NEARfest 2012 -Apocalypse

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NEARfest Apocalypse 2012

Sad to see NEARfest go this was my 11th one but it went off with a bang.

Aranis- Belgian acoustic chamber rock ensemble led by upright bassist and composer Joris Vanvickenroye. Featuring interlocked bass, violin, flute, accordion, and piano lines, Aranis' evocative music stirs the mind and spirit alike. Their latest album Roqueforte expands their musical palette through the addition of drummer extraordinaire Dave Kerman. Great performance Dave Kerman made an interesting twist to their sound. He played with air cans, bones and a deck of cards :lol:



loved the use of an accordian



Van Der Graaf Generator
Second time seeing VDGG in the past few years along with a solo Peter Hammill. They never disappoint I love Peter Hammill's vocals, very Bowie, and great music.

 

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Day Two
Helmet of Knats- American Fusion band played a good set of fusion rock.


Twelfth Night (UK)- Mix rock, classical, and punk vibes with dramatic vocals and incisive lyrics, Twelfth Night attracted a significant following in the UK and beyond. Twelfth Night has always been renowned for its engaging multi-media stage show, focused at first on the enigmatic vocalist Geoff Mann, and now the equally powerful Andy Sears. The band has seen a rebirth in the new millennium and has toured throughout the British Isles and European continent to wide acclaim. Cool band mixing prog and punk and a little stage act.

Änglagård (Sweden) Änglagård is perhaps the seminal band hailing from the progressive rock revival in the 1990s. Combining influences from romantic and modern classical, 1970s symphonic rock, and Scandinavian folk music with prodigious compositional skill and emotional depth, Änglagård produced Hybris and Epilog, two epic albums considered essential to any progressive music collection. Their new album (Viljans Öga) is one of my favorite albums of 2012.
Got to love a band that plays with three Melltrons and a multi talented drummer.

Dueling Melltrons








Renaissance - I saw Annie Haslam and Renaissance back in the 70's and have been a fan since. They did a a great prog set of the entire Turn of the Cards album and then Scheherazade and Other Stories entire album. Then encore of carpet of the sun
Took awhile for them to get the sound right but the second half of the show was awesome.

 

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Final Day of NEARfest 2012

Gösta Berlings Saga is a quartet from Sweden who produce a hypnotic instrumental amalgam of post-rock, folk, progressive rock, minimalism, avant-rock, found sound and more, all recorded and combined with unusual and interesting studio techniques. Named after one of the most notable Swedish books of all time, Gösta Berlings Saga are gaining notoriety world-wide, as evidenced by many European concert invitations and their recent signing to the Cuneiform label.

Surprise of NEARfest 2012(always a surprise band). Great performance of post rock more in a prog style then some of the other post rock bands. They also had Mattias Olsson of anglagard with them for the encore.






Il Tempio delle Clessidre is the perfect marriage of the newer and older Italian progressive rock scenes. Led by multi-keyboardist and composer Elisa Montaldo, all of the instrumentalists in Il Tempio delle Clessidre belong to the younger generation. Up front on lead vocals is Stefano 'Lupo' Galifi, formerly the lead singer of the legendary Italian progressive outfit Museo Rosenbach. Il Tempio’s self-titled debut is a magnum opus of stirring compositions and virtuoso playing anchored by Galifi's strident yet sensitive baritone voice.

Another great performance and interesting mix of theatrics and Italian old school prog.

 

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Mike Keneally is an influential American guitarist, singer, multi-
instrumentalist, and composer who initially began his professional career in earnest with the Frank Zappa band in the late 1980s. Since that time he has produced many albums of intelligent, diverse, eclectic, and engaging music, tilting from the sublime to the ridiculous and back and everywhere in between. Recently Mike has been manning the keyboards for Joe Satriani, and has been part of the touring Dethklok band borne out of the popular Metalocalypse cartoon series.

Mike Keneally played a great set of guitar driven prog.





The final band was a fill in for Eloy who cancelled last minute.
The replacement was UK (Eddie Jobson and John Wetton)
I've not seen John Wetton since the 70's in the original UK.

Great performance of their classic two albums plus a great King Crimson version of Starless and Book of Saturday.

No Photos allowed