seems to be Rob DaLuca's preference. I'm interested to see how things change with him and Chad stepping down.

In my opinion a festival like ProgPower would best be served in the long run if it presented a broader scope of bands. Perhaps I give attendees too much credit but I think they would warmly embrace a variety of styles, rather than the narrow range we get now. Having said that - it ain't my gig - it's Glenn's and he does what he wants. Its my job to show up and be a pain in his ass as often as possible.

I'm glad that he's giving bands like Freak Kitchen, Volbeat, and in replacement Mustache chances. To be honest, before then, I was just about done with ProgPower. There is only so much of the same type of bands that I can listen to before I decide it isn't worth it. Put on top of that the costs involved with getting down to Atlanta (which seem to increase every year), it makes it hard to do.

If it weren't for the variety of bands that are in this year's lineup, I probably would have decided to stay home yet again, like I did last year. I hope that he continues to challenge the listeners with some unique bands mixed in with some of the more familiar sounds we are used to. I go to these things not just to see bands I'm familiar with, but to discover new bands. NEARFest was great for that. ProgPower, not as much.

Jason

 

[Evil Penguin]

Jason:

In my opinion a festival like ProgPower would best be served in the long run if it presented a broader scope of bands. Perhaps I give attendees too much credit.
Ken Golden

Yes, I do think you give them too much credit. They may get into these other bands if given the chance, but I think a good number will use these as break time to pick up merchandise, feed themselves, and hang out at the lounge.

I do think that all the video links on this forum for the less known PPUSA bands do very well to give their new music a fair chance before the fest starts.

And yes, Glenn has expressed some reservation about booking instrumental bands. People generally may want catchy chorus to sing along to and headbang to. There are always exceptions.

 

[Pellaz]

Well..... Ozric Tentacles has vocals -- in, like, two songs -- so I guess we can't rule them out completely for a future fest.

In my opinion a festival like ProgPower would best be served in the long run if it presented a broader scope of bands. Perhaps I give attendees too much credit but I think they would warmly embrace a variety of styles, rather than the narrow range we get now.

I suppose it's a matter of how wide your stylistic range is. After all, this year Glenn has booked bands as diverse in intensity as Riverside and Amorphis. Many observers have noted that Riverside is more of a NEARFest-style band than a PPUSA metal band, and Amorphis drew the usual, customary fire from the anti-growlies crowd. If PPUSA gets any more diverse, it would begin eroding its identity as the world's premier progressive- and power-metal event.

Glenn's method seems to work, since, all the criticism notwithstanding, the festival sells out each year. Even this year, when Glenn took a lot of hell for booking several bands that had passed under a lot of people's radars.

Having said that - it ain't my gig - it's Glenn's and he does what he wants. Its my job to show up and be a pain in his ass as often as possible.

 

[sh0kr0k]

I'm having some serious déjà vu