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the_eggwhiteOnce again, we had some time to pass before the start of the day, and we decided to spend it on a short visit to Clearwell Caves. We'd both been there before, but it's always worth a visit.
After we'd done that, we headed down to the venue to catch Glow - the opening act, only to find them halfway through their set already. Clearly day two was starting earlier than advertised. Unlike the previous day, though, I thought they were a fantastic opener. Glow are a bit different in that they make a kind of psychedelic prog dub. They were upbeat, active and clearly enjoying themeselves a great deal. I held off on buying their CD for a couple of minutes... when it was announced that it was only a fiver and my resolve evaporated. I'm very glad I bought it as so far it's been a great mood lifter.
After Glow we had Thieves' Kitchen, who are a band I really wanted to like, but somehow didn't quite manage to. Within the first two minutes of the set, as well as singing, the singer had played the clarinet, the castanets, maracas, a theremin and the spoons. seeing a rather attractive young lady in a blend of goth & jazz singer garb bending over to play the spoons on her knee is one of the odder experiences of the weekend. however, it just felt like they were trying too hard to be clever and experimental, and that somehow they were so focussed in that direction that they forgot to put any tunes in. I gave them a few songs and then decided that it was time to head off and do something else for a bit.
So I spent the next forty five minutes or so looking at the recently restored Lyndey Harbour. Last time I went there was before they'd started the restoration. It was a broken wreck of a place, with the gates of the tidal lock rotting and hanging half open. This time, however, they were fantastically restored. You could go right out to the tip of the harbour wall and get a fantastic view out over the severn estuary. If you're in the area and want some striking views, it's certainly worth a look... if you can find it with the woefully inadequate signage!
This meant that we returned to the venue just in time to see Abel Ganz, who are apparently a scottish prog band with a long established pedigree, but who went on hiatus some years ago. Now they're back, and have new material out there. I'd never heard of them before, and so was pleasantly surprised. They didn't blow me away as much as Quidam, and didn't grab my immediate attention as firmly as glow, but I really enjoyed their set. They reminded me quite strongly of earlier Marillion, but without Fish's lyrical convolutions and occasional screeching, and not so much as to make them sound derivative. I was impressed enough to buy a CD, but was faced with a quandry! They had limited editions of the CD reissue of their first album, or they had the new album. In the end I opted for the special edition. I'm quite likely to also pick up the latest album in the near future as well.
Next up was another band I'd really been looking forward to... Frost*. No, I'm not referencing a footnote - they just have an asterisk on the end of their name. I have to admit to feeling a bit sorry for The Tangent, who were on afterwards, because this was one of the best gigs I've been to... ever. The refreshed lineup really works for them, and Dec Burke is a fantastic addition as an extra guitarist and singer. I was hooked from Experments in Mass Appeal (the opening number) and didn't care that my back had flared up again - I was too buzzed to even really notice! That buzz carried on all the way through the set, right up to the phenomenal, rocking out encore of "The Other Me". I don't think any band could have followed that and not been a slight disappointment.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
izzy_stradlin seemed to be thinking along similar lines, and as her knee had gone again, I drove her back to the B&B before returning to see The Tangent.
I said earlier that no band could follow Frost* without being a slight dissapointment... but The Tangent gave it a damned good go. I'd not heard of them before, although I read bit about their history and picked out that they had previously been a supergroup involving most of the Flower Kings and several other people who were respected greatly by musicians, but not particularly well known. Now apparently it's those same respected people (Andy Tillison & Guy Manning), a new guitarist and sax player... and the entirity of swedish prog band Beardfish. Andy Tillison pointed out that Beardfish are possibly the most important band in prog at the moment as they're all under 30, and I think that in many ways he's certainly correct. Unfortunately, they're deliberately trying to continue the classic prog sound, rather than exploring new things. But my argument about how a lot of prog has stopped... well... progressing... is an argument for another time. In terms of ability, I can't fault them at all... They did one number on their own, and it was some of the best "classic" prog I've heard in recent years.
But enough about Beardfish... what about The Tangent? Well, they were an immense amount of fun. Their onstage banter was terrific and highly enteraining. For example, Andy Tillison commenting on how they'd managed to maintain a stable lineup for so long... since monday, at which point Guy Manning says "I'm out!" and walks off stage. I also need to comment on how I don't think I've seen so much energy in skinny people for a long time... Between Tillison's hyperactive bouncing and Beardfish bassist Robert Hansen's sliding all over the stage with a bass that's wider than he is, the world's energy problems could be solved in a moment. With songs based on such wonderfully proggy subject matter as being propositioned for sex outside a soho jazz club and giving a confused response, or about our lives being ruled by GPSs and mobile phones, the humour in both the banter and the songs themselves really made the closing set of the festival something special.
For me the ultimate high points were Frost* and Magenta, with my new finds being Quidam, Glow and The Tangent. I'm now eagerly awaiting next year's Summer's End festival. The organisers announced that there will definately be one, and that it will definately be in September in Gloucestershire. I'm sold. If the quality's half of what it was this year, It'd still be worth the money.
After we'd done that, we headed down to the venue to catch Glow - the opening act, only to find them halfway through their set already. Clearly day two was starting earlier than advertised. Unlike the previous day, though, I thought they were a fantastic opener. Glow are a bit different in that they make a kind of psychedelic prog dub. They were upbeat, active and clearly enjoying themeselves a great deal. I held off on buying their CD for a couple of minutes... when it was announced that it was only a fiver and my resolve evaporated. I'm very glad I bought it as so far it's been a great mood lifter.
After Glow we had Thieves' Kitchen, who are a band I really wanted to like, but somehow didn't quite manage to. Within the first two minutes of the set, as well as singing, the singer had played the clarinet, the castanets, maracas, a theremin and the spoons. seeing a rather attractive young lady in a blend of goth & jazz singer garb bending over to play the spoons on her knee is one of the odder experiences of the weekend. however, it just felt like they were trying too hard to be clever and experimental, and that somehow they were so focussed in that direction that they forgot to put any tunes in. I gave them a few songs and then decided that it was time to head off and do something else for a bit.
So I spent the next forty five minutes or so looking at the recently restored Lyndey Harbour. Last time I went there was before they'd started the restoration. It was a broken wreck of a place, with the gates of the tidal lock rotting and hanging half open. This time, however, they were fantastically restored. You could go right out to the tip of the harbour wall and get a fantastic view out over the severn estuary. If you're in the area and want some striking views, it's certainly worth a look... if you can find it with the woefully inadequate signage!
This meant that we returned to the venue just in time to see Abel Ganz, who are apparently a scottish prog band with a long established pedigree, but who went on hiatus some years ago. Now they're back, and have new material out there. I'd never heard of them before, and so was pleasantly surprised. They didn't blow me away as much as Quidam, and didn't grab my immediate attention as firmly as glow, but I really enjoyed their set. They reminded me quite strongly of earlier Marillion, but without Fish's lyrical convolutions and occasional screeching, and not so much as to make them sound derivative. I was impressed enough to buy a CD, but was faced with a quandry! They had limited editions of the CD reissue of their first album, or they had the new album. In the end I opted for the special edition. I'm quite likely to also pick up the latest album in the near future as well.
Next up was another band I'd really been looking forward to... Frost*. No, I'm not referencing a footnote - they just have an asterisk on the end of their name. I have to admit to feeling a bit sorry for The Tangent, who were on afterwards, because this was one of the best gigs I've been to... ever. The refreshed lineup really works for them, and Dec Burke is a fantastic addition as an extra guitarist and singer. I was hooked from Experments in Mass Appeal (the opening number) and didn't care that my back had flared up again - I was too buzzed to even really notice! That buzz carried on all the way through the set, right up to the phenomenal, rocking out encore of "The Other Me". I don't think any band could have followed that and not been a slight disappointment.
izzy_stradlin seemed to be thinking along similar lines, and as her knee had gone again, I drove her back to the B&B before returning to see The Tangent.I said earlier that no band could follow Frost* without being a slight dissapointment... but The Tangent gave it a damned good go. I'd not heard of them before, although I read bit about their history and picked out that they had previously been a supergroup involving most of the Flower Kings and several other people who were respected greatly by musicians, but not particularly well known. Now apparently it's those same respected people (Andy Tillison & Guy Manning), a new guitarist and sax player... and the entirity of swedish prog band Beardfish. Andy Tillison pointed out that Beardfish are possibly the most important band in prog at the moment as they're all under 30, and I think that in many ways he's certainly correct. Unfortunately, they're deliberately trying to continue the classic prog sound, rather than exploring new things. But my argument about how a lot of prog has stopped... well... progressing... is an argument for another time. In terms of ability, I can't fault them at all... They did one number on their own, and it was some of the best "classic" prog I've heard in recent years.
But enough about Beardfish... what about The Tangent? Well, they were an immense amount of fun. Their onstage banter was terrific and highly enteraining. For example, Andy Tillison commenting on how they'd managed to maintain a stable lineup for so long... since monday, at which point Guy Manning says "I'm out!" and walks off stage. I also need to comment on how I don't think I've seen so much energy in skinny people for a long time... Between Tillison's hyperactive bouncing and Beardfish bassist Robert Hansen's sliding all over the stage with a bass that's wider than he is, the world's energy problems could be solved in a moment. With songs based on such wonderfully proggy subject matter as being propositioned for sex outside a soho jazz club and giving a confused response, or about our lives being ruled by GPSs and mobile phones, the humour in both the banter and the songs themselves really made the closing set of the festival something special.
For me the ultimate high points were Frost* and Magenta, with my new finds being Quidam, Glow and The Tangent. I'm now eagerly awaiting next year's Summer's End festival. The organisers announced that there will definately be one, and that it will definately be in September in Gloucestershire. I'm sold. If the quality's half of what it was this year, It'd still be worth the money.
