This is a response to Sean's questions about Nearfest, but I just saw Queensryche/DreamTheater/FatesWarning at Jones Beach Friday so thought I'd throw that in as well.
Nearfest was interesting. As usual, my opinions seem to differ from the average atendee at Nearfest, but I have to say that I liked alot of the bands. I was upset that we were late due to a traffic jam and I only caught 5 minutes of High Wheel, because they sounded great. Alamaailman Vasarat was a pleasant surprise for me.. very entertaining, versatile and talented. Flower Kings, Glass Hammer and Anglagard were also very good, and it was a great surprise to see Richard Williams of Kansas show up and perform Portrait with Glass Hammer!! I don't want to say anything negative about bands I wasn't into, but I'll just say it's interesting that I was told Pain of Salvation is too heavy for Nearfest and they are not taking progmetal bands, yet Sleepytime Gorilla Museum featured growling and screaming. Though I am a hugh Alice Cooper fan and enjoy theatrics, I didnt undertand Sleepytime Museum but others loved them. I also didn't understand Magma's music, and Tunnels was too abstract for me. I never got to see Camel because the 2nd day show was running over 2 hours late which was interesting since on the 1st day they wouldn't let Flower Kings do an encore saying they couldn't afford to pay overtime. Anglagard, however, was permitted to do 2-3 encores on the 2nd day. Anglagard's songs average something like 15 minutes in length.
QUEENSRYCHE WAS GREAT!! Geoff Tate's voice was amazing, better than when I saw them for Empire. Great songs. I don't want to give away the whole set list (if someone wants me to I will) but Tate hit every note in "Speak", and there were a couple of songs I didn't expect, and a great encore at the end with Dream Theater and Queensryche combined (they did something older than Speak). They never announced the band members and I can't recognize anybody but Tate at this point, but I believe Chris DeGarmo was there because the guitars were perfect. I just wished that Queensryche had the longer set, but Dream Theater was the headliner that night.
I like Dream Theater alot & have seen them several times, and this was one of their more self-indulgent performances. Strange song choices including the full version of "The Necromancer" by Rush and absolutely nothing from their latest Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album. Still they sounded great and brought Queensryche back for their encore which was cool. I like Fates Warning as well, and they were very good though their sound was bad which was distracting. Ray Adler's voice was excellent. So was James LaBrie's. Spock's Beard drummer played with Fates Warning and did a great job.
Nearfest was interesting. As usual, my opinions seem to differ from the average atendee at Nearfest, but I have to say that I liked alot of the bands. I was upset that we were late due to a traffic jam and I only caught 5 minutes of High Wheel, because they sounded great. Alamaailman Vasarat was a pleasant surprise for me.. very entertaining, versatile and talented. Flower Kings, Glass Hammer and Anglagard were also very good, and it was a great surprise to see Richard Williams of Kansas show up and perform Portrait with Glass Hammer!! I don't want to say anything negative about bands I wasn't into, but I'll just say it's interesting that I was told Pain of Salvation is too heavy for Nearfest and they are not taking progmetal bands, yet Sleepytime Gorilla Museum featured growling and screaming. Though I am a hugh Alice Cooper fan and enjoy theatrics, I didnt undertand Sleepytime Museum but others loved them. I also didn't understand Magma's music, and Tunnels was too abstract for me. I never got to see Camel because the 2nd day show was running over 2 hours late which was interesting since on the 1st day they wouldn't let Flower Kings do an encore saying they couldn't afford to pay overtime. Anglagard, however, was permitted to do 2-3 encores on the 2nd day. Anglagard's songs average something like 15 minutes in length.
QUEENSRYCHE WAS GREAT!! Geoff Tate's voice was amazing, better than when I saw them for Empire. Great songs. I don't want to give away the whole set list (if someone wants me to I will) but Tate hit every note in "Speak", and there were a couple of songs I didn't expect, and a great encore at the end with Dream Theater and Queensryche combined (they did something older than Speak). They never announced the band members and I can't recognize anybody but Tate at this point, but I believe Chris DeGarmo was there because the guitars were perfect. I just wished that Queensryche had the longer set, but Dream Theater was the headliner that night.
I like Dream Theater alot & have seen them several times, and this was one of their more self-indulgent performances. Strange song choices including the full version of "The Necromancer" by Rush and absolutely nothing from their latest Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album. Still they sounded great and brought Queensryche back for their encore which was cool. I like Fates Warning as well, and they were very good though their sound was bad which was distracting. Ray Adler's voice was excellent. So was James LaBrie's. Spock's Beard drummer played with Fates Warning and did a great job.
