Which Band Do You Want/Need to Familiarize Yourself With More Before PP?

I am ready to sing along with every song that Pretty Maids, Serenityvand Beyond the Bridge will play. I'm very familiar, although I don't know every possible song they might play, with Symphony X, Sinbreed, Amaranthe, Kingcrow and Epica (except for the new album) and I'm sort of familiar with Mystic Prophecy. I haven't really listened to the latest couple Redemption or Lanfear CDs, so I'll be concentrating on those before the fest. Death metal vocals just don't do it for me unless they are used very sparingly (Serenity) or in some very rare circumstances (Consign to Oblivion), so I'll give Primordial and Mayan a chance. Overall this is probably my favorite line-up ever and the only thing that concerns me is when the hell am I going to have a chance to sneak out for a bite to eat??
 
Solution .45 is quite the dilemma for me....I normally can't stand growlies, but the rest of it is just so damn good. I had pretty much decided they would be my "take a break" band, but after listening to a couple of tunes on their streaming player at their website, I am intrigued enough to consider sticking around as well as picking up their CD.
 
Solution .45 is quite the dilemma for me....I normally can't stand growlies, but the rest of it is just so damn good. I had pretty much decided they would be my "take a break" band, but after listening to a couple of tunes on their streaming player at their website, I am intrigued enough to consider sticking around as well as picking up their CD.
Yea, I'm finally getting around to listening to these guys and I'm intrigued. I like my growl vocals not quite so deep and heavy, more of an Amorphis/Mercenary-style. But the music and clean vocals are just SO enjoyable, I'm trying to get used to those throatier, murkier growls. I wish there was a growl control where you could tone 'em up or down as you like 'em. :devil:
 
I really think Friday is more my night than saturday is right now. Nobody on Saturday really speaks out to me except for Symphony X who I've already seen live last June. Just not really my cup o tea :(
 
My normal routine in preparing for PP is to grab a recent set off of http://www.setlist.fm/ and burn a CD for each band. Here are the bands that I either did not know at all or hadn't listened to much.

Epica - Really enjoying Epica. I had a couple of their earlier albums and I am really enjoying their newer releases.

Pretty Maids - Frankly, I wasn't sure about investing the time in learning their material, but their material is very catchy. So, I am hooked.

Lanfear - I like their brand of prog. Concise, melodic, and yet cutting edge at the same time.

Mystic Prophecy - Another band that I wasn't sure about trying to learn their material. But a few listens, I have concluded that they absolutely kick ass. Super vocals and crushing guitar.

Primordial - I like their raw approach, but I have to admit that I am still working on getting comfortable with them.
 
For me, that is the EXCITEMENT of Progpower - to discover a new and favorite band based solely on my first impression at Progpower. It is also for this reason that Progpower is so special to me. There is a connection between Progpower and many favorite musical discoveries.

Am I the only person who deliberately goes to Progpower NOT having researched bands that are new to me?
 
Looking up setlists for Mystic Prophecy kind of disappoints me. Apparently they don't play any older material (I'd kill to hear "Sky's Burning"); it also looks like they're not playing anything off of Fireangel, which is surprising - I think that's a great album.
 
For me, that is the EXCITEMENT of Progpower - to discover a new and favorite band based solely on my first impression at Progpower. It is also for this reason that Progpower is so special to me. There is a connection between Progpower and many favorite musical discoveries.

Am I the only person who deliberately goes to Progpower NOT having researched bands that are new to me?

I don't know if you're the only one. I went in blind for my first PP (XI), and while I discovered some bands that I liked, I felt I would get more out of it if I knew something going in. I did a bunch of prep work for XII; I enjoyed the festival far more.
 
Not that I need to prep, per se, but anyone have any guesses on Symphony X's setlist? I seem to recall Michael Romeo saying an interview that they'd do something special for ProgPower, and that the most popular guess was playing DWoT in its entirety. Or maybe he specifically mentioned that, my memory of his comments is pretty vague...anyone remember what he said? It will be good to see them again regardless, but it will definitely be awesome if there's a large deviation from the setlist they did on the tour with Iced Earth.
 
Since this thread has a lot of discussion of the new Epica album, I thought I'd mention that Track 13 (Serenade of Self-Destruction) isn't really a 10 minute instrumental song. It was a mistake in the mastering and Nuclear Blast is offering a free download of the full track with vocals at:

http://www.nuclearblast.de/de/data/bands/epica/releases/track-download.html

Consign To Oblivion is still my reigning favorite from them, but I do like the new one.
 
Not that I need to prep, per se, but anyone have any guesses on Symphony X's setlist? I seem to recall Michael Romeo saying an interview that they'd do something special for ProgPower, and that the most popular guess was playing DWoT in its entirety. Or maybe he specifically mentioned that, my memory of his comments is pretty vague...anyone remember what he said? It will be good to see them again regardless, but it will definitely be awesome if there's a large deviation from the setlist they did on the tour with Iced Earth.

He did say something special and that they'd "mix it up". That was about as far as it went.

I like Iconoclast, but I REALLY hope half the setlist isn't devoted to it again.
 
Not that I need to prep, per se, but anyone have any guesses on Symphony X's setlist? I seem to recall Michael Romeo saying an interview that they'd do something special for ProgPower, and that the most popular guess was playing DWoT in its entirety. Or maybe he specifically mentioned that, my memory of his comments is pretty vague...anyone remember what he said? It will be good to see them again regardless, but it will definitely be awesome if there's a large deviation from the setlist they did on the tour with Iced Earth.

they did mention that it was the 15th anniversary of DWoT in a facebook post so hopefully that means either the whole album being played or just the title track. Either way, I'd be thrilled! :D