After playing for nearly two hours, we headed to the hotel for a quick shower before making the 20-minute drive to Phoenixville. We skipped the first band of the day (Rocket Scientists) due to the tennis. If we had been in bed before 2:30pm, we might have been able to play tennis and still make it to the first concert of the day. The tennis was worth it but the reports from people were that the Scientists put on a good show.
The second band of the day was Galahad, a band from Britain. I have two CDs by this band and was looking forward to their set. Unfortunately I did not have their most recent albums even though I had read good reviews.
They started the show with a track from their just released album called "Empires Never Last". The song was called "I Could Be God" and the lead singer had Fish-like stage presence and an excellent voice, powerful with great range. From the very start, this band had me transfixed. The keyboards were techno at times (think Ultravox), which is unusual for prog bands, but they somehow added to the unique prog sound and gave them a "fresh" sound. Another great aspect of this band was that they played both heavy and hard stuff mixed with gentle and beautiful keys/guitars.
Roy Keyworth of Galahad
All in all, a fantastic performance of great songs. A highlight for me was a song called "Bug Eye" from the album "Following Ghosts". Since I have this album, I knew the song well and it is a mellow track with many changes in moods but an underlying infectious rhythm throughout. Wow.
The final song off their "Empires" album has an intriguing title called "This Life Could Be My Last". The lyrics were equally interesting and the song was intense. The lyrical tone of this band constantly reminded me of some of the best Fish/Marillion music and that is high praise. To pull it off with a sound that never sounds derivative and is clearly Galahad is all the more impressive.
If you haven't heard this band yet, I highly recommend them. I'm listening to Empires Never Last right now and I'd have to say that it's a fine place to start. These guys ripped in concert with fantastic guitars, keyboards, drums, and a lead singer that pulled it all together. To my ears, this was probably my 3rd favorite show of the weekend behind Pendragon and Spock's Beard. But, to me, it was the biggest "discovery" of the weekend and I bought 2 CDs (Year Zero and Empires Never Last) immediately after the show.
Between bands, Mark and I made our way to the vendor area and managed to get out of there with less than 10 CDs each!! We're like kids in a candy store in there. Imagine a CD store with all the music you like and much of which you don't know yet. I picked up new albums by Galahad, Daryl Stuermer, RPWL (Live), Karnataka, Chris Squire ("Fish Out of Water"!!), Fromuz, The Watch and the new Porcupine Tree, of course. Thankfully Mark pulled me out of there to get some pizza or I might still be there now! We visited Franco's Restaurant across from the theater for a quick beer and pizza outside.
The third band of the day, our second, was Carptree from Sweden. I was looking forward to their show since one of their recent CDs ("Man Made Machine") is excellent in my opinion. When they came on the stage clad in dress shirts and sport coats, I thought this could be interesting. We quickly realized that the show would be ruined by the drummer. This tattooed lug nut, wearing a muscle shirt unlike his bandmates, bashed his three (3) custom-made, 24" crash/ride cymbals as hard as he could for the better part of the 1.5 hours, completely drowning out the other instruments. I have never seen anything like it. A few songs that didn't call for his extreme services were the best songs of their set and the band does have some potential WITHOUT HIM.
(Note: Later in the evening I spoke to a drummer at the after-party who said he came to the festival in part to see Carptree and was disgusted by this drummer's display that ruined the show. This guy, who drums for Sonus Umbra and Kurgan's Bane, wanted to beat this guy up after the show! I'm not sure he was kidding either. I agreed with him too. It was infuriating. He also told me that the guy who was recording all of the shows could not even use any of the material from Carptree due to the dominance of the cymbals!)
Disappointment is to be expected at these music festivals to some degree. Usually there are some sound issues due to switching band equipment around but this was something I'd never seen before. Oh well. Pendragon was up next and I KNEW this would be good.
It has been a dream of mine, since I was first exposed to "Masquerade Overture" many years ago, to see this band perform live. A friend of ours who lives in Toronto has felt the same way. Brigitte wrote an essay to the festival organizers explaining why she wanted to introduce the band onto the stage (a fan introduces each band before they come on stage at ROSfest; it's a fun tradition). You don't know if you are selected until right before the show starts. Lo and behold, Brigitte was selected and she was thrilled to introduce her favorite prog band. It was great to see her get this opportunity.
Onto the show... They opened with one of Jim's favorite tracks, "No Place for the Innocent". From the first guitar chords to the end, this was the perfect opening track to the concert. "Do you believe in Darwin's Theory of Evolution? Do you believe in the President, the Bible, Constitution?" Great lyrics in an upbeat, driving song.
The crowd jumped out of their seats at the end of the first song. The tone of the show had officially been set and this crowd was ready to party. The 2nd track was "As Good As Gold", the opener from Masquerade. The crowd sang the chorus as it has been ingrained into their brains from many years of listening. "Guardian of My Soul" was next, one of my favorite Pendragon songs. But as good as it was, the guitar parts were not loud enough, and frustration began to creep in. Finally, after the next song, "Kowtow", Mark yelled out "Turn up the guitar!!" and this was echoed by others. Nick requested the sound guy to "get back to his post" and correct it. I was ready to go back to the sound board and tell him but I didn't want to leave my seat for a second!
Thanks to Mark the guitar levels were corrected just in time for one of my favorite tracks off "Believe": "The Wishing Well" starting with "Sou' by Sou'west" and the gorgeous guitar! And so the emotion of this show takes over. I have no idea how Nick can sing and play his intricate guitar lines at the same time. It just shows you how talented he is. Peter Gee, the bass player, also played some guitar parts and was superb as well. The guitar solo toward the end of this song nearly always brings tears to my eyes. It is just so beautiful.
Clive Nolan was in excellent form as well. Nick and Clive have been friends since they were little kids (age 4 I think) and you can just see that they are having so much fun performing together up on stage. To my ears, Clive is simply one of the best prog keyboardists in the business. He certainly is more in the background with Pendragon since this band is "Nick's baby" but his playing is still critical to the overall sound and impact.
After "The Wishing Well", the show had officially kicked into another gear. The band went on to perform flawless renditions of "The Edge of the World", "Nostradamus", "Dance of the Seven Veils" and "Paintbox"! That all led to the apex of the concert for me, which was "Breaking the Spell" and "Masters of Illusion". I can't even begin to describe the power and emotion of these two songs in concert. By this time, the crowd had completely lost it and the band had the audience in the palm of their hand. They could have played a Madonna song at this point and the crowd would have clapped along with excitement.
For the encores, they played a medley of older songs that worked well. At the end, during one of Nick's phenomenal guitar solos, he came down into the center aisle of the theater and played up close and personal. Being in the 6th row, we had a decent view of the spectacle.
What can I say? It really was a dream come true for me to see this band perform live and I told Nick this later that night. We had met Nick last year but we talked to him again this year at the after-party. He's so approachable and friendly to his fans, a truly kind and humble guy. Thanks Nick, Clive, Peter, and Joe for a show I'll never forget! (By the way, kudos to Joe on drums who was absolutely terrific!)
If it isn't obvious, this was hands down the best concert of the weekend for me. I think Mark would agree.
Nick Barrett of Pendragon
No comments:
Post a Comment