Fire of Unknown Origin

Raffaella Berry's progressive music journey

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« From the Vault: The Decemberists – Castaways and Cutouts (2002)
The Tea Club – Rabbit (2010) »

Interlude – A Great Season of Music

November 1, 2010 by progmistress

One of the biggest advantages of living in an otherwise crowded, ‘pressure-cooker’ area such as the US Northeast is the staggering variety of music on offer. With an impressive choice of venues of every size and description, as well as a thriving underground scene, the region has become one of the most important hubs for progressive rock, as illustrated by the documentary film Romantic Warriors (reviewed elsewhere on this blog). While gigs are organized more or less throughout the year, things are definitely quieter in the colder months (mainly because of the unavailability of the outdoor venues) – while the summer months offer such a wide range of gigs that fans are obliged to pick and choose, unless they have a unlimited supply of time and cash.

2009 was my first full year in the USA, so Michael, my husband, and I were finally able to start sampling the musical delights offered by our area. Our season included our first participation to NEARfest, four visits to the quaintly bucolic Merriweather Post Pavilion (the last one particularly poignant in retrospect, being the last time that we saw the great Ronnie James Dio on stage before his untimely passing), as well as what has now gone down in the annals of concert history as ‘the monsoon on the Potomac’ – the ill-fated Asia/Yes gig at the National Harbor. At the time, I had just started my reviewing tenure with ProgressoR, and as such was very much a ‘newbie’ of the whole scene. This year, though, was quite a different story…

With my review count growing and my reputation as a reviewer spreading around the prog fandom (helped by the reactivation of my Facebook account), I made friends among musicians, built an increasing network of contacts, slowly but steadily became part of the scene. For a basically shy person as I am, this made me feel much less self-conscious when attending gigs and festivals, and boosted my enjoyment of those functions. While I am very human and enjoy the attention generated by my reviews, I also feel I am helping those who need it the most – the artists – by covering their work and encouraging their efforts.

This year, our season of music was fittingly inaugurated at the very end of May, on Memorial Day weekend (which here in the US marks the beginning of the summer season), with the annual concert organized by the DC Society of Art Rock at the Jammin’ Java. We were already familiar with the venue, as we had seen Eddie Jobson and his band play there last year. A small, friendly coffeehouse, notorious for the ear-shattering volume of its gigs, this year it hosted two local bands, Brave and Ephemeral Sun, plus one of our favourite new acts – New Jersey’s very own 3rd Degree. Though all three bands put up excellent performances, 3rd Degree were our personal highlight of the evening – an extremely tight outfit very much in the vein of vintage Steely Dan, fronted by the amazing talents of vocalist/keyboardist George Dobbs and bassist Robert James Pashman.

A couple of weeks later, it was the turn of two legendary bands such as Jethro Tull and Procol Harum, in the beautiful setting of the Wolf Trap Foundation – a striking wooden pavilion surrounded by deep woods, and the only National Park in the USA dedicated to the performing arts. While Ian Anderson may have lost most of his vocal power, he and his crew are still mightily entertaining to watch, and their back catalogue has very few equals in the rock word. However, the real surprise of the evening were Procol Harum. Unlike Anderson’s, Gary Brooker’s inimitable voice is still in pristine shape, and they wowed the audience with a mix of older and newer material, including the goosebump-inducing “A Salty Dog” and the much-awaited “A Whiter Shade of Pale”.

Our second time at NEARfest, which took place on the third weekend of June, is documented in the lengthy account I wrote for ProgressoR when I was still on board. Since all my articles for said website are covered by copyright, I will post a link to it at the end of this piece. Two days after our return from Pennsylvania, we were back at Wolf Trap for the Yes/Peter Frampton double bill – another great concert from two historic acts, though this time marred by the stiflingly humid heat. After last year’s monsoon, which had literally driven Yes off stage, we had bought tickets for their February concert at the Warner Theatre in DC. It was not, however, meant to be, since the event was first rescheduled because of the heavy snowfall; then – on the evening it was finally going to happen – Michael came home from work with a touch of the flu, so we kissed goodbye to our tickets, and patiently waited for the next opportunity to see the band. In spite of all you can say about the Jon Anderson-less Yes, they did not disappoint, and I was particularly excited by their performance of “Close to the Edge”, which I had never previously seen them play live.

After almost a month’s gap, on July 20 we headed to a venue we were not yet familiar with – the Jiffy Lube arena (formerly Nissan Pavilion) – to see another formidable double bill, firm favourites Iron Maiden with Dream Theater as openers. Unlike either Wolf Trap or the Merriweather Post Pavilion, Jiffy Lube is a largely unprepossessing space, located somewhat in the middle of nowhere and totally devoid of atmosphere. Though we were seated in the covered area, we managed to get relatively wet when a thunderstorm broke out (quite appropriately, seen the title of their latest release) just as Dream Theater took to the stage, and the wind drove the rain beneath the roof of the pavilion. While I found the New York band tolerable at best (their set was mercifully short!), Iron Maiden delivered in spades as usual. With three decades of activity under their belt, they are still one of the most energetic, entertaining live bands in the business, and I was thrilled with their choice to perform some of their more recent material alongside their undisputed classics.

Fast forward to the first weekend of September, and my first time at ProgDay – as described in detail in the review linked below. Barely two weeks of rest, so to speak, and the 2010 edition of the Sonic Circuits festival was upon us – with the organizers having pulled out all the stops by securing the participation of three major draws such as Magma, Univers Zéro and Miriodor, as well as veterans The Muffins and electronic pioneers Richard Pinhas and Merzbow. Though we had bought passes for the whole week, we were only able to attend the opening and closing shows, both held in the gorgeous premises of the Maison Française, the cultural centre of the French Embassy in DC. The marathon-like opening event culminated with a simply incredible performance by Zeuhl legends Magma, a band every self-respecting progressive rock fan should experience at least once. A week later, the festival was closed in style by the utterly stunning musicianship and compositional mastery of Miriodor and Univers Zéro – a once-in-a-lifetime double bill.

Our season of music came to a close last Saturday, with our first-ever visit to the Orion Studios in Baltimore to see Italian band The Watch (who were performing Genesis’ iconic Foxtrot album in its entirety) supported by Shadow Circus – one of the Northeast’s finest new bands, and very good friends of ours. The Orion is indeed one of those places that seem to have come out of a bygone era – a warehouse in a suburban area of Baltimore converted into a temple of progressive music, somewhat small and cramped, but brimming with character and a ‘family’ atmosphere of sorts, with people bringing their own chairs, drinks and food. Unfortunately, tiredness prevented us from attending the whole of The Watch’s performance, though we managed to enjoy all of Shadow Circus’ set. Those guys are going from strength to strength, and will hopefully soon reap the rewards of all their hard work.

In the coming months there will probably be other concerts for us to attend in the area, though not with the same frequency. At any rate, we already have some gigs lined up for next spring, and will also try to attend all three of the big festivals organized on the East Coast. Until then, I will continue to support up-and-coming bands with my reviews and feedback. Watch this space!

Links:

NEARfest 2010 review (http://www.progressor.net/nearfest2010.html)
ProgDay 2010 review (http://www.progressor.net/progday2010.html)

Share this:

  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Biography, Concert, Festival, Progressive Rock | Tagged 3rd Degree, DC-SOAR, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Jethro Tull, Magma, Miriodor, NEARfest 2010, Orion Studios, Peter Frampton, Procol Harum, ProgDay 2010, Romantic Warriors, Shadow Circus, Sonic Circuits 2010, The Muffins, The Watch, Univers Zéro, Wolf Trap, Yes | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on November 1, 2010 at 5:49 pm H.T. Riekels

    Nicely done Raff. Although I am not hurting for cultural outlets in Ann Arbor, I do have to do a fair amount of traveling for most of the acts I really want to see. If I didn’t love it here so much, I would seriously consider moving.


  2. on November 1, 2010 at 6:11 pm progmistress

    Thanks, HT! Looking forward to next year’s NEARfest!


  3. on November 2, 2010 at 2:04 pm Gary

    Sounds like you and Michael were well initiated into America via the Northwest — beautiful country and you saw some great bands so far!
    When Yes came here to Mason, OH, this past summer, it was hot, but was a good show, but they didn’t do “close to the edge” that day.
    Framton was good but seemed more outdated than the new Yes lineup, who sounded fresher!


    • on November 2, 2010 at 3:16 pm progmistress

      Michael was actually born in Portland, Oregon, but moved here on the East Coast when he was 11. I, on the other hand, have only lived in the US for the past two years, and have always lived here in the DC metro area.



Comments are closed.

  • Archives

  • Most Recent Posts

    • Romantic Warriors IV – Krautrock part 2
    • Romantic Warriors IV – Krautrock part 1
    • Not Your Father’s Prog – 2016 in Review
    • Zhongyu – Zhongyu (2016)
    • Deus Ex Machina – Devoto (2016)
  • Calendar

    November 2010
    M T W T F S S
    1234567
    891011121314
    15161718192021
    22232425262728
    2930  
    « Oct   Dec »
  • Categories

    • Acoustic (5)
    • Alternative (5)
    • Ambient (16)
    • Announcement (15)
    • Art Rock (25)
    • Biography (11)
    • Blues (4)
    • Book (2)
    • Chamber Music (10)
    • Classic Rock (18)
    • Concert (21)
    • Contemporary Academic Music (4)
    • Crossover (14)
    • Essay (11)
    • Festival (29)
    • Film (5)
      • Documentary (5)
    • Folk (14)
    • Funk (1)
    • Hard Rock (11)
    • Heavy Metal (2)
    • Instrumental (58)
    • Interview (12)
    • Jazz (12)
    • Jazz-Rock (51)
      • Fusion (20)
    • Live Album (2)
    • Math Rock (4)
    • New Age (1)
    • New Wave (2)
    • Poetry (1)
    • Progressive (29)
      • Avant-garde (10)
      • Electronic (8)
    • Progressive Metal (15)
    • Progressive Rock (259)
      • Canterbury Scene (24)
      • Krautrock (2)
      • Neo-Progressive (5)
      • Post-Prog (4)
      • Post-Rock (5)
      • Psychedelic (15)
      • RIO/Avant (44)
      • Rock Progressivo Italiano (RPI) (28)
      • Symphonic (24)
      • Zeuhl (4)
    • Review (239)
    • Space Rock (5)
    • Statistics (4)
    • Uncategorized (3)
    • Website (1)
    • World Music (16)
  • Blogroll

    • Documentation
    • Plugins
    • ProgArchives
    • Suggest Ideas
    • Support Forum
    • Themes
    • WordPress Blog
    • WordPress Planet
  • Friends

    • Alison Says
    • Alison's Column
    • Astounded by Sound!
    • Athos
    • Autopoietican
    • Bill's Prog Blog
    • Brett W. McCoy
    • Chi Va con lo Zoppo… Ascolta Buona Musica!
    • Feeding the Silence
    • GFreedom's Spot
    • Gibraltar's Prog Blog
    • Hanging Sounds
    • Having My Bass and Eating It Too
    • Hunnibee Reviews
    • Italian Prog Map
    • JezSpace
    • La Luna di Alfonso
    • Lo Scrittore Progressivo
    • MB – Music Box
    • Mindofthemasses
    • Music From the Other Side of the Room
    • New Prog Releases
    • Notes from the Wilderness
    • Pen and Think
    • Prog Is Alive and Well in the 21st Century
    • Prog Lessons ovvero… Cosa si prova ad ascoltare il Progressive Rock
    • Progressive Rock Moments
    • Progshine
    • Rockateca
    • Romantic Warriors
    • Scott's Music Reviews
    • Something for the Weekend?
    • SONAR
    • Strongprogress
    • The Bearded Blog
    • The Bodhisattva Beat
    • The Echoes Blog
    • The Epileptic Gibbon Podcast Music Show
    • The Leviathan
    • the Prog Space
    • The Progressive Aspect
    • The Rickter Scale
    • The Semi-Constant Ravings of a Musical Madman
    • The Sound of Fighting Cats
    • The Totally Subjective Classical Music Blog
    • Tye-Dye Dad
    • Udi Koomran – Guidelines for the Recording Musician
    • Wand'ring Again
    • West Coast Metal
  • Music Websites

    • Arlequins
    • DPRP – Dutch Progressive Rock Pages
    • MovimentiPROG
    • ProgArchives
    • ProgMontreal
    • ProgressoR
    • ProgSphere
    • Rockprogressive.it
    • The Progressive Aspect
  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 138 other followers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Fire of Unknown Origin
    • Join 138 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Fire of Unknown Origin
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: