Best set/thoughts about them for Saturday night??? What do you say?

[Killerdoberman]

Therion was just sooooo Therion. I don't think there is any other words to discribe them.

The one band that surprised me was Stride. I was just expecting a same 'ol power metal but, hell...they were right on, the picture taking of the crowd was very cool, and ending with a tribute to my first prog band...2112...just finished as strong as they started.

All Hail Glenn!!! I can't wait for the lineup for ProPower VII.

See you all next year!!!

 

[Sautherom]

Friday:
THERION !
Strato
Symphorce
that's all

i don't like PC69, and stride

The Best of the Festival to me:
ANGRA & THERION (I'm ready to see Angra again tonight!) :hotjump:
Strato, Conception and Orphaned Land, one step back to angra and therion
Manticora, Symphorce. one step back strato, conception and Orphaned Land
PC69, Stride and Circus Maximus. it's not on my way, is not my kind of music, they can be great musicians, but i don't like them, sorry

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Dammit, who was that!!! LOL Sorry about that! Thanks for at least being cool enough to not say that I was playing with myself while I was posting or something to that effect! Proof positive that once again the ProgPower crowd= character!

If I had ONLY known!

 

[lifesadream]

I loved Symphorce's set. they kicked major ass, their 45 minutes went by too fast. Therion was a huge surprise for me. I was starting to get their music on the cd's and was looking forward to them. The crowd response to Therion I thought was the biggest and wildest out of all the bands I have seen at Prog Power this year and last. Therion has some real heavy shit and finishing with Mercyful Fate- Black Funeral was simply awesome. Small mosh pit even broke out for that one. I was a little upset waiting for Stratovarius, an hour wait was kind of long especially being kind of drunk and a little tired from head banging and fist pumping so I didnt really enjoy Strat too much and didnt stay for their whole set.

 

[Pellaz]

Therion was a huge surprise for me. I was starting to get their music on the cd's and was looking forward to them. The crowd response to Therion I thought was the biggest and wildest out of all the bands I have seen at Prog Power this year and last.

I was extremely surprised by how much the audience was into them -- and so were the guys in the band, since festival gigs in general tend to have different audience dynamics, and ProgPower probably even more so. There were so many posts on this very forum saying, e.g., "Oh, I'll go do my CD shopping/go out to dinner/rearrange my sock drawer during Therion's set" that I figured there would be about 200 people in the venue, and I'd probably know about half of 'em.

Anyway, kudos to PP folks for giving them a chance. I'm a bit biased, but I thought they slayed. I wasn't sure what to expect even as their sponsor, but I was floored.

Therion has some real heavy shit and finishing with Mercyful Fate- Black Funeral was simply awesome.

They get the award for Most Punctual Band, I think.* They managed to turn over the entire stage (all-new drumkit, etc.) and line-check before their show within the half-hour allotment and started on time, and then they squeezed out the Mercyful Fate cover (unplanned; it was NOT on their printed setlist) and finished precisely at the top of the hour by my watch. THAT's professionalism.

They sounded amazingly good for a complex arrangement of vocals and stuff...especially since they couldn't get a full soundcheck. (!)

My biggest "oh well" for the weekend was that I really wish they could have scheduled Friday night free and hung out at the festival with the rest of us, but tour buses cost thousands of dollars a week and it just ain't financially feasible to have an off-day when you have a viable playdate.


-=-=-=-
* excepting their 3pm arrival on Saturday (!)

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

I was definitely impressed with Therion's mix and performance. I'm not really a fan, but I was thinking about during the set that you really have to look at it as metal as opposed to "classical" or "operatic" stuff. I kind of looked at their music the wrong way when I was listening to them. Maybe more like King Diamond or something? They had a high energy performance, and had a much better mix than several of the bands with half as many members and a longer soundcheck.

I wasn't really expecting much out of Saturday, but it turned out to be more fun that Friday since I hung out with someone, picked up a pair of earplugs, and had fun watching Therion's 10 person band rock out.

Paul, I assume they had the non-singer classical instrumentation stuff on computers or something? I definitely didn't see a keyboard player if there was one, even though there wasn't too much extra beyond the five singers they had, I assumed that's what the situation was.

 

[Pellaz]

Paul, I assume they had the non-singer classical instrumentation stuff on computers or something? I definitely didn't see a keyboard player if there was one, even though there wasn't too much extra beyond the five singers they had, I assumed that's what the situation was.

Yep, I didn't see one either, although with ten people on stage he/she coulda been hiding behind someone. (I can't figure out how they fit everyone on the tiny stage at, say, Jaxx in DC on Friday night.)

Kinda funny when you think about it: at a festival like ProgPower, you'd expect the band to bring the keyboardist and maybe relegate the backing vocals to a DAT or something, but noooooo.....

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Yeah, I couldn't see all the way over on the right of the stage from where I was, but I only counted ten when they all came out to bow before the Celtic Frost cover.

 

[dslartoo]

Paul, I assume they had the non-singer classical instrumentation stuff on computers or something? I definitely didn't see a keyboard player if there was one, even though there wasn't too much extra beyond the five singers they had, I assumed that's what the situation was.

They mentioned something about this in the interview that appeared in the program book. The orchestrations and keyboards are indeed controlled by computer (a Macintosh laptop offstage, if I remember right).

Freakin' incredible set. I remember thinking during "To Mega Therion", "How can anyone NOT headbang to this song? It's, like, a command from ON HIGH!"

cheers,
Phil

 

[Angrafan]

Stratovarius/Therion!

I liked both set a lot! Even though I am not a big fan of either bands.. They just kicked ass...

​

 

[Ruthven]

Therion put on my favorite performance of the evening, and likely the entire event as well. It's tough to pick between them and Orphaned Land, but since Therion got an extra 30 minutes...they have the edge.

Not only was Therion energetic (again, as with Orphaned Land, I wasn't expecting a band nearly as dynamic) but the visual was one of the strangest things I have seen at a metal show. The guys in suits (and one made out of leather at that!) were priceless. Excellent show, excellent visuals. I am disappointed that they didn't roll out "Wondrous World of Punt," "Call of Dagon," or "Voyage of Gurdjieff," but I also realize they couldn't play everything I wanted to hear. I don't care what anyone says, I've always believed in Therion and feel vindicated to a degree.

My second favorite set of the evening was Symphorce. I felt that this was the best "power metal" set of the weekend. I wasn't as surprised as I was with Brainstorm last year and sort of knew what to expect. I prefer Symphorce, though, and really enjoyed this set.

The surprise of the evening for me was Stratovarius, who I have never been a fan of. I expected to catch part of their set but was impressed by their live sound. Do they have any easily obtainable live albums? This is one band I am willing to give another chance to.

I thought that Pink Cream 69 was OK at first but got more entertaining as the set went on. This was definitely a good, party band...and interesting fit between the straightforward, hard driving metal of Symphorce and the oddness that was Therion.

Unfortunately I completely missed Stride due to helping a friend of mine who came in on Saturday. My brother really enjoyed Stride's set, and gave high compliment to their cover of "Temple of Syrinx."

 

[MaxDuo]

Personally my favorites Saturday were probably Stride and Symphorce. I know that they just released their first big CD.... But wasn't this also somewhat their first big concert? Like everything before was club stuff and our pre party? I thought they did an amazing job there, and was very amazed by every member of the band I think. And it was fun to watch then play the instrumentals and the singer go crazy throwing things to the audience. I'd like to have that guitar / keyboard battle thing... Was that on their Music Machine album? I've been wanting to check that out... I don't get why some people put them as their lowest ranked band....

And Symphorce was... yeah. Andy is fun. For some reason watching them all headbang the way they do is very entertaining.

And I didn't know the lyrics of most of the Therion songs were: "Yeah" They sound 100x better live than on the 2 or 3 cds I heard...

 

[WeeboTech]

Then Stratovarius went on. Can someone else give me some insight as to what the hell took so long to get them on stage? And there was an intro and then another intro with some sort of video going on? I wondered if they were just trying to kill time while they fixed the technical difficulties.

They had an elaborate set up of screens on the right and left side. I'm sure that took a good amount of time to prepare.

The screens showed various video clips of prior concerts during the opening. It was interesting, but a bit long. I would love to see what they create for future shows from prog power clips. During the show it was various colorful pictures.


Also, The sound board was re-adjusted during set up. This took a good amount of time.


Frankly, I prefered the person on the mixing board that handled the rest of the festival. I found he had a more balanced sound (from my vantage point).
He had this cool spectrum analyzer program running on a laptop.

 

[WeeboTech]

Kinda funny when you think about it: at a festival like ProgPower, you'd expect the band to bring the keyboardist and maybe relegate the backing vocals to a DAT or something, but noooooo.....

I've always thought it's harder to capture the nuances of live vocals vs keyboards on recorded medium.

 

[Squeak]

@weeeeeebo - THANK YOU for explaining to me what the hell was happening, I appreciate it. And nice to see you in here, it's been a whole year!!!

 

[metal dreams]

Therion was awesome! As a matter of fact, I think all the bands this year was awesome. I can't think which I like more. Therion made an impression on me and so did Orphan Land because they were both different. I'm only sorry that PP is over and have to wait 'til next year.

 

[Cardinal Sin]

Loved hearing Stride play 2112 even though the singer had to strain to sing it!! Overall the festival was great.

OH SHIT, i can't believe i missed that...I was late both nights, so missed both beginning acts fri and sat. Can someone tell how it was played, good/bad complete/not complete etc??

 

[X man]

Therion ran away with Progpower this year-no one else was even close! they went to the trouble and expense of bringing the people to make their show exceptional. Their vocalists and own sound engineer make a big difference. Bands that go the extra mile to give you the studio version live really impress me. Angra live did not even come close to sounding like their studio version. Symphony X is my favorite band but their multiple live performances I have seen are really disappointing.Therion delivered-PERIOD!

 

[Cardinal Sin]

Therion ran away with Progpower this year-no one else was even close! they went to the trouble and expense of bringing the people to make their show exceptional. Their vocalists and own sound engineer make a big difference. Bands that go the extra mile to give you the studio version live really impress me. Angra live did not even come close to sounding like their studio version. Symphony X is my favorite band but their multiple live performances I have seen are really disappointing.Therion delivered-PERIOD!

no doubt about that

for me they are after Conception

 

[borizh]

no doubt about that

for me they are after Conception

you are on crack