I was excited about the possibility, especially to see bands that I never saw. Hackett, Jobson, and 3 Friends are not going to make me travel that far, nor could I convince a companion to do that.Originally Posted by strawberrybrick
I was excited about the possibility, especially to see bands that I never saw. Hackett, Jobson, and 3 Friends are not going to make me travel that far, nor could I convince a companion to do that.
As much of a Hackett and Jobson fan as I am, I am slightly disappointed with these choices at Baja Prog, for a number of reasons.
1. As of late, they both tend to tour on their own and don't need a festival appearance for exposure.
2. They are taking the place of other headliner worthy bands that we are much less likely to see except for a festival appearance.
3. It will be harder to get other bands that are headliner worthy to appear, because they might feel they should be headlining, and they will get less money. Bands like Magma, Banco, After Crying, PFM, Echolyn and many others deserve to be headliners. Will there be room for bands of that quality with only one more headliner spot left?
4. Baja Prog has tended to get pretty close to selling out on its own. I am dubious that Hackett or Jobson will help sell those last 100 tickets. How many 'casual' prog listeners are willing to go to Mexicali for 4 days to see a couple of bands they are familiar with, and take a chance on 16 other bands that are unknown?
All that being said, I'll be there and love every minute of it. Just like all the previous years I went.
Great music, hanging with friends, great food.... Sounds good to me!
Got a Dealfind notice for a trip to Baja. This may just be for Chicagoans (or Dealfind may have similar offers for other cities). Thought I'd pass it along.
http://www.dealfind.com/travel/chica...resorts-12-USA
Ironically, I'm one of those few "westerners" who went to NF2010!
Even so, I look forward to Hackett again (especially with Nad singing <3 ) and Three Friends again, since I missed them in Chicago. I am neutral where Jobson is concerned. There are many more acts to be announced, so I will keep my eye on this, cross my fingers, and hope it works out that I can attend!
"The mountains are calling and I must go" - John Muir
"To breathe the same air as the angels, you must go to Tahoe" - Mark Twain
I'm not sure I could ever do Baja. I'd have to fly into San Diego and there are so many good breweries there, I'd never leave the county and I'd miss the festival.
Best of luck to the Baja folks!
Chad
Keep in mind, too, that BajaProg draws a high percentage of there attendance from locals who would likely never see Hackett, Jobson or Three Friends in the US, even if they play SoCal. I would think these acts will all be a great draw for Mexican proggers, even if not as much for potential US (especially East Coast) attendees.
Love BajaProg. Personally for me one of the main attractions, beside the atmosphere and the wonderful people of Mexicali, is the low profile, relatively unknown acts that Baja has. Have never gone without being blown away but at least several of the South and Central American acts they book.
More NEWS...the bajaprog.org site has been updated.
There is a preliminary schedule posted for the fest and it looks like there will be a total of 16 bands...2 bands in the afternoon and 2 in the evening each day. The afternoon bands are scheduled at 12:00 noon and 2:00 PM at the Colonial Hotel...NOT at the Araiza as previously announced. The evening bands at at 6:00 and 9:30 PM at the State Theatre.
So...is the Colonial Hotel the "HOST" hotel?? I already made reservations at the Araiza, but will change that if the Araiza is not the host hotel. Plus the rates at the Colonial are much lower than the Araiza. BTW...has anyone stayed at the Colonial in past years? How is it compared to the Araiza?
Last edited by progcd54; 11-15-2012 at 04:37 PM.
Announced
Mystery
Locanda Delle Fate
New Trolls
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
Same here. The Colonial has 145 single/double rooms and 5 suites. Unless they allow sleeping in the courtyard (which I'm not really up for) I don't see how 145 rooms can accommodate.
From what I recall most Baja Prog attendees come from overseas. Japan, South America, Europe, Central America, with over half being from Latin America and Mexico. Yes there are always folks from the USA but not that many in the big scheme of things. Many of those overseas attendees will not have been to NEARfest etc in the USA so the fact that announced artists have headlined the other big-name festival should be a non-issue. They look fine to me and should drum up ticket sales. I'm more interested in the lesser known names that will be afternoon bands at the Araiza Hotel. Always some ear-opening surprises there. I plan on being at Baja Prog 2013 with my brother Gareth resurrecting our "Green Miata Baja Bound" annual tradition. The key I think is for Baja Prog to return strong. And come back again in 2014.
Excellent point about the small size of the Colonial...too small for sure to be the host hotel. BTW, if you look at the" schedule" page on the Bajaprog.org site, the "Colonial" under "Hotel" has been removed. It's blank now. I guess we'll just have to wait for the official announcement. And if it isn't the Colonial, I'll have to cancel my reservation there. Right now I'm "inn" at BOTH the Araiza and Colonial hotels...got all my bases covered.
Liking the Italian announcements!
Nice!
New Trolls were way better than I expected them to be when the played Baja Prog previously (can't remember the year). So, I'm happy to see them again.
Locanda Delle fate is a no brainer.
Mystery I've not heard before, but the lineup sounds good.
Panzerballet just announced on the Baja Prog page!
Saw these guys about 8 months ago at The Baked Potato in LA. They were amazing!
This lineup is looking pretty strong so far.
Gryphs?
Geezer?
Any thoughts?
Bob - Kay & I figured out that with all of our other planned 2013 travel, there's no way we can do either Baja or Quebec. We're already locked in to Cabo for 2 weeks in Feb, Rosfest and 2 weeks in France in May, NYC at some point during the summer and Progday in early Sept.
That said, Baja Prog has been Kay's favorite festival experience since she's been going to fests with me. I would love to see New Trolls and Mystery again, but it's the old 10 lbs. of ....in a 5 lb bag story. Can't be done.
The Colonial as opposed to the Araiza, however, will more than likely be inferior imo.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Based on the room rate (which is considerably lower than the Araiza), I would have to agree.
However, at this point, here's a few things we do know:
The announcement of the "Hotel Venue" for the afternoon shows is pending for next week. When the bajaprog.org site was working, the schedule page no longer listed the Colonial as the "Hotel venue"...the hotel spot was left blank.
Ticket prices have been announced...in Spanish...in pesos.
SECCIÓN 1 AZUL
MX $2,540.00 (MX $2,500.00 Boleto + MX $40.00 Cargos (no reembolsables)
SECCIÓN 2 AMARILLO
MX $2,040.00 ( MX $2,000.00 Boleto + MX $40.00 Cargos (no reembolsables)
SECCIÓN GENERAL VERDE
MX $1,540.00 ( MX $1,500.00 Boleto + MX $40.00 Cargos (no reembolsables)
In USD, that's approx. $195.00, $157.00 and $119.00 respectively. Prices have sure gone up since the last BajaProg in 2008. Also, what is "Section 1-Azul" and "Section 2-Amarillo"...are they doing assigned seating?
The bajaprog.org and new WWW.BAJAPROGOFFICIAL.COM are both currently disabled. And neither one come up on a Google search. Thank goodness for Facebook.
Whereas I LOVE BajaProg and have attended almost all of them, I just wish they could get their act together when it comes to disseminating information. Especially after a 5 years hiatus, one would think that having a reliable website that works would be a no-brainer. They need all the advertising they can get. Plus is you announce something, make sure it's accurate...first it's was the Araiza...then it's the Colonial...now's it's "TBA". I'm not complaining, just venting and very impatient...LOL! But the line-up looks awesome...Panzerballet...HOT DAMN!
Anglagard just announced!
Woo..OMG, just looked at the amazing line-up on the web page! Jesus, this is shaping up to be a Nearfest-West. Anglagard too? Wow PagaJ, can you lure them to a CalProg gig like you did Hackett? That would be amazing!
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
Very interesting.
Can I?
Gran Turismo Veloce announced
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
Buy a bigger thong.
nice rebuttal and candid to boot!
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
took the words outta me mouf
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks