NEARFest 2005

Photos ©2005 Joe del Tufo Studio M Live. All rights reserved

July 22, 2005
NEARFEST 2005
This is a detailed account of my experience at NEARFest 2005. In the past two years, I went to this illustrious festival and every time, I was absolutely blown away, completely smitten, by the fact that you can meet and chat with the band members of every group there, meet "prog" celebrities like Mike Portnoy, Annie Haslam, Roger Dean, Paul Whitehead, Roine Stolt and Andy Latimer as well as pick-up almost every prog album ever made as well as merchandise, posters, t-shirts, and other stuff. You also meet tons of friends you've known online for years, but see for the very first time at the festival. Let's face it, it's as Rob LaDuca says: "A yearly meeting of 1000 of your closest friends", because in the world of prog, our passion for this strange music makes each and everyone of us rather unique, and our common interests makes it very easy to forge friendships and bonds that will last a lifetime! And finally, you get to see 10 great prog bands or artists, sometimes more if you count the "preshows" and the late night parties at various hotels... Can't get any better than this!

So this year, with a lineup like PFM, Le Orme, Present, IQ, Kenso... I couldn't miss! My only concern was the tight concentration of events, we're organizing IQ's Montreal gig on the 7th, drive to NEARFest from the 8 to the 11th, and then take care of the Present show from the 12th to the 14th... That's a lot to do with very little time to turn around!

THE BUS FROM HELL
One of the duties we were requested by the band IQ was to provide them with transportation from Montréal to Bethlehem, PA. Initially, John Jowitt suggested that flights should be booked, but I finally convinced him that a nice, relaxing bus trip would be much more fun, stopping for food on the way and having plenty of time to chat and enjoy the nice views of the Adirondacks. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that there would be those horrific terrorist attacks in London, England on the day of the IQ show in Montreal. Which led of course to a dramatic increase in security and utter paranoia at the american border. We got stuck for nearly six hours at the US border, sniffing dogs, x-ray machines, and five buses ahead of us. Our nice little bus trek turned into a 16-hour nightmare... Many of the passengers had paid to get to Bethlehem in time for the NEARFest pre-show, which featured this year Proto Kaw and PFM. So of course this was now out of the question since we would arrive well after the shows would be finished. During the long wait, I decided to put on a few DVDs on the entertainment system, just to discover much to my dismay, that the player in the bus is a VHS unit! Shit! Who the hell ever heard of a VHS system on a bus? So the DVDs were a bust. Took out my portable just to discover that I hadn't recharged the battery and it was nearly dead. No problem, i'll recharge it using a 110 v outlet... what? no 110 v outlet on the bus? Shit! We left Montreal around 9:00 AM and cleared customs around 4:00 PM... by then, everyone on the bus was intensely stressed, tired, thirsty and hungry... we had planned to get some groceries while on our planned dinner break, but since our plans had dramatically changed, we headed for the first exit we could find and found ourselves at a rather seedy-looking truck stop called "Betty Beaver"... basically a greasy spoon shack in the middle of nowhere... Being tired, it was by then easy to have a good chuckle at the absurdity of it all... we enjoyed a quick meal and then resumed our long trek in the rain towards Bethlehem.

The dreaded bus from Hell...

Patience is needed but spirits
are high.

They're not kidding
at the border...

Jane and Richard at the time
of our departure.

The Betty Beaver
Truck Stop...

A more revealing side view...

Peter, Robert and John
at this lovely restaurant...

Inside, everybody had a
pretty good time!

Although they were tired and disappointed to lose an entire day, the members of IQ retained their composure and their good sense of humour. We arrived at 12:30 AM at our destination. After our driver searched aimlessly for about 30 minutes in the maze that is the town of Bethlehem, we finally arrived at the Zoellner so that we drop some of the technicians and some of their gear. Our last stop were the three hotels where all of the passengers will be spending the NearFest weekend. I arrived at 2:00 AM at the Hampton Inn, just to discover that there was a problem with the bus driver's accomodations, and even worse, John Jowitt had mistakenly taken Allison's and Janes's luggage with him at the Comfort Suites, so Allison had to take a shuttle to get her luggage back from John. All that could go wrong did, Murphy's law prevailed with a vengeance today! By then I had it, and I just crawled to my room, mumbling furiously. I was sharing a room with Dave, a long-time NEARFest buddy so I thought of bringing earplugs (snoring keeps me up).

NEARFEST, DAY ONE
After a lovely breakfast at the Hamptons Inn, we made our way in the tour bus to the Zoellner. Upon my arrival at the Zoellner, I began with a quick scan of the vendor tables, where I saw my good friend Andrew Sussman of the group Frogg Café, then briefly visited Annie Haslam's art gallery upstairs (she's a sweetheart, as well as having one of the most beautiful voices on earth).

WOBBLER
The first show of the day was Wobbler, from Norway at 11:00 AM. A good start to the day. Guitarist Morten Andreas Eriksen had that whole norse viking look with his long hair and thick mustache. Very good show, their music being very reminiscent of a cross between Anglagaard and Anekdoten and not because keyboardist Lars Fredrik Frøislie uses 2 mellotrons on stage (one slightly off key of course) he also uses a Mini Moog and a classical Hammond B3. The keyboard sounds were sometimes twisted and tortured, and the splendid flute work of Ketil Einarsen reminded of the classic Ian Anderson flute singing. Wobbler's music is composed of dark and intense melodies. They played only 4 songs, all of which were extensive epics, and adding their 20-minute encore, extended their set quite a bit beyond their alloted time, which in turn, made all of the other performances of the day start late. The show was slightly marred by the quirky, innacurate light show, either technical problems or a bad light technician (Rob LaDuca did mention that there were problems with the lighting equipment and that most groups did not bring their own light tech).

FROGG CAFÉ
After a quick bite and a well-deserved beer, I headed back in the hall for the second serving of the day, Frogg Café. Being very familiar with the band's music, and good friends with all of the members, I knew I was in for a treat. Steve, Bill, Andrew, Nick and James played just an amazing set. Added to the mix was Nick's brother, John Lieto on trombone, which made the froggies even more glorious and musically intense. For those not familiar with their music, I can tell you they made tons of new fans on this day. Frogg Café began their existence as a Zappa cover band, quickly turning to their own avant-inspired compositions and have released to this day three very impressive albums. The highlight of the show was Frankie Camiola, Frogg's ex-lead guitarist, stepping onstage with an acoustic guitar to play the majestic "Waterfall Carnival", their 20+ min. epic. Nearly moved me to tears. Bravo Frogg Café! One of the best performances of their carreer! Yet again the problematic light show. Their brilliant album, Fortunate Observer of Time, along with this magnificent performance, should catapult them into the Major Leagues of prog.

Skipped Steve Roach' set completely, and quickly made my way to the bus with a few friends to catch a good meal at the Bethlehem Brew Works, in the company of the members of IQ, again to discover that there was a communication breakdown with the bus driver from hell, and that the entire "IQ bash" started late because of him and as I arrived at the Brew Works, the members of the band were departing. Damn! Foiled again! I only had about 45 minutes to chow down my beer and bowl of chili before our little group headed back to the Zoellner in time for the Present show, which was going to begin nearly one hour late. So I had some time to shmooze around the vendor tables, met with the members of Echolyn and Glass Hammer, and chatted with Sean McFee of ProgQuébec about the projects his organization is working on, including the rerelease on CD of some classical prog albums from Québec.

PRESENT
Present was next on the agenda, starting at 7:00... Words fail me to describe the intensity, the raw power, the absolute exuberance of this band. They were simply on fire! Present plays a type of music not easily accessible to the general public, Rock in Opposition, or RIO as purists call it. But Present's music is on a much higher, complex level, with an almost death-metal intensity that is sure to wake up the dead! Being at a Present concert is just as intensive as being on a runaway rollercoaster with all the safeties off! Although looking a bit frail, Roger Trigaux astounded us with his agressive compositions and his brilliant leadership, conducting this orchestra of darkness with brilliance. Reggie Trigaux on lead guitar ripped through our brains with his incisive riffs, Keith Macksoud so perfect on bass, pulling furiously at the strings sometimes, Pierre Chevalier just banging on the keys those repetitive yet so insidious melodies, Pierre Desassis pushing the envelope of insanity on the clarinet and sax, sometimes to the point where I thought he'd fall unconscious from all the raw energy he gave out, Matthieu Safatly on an electronic cello that looked more like a creature from "Aliens", just brilliant, and finally Dave Kerman, one of the most spectacular drummer/percussionist I have ever seen in my life (and all the previous other lives...) Drumming with the intensity of a caged wild badger... hitting the cymbals with everything from plastic scissors to golf clubs to... barbie dolls, violently beheading them in the process! And just when you thought it couldn't get anymore intense, out comes a scary looking wiry bald guy wearing only a kilt and warlike facepaint, holding a long steel pipe, and banging on it to accompany Dave's syncopated rhythms. That crazed percussionist banged the pipe so hard that at the end of the song, it was actually bent! Such an enjoyable, but oh so exhausting performance! Took a few minutes to get my composure back!

An hour after the show, I went to see Roger Trigaux and introduced myself to him, since we are going to have the group Present play at the Lion D'Or on the 13th of July. I told Roger the bad news about the poor ticket sales in Montreal (as of the day of our departure to NEARFest, we only had 28 tickets sold...) and offered Roger to back out of the concert if he prefered. Roger told me that he never ever cancelled a show in his carreer, so I told him that we would greet him at the Lion D'Or in Montreal on the 12th and we would be ready for the live tornado on the 13th!

IQ
Then on the main show of day one, my good friends of the group IQ, their set starting around 9:30, over an hour late! The guys were obviously tired from that hellish bus ride and the very short night they had, being back at the auditorium real early for setup and rehearsals. The show started with "Sacred Sound" but immediately, some serious technical difficulties seemed to crop up, Someone had fiddled with the soundboard controls and there wasn't a sound coming out of the stage monitors for the first few minutes of the show, Peter was obviously disturbed, quickly running to the left of the stage to give instructions to the sound guy, the other members seemed a bit nervous and disoriented, skipping a few beats because of the terrible situation onstage, and just as the sound was getting back to normal, the light show went haywire, with the hall light coming on twice during their set, there were intense pops and sparks throughout the show, and John seriously hurt his fingers on the bass because he played with nervously clammy hands, he nearly sawed off his fingertips on the strings. Adding to that the fact that the projections at the back were washed out by the intense spotlights wrapped in smoke in front of the stage. For the first 15-20 minutes, it was just a terrible mess and I felt the pain that the guys must have felt onstage at that time, but the proverbial stiff upper lip of the British prevailed, and they resumed the rest of the show with all of the professionalism and perfection that IQ is reknown for. All in all, their performance after the troubles was brilliant, and I must say that for the most part of the audience, most of these problems were nearly unnoticed because of the dedication and talent of IQ. They didn't drop the ball and they were loudly cheered at the end of the show, and for their the last encore (The Wake), everybody was standing up for the entire song, something you don't see often at NEARFest. After the show, John and Peter looked a bit discouraged, but they retained their composure, patience and friendliness at the autograph signing tables, patiently explaining to all the fans all the nasty stuff that had happened onstage. Their performance was exceptional, and truly showed the caliber of these great musicians. But sadly, that performance had been filmed to be eventually released as a DVD, and with all that happened, most of the footage at the beginning is pretty much unusable. Damn! That really broke my heart for them.

At the end of the evening, we gathered the people going back to the hotels and dropped them off. The night was good and I slept like a baby because I was so exhausted from all the events and emotions that happened over the past days. As much as I usually enjoy NEARFest every year, this year, I wasn't into it at all, I enjoyed the performances and meeting all my old lists friends, but the combination of all that happened and the mad bus trip from hell truly took a toll on me emotionally, and I couldn't disconnect and let loose and just have fun like in the past years. Maybe tomorrow, I'll have a bit more fun.

DAY TWO
The day began with a lovely breakfast at the hotel (to anybody going to NF, I highly recommend the Hampton Inn, which is very comfortable and serves a very nice breakfast – included with the room) where Mark and Helen, Allison, Jane, Jerry and I gathered to check our mail, chat a bit and prepare for the festival's final day. Back to the Zoellner Arts Center, I bought a few CDs, including Glass Hammer's latest, the Inconsolable Secret (an excellent CD) which I had signed by the band members and by Roger Dean, who designed the cover. I then took my seat in the hall.

KNIGHT AREA
The first band of the day was Knight Area. It's a great, tight band, and they are all very talented musicians, but their musical style is more into the "prog lite" poppy, arena rock. Kinda relaxing, light, simple and unchallenging stuff, but never falling into bland. During their set, they premiered a new track of theirs, called "A New Man", which sounded nice. They had a total of ten keyboards onstage, five of them being "M-Audio" midi keyboards, and the obligatory Mini-Moog. Again the lighting effects gremlins reared their ugly head... After the show, I spent more money on CD purchases and chatted with friends. Had a burger and a brew and then, I was ready for the second band of the day.


		Photos ©2005 Matt Urban Studio M Live. All rights reserved

THE MUFFINS
The Muffins were next. The second band of the day was a refreshing discovery for me. Totally original stuff, one of the United State's best "Avant / Rock in Opposition" band. Complex arrangements, sometimes turning into brilliantly controlled chaos. Paul Sears, the drummer, has one of the largest cymbal sets I have ever seen, literally gongs with a hole in the middle... which made for a unique sound. Billy Swann is just a crazy bass player, sometimes going into an epileptic frenzy. And of course, Dave Newhouse and Tom Scott were simply splendid, surrounding us with melodies and harmonies that were just mesmerizing. One of the coolest things about their set is that they had two 13-14 year-old kids accompanying them on trumpet and soprano sax, actually playing important and rather complex rhythm parts of the set. Many have baptized them "the cupcakes".

THE MUFFINS

THE MUFFINS

MATTHEW PARMENTER

I had a few things to take care of, so I had to skip most of Matthew Parmenter's set, but from what I've heard of it, he's America's answer to VdGG's Peter Hammill, Captivating compositions on the piano and on the guitar, from this original artist, who wore his "Discipline" makeup. And how could I miss my good friend Bill Knispel proudly introducing Matthew in a very eloquent way! As I made my way out of the hall, I was hit by more bad news, one of IQ's staff, Andy McEvoy, had a diabetes alert, his low blood sugar made him faint, and the IQ crew were quite worried for a time, but he quickly regained his spirits and was brought back to the hotel so he could rest. Decidedly a tough trip for the IQ team. After enquiring about Andy's health to Martin Orford, I chatted with him and he gave me all the details about all the events surrounding the problems during their gig the day before.

KENSO
Holy smokes! The next group onstage would prove to be my favorite of this year's selection of bands. Kenso is one of the most exuberant, intense, crazy-ass bands I've ever had the chance to see. Musical fireworks on a monumental scale! And they're tight, so tight in fact that it blew everyone right off their seat! And talk about a crowded stage! They nearly had no space to move in this sea of keyboards, modules and monster amps! Kenso's music is an exhilirating mix of symphonic fusion jazz-rock, keyboard and guitar based, highly progressive. Brainchild of a japanese dentist, Yoshihisa Shimizu is the lead guitarist/dentist/founder of Kenso (he actually arrived onstage with his lab coat). This little powerplant of a band is just a non-stop prog explosion from the first notes to the last. What immense talent! I have never seen so many keyboards on one stage, I think 16 in total, not counting the walls of samplers, special effects modules and rackmount synths surrounding the two keyboardists, Kenichi Oguchi and Kenichi Mitsuda, who could play from the most delicate japanese harmony, right down to the most frenzied Keith Emerson-ish savage solos, pure madness, pure genius! One of the more touching moment is when in the middle of their set, they got a long standing ovation, Yoshihisa started to read a little thank you note and broke down, crying tears of joy. Very emotional moment indeed. He also improvised on the spot a little song in honor of NEARFest... Nee-A-Fess, Nee-A-Fess... that was totally hilarious! They got the loudest cheer of the whole festival, and a well deserved one indeed. What a splendid show! Left the hall with a huge, stupid grin on my face!

LE ORME
Class and elegance was on the Zoellner's stage that evening. Le Orme is among the grandaddies of italian progressive rock, along with PFM (which I sorely missed two days before on our bus ride from hell) Oh what a perfect, beautiful show! Michele Bon was fabulous, on the Hammond B3 and Kurzweil K2500, occasionally using the Alien guitar simulator, Aldo Tagliapietra was simply majestic, using a wonderful-looking double neck 12-string/bass and on the sitar, his voice strong and emotional as ever, Andrea Bassato was shining on the Korg synth and the Roland keyboard, and on the violin. The discheveled Michi Dei Rossi was mischievous and dynamic on the Yamaha drumkit. They played a good part of Uomo di Pezza, and the highlight of the show was the beautiful Felona e Sorona, ending their set with a mad version of Dave Brubeck's Blue Rondo à la Emerson Lake and Palmer... Just a perfect, brilliant way to end this festival, which took me a bit of time to get into.

Saying goodbye one last time for another year to many good friend, we gathered by the bus and went back to the hotel. Next morning, after saying goodbye to Mark, Helen, Allison and Jane, we departed for Montreal around 10:00 AM, and after an uneventful and rather boring trip, we arrived at 7:00 PM in town, just glad to be back home.

But don't take me wrong NEARFest is still the nec plus ultra of prog music festivals, and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Both the 2003 and 2004 editions of this festival were for me some of the best moments of my life on this earth. I highly recommend anybody to go to the 2006 edition, just make sure not to organize a concert before and/or after the fest, and really, really stay the hell away from any buses of any kind, okay?
text by Robert Dansereau 22/07/2005