my crawlspace.
my crawlspace.
My living room is fantastic, it has great sound and is extremely convenient. Any band that wants to come and perform will be knocked out by the quality. I'll even lay on snacks.
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.
Saw Return To Forever at The Paramount here in Austin - sound was impressive on that show. ACL - Moody Theater is pretty good but I've never heard any Prog in that place. Primus sounded pretty good though!
A long time ago I saw Robert Fripp doing a Frippertronics show at the Washington Ethical Society.
A glass walled room seating about 200, live sound to say the least.
Very relaxed atmosphere. They had tea and cookies in the foyer.
At one point Fripp unplugged and walked to the back for some refreshments while the tapes played on.
Perhaps not the best venue all around, but it suited that performance to a tee
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
The Lincoln Theater in DC, recently refurbished, has become a cool destination to see prog acts. Saw both Ian Anderson and Hackett there last year. The Warner Theater is a fine venue as well.
Last edited by Score2112; 03-24-2015 at 12:18 PM.
Here in Montreal I'd have to say Le Gesu. 2 of the 4 FMPMs were held there as well as certain Big 5 alumni, when they're in town.
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
I saw that show and it was great. Saw National Health in the same place around then.
and a 2nd for Orion...true when its crowded it can be a drag, but I've seen some amazing shows there that were very comfortable. Tunnels, Aristocrats, Keneally, Oblivion Sun, D97, IZZ, Present, Agents of Mercy, and on and on. Fun place.
Love the Sellersville Theater. Top venue for me for any music. Have seen a few hundred shows there. Some of my favorites.
UFO
Johnny A
Zebra
Project Object
John Jorgenson
Albert Lee
Uli Roth
Leslie West
Mike Schenker
Pat Travers
Jimmy Webb
Eric Johnson
While the Keswick and Colonial are decent compared to arenas both are in desperate need of a make over and the Keswick in particular has the worst seats ever.
Mainly, we go up to the Iron Horse and Calvin in Northampton, MA. All kinds of wonderfulness there - Belew Trio, Bruce Cockburn, RTF, Yes, lots of Indie rockers. Mostly sit down and listen
In Connecticut, The Infinity now has two locations, one in Norfolk and one in downtown Hartford. They book all kinds of blues, folk and AOR acts, but also include international shows such as Fela Kuti and Ladysmith Black Mambozo. Mostly sit down and listen http://www.infinityhall.com/Events/
Bridge Street Live in Collinsville, CT has a wide variety as well. Lotsa room for dancing and big bar. Pierre Bensusan and Marshall Crenshaw coming, http://41bridgestreet.com/
The Universities like Wesleyan, UHartford and UConn have a surprising amount of great music.
Toad's Place in New haven has shows coming up like Kung Fu (local prog) and Richard Thompson. Not many chairs and low ceiling and mostly pop.
http://www.toadsplace.com/
"The Place" had California Guitar Trio and always has very avant garde acts.
I love living here!
The Culture Cafe, Sundays 6-9am on WWUH-FM
Broadcasting from the University of Hartford, CT at 91.3FM, streaming at www.wwuh.streamrewind.com and at www.wwuh.org
The New Jersey Prog house
Oh ya... One World Theater in Austin, TX is also a fine place... super small space but nice sound - saw Stick Men there and it was pretty damn good.
There are atleast 2 ways to interpret the question:
1. The diversity and selection of artists.
2. The quality of acoustics and sound.
The ROSfest venue now in Gettysburg, PA maximizes both of the above.
Progday being outside, is the next. Granted I have not been to any other outside prog fests.
The Warner Theatre can be good, but it has been inconsistent with respect to 1 and 2.
There have been some bands like Pink Floyd who turn any venue into the best you have ever heard.
I'm waiting to pounce on anyone that says "there's no good venue for prog in Connecticut" - cuz there was an AMAZING one that nobody local supported - the shows that succeeded had people from NJ, PA and NY driving there on a Monday night to help it get going - but the valiant promoter eventually faced the fact: "prog fans suck; Connecticut prog fans suck the MOST".
I don't know what is the best venue, but I know what was without a doubt the best venue - The Marquee Club on Wardour Street in London. It started as a jazz club on Oxford Street in the 50s and opened its doors in the Wardour Street location in 1964 and saw out the whole of the proto-prog years, the progressive rock 'golden' age as well as the subsequent underground and 'neo' revival years.
Pink Floyd maintained a regular Sunday residency at the Marquee Club in the mid 60s, Yes played there 38 times (and four more times as Mabel Greer's Toyshop), Genesis played 12 times, King Crimson played 17 times, Jethro Tull played 22 times, Tony Stratton-Smith of Charisma Records had a showcase at the club and Van Der Graaf Generator recorded Vital there.
During the punk years punk did indeed have a presence (in the form of some of the more innovative bands) but more so did Conny Plank influenced electronic artists such as Ultravox and unfashionably late symphonic bands such as The Enid both of whom had extensive residencies. When A&R men and the journalists realised that prog hadn't ever gone away in the 80s, the Marquee became the spiritual home for most of the best known artists - Marillion played there 22 times, and Pallas, IQ, Solstice and Twelfth Night all had regular residencies. Tommy Vance introduced Eloy to British crowds there, and The Cardiacs closed out the Wardour Street chapter with 34 gigs in the mid to late 80s.
If you went to the Marquee every night been the mid 60s and late 80s you would have seen many more great gigs than poor ones, and you wouldn't have missed much by not going elsewhere. Outside of prog there was Jimi Hendrix, Led Zep, The Who, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie...
That was THE prog venue.
As much as I liked the two venues Rosfest was located before the current one I do think the Majestic theater is probably the best one for Rosfest. It is also the perfect size. The first one was too small but the second one was too big. As goldilocks would say this one is just right.
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