Review Power Prog Fest

[kittybeast]

A quick and painless review on the Power Prog Fest :

I think Glenn should take legal action…all night people kept messing up and calling it ProgPower West……nuf said bout that.

I pretty sure the promoter lost his ass on this show. Turnout was very poor due to lack or promotion. Which in turn was good for me cuz I got to get side stage and take pics during Nevermore's set. \m/ I’m only guessing when I say maybe 300 tops. The label that handles Scarred looks like they had a few of their other bands play the show as well, there were several Death/Black metal bands playing but I wasn’t interested in those. The promoter must be linked with that label because we certainly couldn’t figure out why Scarred played right before Nevermore instead of Agent Steel, who put on a kick ass show, pumped the crowd up got everyone wild to listen to Scarred who most never heard of and are mediocre at best.

Doors opened an hour late. Goodie bag consisted of a Scarred sticker, bottle opener and EP. A Century Media 2006 Sampler cd, Noctuary cd and a CM Distro 2 disc sampler. The one thing that was shocking was no security (I never saw any) and no purse or backpack checks at the door. Could’ve made for some huge mistakes but everyone all day was just hangin’ and chillin enjoying all the music and friendly people.

Went in and out the door all night which was great because we had an ice chest full of food and drinks.

Highlights for me were Deception, Cage, Benedictum, Zero Hour , Agent Steel and but of course Nevermore! It was great we got to meet Curufin (Drew) and his friends John and Holden. Cannot wait to party with them at PP VII!! Pete and Jesse from Benedictum were really cool and I think Benedictum would be great for next years preparty, I’m sure Hawk, Carnut and many others would agree with me.

The one thing that this festival had (that PP USA doesn't ha ha ha ) was an S & M bondage/fetish show after Nevermore played. LOL LOL actually it wasn’t part of the festival. It’s a Sunday night happening at the Knitting Factory….was just taken off guard as we were leaving the venue to see some half naked girl tied up being whipped, girls with panties that said “got rope” and a man wearing a vinyl bustier.

Nevermore’s Set List
Final Product
Next in Line
Enemies of Reality
Matricide (They skipped it, but it was on the set list)
Acid Words
River Dragon
I, Voyager
What Tomorrow Knows/Garden of Grey
Never Purify
Inside Four Walls
This Godless Endeavor
Born
Dead Heart (No Intro)
Narcosynthesis
Engines of Hate

I'll post some pics next

 

[kittybeast]

Chris- Deception guitarist- this kid shreds!!

Veronica- Benedictum Vocals

Jesse- Benedictum Bassist

Pete- Benedictum Guitar

Chris- Benedictum Keyboards

 

[yardleybates]

no pics of the s/m show?

 

[kittybeast]

Kittybeast (Kristy), Pabla, John, Curufin (Drew), Holden

 

[kittybeast]

no pics of the s/m show?

just this one we were what the hell is this chick wearing....or not wearing... the crowd started changing at midnite....now we know why.

 

[Curufin]

I'll tell ya, walking into that S&M show was the only time during the night that I regretted leaving my camera in your car

 

[livingwithwolves]

Kittybeast (Kristy), Pabla, John, Curufin (Drew), Holden

That girl in white is really cute.

 

[Curufin]

And really cool!

 

[General Zod]

Veronica- Benedictum Vocals

In the time-honored tradition of judging a book by its cover, Benedictum just became my favorite band.

Zod

 

[kittybeast]

^^^^^ are you sure now?

I absolutely love her voice, low, gruff and powerful! Instant fangirl of the band check them out http://www.myspace.com/benedictum

 

[SharkBlack]

Those thangs are massive...
I bought Benedictun's Uncreation when it came out, and it's a pretty cool album, could have been better but they have some kick ass songs on there.

I also saw Deception open for Sonata Arctica earlier this year and they are awesome. Especially for their age.

How about some ZH pics!

 

[kittybeast]

:
How about some ZH pics!

sorry didn't take any
didn't catch their whole set since we're seeing them soon, so went out and drank more

 

[MetalAges]

Benedictum does kick ass, if you all haven't listened to them do so now. Wicca is a killer starting point.

 

[General Zod]

^^^^^ are you sure now?

LOL. Positive.

I absolutely love her voice, low, gruff and powerful...

Stop teasing me.

I'll definitely give them a spin.

Zod

 

[Pabla]

Kittybeast (Kristy), Pabla, John, Curufin (Drew), Holden

That girl in white is really cute.

Thanks

 

[Pabla]

And really cool!

Thanks Drew... it was great meeting up with you guys... you are a ton of fun! Really looking forwward to hanging out again at PP and battling over music

Oh man, KB I was just thinking about what went on after our show... and thinking also that it was an all ages show.. that was definately wrong of the venue not to have a separate exit for the people attending the festival! I was pissed at that... very disrespectful IMO

 

[kittybeast]

Oh man, KB I was just thinking about what went on after our show... and thinking also that it was an all ages show.. that was definately wrong of the venue not to have a separate exit for the people attending the festival! I was pissed at that... very disrespectful IMO

CAUTION- MOSTLY NAKED WOMEN AHEAD.....and a guy in a vinyl bustier

 

[Hajeka]

The Minneapolis Mayhem Festival turn out was probably worse. You say about 300?? I think less at the fest, and Steel Attack and Gaia Epicus played for 10 people who watched them from front of the stage, and whoever else cared all the way in the back. It was pretty sad, their debuts in the USA. What a great thing to see and then go back to Europe and bitch about.

Some promoters are too stupid.

 

[Cheiron]

The Minneapolis Mayhem Festival turn out was probably worse. You say about 300?? I think less at the fest, and Steel Attack and Gaia Epicus played for 10 people who watched them from front of the stage, and whoever else cared all the way in the back. It was pretty sad, their debuts in the USA. What a great thing to see and then go back to Europe and bitch about.

Some promoters are too stupid.

That's really dissapointing. Two awesome bands. People at ProgPower would have -loved- to see those bands. I really wanted to go, but couldn't afford =/

Hopefully Steel Attack gets a bigger showing at their concert tonight.

 

[GRAN DIA]

I also attended the progfest and it was a fun show and even though it was definitely not the event that Progpower USA (attendence was definitely lower for sure) it was a fun way to spend a sunday and see some awesome bands play here. It was great to see Kristi and Pabla again also! Sorry I didnt chat as much as I was really sick and didnt want to get anyone with a terrible cold ive been dealing with, but it's always great to see you both at a show! I went to see my friends in Deception and support them and check out Zero Hour again ( I saw them at their first progpower USA performance) and see Nevermore of course and also Agent Steel and Benedictum.

Agent Steel as always kicked ass! Those guys are super cool people and are so tight live and if you want great power thrash with tradeoff solos and seriously their drummer is a damn machine! That guys tempo is always so intense and never misses a beat! Bruce is just a great great epic singer that always rules live!

Benedictum was great also, I really enjoyed their set, The music was kind of sabbathy with some cool atmospherics and good guitar work and Veronicas voice is very cool, kind of reminded me of someone who was influenced by a mixture of Dio and Leather Leone/ Kate French, not the typical pretty sweet voice but more aggressive and powerful. Cool band!

One band that I was surprised of was Steel Attack, I have one of their albums one of the older ones I believe Falling into Madness and they sounded nothing like that here, seems they have changed their sound a lot, more downtuned, gothic tinged maybe some Evergrey influence as well, the music I thought was cool, the singer had a very good singing voice, really good control and tonality. The bassist had a good backup voice as well and their harmonies were very cool! I think most people were not familiar with them at all and I myself did not know of any of their new music or current sound so maybe the reaction was a bit less, but they were good live, came all the way from Sweden I believe so much respect to them!

Zero Hour completely ruled! Everyone at progpower USA will be in for a treat im sure, those guys are unbelievable musicans and some super down to earth and humble guys I could tell, they sounded great and its great to see a progressive band that is heavy as hell too both Tipton brothers do some killer headbanging throughout that makes everything just way cooler on stage and they have some of the most ridiculous chops ive seen. The bass and guitar interplay is out of this world! The drumming of Mike Guy was extremely tight and he just rocked the hell out of the kit the whole time! The vocalist Chris Salinas, AMAZING. That guy is just amazing. Outragious vocal range and so many faces to his tonality, lots of emotion and power and the blending of it all over their music was really good. The fest was worth the long drive just to see them play so good live!

Deception my friend's band was great as usual, they are a great band from Orange County Anahiem area and are a mix of thrash, progressive and heavy/power metal you could say and they opened the fest on the main stage. They should have gotten a higher slot on the bill I think but I guess they got added onto the fest last minute but they always rock and have one of the most talented young guitarists Ive known in Chris Chang, the guy is just a guitar playing monster and has some great talent. All the guys Adam drums, Rob on guitar, Scott on Bass and Donal on vocals all did a great job and was good to see them play the fest!

Nevermore was great for sure I can honestly say Jeff Loomis is one of the most incredible guitar players around right now, that guy just completely tore the place apart with some of the most crazy shredding! On top of that now having Chris Brodrick of Jag Panzer on second guitar it was like a guitar playing dream come true, those two were just insane, everything sounded good and Warrel was really into it all and they had a really cool setlist, it was cool hearing the two older songs What Tommorw knows and Garden of Grey never thought id hear those live! I think someone in the audience asked to hear an old Sanctuary tune and Warrel heard and laughed and made a comment of "Yeah well give me a Hellium tank then!" That was hilarious!

It was cool and they gave everyone some sampler cds at the door and the venue was really cool actually, good sound and two main rooms both with bars and all that. Hopefully they do another fest like this in the west coast but I think they dont need to put so many bands and 3 stages, seriously I never saw the third stage at all, didnt even know where it was and feel bad for any bands that played it. Also it was kind of hard to find the place their was not a sign outside really for it, and being right in the heart of Hollywood means it was busy and crowded so it took some time to find it. But otherwise a fun night and some great music!