Opeth - Devin Townsend Project - Caravan - Amplifier - Anglagard - Maybeshewill - Anima Mundi

Sunday, summer, sun, blue sky - it can’t be any better, although the heat over the noon was a bit uncomfortable. The visitor center is again totally overstrained to handle the breakfast. But well, I got my sandwiches and a coffee (4.50 Euro for the „menu“ plus 2 € deposit for the cups… guess what… loooong queues to give back the cups). Good morning NIGHT OF THE PROG :)

:: pics ::

The audience (surprisingly very international, press media as well, even from Canada and the US people came just to attend this festival) this morning was larger and more lively than the day before. Opening act was :: ANIMA MUNDI :: from Cuba. Never heard of them before I think but it seemed I was the only one, because response was immense. With every new song the crowd got even more into it. At the end ANIMA MUNDI was the only one band were fans screamed for an encore full-throated, which was not granted. ANIMA MUNDI thrillingly combine progressive Rock with native folklore, while symphonic elements add a strong melancholic note one cannot elude. A surprisingly awesome kickoff into the second festival day
Setlist: Time To Understand, Flying To The Sun, The Dream Child Behind The Mask, The Return - Part I, Endless Star, Cosmic Man

In 2011 :: MAYBESHEWILL :: supported Long Distance Calling, where I saw them playing live for the first time. These days the Brits act much more lively on stage which supports their brand of instrumental Post Rock even better, especially on an open air stage. MAYBESHEWILL are known for using samples from films and it was funny to watch crowd guessing which one. Although the music is quite powerful and the guys rocked out pretty much their songs started get lengthy over the course. Less (playing time) would have been more I’d say, but this might be also due to the heat and midday idleness…
Setlist: Take This To Heart, Co-Conspirators, The Paris Hilton Sex Tape, Critical Distance, In Another Life, When We Are Both Cats, Accolades, Seraphim & Cherubim, Red Paper Lanterns, To The Skies From A Hillside, Not For Want Of Trying

As you might have noticed, I was blown away by Magma last night, which means I have a liking for such kind of music. Though I could find no access to :: ÄNGLAGÅRD :: who are likewise complex, diversified and generally different from the gross of progressive bands. I actually liked the influence of 70s Prog music, the original instruments, most of all the sax, and the retro sound. But in its entirety it was too restless, too scatty and too much off (free)Jazz for me. Worth mentioning is the quick exchange of instruments at Anna Holmgren, who played a transverse flute, the saxophone and the keyboard. Also ÄNGLAGÅRD had to struggle through technical problems and increased the delay.
Setlist: Höstsejd, Längtans Klocka, Jordrök, Sorgmantel, Kung Bore

Sufferer of all those problems were :: AMPLIFIER :: who also overran their souncheck and had to shortened their setlist drastically afterwards. AMPLIFIER played the shortest show of the festival were visibly upset about it. I have seen them playing several times and so far I liked their show. But tonight the spark does not want to fly at all. I just found the boring. And it seems the crowd had its difficulties too as there was hardly any response. Besides, the sound was way too loud and slightly overridden as well as there was too much smoke on stage. The band was hardly to see. Too bad…
Setlist: Spaceman, The Wheel, The Wave, Interglacial Spell, Extra Vehicular, Interstellar, Airborne

How to enthuse the audience :: CARAVAN :: knew. The veterans are around for over 4 decades and every one of them should have passed the 60. This alone does already impress. And yes, they might have played in a too routine way but the rocked the stage and got the crowd up. Unbelievable. I cannot do that much with that Canterbury sound but it was a pleasure to see CARAVAN playing live.
Setlist: Memory Lain, Hugh, Headloss, In The Land Of Grey And Pink, Smoking Gun (Right For Me), The Unauthorized Breakfast Item, Golf Girl, Nightmare, Fingers In The Till, Nine Feet Underground

Right after the musical contrast could hardly be starker and there have been quite a few people who (almost screaming) left the arena when :: THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT :: started to play. Unfortunately second guitarist and sound wiz Dave Young had to step back from European festivals but at least at NIGHT OF THE PROG he got “replaced” by a cardboard cut-out fans made. Devin very much liked that and even put “him” onstage. Devin already did his jokes on stage during the soundcheck and kicked off the set without further notice. He announced that some might hate the Canadian vagabonds after the show and some took it literally (as there was to read afterwards in various forums). Small minds. But THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT couldn’t be stopped by anything. Sound wasn’t the best at all and Dave missing but DTP delivered a hell of a show with Devin running around, getting close to the fans and scaring the security while inviting three young headbanging lads, who jumped over the fence and presented their DTP letters on their naked bellies. There was much action among the crowd, all the fans close to the barrier and headbanging their heads off. An amazing view I tell you. Devin always wins! So much love around ;) Just fucking amazing!!!
Setlist: Truth, By Your Command, Deadhead, War, Planet Of The Apes, Supercrush!, Kingdom, Juular, More!, Grace, Bad Devil

Okay, here we go. Those who thought that :: OPETH :: now would play a pure “Prog Rock set”, much like on their recent Heritage tour, got a nasty surprise *laughs*. Said Mikael: “What is Prog these days, I don’t know anymore“ and got into an almost best-of Death Metal set. Hahahaha. Guess what… again you could see the jaws dropping. Of course, all the metal heads around freaked out ;) And it seemed that OPETH would have the most fun of all. Mikale was joking and bantering (not to forget his lovely side blow towards Ms Wilson *lol*), tried out his German knowledge (the blue dog you know) and introduced himself as Udo Dirkschneider. Sound, lights and setlist were perfectly balanced providing an intensive, thrilling and breathtakingly awesome show! And just to top it all OPETH finish their 2 hrs set and the NIGHT OF THE PROG FESTIVAL with one of their greatest songs: Blackwater Park. What a grand final! What a show! What a grandiose festival! Just wow… *sighs*
Setlist: The Devil's Orchard, Ghost Of Perdition, White Cluster, Hope Leaves, Atonement, Deliverance, Heir Apparent, Häxprocess, Demon Of The Fall, The Lines In My Hand // Blackwater Park

Summary: With an excellent OPETH show and excellent festival draws to an end. My first NIGHT OF THE PROG FESTIVAL was a great one, a memorable one. I had such a great weekend!
Yes, a few bands I found too lengthy, but there was no bad one at all. My faves should be recognizable, the ones that surprised me too ;)
As already mentioned, the food affair needs to be solved. And there needs to be much more advertisement for the festival itself. There should be at least twice the number of fans filling the Amphitheater in the future. Besides, there was nothing to nag about ;)
So let me say thank you, thank you, thank you to WiV, making it possible to be part of that journey :) We hopefulle meet in 2014! By the way… the NIGHT OF THE PROG 2014 will take place on July 18 and 19. and the hotel nearby is already booked out.

Oh, and regarding bands (as I have seen that some already played the festival several times, something I hate a lot as there are so many great bands out there to get a chance) I could name a lot of (of course Prog-relevant) bands worth playing the NIGHT OF THE PROG ;)