I have a review I wrote for this past ProgPower. It's copied from my Livejournal, so don't mind the references to other people who are on my Livejournal.
Wednesday
My friends and I arrived on Wednesday for the Mid-week Mayhem show. Circus Maximus did a set full of covers, and a few of their own material. They were supposed to play covers with Pagan's Mind, but Pagan's Mind was on tour with Stratovarius and could not arrive until later in the week. Most of the covers they did were pretty typical, including Europe's "The Final Countdown." They also did Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer." This caused my ex to loudly proclaim "YOU MADE ME LIKE A BON JOVI TUNE." To be fair, they did a really good job covering the song.
After their set, a Queensryche cover band, Mindcrime, did the entire Operation Mindcrime album. The band was fronted by Zero Hour frontman, Chris Salinas. They did an excellent job. It was nice being reminded of Queensryche when they were actually good. And Pamela Moore actually sang a song with them, too! After their set, there was a live band Queensryche karaoke.
However, this was restricted to established vocallists, and my ex, Al got to do "Queen of the Ryche" since he's the singer for Katagory V. Before he did his song, Urban Breed (Bloodbound, Pyramaze, former Tad Morose) sang a song and pretty much ruled the night. After Al went on, the singer for Circus Maximus gave him a hug. All weekend Al had people coming up to him and congratulating him on the song. One guy even said "You owned Urban Breed!" The singer from Enchant, Ted, also loved Al's performance. They had a bromance the rest of the weekend.
Thursday
Thursday was the ProgPower showcase. The lineup was Future's End, Suspyre, Enchant, and Primal Fear. Future's End is a newer band out of California. They did an absolutely fantastic job at ProgPower. They brought two cases of their album with them, and it was sold out almost immediately after their set. dagnyt4gg4rtreally dug their set and was lucky enough to snag a CD before they were sold out.
Suspyre played a very solid set. I saw them live a few years ago when they played the Chicago Powerfest (before it turned into Ozzfest Jr.) For some reason I like this band a lot better as a studio band. They seem a bit more melodic on their albums than they do live. Regardless, they played a solid set, and were sporting a cute Asian chick as their keyboard player. Something they didin't have last time. And in case you were wondering, yes, she was awesome as a keyboard player.
Enchant also put on a really good show. They had entertaining crowd banter, and really good music. The singer also plays guitar, but I noticed he didn't actually sing AND play. This was somewhat disappointing, but singing and playing is pretty hard, and their music was really very good, so he's forgiven.
At one point during a quiet moment after one of their songs, Al yelled out "YOU GAVE ME AN EAR-BONER!!!" Ted, Enchant's singer found Al in the midst of the people and said "Hey! It's the Queen of the Ryche guy! Let's hear a scream!" Al of course obliged, and said scream could probably be heard up to the rafters of Center Stage - and he did it without a mic! And thus started the weekend of Ted and Al's metal brormance.
Primal Fear is one of those bands that I absolutely adore as a live band, but I cannot get in to their studio output. Regardless, they put on an amazing show this year. Ralf Scheepers' voice was in considerably better shape than last time (and he sounded great last time!) and his biceps are still bigger than my head. They did most of the songs you'd expect, including "Metal is Forever" which is always a crowd favorite. They also did a number of songs from their new album, which I actually purchased after their set. And guess what? I actually enjoy listening to the album! Well done lads, well done. They still have the stupidest lyrics ever, but we all know most Power Metal isn't known for deep lyrics. It's mostly just plain fun. Which I enjoy. Pamela Moore also appeared on stage with Primal Fear and did the same song she sang on Wednesday, but this time with Ralf. It was pretty epic.
Friday
At about 8AM Friday morning I get a call on my cell phone from seasonspeech. She and her friend Charles had arrived after driving all night and desperately wanted let into the hotel so they could sleep. At one point she even said "Oh man, the thought of sleeping in a bed gives me a raging boner!" So I got up and let both of them into the hotel room. Charles promptly collapsed on the couch, and Mallory climbed into bed with me (giggity!) Up until that point, Jessica (dagnyt4gg4rt) and I had the room mostly to ourselves (also giggity.) But it was fun sharing with Charles and Mallory.
Some hours later we all got up, got food, and headed back to the venue for the Friday night festivities. Since Friday is ProgPower's Corset Night, Jess, Mallory and I were dressed appropriately. Corset Night is very popular, especially with the male festival attendees...and even the musicians. XD Unfortunately, after the show, when we were walking back, some locals saw the three of us and started following us, all the while catcalling. That was not a pleasant experience. The rest of the night, however, was.
The first band of the night was Cage. This was one of the few bands of the fest I didn't actually watch. I had my fill of Judas Priest Jr. with Primal Fear, I don't feel the need to watch a band that desperately wants to be Judas Priest as much as Cage does. And the singer really, REALLY wants to be Rob Halford. He even dresses like him. However, fans of the band say they did an amazing job. I'll just have to take their word for it.
The second band of the night was Mindflow, a progressive band out of Brazil. Most of their discography is simply full of crazy prog music, so we were all pretty interested in seeing how they pulled off their materiral live. What we ended up seeing was disappointing. They sounded like Tool, and not at all like they sound on their albums. Jessica, however, really enjoyed their set. On the plus side, they were all really pretty. Brazil seems to produce pretty musicians.
Diablo Swing Orchestra was the third-slot band, a slot that Glenn Harveston reserves for "oddball" bands. DSO definitely falls under the "oddball" category! They were absolutely amazing. I want to see them again. Right now. They did primarily material from their first album, and a few songs from the new album. The band had lots of energy live, and seemed to have a genuinely good time performing. The cellist was even sick, and still managed to bring his A-game. The last song of the set, the singer and one of the other band members busted out Kazoos in leiu of the horn section that they weren't able to bring along. Jessica managed to snag a setlist, so if anyone wants to know what they played, ask her. We got to hang out with the band after the show. They were all very nice, and put up with us pestering them for photos. The bassist, Anders, even chatted with us for quite a bit! At one point Jessica even gave Daniel, one of the guitar players, a neck rub. Woo woo!
Sabaton was on after DSO. I'm not a Sabaton fan, so I got something to eat during their set. However, I did get back in time to see the last couple of songs, and get some photos. At some point during their set, the singer had a wardrobe malfunction. His pants ripped at the seam and Mallory "SAW SWEDISH JUNK!!!" as she put it. The singer had the most vivid green, scaly-looking boxers EVAR. But I do commend him for continuing the performance, despite his unfortuate malfunction.
After their set some of the members were hanging around outside the venue. Mallory was entirely too mortified to say hi to any of them, so I walked over and said hi to the keyboard player, Daniel. After I introduced myself, Jessica grabbed Mallory and bodily hauled her over to us, despite Mallory's claims that she would die. Daniel was very nice, and with a measure of amusement, weathered Mallory's nerves very well. At one point other members came out, and he called them over to say hi to Mallory, who of course, nearly fainted with glee each time. I'm not lying, she really did nearly faint with glee and nerves. Jessica can back me up on this. She also threatened to kill us both many times. In fact, I suspect I'm going to get threats over this part of my review. Oh, and her new nickname is "Alkaseltzer Battletits" courtesy of Daniel. MWAHAHAHAHAHA.
Royal Hunt was about to come on, so I left Battletits and Jessica to chat with Sabaton. I have Royal Hunt's, Paper Blood, which I really enjoy, so I was looking forward to seeing Royal Hunt live. The current singer is Mark Bowles, and he was really, really good. The band did not disappoint me, either. They pretty much covered most of their material, including a song or two off of Paper Blood, so I was very pleased. They had to lady backup singers too, and many of the men in the audience REALLY liked them.
The headliner of the night was Crimson Glory, which I sadly missed. I had gone outside to catch up with Jess and Mallory, and since Sabaton were still out there, I chatted with them. Other musicians wandered by, and we chatted with them as well. Time pretty much got away from me.
Crimson Glory basically did a tribute to Midnight, and had TONS of guest singers the entire set. I'm told it was quite the mighty set. I'll have to watch the DVD. :/ The singers that performed with Crimson Glory were: Urban Breed (Bloodbound, ex-Tad Morose), Rob Rock (Rob Rock), Mark Boals (Royal Hunt), Clay Barton (Suspyre) and Kelly Sundown (Beyond Twilight/Darkology) Wade Black (Crimson Glory/Leatherwolf), Zak Stevens (Savatage/Circle II Circle), Lance King (Pyramaze/Balance of Power), Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind), Chris Salinas (Zero Hour/Power of Omens), Ronny Monroe (Metal Church), Andy B. Franck (Brainstorm/Symphorce/Ivanhoe), Sean Peck (Cage), Danilo Herbert (Mindflow), Joakim Brodén (Sabaton), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus) and David Vanlanding (Crimson Glory/Michael Schenker Group). After CG was done, the lineup for next year's ProgPower was announced. I already posted the lineup, but I'll do so again at the end of this review.
Saturday
Satruday! Time for more rocking out! Since I was lucky enough to be a gold badge holder, I got to go to the guitar and drum clinics they had going on earlier that day. The two guitar clinics were Drew Creel (3-time winner of Austin's "Best Metal Guitarist" award) and Joel Gregoire. Both were really good, and Joel's clinic made me think I could play guitar - though we all know I can't. There was also a drum clinic with Casey Grillo of Kamelot after that, which was really good. And it was nice seeing Casey drum in time signatures other than 4/4.
Circus Maximus opened up the final night of the festival. The guys from Norway put on a really good set. They mostly played songs off of Isolate, which made me happy, but they did do a few songs off of the first album, too. They were just as good this night as they were on Wednesday night when they did their covers set.
Orphaned Land was another band I had no interest in seeing, so once again I went and got food during their set. Where we were eating Suspyre was also eating. We had a fun discussion about the Rules of Metal video - something they all thought was hilarious. But if you want to know how Orphaned Land was, ask Jessica and Mallory.
Pagan's Mind was next. They were very well-recieved two years ago, so were invited back again. As usual, they put on a really good set, and mostly played stuff from the new album. I only watched half the set since I'll be seeing them this coming Friday with Stratovarius. I am looking forward to that quite a bit. But all in all, if it's Pagan's Mind, you can't go wrong. And their bassist STILL grins throughout the set. I don't think I've ever seen a happier bassist.
Brainstorm was next, which I was really excited about. I caught Andy Franck outside during Pagan's Mind's set and got a photo with him. From what other Brainstorm fans told me, Brainstorm's set was not 100%. However, since I'd never seen them before, I thought they were absolutely astounding! I don't think I've seen a band with more energy. Though Andy did forget some lyrics here and there, which was odd. But Brainstorm at 50% is still better than most bands at 100%. I hope to see them again, especially since I wonder how face-meltingly great they are when Andy isn't off!
The headlining band of the evening was Fates Warning. I had been outside between Brainstorm and Fates hanging out with Jess, Mallory, and Daniel from Sabaton again, but I wanted to see if Ray Alder would actually sound good this time. Ray Alder's voice was in better shape, but the band down-tuned all the songs to fit his current range. Years of smoking have pretty much demolished Alder's high range. Regardless, they put on a really good show, and their encore was The Ivoryr Gate of Dreams! In its entirety!!! ZOMG. I had initially left half-way through to hang out with friends some more, but they had already left TO GO PARTY WITH SABATON. You bitches.
But if they hadn't left before I came back out, I wouldn't have gotten to see the coolest encore ever.
After Fates Warning's set was over, everyone cleared out of the venue and stumbled back to their hotels. When my friends and I got back to our hotel, Jessica and Mallory were still out. They arrived with Charles at around 5 AM (and woke me up. KILL YOU ALL!) The first thing I heard from Mallory was "SABATON! I HUNG OUT WITH THEM! I'M DRUNK!!! FREE T-SHIRTS!" Both Jessica and Mallory were given free Sabaton t-shirts. Needless to say, Mallory stopped being shy. XD
The next morning, after four hours of sleep, Ms. Mallory sits bolt upright and loudly proclaims "I SAW SWEDISH PACKAGE! FREE T-SHIRTS! SABATON!" No lie. That's how it happened. Al groaned and said "How are you functioning right now???" Mallory responded witih "I LOVE LIFE!" She didn't even have a hangover. The rest of us were less than sunshiny and energeic. Seriously Mallory, how the hell do you function???
All in all it was a successful weekend. The sad part is I have to wait another year for ProgPower to come again, and to see Mallory and Charles again. Sadness!
The video announcing next year's lineup is (for now) on the ProgPower website
www.progpowerusa.com Be assured I pretty much screamed, jumped up and down, and spun in circles for the majority of the announced bands. Jessica and Mallory have the ringing ears to prove it, and some poor sod behind me had the brused toes to prove it. I appologized for stomping on his poor feet, though.