P Addict

Following a impromptu decision to go to a gig in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago, I was looking forward to a trip involving roughly 5-6 hours of trains each way. But I like Pallas (the band we were seeing), and it's always good catching up the psychochicken.
The band Pallas started around the same time as Marillion (very early 80s), but things didn't really click for them. I hadn't really heard them until I had PC post over Dreams of Men a few years ago on a whim. Brilliant stuff.

Sadly, on this trip, things spiralled a bit out of control. Some readers may remember our visit to the Summer's End festival last year where gold lame capes were unveiled on the final night. We thought they were a hit, other bands thought they were great, the band we unveiled them for seemed to see the funny side, but the hardcore Pendragon fans appeared to have had their funny bones removed.
But as the Prog Crusaders trio were to be reunited, could the capes have their first Scottish outing?

Prog Crusader Al, upped the ante by questioning the band directly on their policy of cape-age. They called his bluff with :

OK folks ,there are a bunch of nutters called the PROGCRUSADERS coming tonight and talking about wearing capes !! Get your capes out!!! Lets see all you Wakeman impersonators tonight. If I see capes in the crowd then I too will don my cape, which I of course wear everyday, for the encore.

Yes thanks Al. Guess we can't really get out of it now. And so, the cape was thrown in the bag and I headed up north, idly wondering if I could don the cape early and swish through the train. And then realising I hadn't had beer, so it probably wouldn't be a good plan.

Met PC, and we headed to a pub. Then we went to another pub, met Al, soundly berated him for his plan. And drank more beer. Found another pub, drank beer had food. And then donned the capes. Too much amusement from punters sitting outside the pub. Much swishing ensued. Mmm swish.

As we are men, not mice, we walked the mean streets of Glasgow to the venue. This seemed to bring joy and happiness into the locals lives, the highlight being a driver yelling out 'ya goin' t' Pallas then?' heh respect.

We got there early, planting ourselves in the best position and chatting to the sound man. Although he now thinks we think he broke the sound system at Summer's End....I blame Al. It just seems right that way. 

The gig was superb, really fun, relaxed, the new singer is superb - really rocky, and great voice. And we had a great time (I lost most of my voice, don't panic, it's back). 

Downside: the band had their bluff called and didn't actually have their capes. Lying bastards. No worries, we donated ours for the encores. And to their credit, capes were worn. Pictures and video attest to this. 

From the band: 

thanks to all who came along to the Ferry tonight. The band had a Fantastic time!! We had great fun on stage and as usual YOU the Glasgow audience were SUPERB.....and yes we wore our Prog Capes with Pride !!!! lol!

We will ignore the lol, out of respect for the band. The new tracks sound superb, and quite different to the last couple of albums, far more straight ahead rock. And I got to hear ghostdancers live, which was fantastic, and probably the cause of the voice loss. 

What made the gig were the fans, not only were the band into the music (and the capes), but the fans got the humour of the cape-age. Randoms chatted to us, and enjoyed the event. And Graeme (bass player) thanked us, as he returned our capes, for bringing a bit of fun. Well it's prog FFS, you cannot take it seriously!

Speaking of prog, I'm well out of the progloset now. I've come to accept my love of prog, and have embraced it fully. And so a full weekend of Prog was something to look forward to. Nothing but prog on the trip up and back. Awesome. But it did drive home to me how many Prog bands begin with the letter 'P'.  From my ipod:

Paatos (Steve Wilson produced)

Pain of Salvation (prog-metal)

Pallas

Paradise Lost (goth metal)

Parallel of 90 Degrees

Pendragon

Peter Gabriel

Phoenix Foundation (go on, you know they are)

the Pineapple Thief

Pink Floyd

Porcupine Tree

Pure Reason Revolution

Timothy Pure

Alan Parsons

Anthony Phillips

John Petrucci

Weird. But there ya go. I had a great time, and it was definitely worth heading up. Thanks hugely to N and S, and Al for a great time, and big ups to the band for making it something special.