Because you demanded it (well no, not really) here are my random thoughts on last weekends insanity:
- While we missed much of Outland and Orphaned Land, DC Cooper and Dreamscape ruled at the Pre-Party. The DC set was especially cool. He needs to play on the main stage next year!
- Gotta love that Gold Badge/VIP room at the Pre-Party. Made it possible to have conversations, or at least relax a little bit.
- The Residence Inn rules. Huge room, a refrigerator, and a damn tasty breakfast every morning Though sleeping until Noon on Saturday and skipping breakfast was probably the best idea I had all weekend.
- While I will likely never buy a CD of theirs (just not really my style of music), I thought Manticora put on a pretty good show.
- The Madison Grill still owns. And the have Stella on tap! Now if theyd only open for lunch on Saturdays. At least this year Houlihans had power and food on Saturday.
- Circus Maximus put on a good show and sounded great. Really good singer.
- Congrats to the staff at EarthLink for serving the food way faster than last year. And they make a pretty damn tasty burger there.
- While I couldnt get into their acoustic set at the Pre-Party, Orphaned Land rocked on Friday. Cant wait for their next disc.
- Proving that I can sleep anywhere, I napped between sets on Friday. Stupid medication
- Ahh, Conception. Something I never, ever thought Id see live. If I was picking their set list (which I did not), I dont think I could have ever come up with a better one. Every song I wanted to hear live, I did. A really special set for me. Tore was the best guitar player of the weekend. It was interesting having so many people come up to me and asking what I thought of Conception, or telling me how they bought a copy of Flow after reading about it on my old website. I should get royalties
- And yes, for those that asked, I am working on a new website where you can read all my yammering. It was supposed to be done months ago, but stuff keeps getting in the way. Someday soon
- We sponsored Conception this year. Mary and I are down with being sponsors at PP until Glenn decides to not do the show any more. We are involved in patron/sponsor programs for all the festivals we attend (RoSFest, Nearfest and PP). Anything we can do to promote the music we love and keep these shows going, we will do. And its really cool to be married to someone that loves music as much as I do.
- You can tell Angra tours and plays live shows regularly. They were ON the second they hit the stage. I didnt think the vocals were as bad as some, but I was so damn happy to see the band after all these years, perhaps I didnt care. The hour long intro tape has to go, though.
- Ken Golden didnt collect as much of our money as normal, probably because we bought 50 CDs at Nearfest, and not a lot of stuff has come out since then. But he still recommended a nice pile of stuff. The CDInzane guys were also cool, and we got to meet Lance King. Wouldnt mind seeing him perform next year.
- I love going to festivals and seeing a band that I know nothing about and getting blown away. This year at RoSFest it was Magenta and Cryptic Visions, at Nearfest it was Kenso, and at PP this year it was Stride. Goddamn they were good. Havent listened to the CD yet, but if its half as good as their live show, it will kick much ass.
- As always, 99.5% of the crowd at the show is cool. There are always a few asshats, and I always seem to witness something stupid. Some people should really think about how they behave outside of their own home.
- Ive also never heard any Symforce, but figured with Andy Franck as the front man, they would rock. And they did. I wouldnt mind if he showed up for PP every year with some band.
- It was much warmer in EarthLink than in the past. I like it meat locker cold, though I guess that does play hell with people singing.
- Pink Cream 69 is still one of the worst band names ever outside of the extreme death genre, but I thought they put on a great show and the crowd seemed to love them. More bands like this, please.
- Speaking of the crowd, was it me or was the floor a LOT more crowded this year? Plus, I thought the crowd on Friday was one of the most lively Ive ever seen at PP show. Right from the beginning the floor was packed and there was a lot of head banging and fist pumping going on. Good times.
- Ive never really gotten into Therions music, but I really enjoyed their live show. I thought the visual of the weekend was the crazy metal guys running in and around the opera people on stage during their set. And the Mercyful Fate cover RULED. Sounded better than King does these days.
- Sucks that you wont be able to have digital cameras at the show any more, but I can understand why. Between reading about all the attempts at bootlegging and the people sneaking other people in with their Gold Badges, I think a lot of ball tasering is in order for some people.
- I thought all the bands sounded pretty good this weekend. Until we got to Stratovarius. Way too loud and distorted. Not a good setlist from them, either. Their new songs are, um, not good. And did we need the home movies before the show? I think not. I was warned by many ahead of time that they were not very good live, and they were right. I think I was turned off by the publicity stunts that the band put on a few years ago, and am just not that into them. But at least they played their best song, Seasons Of Change.
- As always, we go to this show for the music. So we dont have a lot of time to socialize. Plus, I dont want to lose my seat. So I dont really get a chance to talk to as many people as long as I would like, especially since I only see a lot of them this one time a year. But it was cool to see Teri, Carol & Scott, Kez, Christina, Alicia, Jamie, Matt (your stories of house construction are really making me fear our proposed project), Chris F5, Jax, Glenn, Krusty, Larry D, Dweeb and a bunch of others. Sorry if I seemed out of it at some points, but I was. Ive been given my sixth medication to take now. Go US health care system!
See you all next year...
dt
- While we missed much of Outland and Orphaned Land, DC Cooper and Dreamscape ruled at the Pre-Party. The DC set was especially cool. He needs to play on the main stage next year!
- Gotta love that Gold Badge/VIP room at the Pre-Party. Made it possible to have conversations, or at least relax a little bit.
- The Residence Inn rules. Huge room, a refrigerator, and a damn tasty breakfast every morning Though sleeping until Noon on Saturday and skipping breakfast was probably the best idea I had all weekend.
- While I will likely never buy a CD of theirs (just not really my style of music), I thought Manticora put on a pretty good show.
- The Madison Grill still owns. And the have Stella on tap! Now if theyd only open for lunch on Saturdays. At least this year Houlihans had power and food on Saturday.
- Circus Maximus put on a good show and sounded great. Really good singer.
- Congrats to the staff at EarthLink for serving the food way faster than last year. And they make a pretty damn tasty burger there.
- While I couldnt get into their acoustic set at the Pre-Party, Orphaned Land rocked on Friday. Cant wait for their next disc.
- Proving that I can sleep anywhere, I napped between sets on Friday. Stupid medication
- Ahh, Conception. Something I never, ever thought Id see live. If I was picking their set list (which I did not), I dont think I could have ever come up with a better one. Every song I wanted to hear live, I did. A really special set for me. Tore was the best guitar player of the weekend. It was interesting having so many people come up to me and asking what I thought of Conception, or telling me how they bought a copy of Flow after reading about it on my old website. I should get royalties
- And yes, for those that asked, I am working on a new website where you can read all my yammering. It was supposed to be done months ago, but stuff keeps getting in the way. Someday soon
- We sponsored Conception this year. Mary and I are down with being sponsors at PP until Glenn decides to not do the show any more. We are involved in patron/sponsor programs for all the festivals we attend (RoSFest, Nearfest and PP). Anything we can do to promote the music we love and keep these shows going, we will do. And its really cool to be married to someone that loves music as much as I do.
- You can tell Angra tours and plays live shows regularly. They were ON the second they hit the stage. I didnt think the vocals were as bad as some, but I was so damn happy to see the band after all these years, perhaps I didnt care. The hour long intro tape has to go, though.
- Ken Golden didnt collect as much of our money as normal, probably because we bought 50 CDs at Nearfest, and not a lot of stuff has come out since then. But he still recommended a nice pile of stuff. The CDInzane guys were also cool, and we got to meet Lance King. Wouldnt mind seeing him perform next year.
- I love going to festivals and seeing a band that I know nothing about and getting blown away. This year at RoSFest it was Magenta and Cryptic Visions, at Nearfest it was Kenso, and at PP this year it was Stride. Goddamn they were good. Havent listened to the CD yet, but if its half as good as their live show, it will kick much ass.
- As always, 99.5% of the crowd at the show is cool. There are always a few asshats, and I always seem to witness something stupid. Some people should really think about how they behave outside of their own home.
- Ive also never heard any Symforce, but figured with Andy Franck as the front man, they would rock. And they did. I wouldnt mind if he showed up for PP every year with some band.
- It was much warmer in EarthLink than in the past. I like it meat locker cold, though I guess that does play hell with people singing.
- Pink Cream 69 is still one of the worst band names ever outside of the extreme death genre, but I thought they put on a great show and the crowd seemed to love them. More bands like this, please.
- Speaking of the crowd, was it me or was the floor a LOT more crowded this year? Plus, I thought the crowd on Friday was one of the most lively Ive ever seen at PP show. Right from the beginning the floor was packed and there was a lot of head banging and fist pumping going on. Good times.
- Ive never really gotten into Therions music, but I really enjoyed their live show. I thought the visual of the weekend was the crazy metal guys running in and around the opera people on stage during their set. And the Mercyful Fate cover RULED. Sounded better than King does these days.
- Sucks that you wont be able to have digital cameras at the show any more, but I can understand why. Between reading about all the attempts at bootlegging and the people sneaking other people in with their Gold Badges, I think a lot of ball tasering is in order for some people.
- I thought all the bands sounded pretty good this weekend. Until we got to Stratovarius. Way too loud and distorted. Not a good setlist from them, either. Their new songs are, um, not good. And did we need the home movies before the show? I think not. I was warned by many ahead of time that they were not very good live, and they were right. I think I was turned off by the publicity stunts that the band put on a few years ago, and am just not that into them. But at least they played their best song, Seasons Of Change.
- As always, we go to this show for the music. So we dont have a lot of time to socialize. Plus, I dont want to lose my seat. So I dont really get a chance to talk to as many people as long as I would like, especially since I only see a lot of them this one time a year. But it was cool to see Teri, Carol & Scott, Kez, Christina, Alicia, Jamie, Matt (your stories of house construction are really making me fear our proposed project), Chris F5, Jax, Glenn, Krusty, Larry D, Dweeb and a bunch of others. Sorry if I seemed out of it at some points, but I was. Ive been given my sixth medication to take now. Go US health care system!
See you all next year...
dt
