PPUSA XV rankings

1. JOP
2. Overkill
3. Stratovarius
4. Voodoo Circle
5. Seventh Wonder
6. Withem
7. Leprous
8. Pain of Salvation
9. Divided Multitude

I arrived at the Friday show too late for Need and ditched Orden Ogan early on to check out the merchandise. I spent most of the Masterplan set in line for the SW autograph session, but from what I heard it might be between between Withem and Leprous
 
My top 10
1 Jop
2 Leprous
3 Overkill
4 Pagans Mind
5 DGM
6 Stratovarius
7 Seventh Wonder
8 Need (Pleasantly Surprised)
9 Divided Multitude (Made the best out of a shitty situation)
10 Orden Ogan
 
1. Leprous :hotjump::hotjump::hotjump:
2. Pain of Salvation
3. Vangough
4. Seventh Wonder
5. JOP


Also really enjoy Need and Orden Ogan
 
This is VERY hard, as I have to say I got at least a substantial bit of enjoyment out of every band I saw, and even the 3 I didn't see much of if at all were only skipped for the sake of my sanity, energy, or plans to eat or meet friends.

01. Seventh Wonder - for me, they totally justified the entire trip. I know there technical and sound issues and what-not, but I don't care. I loved every second of both sets and absolutely lost my mind during both of them. The acoustic medley to close out Saturday morning's set was especially awesome. Outstanding guys too.
02. DGM - Just fantastic all around and also a pleasure to get to know and hang out with.
03. Masterplan - Killer setlist, great energy, well worth the years of waiting to see them.
04. Stratovarius - Expectedly great. Had to pop out for a song or two here or there but all in all this was easily the best of the times I've seen them.'
05. Overkill - They brought it ten-fold. Definitely an outlier and in some sense an underdog, but absolutely great set.
06. Withem - I like the record and all, but I enjoyed them FAR more live.
07. Pagan's Mind - Outstanding as always, but I actually think they may have played a tad too long. I had to bail from the rail at their intermission and kind came in and out throughout the rest of the set. Still outstanding though, especially considering apparently Jorn was under the weather.
08. Voodoo Circle - Disappointed by the low turnout and lack of audience support overall, but they put on a great show. The extended solo pieces were especially entertaining, and Alex Beyrodt is a true showman and an amazing guitarist. Sound wasn't the best for them though, unfortunately.
09. Orden Ogan - Love the band on album, and they definitely bring the energy live, but I was a bit turned off by the massive over-use of backing tracks to fill out the sound. Minus a few essential keyboard parts, I think they would've been better of just leaving out the rest and embracing the "live" element a bit more since the energy is there.
10. Pain of Salvation - Wasn't even a fan a year ago when I decided to attend, but I took the time to check out Pain of Salvation and realized I actually enjoyed about 75% of the record, so I decided to make a point to sit and watch their set. I'm still not totally into everything they do, but I totally respect that. Amazing talent, great use of vocal harmonies, and the extended guitar leads in "Dryad of the Woods" were just transcendentally good.
11. Draekon - These guys are my friends and I was so thrilled to see them get this opportunity, but I'm sad to say I think they botched it a little bit - Sound was a big factor and that was beyond the band's control, so I can't blame them for that. Unnecessary added rhythm guitarist that didn't fit the image of the band, lack of overall stage presence, and despite having absolutely killer songs, they seemingly put little thought into their live show itself. Every song stood alone with the same semi-awkward 25-second pause between each one, and the set just kinda happened, rather than rising and falling with a sense of engagement. I still love the guys to death and I want them to learn from feedback like this and grow into the band they absolutely have the potential to be. Chad's voice is still one of the absolute best new ones I've heard in recent years.
12. Jon Oliva's Pain - I will not really go into too much detail because I just don't want to start anything with anyone, but I am a die-hard Savatage fan and I just wasn't feeling it. I am willing to admit that part of it was likely because of personal biases and knowledge of certain things that just took me out of it, but all in all I still love Jon to death but I just can't say it lived up to my own (maybe admittedly too high) expectations.

I am sad to say I didn't really see or see enough of Need, Divided Multitude, or Leprous to really give a fair opinion on any of them.
 
It is too difficult for me to try and rank all of the bands right now, but I will say that I thought Withem did not get enough love. I thought their singer was spot on. I thought he was really really good. The whole band was solid, mind you, but he was able to sing in some tough "prog" keys and keep his note discipline quite accurately.

Bryant
 
1. Pain of Salvation Saturday night- Who fucking cares about the restart. He wanted it perfect for everybody! He's a diva because he cares? They fucking brought it Saturday, and Ragnar has a serious set of pipes.
2. Jon Oliva- what an awesome band he put together! Hope he tours with these guys a little bit. It was a fun set, and probably top 10 ever!
3. Need- You want to start the weekend off right? Need kicked the weekend square in the nuts and never stopped.
4. Voodoo Circle- Alex Beyrodt is a guitar god! I think he may be the best guitarist I've ever seen live, and that's about a million guitarists he's better than.
5-Overkill- They were killer! Maybe a little disappointed with the 75 minute set. I've seen them about 6 other times and it ended too quick, without my favorite songs.
6- Withem was super tight and deserved to be there. Glad I was familiar with their cd.
7.Pain of Salvation Wednesday- This probably belongs up my list higher, but after travelling all day and having to be on my feet for the show, I was drained before they even started. Still, love love loved it!
8. DGM- Once again, glad I was familiar with a few cds
9 Pagans Mind- Great guys, always tight and professional, but 3 times now! Kind of bored with them
10.Vangough- Good enough that I bought all 3 cds, even if I had already downloaded 1 of them already.
11. Seventh Wonder- They're good, but I don't see the appeal. I thought they were rather bland
12-Ordan Ogan...I expected little but they impressed me to a decent extent
13-Masterplan- Wasn't expecting much here either, but Rick was pretty damn good! They were enjoyable
14-Divided Multitude- I gave the cd many spins preparing for this show. They did an admiral job with fill in drummers and they presented their music well. Its hard to say they were the 14th best band here. How about bands 8-15 were all tied for 8th?
15-Draekon- Good band but kind of amateur, or for lack of a better term, green
16. Leprous- I stayed and waited for them to impress me. It never happened

This was by far the best ProgPower I've been to out of the 8 we've attended. I try to stay for every band because that's why I'm there, but I did bail out on Stratovarious due to the length of sleep I didn't get in the previous 2 days. I feel bad about that because I really don't have a problem with them, but pacing myself so I could enjoy my two favorite bands perform my two favorite cds...Its a no-brainer.
 
1. Jon Oliva's Pain - That is all.
2. Pagan's Mind - I was blown away.
3. DGM - I was blown away by these guys before those guys.
4. Withem - I loved this set.
5. Need - Amazing.
6. Seventh Wonder - Made me teary eyed, even with wonky sound.
7. POS (Sat) - Ragnar for the win!
8. Orden Ogan - This was a fun set.
9. Masterplan - Enjoyable.
10. Voodoo Circle - Almost out-Whitesnaked Whitesnake. :)
11. Overkill - So prog.. but, I've seen them 3 times in like 15 months.
12. Divided Multitude - Did a great job with the situation they had.
13. Theocracy - I've never seen Theocracy before - unfortunately, the sound was way off.
14. Draekon - Not a huge fan, but good enough.
15. Vangough - Not a fan.
16. Leprous - One of the few who didn't enjoy their set. Just not my thing.

(Skipped: POS (Wednesday), Stratovarius - my wife wasn't feeling well and I wanted her in top shape for Saturday)
 
JOP (A religious experience for me)
Leprous/Overkill (Too close to call)
Pagan's Mind
DGM
Stratovarius
Seventh Wonder
Divided Multitude
Need
Masterplan
Orden Ogan
 
I've put everyone's votes (30) into a spreadsheet, and this is what I came up with. The voting wasn't uniform in that some people ranked different bands the same, while others gave distinct rankings. Many only ranked a few of the bands. Still the results are interesting, and I've posted them below. Lower is better.

Jon Oliva's Pain: 3.1
Pagan's Mind: 3.5
DGM: 4.4
Need: 5.0
Stratovarius: 5.2
Pain of Salvation: 5.5
Overkill: 5.6
Seventh Wonder: 6.0
Masterplan: 6.1
Voodoo Circle: 6.8
Orden Ogan: 7.2
Leprous: 7.2
Withem: 7.5
Vangough: 9.0
Divided Multitude: 9.1
Theocracy: 10.0
Draekon: 12.6

9/24 update: adjusted with mattbrood's rankings
9/26 update: adjusted for Senecadawg, Diamond45, and Azrael LenGraden
9/27 update: adjusted for Countsluggo666, No Username, and Smc316
 
1.) Jon Oliva's Pain
2. Pagan's Mind
3. Seventh Wonder
4. Voodoo Circle
5. Overkill
6. DGM
7. Orden Ogan
8. Need
9. Withem
10. Masterplan
11. Stratovarius
12. Divided Multitude (missed most of their set due to booking our room at The Artmore for next year..lousy timing)
Missed everyone else due to doing interviews with Evergrey and Orden Ogan for Lady Obscure and socializing
 
I’m a little torn over this thread. On the one hand, I kind of hate to see musical performances ranked like Olympic figure skating. On the other hand…GOLD MEDAL for Jon Oliva’s Pain!!! Woo Hoo! USA! USA! Now Jon just needs his own Visa commercial. :)

And great to see a highly respectable 4th place tie for Need, despite facing incredibly tough competition. Love the album, loved the set, and have been wearing my “Song for Atlanta” t-shirt with pride! Hoping to see these guys back in the U.S. very soon.
 
Pain of Salvation
Leprous
Need
------
Seventh Wonder
Stratovarius
Withem
Jon Oliva's Pain
------
Divided Multitude
Voodoo Circle
Masterplan
Overkill
Orden Ogan
 
Of all of the performances I watched there wasn't any I didn't really like. I did however miss most of Need and all of Withem, and from what I've gathered that was a really stupid idea. Had a little too much fun each night and needed a little sleep. Haha. This was hard, but here's my order:

1. Pagan's Mind
2. DGM
3. Masterplan
4. Divided Multitude
5. Overkill
6. Voodoo Circle
7. Seventh Wonder
8. Stratovarius
9. JOP
10. Orden Ogan
11. Pain Of Salvation
12. Leprous
13. Draekon
 
Anyone who does not think Pagan's Mind's set was one of the best we have ever seen in ATL is out of their mind...

That said,
1. Pagan's
2. OO
3. POS
4. DGM
5. Withem
6. Divided Multitude
x
x
x
x
All the rest of the groups did really well. Have to admit I was out of the building for Overkill and Voodoo Circle, but it was beyond my control.
<nomex suit>
7th wonder--didn't see any of their sets. IMO that album is one of the most laughably bad pieces of crap I have ever heard. It reminded me of a fifth grade class hearing Operation Mindcrime, once, and saying "Hey I bet we could do something similar!" A lot of people looooove the disk, and some of them have opinions I respect. But that does not mean we have to agree on everything, does it?
</nomex suit>
 
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