PreParty Review

Magius

Magius

.................
Nov 19, 2005
1,948
3
38
Atlanta
Tonight was a great show, and almost everything was perfect. The only thing that wasn't were a couple spotlights, which I think need to be addressed in a different thread. Nevertheless, all four bands showed up with their A-game on IMO.

Theocracy: I was totally unfamiliar with this band before tonight, but I liked what I saw and heard. Definately a fit for the fest over all, and a good way to kick things off.

Circus Maximus: Okay, I'm not a big Prog fan by nature, but I think this band had the best performance of the night judging by audience reaction. A near full house standing ovation at the end. I really didn't get why the lead singer had to spend so much time off stage, but he can damn sure sing, and they sounded great.

Leatherwolf: I had my doubts. I wasn't sure Wade Black could fill Micheal Olivieri's shoes on vox, but he did pretty damn well. It's so unusual for a band's sound to be defined by drums rather than a signature guitar or keyboard, but Dean Roberts is still the heart and soul of the band, and he did a great job tonight.

CircleIICircle: Excellent! Perhaps a bit light on the 1st album, and heavy on the yet unreleased CD. Considering that to my ears "The Middle Of Nowhere" is a digital snoozefest I was a bit apprehensive about the new material. That said, I liked all the new songs they played, and tonight's performance convinced me to buy The Burden Of Truth when it comes out.

Kudos to tonight's sound man too!! Nothing drives me crazier than a bad mix with either lots of feedback, or a muted lead vocals mic. Awsome job on the sound!

Double Kudos to Shane. This wasn't the PP7 Pre-party. This show qualified as PP6.5

Now about those lights....
 
I second the appreciation for the mix. It sounded phenomenal, and I had just mentioned that to my wife about 10 minutes ago. Earplugs were optional for once, because there was no distortion and no icepicks. I wasn't real familiar with LeatherWolf, but the VP of Marketing-looking dude sure can play some drums. Overall, I thought the drumming from all the bands was off the charts, not that we didn't hear some righteous shredding also.
 
Yeah I enjoyed Theocracy. The bassist/other guitar player both seemed a little 'stiff' at times. I'm guessing it was partialy a newness to the material, and probably some newness to performing on a stage like that.


Circus Maximus made me a huge fan last night. Huge. Absolutely loved their set. The singer mostly went off stage (I think) to give the stage to his musicians. Seems that a lot of metal.. and prog metal bands do this. Might have topped the list on one of the favorite bands I've seen live.

Leatherwolf was a band I was completely unfamiliar with other than what I had heard on myspace. But I loved it. I love the old school of metal, and this band put on a great show. Wade's pearly white clenched teeth grin showed up into the stands. It was fun. And yeah, I told Dean just how great of a show it was, that it made somebody unfamiliar with them into a fan.

CircleIICircle was really good. I loved the Savatage tunes. And they sang some of my favorite ones. Dead Winter Dead is one of my favorite albums of all time. And the band was really into all of it. Great show.

I'll third about the sound. In my opinion, it is partially what makes PP one of the best shows in the world. Most shows I go to, sound is an afterthought. But at progpower is a huge priority. I mean.. in Circle II Circle I could easily hear the bass guitar. How often can you say that? Hell, I could hear every instrument and vocalist clearly. That is a wonderful feat.


Anybody else have to get up this morning to work? I forgot to take it off..
 
Similar thoughts here...I was not overly impressed with Theocracy, but it's still early in their career. Having jammed with them in the past, however, they are a GREAT group of guys and Matt and Shawn are AWESOME at what they do.

Circus Maximus owned. Fucking brilliant. That new song "You Can Lose It All" was GOLDEN!!!! My only suggestion would have been to switch the last two songs.

Leatherwolf were fun, but not really my thing. I was getting a little bored and had a sleepy wife on the shoulder so we left.

Can't wait for tonight!!!! Thanks Shane!!!!
 
I will echo the comments of everyone who's posted so far, so pardon me for not quoting directly, but Heavenly Call, if you were seated in the stands on the right side of the stage, I think I was right behind you... I definitely saw a man with his wife sleeping on his shoulder during the Leatherwolf set... and it made me sleepy as well :)

Theocracy was just OK for me... I have never heard them before, but I thought they did a good job kicking off the long weekend. For me, there wasn't enough for me to rush out and buy a CD.

I agree wholeheartedly that Circus Maximus was the best of the night as well. From where I was sitting in the stands, the arena floor was completely full for their entire set. Not being that familiar with them, I must say that I was completely blown away and will be picking up their CD at one of the vendors ASAP. They simply kicked ass.

Leatherwolf was pretty good too... I own a couple of the old CDs so I was pleased to hear some of the old tunes and I thought Wade did a good job keeping true to the originals. As I mentioned I was nodding off at times during their set, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't their fault as I woke up early for the drive into Atlanta. It was pretty sad to see the floor about half as full for Leatherwolf as it was for Circus Maximus... probably would have been a good idea to switch their slots, but hindsight is 20/20.

I thought CIIC was really strong, and loved that they played Edge of Thorns and Handful of Rain (as did the rest of the crowd, because those songs got the strongest/loudest response.) I didn't think the song from Dead Winter Dead (which I have forgotten the name of) was a good closer, though... that was a bit of an odd choice in my opinion. I liked the new material that I heard and I will definitely pick up the new disc. However, I'm not sure that playing 5 brand new songs in a row was the best idea... seemed to be a bit of a momentum killer in that very few in the audience knew the material and so we couldn't sing along. Still, I was impressed, but not enough to think that Circus Maximus was knocked off their well-earned King-of-the-Night status.

For my first ProgPower pre-party, I was very impressed and thought that Shane did a great job pulling together a fantastic night - especially by getting the show moved to the main stage!

I am sufficiently stoked to see the show tonight! CAN'T WAIT!!!!
 
Theocracy was fine as long as it was just the music playing.
Circus Maximus was awesome
Leatherwolf was FANTASTIC!!! The only problem was my wife was hit in the head with the brace for the boom camera. Some guy decided to take a shortcut under the camera and I guess he hit it and it proceeded to falll over and hit my wife in the head. She seems to be ok for now, just a knot and a scratch on her head. Hopefully it will not get any worse or we will be talking.
Circle II Circle was great as well
A wonderful night outside of the incident with my wife.
 
I(along with 7th.) attended the pre-party last night in Atlanta. Lots of Great music! Theocracy opened and they were incredible! The music sounded AWESOME! They did a few new songs that sounded incredible. Can't wait for their next record. These guys are true musicians in every sense of the word. The only negative thing I can say about them is that the bass player and guitar player lacked stage presence. Of course, that will come with time. From a musical standpoint these guys are amazing!

On to Circus Maximus. These guys are really good musicians, but honestly, I found myself not really able to get into them too much. 7th seemed to love'em! I can't really say anything bad about them, it just wasn't really my cup of tea. They do have a really good vocalist.

Leatherwolf! Whoa! These guys smoked! Pure metal with an attitude with lots of great guitar solos thrown in. They reminded me of a mix between Barren Cross/Iron Maiden/old Bride. I would think that any metal head would enjoy this band.

Circle II Circle: Pure genious! Brilliant musicianship, great stage presence! Need I say more? Get some of their cds, if you haven't already. They did a couple of songs from their upcoming disc and they sounded great! they did several Savatage songs which was, of course, AWESOME!

All in all, I think this was the best pre-party to date!
 
I had a great time last night....Circus Maximus definitely took the cake for me. Still a little disappointed that they held the Pre-Party in the actual venue instead of the club upstairs like last year...but oh well. I liked how it was small and you could easily meet people...guess alot of people like that too! Hence moving it to a larger stage...anyways, it's on again tonight! Can't wait! See yall there!
 
I had heard a bit of Circus Maximus' stuff before the set, but hearing it live I was absolutely floored. I went and bought the CD the next day! Amazing.
 
Circus Maximus was the best band of the night! The worst part of the set was that it was over so quickly. Hearing the new songs was a great way to whet my appetite for Spring 07. Excellent setlist, come back soon!
 
Circus Maximus should headline the pre party. They were absolutely the BEST band on the night.

Theocracy doesnt work for me on their album, but they were pretty good live.

Leatherwolf didn't grab my attention. I'm not familiar, and didnt really get into their set.

CircleIICircle made the night worth it by playing Edge of Thorns and Handful of Rain. SAVATAGE RULES. The new songs, however seemed a little weak. Hopefully the album won't be as bad as their last one. =\ (I love the debut though).
 
bsbarnes said:
I second the appreciation for the mix. It sounded phenomenal, and I had just mentioned that to my wife about 10 minutes ago. Earplugs were optional for once, because there was no distortion and no icepicks. I wasn't real familiar with LeatherWolf, but the VP of Marketing-looking dude sure can play some drums. Overall, I thought the drumming from all the bands was off the charts, not that we didn't hear some righteous shredding also.
Click to expand...


I guess I was the only one That could not hear the Pyramaze guitar leads, although I did see the fingers moving.. And on a few occasions saw Lance's mouth moving but heard nothing.. It seemed like they got figured out by the end of the Pyramaze set. After that it seemed to pretty good.. Leatherwolf sounded great..
 
rrhoadsfan1 said:
I guess I was the only one That could not hear the Pyramaze guitar leads, although I did see the fingers moving.. And on a few occasions saw Lance's mouth moving but heard nothing.. It seemed like they got figured out by the end of the Pyramaze set. After that it seemed to pretty good.. Leatherwolf sounded great..
Click to expand...

There was some muted vocals at the start of almost every set on Friday, but I thought they got it corrected by the 2nd song each time. The sound was perfect on Thursday.
 
Theocracy - really dug 'em... i was tickled I got to see 'em live... thanks for makin' the preparty available to those who WANT to see these bands!!!

Circus Maximus - one of my faves for the entire weekend... Holy freakin' hell!!! I too bought the disc the next day and got intro'd to the guys thru a pal...

Leatherwolf ~ huh ?? What?? Oh I think I was getting a drink or sleeping or something... yeah... that's it...

Circle II Circle... they were good but I was still amazed by Circus Maximus and laughin' my ass off with Drummer Man and Stian of Pagan's Mind... I don't think I've ever laughed so damn hard in my life... MALAKA!!!!
 
Or was it Savage Circus they said was best Friday night? Hell i don't know i was in and out all weekend and those 2 names sound alike,lol.
 
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