[atlantaprog] Progday report...

Progday report...

I've been wanting to check out Progday for a while now. With Z-Axis 
being asked to play the Saturday show, I finally got my chance.

I arrived Saturday morning (too late to catch the Smokin' Granny/Ozone 
Quartet pre-show) and heard an amazing set by Krakatoa from NY. 
Avant-chamber-prog might be an apt description for what they do. Violin 
featured prominently in much of their material. Next up was Bubblemath. 
They reminded me of a lot of contemporary prog, like Echolyn - only 
with their tongue firmly in cheek. They all wore lab coats on stage 
(make note SSS!) and they featured quirky lyrics (Why Don't We All Just 
Get a Lawn - during which they threw out seed packets to the audience).

Clearlight was up next. They started strong, with a tribute their 
recently deceased drummer. Their second piece was a long space-jam kind 
of piece that built to a nice climax and featured tasty interplay 
between Cyrille Verdueax's shimmery piano and the guitarist's soaring 
leads. The rest of their set was rather loose and aimless sounding... 
lots of noodling and no real focus. I learned later that the drummer 
they were working with had only had ONE(!) rehearsal with them - and 
was playing along with tapes of their deceased drummer - on every tune 
EXCEPT the second piece. Taking that into consideration - it's a mazing 
they held it together at all!

I had to leave at that point to go to the hotel to prep for the 
evening's show... but a couple of my Z-bandmates had arrived to hold 
down our vendor table while I  was gone. As a result I missed the Nick 
D'Virgillio solo set (which I hear was quite good). I arrived back at 
the fest in time to catch a few minutes of Samala Mannas Manna's set... 
from what I heard they were over the top! Tight intricate instrumental 
interplay interspersed with zany vocal pyrotechnics.. sounded quite 
fun. I wish I could have caught their whole set.

That night we played a strong set to about 30 folks (including the 
other bands!) John Covach from Land of Chocolate speculated that the 
long hot afternoon had drained most folks energy for the night (I heard 
the Friday night preshow had about 70 people). I suspect the real 
culprit in the relatively light attendance was the UNC football game 
that night which had snarled traffic and filled up every parking place 
downtown! Land of Chocolate's set was amazing too. they played a couple 
of tunes from their early incarnation - then launced into a live live 
performance of their entire forthcoming CD. Tight contemporary prog 
with lots of changes and rich vocal harmonies. Tasty stuff - and 
considering that this particular line-up has only been playing together 
since May - amazingly polished.

Sunday morning I arrived at the fest too late for Forever Einstein's 
set (which from what I hear, wouldn't have been to my liking anyway). I 
did catch Cast's set, which blew me away. They are a quintessential 
symphonic prog band from Mexico... tight arrangements, strong 
instrument interplay, powerful vocals in Spanish and English. Easily 
the high point of the fest. They drew the only standing O of the 
weekend as far as I could tell.

After Cast I caught a big chunk of Wishbone Ash's set before I had to 
hit the road. Not exactly prog, but a tight rock band nonetheless. They 
specialize in a razor sharp twin-lead guitar sound. The guitars 
harmonized and traded runs and solos... while the vocal harmonies were 
tight and clear. I was glad they included three tunes from Argus, the 
only album of theirs I am familiar with. The renditions were faithful 
to the album's in almost every way.(BTW - Wishbone Ash will be at 
Variety this Friday. If you like tasty guitar work, you should 
definitely catch the show.)

Hopefully into the main fest next year!

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