Rosfest Reviews

[SteveSly]

Regarding prog overload…….you ain’t seen nothing until you have been to Progtoberfest.

I could never imaging going to this. Especially when you can't sit down.

I had the same fears the first year I attended so only bought a single day general admission ticket. It ended up not being that bad, and I had a blast. There are tables / seats in the music joint side of the venue. There is also a bar / deck on the roof with table and tables out in front of the venue when you want to take a break. Last year I went for Friday night and Saturday which was about the same. This year I decided to go whole hog and do the 3 day pass with reserved seats in the rock joint.

[SteveSly]

I wish some of you guys talking about Progtoberfest "band overload" and "seating issues" were with me over in the ProgStock thread! Kevin took me to task for mentioning it and I wasn't the one complaining!

Just for the record, I wasn’t complaining with my post, just pointing out how many bands there are. I think the Progtoberfest lineup is pretty darn amazing. Not trying to take sides of course or pit one against the other. I wish Progstock all the best, but I had already purchased tickets to Progtoberfest before anything regarding Progstock was announced. The fact that the festival is only a 2 hour car ride from my house instead of having to fly makes a big difference for me too.

[SteveSly]

^ It's possible the Morse-only fans are Christians who feel that listening to the other bands would be giving place to "The World" in their lives. Some would definitely avoid that.

I guess that is possible, but most of the people I know who are into Christian rock don’t have a clue who Neal Morse is. The two other headliners (Moon Safari and Anglagard) both had big crowds too, but from where we were sitting Morse seemed to have them both beat. On the other hand, up in the balcony there were a lot of band / crew guys sitting up there on and off, and Saturday night probably would have had most of those people there, so that could be part of it as well.

[progeezer]

I guess that is possible, but most of the people I know who are into Christian rock don’t have a clue who Neal Morse is. The two other headliners (Moon Safari and Anglagard) both had big crowds too, but from where we were sitting Morse seemed to have them both beat. On the other hand, up in the balcony there were a lot of band / crew guys sitting up there on and off, and Saturday night probably would have had most of those people there, so that could be part of it as well.

And Moon Safari's Akesson brothers have a pastor father and started singing in his church.

[arabicadabra]

I think THAT low point in Christian cultural attitudes went out when Bono and U2 got huge...

^ It's possible the Morse-only fans are Christians who feel that listening to the other bands would be giving place to "The World" in their lives. Some would definitely avoid that.

[moecurlythanu]

I think THAT low point in Christian cultural attitudes went out when Bono and U2 got huge...

Probably depends on the sect. During my life in the bush of ghosts, (circa 1981-1985) it was a very common view which bordered on doctrine.

[SteveSly]

Now this has me looking forward to ROSfest 2018 already! Barock Project is an excellent Italian band - - great ensemble playing, with outstanding musicianship all around. Their keyboard player has taken over the lead vocal duties, and although I really liked their previous vocalist, he does a credible job (now in English) in addition to his outstanding work on keys. If you haven't checked these guys out, you really need to!

Jeff - Their live album is one that you burned for me last year in Chicago. It is outstanding.

[Plasmatopia]

I think THAT low point in Christian cultural attitudes went out when Bono and U2 got huge...

Which is why no prominent person uttered these words to a room full of Christians recently:

"You refused to be conformed to this world..."

[mon40]

are you still waiting for your appetizer from the thai restaurant?

I love the Thai place but the service is pretty bad.

[mon40]

They announced an Italian band for next year already, so Unreal City is probably out.

Too bad Camelogue and I really liked them at terra incognita.

[mon40]

Spot on, IMO. I could see RF going to a little effort to diversify a bit, but I think they have to be careful not to alienate their core audience. I've haven't been interested in RF in recent years just because I haven't seen enough bands I'm familiar with that would entice me. Part of that is my own lack of sufficient exploration into those types of bands. I'm wary of trying out newer bands in the RF zone as I feel I've been burned too many times with albums that didn't really hold my interest. So I'm more excited about exploring older bands (that often no longer exist) or bands that are would likely never be booked at RF.

NF did cause me some listening fatigue a couple of times and I had to skip a couple bands. Mostly that was just me and my mood/tolerance at the time. The most I skipped was 2-3 bands and some of that was after I gave them a shot for 20-30 minutes. The next year I didn't miss anything and never got fatigued.

In this regard, Terra Incognita is a great festival. There are only 3 bands per day, 6 total. They don't start until 3pm, so there's time to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and head down into Quebec City and see the sights. Unfortunately (speaking only for myself), there is a bit of a ROSFest factor there that limits my interest some years.

I do agree with you I have to say. I really liked having a table this year and a ticket so I could just pop in for a few songs on some bands.

Even with having a prog rock radio station I was very unfamiliar with this lineup so it was good to get a break.

The only thing I knew really well was UnitDb.

[mon40]

Regarding prog overload…….you ain’t seen nothing until you have been to Progtoberfest.

I could never imaging going to this. Especially when you can't sit down.

You can sit and as a matter of fact on one stage there is no place to stand.

[mon40]

I am glad that the UnitDb went over pretty well here. I have to think they are not everyone's thing. I call them Pop prog or gateway prog.

When set up the two Chicago shows I was only two glad to share them with RoSfest.

Sorry we couldn't work out getting them to play Chicago first because they probably would have benefited from playing those two private shows.

[kenschwartz]

I love the Thai place but the service is pretty bad.

you say bad...i say "dinner theater"

[Gruno]

I do agree with you I have to say. I really liked having a table this year and a ticket so I could just pop in for a few songs on some bands.

Table? Do tell...