Recap of March 24th show - The Official Post!!

[BARfest]

Thanks to ALL who attended and participated in our first show out here. I wanted to say a few words of thanks to everybody on this forum and make a few comments on the show- Im not going to make many musical comments since I didn't get to see that much of the show --Ill let everybody else pile on for their musical comments!!

First of all the bands--
Timeline opened the show with only 2 songs-- but when was the last time you saw an opening band pull out a 35 minute song! The epic on their forthcoming album is a great journey that was a great way to make a statement-- this is progressive rock baby! A huge thanks to all the guys for being a part of this from the beginning and having me out to their studios numerous times to hear the new stuff from the beginning!

Zero Hour aka "Captain Insano" are really in a class by themselves. When I saw them at ProgPower I was blown away by how good and unique they were -- Chris's powerful vocals over the Tiptuns and Mikeys' killer grooves create an atmosphere which is unlike anything I have ever heard-- A huge thanks to the Tiptuns for ALL of their help in making this night happen-- the endless flyers throughout the area-- the TV tapings in San Jose, the countless hours on the phone chatting through all the details and giving me "School of Rock Promotion" 101. Your sincerity, talent and passion are an example for every band in this business-.

I was also really excited to see Redemption again-- it had been 3 years since I had seen them their first ProgPower.. I was a huge fan of the first album and it was so great to watch the evolution of Nick's writing and playing as well as hear Ray and the great band! Many many thanks to you and the guys for making the RV trek up from LA especially after doing a show the night before. Redemption has such a great future ahead of them with Headway and ProgPower this year as well as the new album. A huge thanks to Nick for making this happen. I hope to bring them back for other events that I do in the future!

Now for Enchant-- where do I start!! They were the only band that I really got to watch closely after the ticket sales were done--In my opinion they were even better than the DVD show! The early songs were so powerful to hear again. It is a huge effort to come back after a hiatus and deliver such a great performance. To see them on stage again made all the work that we had put into this worthwhile. There are very few bands that I have ever seen in my life that have all the elements of what I love-- great musicianship, incredible stage presence, melodic AND powerful songs, and a great love for their craft- and their fans. After getting to know the guys in the band over the past few months and understanding what they have to go through to juggle their families and jobs while still pursuing their dream it was SO moving to see them play—I felt the music and the lyrics in a different and more personal way. I was so excited to see them happy playing together again. I hope there will be more Enchant material and shows in the future!

A huge thanks as well to my 2 compadres behind the scenes who were instrumental in making this happen- Eric from Timeline and I have been working on this from the beginning over a few beers 9 months ago. His AV expertise, knowledge of the bands and similar musical taste, and overall good spirits have been instrumental to the mood and details of this festival. If I just could take back all the beers that we have put away over the past 9 months – I would be 20 pounds lighter!

Bear was a huge help beyond words that night- his stage management, and overall presence and his CONSTANT enthusiasm for the music and what we are doing continues to be an inspiration to me. Additionally, he has shown his creative talents from putting the website together, all the posters and graphical elements as well as the VIP badges—I cannot thank you enough!

Many thanks to all the crew that showed up to help-- Marc Robillard and Tony rocked-- and gave unselfishly of their time and energy to make this happen

A big thank you to Guitars Not Guns -- I was glad that people could get to see all the great work this charity is doing in the Bay Area for youth to bring them to music--Barbara Gorin has been a genuine pleasure to work with and I know that we will do a great job of raising more money in the future! Thanks to the efforts of the show we were able to raise nearly $1000! This is great!

Also- a special thanks to Emerson Dong from Comcast who has been a huge help in promoting this show-- he filmed the entire show for the video screens on stage so everybody could see the show across the venue. Additionally, he was responsible for filming the TV spots for the show and getting them placed on the music channels in the South Bay as well as filming some local access shows which ran beforehand-- We will be using this footage for other promotional materials for the show--

Thanks most of all to the fans who came out to this-- I met fans who came in for this show from Michigan, Florida, Missouri, LA, Mexico -- Im sure there were many more! I was so pleased that we had so many people come for the whole show! We had the majority of the crowd in the door before Timeline went on stage! I also have to say that metal fans have the ability to put away some booze!

A special thanks to the venue -- the Avalon is a great place to hold the show-- the VIP/dressing room was priceless!!! We cleaned out some beer backstage-- that is for sure! Thanks for your great hospitality Mike and Julia!

Most of all thanks to my wife-- or "Mrs Dave" (as Jax has named her!) for putting up with me while I have been doing this--many of you got to meet her at the show--

Finally-- I just wanted to state that this has been a dream of mine for a long time to pull something together like this as well as the May show. I left music a long time ago in life to pursue technology and this has re-opened a well that will forever run deep –

Thanks to you all!!

 

[PMA]

Hey David, thanks for the show and our involvement. We actually played 3 songs, but who's counting......

We truly appreciated being there and being involved with Zero Hour, Redemption and Enchant. A great night for all!

 

[i am fabio]

Yeah Man! What a great night!

First Timeline came on and when they started the first song I was on the ropes about 'em (having never heard their stuff before) But nearing the end of the first song it all started coming into focus for me. The next song was killer and then they pulled out an epic 35 minute song as the opening band. Awesome Stuff! They made a fan out of me in the end and I very much look forward to seeing them again come May.

Secondly.......Seriously. Do I even need to comment on ZH's set? It flat out destroyed me. No joke. That set put me into what I call a metal coma. This is one band that I must see again very soon. Just such amazing musicians and a great bunch of guys. Got a chance to talk with them a little and they were some cool cats. I was standing in front of Troy for the whole set. Was gonna try and move to the other side and get a little Jasun action too but Troy was just incredible on that bass. As I expected Chris was top notch behind the mic, and Mike was killer too. I would find myself at times just in a trance, watching him behind the drums in amazement. These Guys are Metal. After that set the other night they moved many, many notches up my ladder of favorite bands. I'm glad they played "The Falcon's Cry" because that song has been owning me lately. Also I picked up the final piece to my quickly acquired ZH collection. Picked up "The Towers of Avarice" and got all the guys to sign it. I gotta say it one more time.....Man......What a killer set.

Next Redemption came on and I was very excited. I have one CD from them and like it alot, was very much anticipating a kickass set. I don't know if I was kinda just trying to get out of the metal coma that ZH instilled upon me or if all the alcohol just hit me all at once but I would say that this set was my least favorite of the night. It still was very good just my personal fourth favorite. They are all great musicians and I especially liked watching their bassist rip it up. Also after the keyboards got the volume turned up I noticed him tearing it up too. Great band and I look forward to checking them out again this year at ProgPower.

Then......Enchant hit the Stage. They were amazing. Me being a guy who didn't own anything from Enchant before the show. Let me tell you I went home with the DVD "Live at Last". I couldn't help myself. I wanted to be able to get as close as I could to reliving this experience at any time. I will also tell you that I will be getting the ENTIRE back catologue from Enchant a soon as logistics allow. They really made a HUGE fan out of me. You could really tell these guys love to play music. Awesome stage presence! They just played killer tune after killer tune. I hope these guys come back and Headline a show for us soon. Enchant =

Overall the night was pretty awesome. Met some very cool people. Had many beers. And got to watch more kickass live music than many could dream of. Can't wait for the May show because now I know what to expect........Nothing Less than Fuckin' Awesome!

 

[eboles]

Thanks for the coming out early to see us perform. These comments are great and we appreciate them very much. The set for May will include the
1st 2 songs we played on Saturday as well as a couple more new ones and
1 or 2 off the 1st CD.

Cheers,


Eric

Yeah Man! What a great night!

First Timeline came on and when they started the first song I was on the ropes about 'em (having never heard their stuff before) But nearing the end of the first song it all started coming into focus for me. The next song was killer and then they pulled out an epic 35 minute song as the opening band. Awesome Stuff! They made a fan out of me in the end and I very much look forward to seeing them again come May.

Secondly.......Seriously. Do I even need to comment on ZH's set? It flat out destroyed me. No joke. That set put me into what I call a metal coma. This is one band that I must see again very soon. Just such amazing musicians and a great bunch of guys. Got a chance to talk with them a little and they were some cool cats. I was standing in front of Troy for the whole set. Was gonna try and move to the other side and get a little Jasun action too but Troy was just incredible on that bass. As I expected Chris was top notch behind the mic, and Mike was killer too. I would find myself at times just in a trance, watching him behind the drums in amazement. These Guys are Metal. After that set the other night they moved many, many notches up my ladder of favorite bands. I'm glad they played "The Falcon's Cry" because that song has been owning me lately. Also I picked up the final piece to my quickly acquired ZH collection. Picked up "The Towers of Avarice" and got all the guys to sign it. I gotta say it one more time.....Man......What a killer set.

Next Redemption came on and I was very excited. I have one CD from them and like it alot, was very much anticipating a kickass set. I don't know if I was kinda just trying to get out of the metal coma that ZH instilled upon me or if all the alcohol just hit me all at once but I would say that this set was my least favorite of the night. It still was very good just my personal fourth favorite. They are all great musicians and I especially liked watching their bassist rip it up. Also after the keyboards got the volume turned up I noticed him tearing it up too. Great band and I look forward to checking them out again this year at ProgPower.

Then......Enchant hit the Stage. They were amazing. Me being a guy who didn't own anything from Enchant before the show. Let me tell you I went home with the DVD "Live at Last". I couldn't help myself. I wanted to be able to get as close as I could to reliving this experience at any time. I will also tell you that I will be getting the ENTIRE back catologue from Enchant a soon as logistics allow. They really made a HUGE fan out of me. You could really tell these guys love to play music. Awesome stage presence! They just played killer tune after killer tune. I hope these guys come back and Headline a show for us soon. Enchant =

Overall the night was pretty awesome. Met some very cool people. Had many beers. And got to watch more kickass live music than many could dream of. Can't wait for the May show because now I know what to expect........Nothing Less than Fuckin' Awesome!

 

[Valarien]

Glad to hear everything went well. Looking forward to BARFest in May!

 

[SharkBlack]

WHEN ENGINEER'S HAVE HAD ENOUGH WITH WORK!! LOL
Putting the white board to better use!

Hey Dave! You are the man! Great Job with everything, what a cool show. The Avalon is such a comfortable venue. Jax and I had a fantastic time. It was such a blast hangin' out with all my friends and listening to the metal madness! And not just at the bar but it's not often when I get to see 4 killer bands play and I have friends in 3 of them.

To the guys in Timeline, you put on a great set, I'm glad you followed through and played the most epic song of the night! Set the mood!!! And it was simply amazing. Eric ya sounded great and it looked like you even had enough Jamba to get ya through it all.

Zero Hour! Zero Hour!! Zero Hour!!! - Dudes Rocked... My God Mike was wailing the shit out of his kit! Inspiring performance. And my metal bruthas Jasun and Troy just make it look so effortless! We spent some time in front of Troy, and being so close to his Mesa Boogies made it a mind blowing experience. Then on to the other side, The Tipton Tip was in full effect!! Jasun Rules, and with style!! And I'll never tire of watching the amazing talent and showmanship of Chris presiding over the whole thing... out of this world duders!! And it was cool to get the time to talk to each of ya! I appreciate the friendship, you're all quality guys...

Redemption... before these guys came on Nick flagged me down to say hi. It's always good to see Nick. (See ya in Atlanta BRO!) It's a fun ride and I have I enjoyed watching Redemption's rise to notoriety. And man I know why. Nick wins the most improved musician award! From song writing to execution he has worked himself into his success. And what a line up he's put together there. It was cool to see Ray (I was tempted to bring in my "Fates" plates from my car but this was Redemption's night heh!) Bernie ripped it up too. I was so happy they played Saphire!!! That SONG RULES!!!! Great job Redemption!!

Enchant was awesome! By this time I was gettin a bit tipsy (could have used a light beer on tap) but their set was cool, I'll be wearing my new Enchant Shirt everywhere!!

All in all I want to thank Dave for bringing these great shows to the Bay!! You Rule Man, and it was great meeting Mrs Dave!

Good seeing you again Satan, uh er I mean Bear!! You rule man...

...and to all the others Mark, Henry etc and also all the new friends I made..!! Until next time!!!

 

[Jax]

Ahhhh what an awesome night that was! Much respect and many kudos to Dave, Eric and Bear; you guys put together a sweet show & pulled it off SO seamlessly, quite a feat for the first time out (speaking as a veteran of the poorly run yet still much-missed nightmare known as Powermad )!

Much thanks to Brett for bringing me out for the show & being so much fun to hang out with..love ya muchly, m'dear, & can't wait for May!

And thanks SO much to Dave and Mrs. Dave (hope she likes the nickname, who knew it'd stick? ) for being so awesome; it was fantastic to meet you both, & I can't wait to see you again in May!

So yeah..is it May yet?