[atlantaprog] Roguefest postmortem

All of this in my humble opinion of course!

Saturday...

Z-Axis - our own performance was fair-to-good, in spite of our 
guitarist's amp meltdown mid-set! We were less than satisfied with 
our visual presentation, mainly due to insufficient prior 
communication with the light guy. Especially bothersome was the level 
of the house lights as we played. It made our slides hard to see, or 
so it seemed to me on stage. Also, we wished more people had arrived 
early on for our set. If (WHEN!) we play next year, we DON'T want to 
be first up!

Dead Musician's Society - A mixed bag to me... their marimba-driven 
instrumentals were quite amazing (I loved their full-sized concert 
marimba!), but the vocal numbers they did, where the marimba 
functioned as little more than an ersatz keyboard - didn't do much 
for me.

Man on Fire - Pretty solid pop-prog act, considering the band is 
primarily pick-up musicians (MOF is just Jeff and Eric). The 
guitarist especially seemed like a *real* member of the band! Their 
zen-drummer's solo bit was pretty amazing, even though it sort of 
petered out..... during the main set, it wasn't real clear what the 
zen-drummer was bringing to the mix - sounded sort of like a drum 
machine in places. Jeff's voice was killer, as was Eric's bass 
playing. It would be interesting to see them add a stage keyboardist 
and let Jeff step out front.

Paine's Promise - solid rock act... with Veronika's gutsy voice and 
guitar out front. Bass player Dave Siff - apparently a relative 
newcomer to PP - did a great job of holding things together, while 
the drum solo was quite impressive. Their version of Rush's Freewill 
fit right in with the rest of their set, which gives you an idea of 
their sound.

Cobweb Strange - Moody prog with a twist. Wade's voice has been 
compared to Jim Morrison more than once, and I can see why, even 
though his range is higher. Bradi's keyboards are underused IMHO, but 
that might be because much of their repertoire dates from a period 
when they were a three-piece. The high point in their set - to me - 
was "Pure", their track from the "Path's Less Travelled" CD, while 
their cover of Living Colour's Cult of Personality seemed a bit out 
of place (even though Brandi's vocals rocked)

Farpoint - Folksy 12-string-driven neo-prog featuring Clark Boone's 
rich, almost operatic voice juxtaposed with Dana Oxendine's more 
mellow voice. Their harmonies were tight, and the music solid... but 
my ears were getting weary by this time so I can't be too objective! 
A surprise cover of Marillion's Lavender meshed well with the rest of 
their music. A high point was the long, intense ballad (love like a 
river).

Sunday...

XL - raw, loud metal (not my cup of java). A solid wall of 
Marshall-stack sound (did I mention loud?) backing up a charismatic 
singer, who was barely audible... not very original, but good at what 
they did - oh yeah. They did have a great drummer who did a great 
solo, which include a run around the stage rapping his sticks on 
anything that wasn't nailed down.

Datura Blues - They were very late, but were graciously given a 30 
minute slot anyway. Ambient, seemingly aimless noodling (guitar, 
violin, sax, bass and drums) that would occasionally build to a 
fierce, almost hypnotic tribal intensity, only to ease back down into 
meandering chaos - actually quite entertaining!

Solution Science Systems - The surprise of the fest to me. They have 
this Devo-esque corporate-research schtick going, which carries into 
the their pre-show soundscapes, and their onstage garb (lab coats and 
hardhats). I was certainly expecting something interesting, but what 
they delivered was quite a surprise. Intricate symphonic prog suites, 
keyboard and (occasionally malfunctioning) bass pedal workouts, 
interspersed with more edgy rock numbers that would change tempos, 
timbres, or time sigs on a dime. Watch out for these guys...

Lord Only - Guitar-based prog rock. John's flamboyant bass workouts 
(he had about 7 basses onstage!) mixed well with Brian's many 
different guitar timbres (incl lap-steel), while Hal kept things 
grounded with his solid guitar and vocals. An interesting and melodic 
set, with enough of an edge to keep you on your toes.

Ultima Thule - an excursion into the Dream Theater-style of prog 
metal (again, not really my cup of tea). The even threw in a DT 
cover, if there was ever any doubt about their influences! Their 
occasional lead singer had a strong set of metal pipes, mixed in with 
an macho stage swagger that would have been right at home in the 80s! 
Likewise, guitarist Bob Hutson had that 80's guitar-god image down 
cold too! Fortunately, he has the chops to back it up, as their many 
instrumental numbers demonstrated! From what I understand, UT has 
only recently reformed with an altered line-up. They seem to be off 
to a good start

Karma Lingo - Matthew has said that KL isn't really that proggy of a 
band - maybe that's true in their mainstream performances, but their 
Roguefest set was as proggy as they come. Lots of subtleties and 
dynamic shifts, strong melodis and excellent musicianship. On top of 
this, these guys (and girls) are MASTERS of vocal harmonies... as 
their cover of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody demonstrated (with six 
voices AND three guitars, they were able to cover ALL of the vocal 
parts,AND all of Brian May's multi-tracked guitar parts).

The festival closer of Your Move/All Good People - with a stage full 
of guests (incl. yours truly) was fun, but must have sounded 
atrocious!

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