[atlantaprog] From RMP re. Rogue

<x-tad-smaller>Posted to rec.music.progressive by Terrell Miller - our humble stagehand on Saturday - he couldn't make it on Sunday :-(

BTW are you on THIS list, Terrell?

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* Farpoint kicked things off and put on a great set, they are very
tight. Their usual female vocalist couldn't make the trip, but the
fill-in vocalist did a wonderful job and fit right in. Extremely tight
rhythm section and vocal harmonies, great mix of song styles, highly
enjoyable. Sadly, most of the crowd at that point was just the other
bands, not too many "civilians" had arrived yet.

* DP3 is an extremely talented, extremely eclectic band from Atlanta.
Lineup is acoustic bass/guitar, drums, violin and trumpet. Think of a
cross between Terence Blanchard and Isildurs Bane and you won't be far
off the mark. Very jazzy with lots of oriental and classical references
thrown into the mix. They were definitely the pleasant surprise of the
day for me. Interestingly, they had to rush off for another gig last
night so I didn't get a chance to talk with them too much, but that's
great news for an up-and-coming band!

* Brass Knuckle Surfer came on next and really ramped up the intensity.
They are a young guitar-bass-drums trio who sound vaguely like Kopecky
or Last Days Of May. Spacey, psychedelic jamming, lots of killer
ostinato bass patterns. A perfect change of pace and a well-done set.

* Next up was </x-tad-smaller><x-tad-smaller>Z-Axis</x-tad-smaller><x-tad-smaller>, again from Atlanta. They did a wonderful set of
their trademark world-beat-fusion, complete with slide show and a huge
mix of ethnic percussion. One of the highlights of the night.

* I was really looking forward to Land Of Chocolate, one of the
"headliners" in my mind. And they did a great set after a few minutes of
"just drove six hours from Chapel Hill" decompression. Their bass player
is an especially great showman, dancing around the stage, resting his
bass guitar on the top of a stand and playing it like an acoustic
upright, and going out into the crowd to shake everybody's ahnd and
theank them during the last song. They played a good mix of their
standard repertoire and some new stuff.

(Sidenote: as we were tearing down their gear after the set I made a
point of telling John Kovach that I was sorry to hear he was
discontinuing his "Professor's Corner" series in Progression. He told me
that he has several books in the process of being written and tight
deadlines on all of them, so his career as a music professor has to
preempt his career as a prog journalist for awhile. But he promised to
resume the column as soon as he can).

* IZZ came onstage next and were the energetic highpoint of the evening.
I have to admit that they gave off quite a bit of prima-donna-ness
during the equipment changeout (I was a stagehand) which took
forfuckingever, nothing was just quite exactly right. And they had this
"we're from New York, teh Center Of The Universe, bow down before us"
attitude onstage that didn't go over real well amongst us Southerners
except for the drunk NuYawkeh who was apparently a little homesick and
glad to meet some peers (please tell me that wasn't you, Toddler)...but
after a less-than-auspicious start IZZ simply and totally kicked ass!
Wonderful set, great musicianship, great material, good vibe and
camaraderie amongst the band, lots of fun, everything you could ask for
in a performance. They previewed an epic piece from their upcoming
album, and it's gonna be a good one!

* Closing out the evening was The Red Masque from Philly. Absolutely
wonderful people, a genuine pleasure to meet. Great musicians, a
terrific blend of avant-garde, fusion, adn Red-era KC protogrunge.
Definitely a band on the rise.

Sadly they had several major issues to overcome: a singer with
bronchitis, malfunctioning vintage gear, and they were probably still
worn out from the 18-hour-drive the day before. Not their best
performance, but they did a great job improvising a good set out of all
the hardships. I'm really hoping to see them again under better conditions. </x-tad-smaller>

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