My comments on the bands:
Seven Kingdoms - put on a fun, enthusiastic show. They're like a much better version of Power Symphony. Vocalist has what is probably the most "bubbly" personality in metal, LOL! And that's not a complaint.
Vangough - well-done stuff from the Pain of Salvation school. Liked it, but got bored with it about halfway through.
Ross the Boss - I mostly listened to this for the old Manowar covers, which were decent. The rest was decent as well, if not really all that interesting to me. I didn't stay for the entire set.
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Six Minute Century - started off what was, for me, the most solid night of the weekend. Nice and heavy, catchy, and well-played.
Borealis - I don't remember a whole lot, specifically, about them, except that they were fun and I really enjoyed seeing them.
Leprous - the surprise band of the weekend for me. Since the original announcement during last year's ProgPower, I did not check out ANY of the bands with whom I was previously unfamiliar (this applies to the main fest as well as the Wed/Thurs shows). I didn't know what to expect from this band. In a nutshell: Mixing different musical styles FTW!!!!!! Plus they were nice and heavy and extremely tight. Bring these guys back for the main fest!
Accept - despite their extremely long career and presence in the metal scene, I had only ever heard a couple songs by them. I didn't know their material at all, but I had a great time, and it's obvious that they did too. Thank goodness for them having a good replacement vocalist, so I didn't have to listen to Udo gargle glass for an hour.
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Illusion Suite - I made it in for all of about one minute of their show. Not because they were bad, but because I couldn't see where I was going in the main room. Literally... I could not see my hand in front of my face; I couldn't see the stairs with their reflective white tape, and I kept running into people in seats, thinking I had made it to the aisle. After about a minute of this, I gave up and went back out to the lobby. (In retrospect, I didn't have this problem at any other time throughout the weekend, but I never used this same door again. Maybe that was the problem.) Anyway... what I heard of them was pretty standard prog, although I wouldn't be able to give any truly "informed" comments about them.
Blackguard - tried to watch their set with an open mind. Pretty run-of-the-mill for their genre. Heavy, but not interesting. Skipped most of them.
Leaves' Eyes - I've never been a fan of the beauty & beast bands like these. I watched them a little on the monitor, and decided they weren't something I had to see.
Seventh Wonder - these guys will become a PPUSA fan favorite, alongside the likes of Vanden Plas, Kamelot, Pagan's Mind, and Circus Maximus. However, the "fan favorites" around these parts don't usually do as much for me as they do for all of you.
Watched two songs by them, and they seemed tight, and they really knew what they were doing. Good band, but just not my thing. I skipped the rest of them because I had dinner plans.
TYR - I came in to them about halfway. More (viking?/folk?/pagan?) metal. I've seen them at Paganfest, and they did very little for me. This time, they were a little more interesting -- more power-y and not just folk-y -- but, again, I just don't enjoy this type of stuff.
Nocturnal Rites - now we're talking! Great setlist. Excellent energy. A few mistakes here and there, but they have new members so this is to be expected. Glad I got to enjoy seeing them a second time finally.
Kamelot - I am not a fan of their music on disc, but I have always enjoyed seeing them live. Mikael was
outstanding in the role of Roy Khan; it's a shame they had to cancel the tour. Band had lots of energy.
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Seventh Wonder GB show - I wasn't planning on going to this, but I was up, and I wasn't busy, and I wanted to see what all the fuss had been about the night before. They did some cool accoustic stuff before launching into an electric set. Apparently, they played some songs that they haven't played live in a long time (or ever?), which probably means more to the longtime fans than it does to me. It was good. They are talented, for sure. I'm glad I went, and it was totally cool of them to give this special performance.
Stormwarrior - well-played, fun metal show. I decided I would hold my enthusiasm for this sort of thing until Hammerfall's set. I'm old, after all, and I have limited quantities of energy.
Oceans of Sadness - heavy, intense, and dark. Liked it!
DGM - listened to a few songs of theirs and ducked out for some dinner. Not as heavy as I was expecting, based on other people's descriptions of their newer material, and I was never a fan of their older stuff.
Delain - I didn't know what to expect from them, but I am a sucker for the female-fronted pop-y metal. This is that, and therefore, I liked it. They were heavier than I would have thought, and Charlotte has lots of power. Marco kicks ass!!!!
Tarot - blacked out during their set. HA! No I didn't. I felt like a bad sponsor, though, because I hadn't yet heard their latest album.
Loved the new stuff, loved the old stuff ("Crawlspace" FTW!!!!!!), loved Marco and Tommi's on-stage antics (if we ever bring Morgana Lefay, expect more goofy stuff like this). Got to hear my favorite Tarot song, "Rider of the Last Day", which I never thought would happen. And I got to see it from the photo pit, five feet from Tommi's crotch.
All in all, as a sponsor, I think I got everything I wanted here.
Band of the weekend!
Hammerfall - not being familiar with any of their stuff outside of
Legacy of Kings, I was planning to stay and watch about half of their set. I ended up not only staying for the whole damn thing, but also drawing upon energy reserves I didn't know I still had after Tarot's set. Although a lot of people consider them "cheese", this kind of metal really gets my adrenaline pumping. Extremely fun, and I actually KNEW a couple of the songs.
LET THE HAMMER FALL!!!!!!
All I have to say is thank you bringing Tarot here. My inspiration and enthusiasm is out the roof, I need to play music!!
I never seen such a high energy show like them, Zac was everything I expected, so full of life and tricks. He is funny, saw me off the side stuck his tongue out heehee!
Just out of curiosity, where were you for their set? I was actually hoping to meet up with you sometime during the weekend, because of all the Tarot-worship I've seen you post on the board.
I might have seen you at some point, but I didn't really have any way to recognize you.
It's not a joke. He was upset about the Cardinals' loss against the Braves. He told Glenn that his wife and daughter were big metalheads and suggested he go see Hammerfall to let off some steam and agression! Ha!
LOL... So when are the ladies coming? Or have they been to ProgPower before?
