Summers End, Prog it, Prog it real good

The Chicken emailed sometime ago and said, let's prog it at the Summers End festival. Seeing that Steve Hackett and Pallas were playing, I said yes. And promptly forgot (mostly) about it all.
I did get around to booking a car and the Summers End Prog Bus to get us from the B and B (also booked) to the venue and back again. This showed remarkable organisation, which I can largely blame on the Chicken who provided links... He also said we'd be wearing capes, I just said yes as it seemed easier and being prog, it made sense.
Getting to the Forest of Dean  was a bit of a mission, and I now officially hate googlemaps directions. They make life very very difficult, and altho working nicely for most of the journey, then decided B roads were where its at. Consequently it took 3.5-4 hours to get there, and just over 2 to get back (where we ditched google and used an old fashioned paper thing called a 'map' bound in a 'book'). Annoyingly the pub next door to the B and B, and the pub down the road were both closed, not opening to 630 on a Friday night seemed wrong, very wrong. While wandering around for food, we met up with PsychoChicken and Al who probably needs a nickname, and I suspect Terry will do for now.

We found another pub which was open and commenced beering. Mmm beer.

Friday
Steve Hackett I'm a recent convert to Hackett era Genesis, 'twas the remasters that dun it. As such I didn't have any of SH's back catalogue so went into the gig pretty open. And he blew me away. I think most people know he can play guitar, but may be unaware of how diverse he is. Everything from hardcore prog, classical, avante-garde jazz, even metal. This gig totally sold me on Hackett. He's stunning, and his support band were brilliant - totally in tune with where-ever he went. The one over-riding aspect of all his music is tune, he understands that prog only works with a good tune (as does all music, but particularly if you're heading over the 5 min mark!). I bought the Tokyo Tapes - a gig in, surprisingly, Tokyo, from a few years ago. And on the strength of the track from the new album we heard, I'll be getting that too.
I think S enjoyed bits of it, and if you weren't a fan it was certainly diverse enough to find something you liked. PsychoChicken, Terry and I thought it was fantastic. PC had been waiting for quite a few years to see SH...
Beer was consumed. Then some whisky, worlds ills were fixed. Great night !

Saturday
Bright and early we found ourselves in Lydney, walked the main street, walked back again. Found a pub. Mmm beer.
First up were Godsticks from Wales. I'd picked up their EP some months ago as it was a) cheap and b) good. Seemed very nervous, but settled down and seemed to be having a great time on stage. Really funny self-deprecating line in humour too - after one song crashed and burned, they told the audience not to clap. Fun times, good band, and definitely one to watch. Review that got me to buy the EP is here. Thoroughly enjoyed this gig.
Quantum Fatay were a very professional sounding band from Belgium. PC described them as a focussed Ozric Tentacles, which seems as good a description as any. I got a fair amount of Goblin from them as well, although a bit harder than both the Ozric's and Goblin. Thoroughly enjoyed the gig, but decided I had enough of that style so didn't buy any. Would go again if they were touring - and the vibe was great, the band were having fun on stage whcih came through in the music.
Parallel or 90 Degrees are a band I'd heard the 2CD best of thanks to PC and the inter-hemisphere CD shipping co-op. Andy Tillson is the main bod behind the band, although Po90 had been put on hold for a few years while his other interests, including Tangent, were developed. I'd already picked up the new album (Jitters) which was for sale at the venue, so was looking forward to seeing them live. Unfortunately they weren't very good. Tillson's voice was annoying, although it sounds quite different on the albums. Odd. He's also not very organised on stage and I found him quite distracting between songs. Having said that, the music was superb if you discounted his voice. Quite political lyrics, which generally I think don't work too well - and in places Po90's feel quite forced. Hard to say what they sound like, I think a generic musical-prog/genesis is the best description - good tunes, and can get quite heavy in places. Worth checking out a CD.

RPWL are a band I've tried to like. I have their second album, I've listened to a lot of them on Franz's radio show. Everyone else seems to think I'd like them - rock based prog. But they leave me cold. Having said that, I wanted to hear them live as that often makes a difference, and as the secondary headliner for the day we figured they'd have a good crowd and stage show. They did, but I was still left cold. Their music seems to have little in the way of tune to it, and they are taking themselves far too seriously. One aspect of prog is that it has inherent silliness - whcih the other bands on Sat all understood. RPWL are all technically gifted musicians, but unlike, say, Dream Theatre, they don't know how to hold the tune. The rest of the crowd seemed keen, but our merry band of prog crusaders got bored four tracks in and headed back to the pub.

Scottish proggers Pallas have been around for years, one of the 80s neo-prog crowd. I got hooked on last years 'Dreams of Men' which was an excellent album, full of riffs, good lyrics, tunes, good musicianship, and the vocalist is pretty damn good - if pixie like to the large guitarists. My first chance to see them live, and damn they were good. Big slap to the head for their soundman who mixed everything upto 11, annoying asthe festivals soundguy had been doing a great job. Great to hear some of my favourite tracks live including GhostDancers, and some preview tracks from the forthcoming album. Well worth their headlining position.

Sunday
We'd decided not so much booze on Sunday, but that didnt stop us suggesting we'd have some in the afternoon. Mmm beer.
First up were I/O Earth who were musically good, and seemed more like a jazz band playing prog. Not a million miles apart those genres anyway. It was interesting hearing a sax in a prog band, but the female vocals didn't do much for me. Apparently she was covering for the normal lead singer who was off somewhere - had a good voice, but nothing incredible. I got a bit bored during their set and decided not to buy anything. I'll keep an eye out for new stuff from them, as it was excellent in places. I'm not a huge fan of female fronted bands - I've ranted before about lady-metal...also too many guitar solos
Mr So and So I'd heard their original, or at least an early, album - produced by Steve Rothery. And hadn't thought much of it, so never bought it. Apparently they split up and have recently reformed. Not sure why they bothered. Basically they play southern rock but make it unnecessarily complicated. If I want southern rock, I've got plenty of it and played well, if I want complicated music, I've got plenty of that too. File under could do better.
Also Eden, the band of one of the event organisers. Good musicians, although the singer (and organiser!) was flat for most of the gig which detracted hugely. Lyrically the usual slightly dire middle of the road prog stuff. A few FFS moments, suggesting they were worse than some in the weekend. Not going to buy anything, and probably won't keep track of them. Although slightly better than RPWL :D

Karnataka, I owe an apology to HippyDave here. As I've said I don't like female fronted rock bands much, so tend to diss the entire genre. Dave's mentioned a few times I should give Karnataka a shot, and I've ignored him. PC felt the same as me, but heard some stuff of theirs and thought it was good, so the trinity and hanger-on S turned up for the gig. Wow. Blew me away, great musicianship, great singing, kinda folk-prog? err how does one describe them. Definitely buying the new album when it's out. Their lead singer liked our capes too.

To Cape or not to cape, that is the prog.
We'd decided that the capes should be revealed for the final show on Sunday. Crickey they were superb capes - top marks to our cape maker ! Gold lamee, fully lined, stiff collar - wonderful stuff.

They caused a stir.

One point we'd all noticed was an absence of interaction between the fans, we were used to marillion conventions where everyone chats. this lot tended to look like the sad ass loser kids you'd beat up at school. Not entirely tongue in cheek, but you could see some of this lot either blowing up schools or falling into prog - and their parents beside themselves at option (2).

Our capes got them talking, strangers came up and spoke to us. All asking 'why'. Thanks to Terry and PC we had an answer: there's not enough capes in prog these days. Bring back the cape. As mentioned the singer for Karnataka enjoyed them, as did their guitarist, Clive Nolan seemed to smile when staring at us from stage, as did Nick Barratt - and the other organiser of the festival thought they looked good. So all in all, result.

Pendragon headlined Sunday night. They've had great reviews of the new album 'Pure' and on the strength of those I'd got PC to pick me up a copy, although I'd only had a chance to listen to it once. Live they were brilliant, certainly knew how work the audience - helped as their fans appear to be utter nutjobs. Charles Manson might have suggested they hold back a bit. Very loud, very rock, and very enjoyable. Good use of images/movies as back projection. Nick's voice was pretty crappy as he had a cold, but it worked. And his guitaring was excellent, it's not as dominant as some bands, making this more enjoyable than some prog bands who go sing, guitar, drum, sing - repeat. Live, the band are much heavier than on the album, which sounds great, and its unfortunate the album isn't as heavy sounding. Clive on the keys seemed quite restrained, bored even, guess thats why he has all the cheesy other prog groups (he's the cause of Arena...). Great rock with a prog tinge. I'd definitely recommend checking out Pure if you like rock, actually if you liked the last GnR album (Chinese Democracy) I can see Pure going down quite well. Even S said she liked it.

Sadly we had to skip the encores as we had a long drive ahead (it was 11pm !), but it looks like I'll be spending some money on Pendragon too. Damnit.
Lovely area around Lydney and the Forest of Dean too, we went to a museum of the area on Sunday morning after brekkie and before proggie, very quiet, green, tranquil and pretty (the area, not the prog). Well worth visiting, and the beer in this area of the world is superb.

Really enjoyed the bands and the festival, the three (and occasional 4) of us had a great time. Much beer, much hilarity - well it is prog, and I think we'll be onboard for next year. Although our outfits need to be bigger, better, more prog - since our feeling is, everyone will be wearing capes next year.
Discussions with DH and the LP have suggested a disco-prog fusion maybe the way to go...

Prog out bruvva's, me xx