Top 5 PPUSA 19 sets?

[Fixxer315]

This was an excellent year, and it was tough to limit it to just five, but here's my list:

Honorable mentions: Doro, Eclipse, Vuur, Labyrinth

5: Gloryhammer: Making European powermetal fun again.

4: Angra: Very entertaining, and perhaps the single highlight was Doro joining them for a song.

3: Sons of Apollo: The talent in this group is just insane.

2: Redemption: Didn't know much about them going into the show, but I'm now a fan.

1. Alestorm: Just an insane performance all around. All hail King Duckie!!!

 

[CoreEpic]

Hard to do a top 5 when there wasn't a single band that didn't do a great job... But I'll try

1. Persefone. Persefone had amazing energy AND brought such diverse music onto the stage. Hands down my favorite set.
2. Angra. What a great set.
3. Alestorm. The only reason Alestorm isn't higher on this list for me is that I've seen them many times and knew exactly what to expect. They were amazing.
4. Vuur. Holy shit Anneke has an amazing voice and stage presence and I loved the setlist.
5. Redemption. They were awesome.

Honorable mentions: Soen, Labyrinth, SOA, Voyager. Surprise set for me: Manimal. I didn't expect much but they killed it up there.

 

[Tommy3328]

1. Alestorm - as incredibly over the top as expected.
2. Angra - finally got to see them. Cool seeing Adrienne from Seven Spires join them even though she had mic issues.
3. Manimal - even better than I hoped for. Just a powerful start to Friday.
4. Eclipse - huge fan from start, loved them. Some complained they lost 3 minutes but that's on them, not PPUSA. They knew they had an hour, probably wasted 10 of that between warming up & singing birthday tune.
5. Redemption - new CD will be in my Top 10 this year but WOW. Throw in Ray Alder & Chris Poland, fantastic!!

 

[PureXul]

1) Voyager - Among the five best sets I've ever seen at ProgPower, likely top three. Incredible energy and musicianship, but more importantly, they were obviously having a blast up there. They just keep getting better and better.
2) Labyrinth - Return to Heaven Denied is a paragon of Italian power metal in my book and they did a great job bringing it to life. Their acoustic set was killer as well.
3) Persefone - It's a shame Toni was unable to join them on the US tour but it did nothing to derail them. Immense energy and an overall great performance.
4) Gloryhammer - An hour of cheesy fun without sacrificing skill, I had high hopes for their set and they managed to exceed them.
5) Vuur - I'm not actually in love with the Vuur album, but Anneke is a stellar frontwoman and the entire band are excellent performers. I especially love seeing Ed Warby perform live, he has such incredible precision and economy of motion. It's just as impressive to watch him play prog metal as it is watching him play death metal, he's just on another level compared to most drummers.

Honorable mentions: Triosphere, Sons of Apollo, and Redemption

 

[KingsGene]

1) Eclipse - totally biased fanboy ranking, not ashamed to admit it. The hype is real for this kind of melodic arena rock, and they are the definition of it right now.
2) Redemption - great performances all around, despite Tom Englund's lackadaisical stage presence and lack of preparation. Guest appearances and fanboy-ism push this up near the top.
3) Manimal - Killer set, crushed it.
4) Sons of Apollo - Would've ranked 'em higher out of respect, but already had seen the same show earlier in the year, and too many solo breaks when they could've played more songs.
5) Labyrinth GB acoustic set - these are the things that make PPUSA worth the trip. When a power metal band agrees to do an acoustic show that they've never done before, it's special. And Roberto Tiranti....I could listen to that guy sing the phone book.

Honorable mentions: Voyager (always outstanding live, monster sound), Labyrinth (just wow), Angra (power metal bliss).

 

[Fixxer315]

"5) Labyrinth GB acoustic set - these are the things that make PPUSA worth the trip. When a power metal band agrees to do an acoustic show that they've never done before, it's special. And Roberto Tiranti....I could listen to that guy sing the phone book."

Would that include 867-5309?

 

[Spiner202]

1. Labyrinth - these guys were awesome. Playing a masterpiece album in its entirety was just special
2. Alestorm - Not sure how they pulled this off because I've seen them 6 times before and didn't think I could really be blown away by them anymore, but this was probably the most fun set of the weekend.
3. Angra
4. Triosphere
5. Ross the Boss - didn't see a lot of love for Ross, but this was an awesome set that kicked off the week perfectly.

 

[Azrael LenGraden]

MANIMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eclipse
SOA
Redemption
Labyrinth

Vuur... While I don't particularly care for the match of Vuur's music and Anneke's voice she has an awesome stage presence and just owned the stage, her energy is infectious... they were much better than I expected and I'm now a fan! Sometimes it takes seeing a band live to win me over... ordered their CD the moment I got home!

 

[johnhead]

interesting lists as mine is totally different:

1. Tie between Redemption and Voyager - The Ray and Chris guest spots were amazing, they band sounded great, and I think Tom's voice works better live than recorded. And Voyager was the best sounding band of all 4 days - that sound was so clear and lush and the just fucking play
3. Persefone - was amazing, even with the bass being pumped in
4. Vuur - sounded great and Anneke is amazing
5. SOA - they rocked, but all the James and DT bashing is getting old. I get it, DT is the easy target - especially for Derek and Mike. But some of us still really like them and don't care what other's think. It really was a turn off across the board from everyone involved.

Honorable Mention was Gloryhammer, who but on a better live show than I expected. I don't like any of the cheese power metal stuff usually - Twilight force, GH, and Alestorm. But man these guys rocked. It was fun. I think they were far better than what I saw of Alestorm - which wasn't much.

And just because I like to throw grenades - but Eclipse was my least fav band of the fest. They sounded and looked like a cheap Motley Crue cover band. I didn't enjoy the songs, the performance, or the attitude. But that's why there are 20 bands and not 3

 

[NorseBlood]

Was only present for Friday and Saturday. So, my list for those days in no particular order:

(1) Sons of Apollo - these guys were amazing - as individuals and as a band
(2) Labyrinth - great musicians & great performance - leave it to an Italian crooner
(3) Redemption - No surprise here. Tom looked like he was at home didn't he?
(4) Manimal - I love these guys. Excellent guitar with vocals. Whats's not to like?
(5) Alestorm - really over the top party - fun squared
(6) Eclipse - because these guys know how to ROCK and put on a good show. I couldn't leave them out.

Ok thats my top 5.

 

[NorseBlood]

"5) Labyrinth GB acoustic set - these are the things that make PPUSA worth the trip. When a power metal band agrees to do an acoustic show that they've never done before, it's special. And Roberto Tiranti....I could listen to that guy sing the phone book."

Would that include 867-5309?

Wasn't that a song by Tommy Tutone back in the 80s? They sang that in their acoustic performance?

 

[HoneyBadger68]

5. Triosphere
4. Manimal
3. Angra
2. Redemption
1. Voyager (of course!)

 

[oldboy]

1) Labyrinth
2) Eclipse (would have been #1, but what are you gonna do..?)
3) Alestorm
4) Nocturnal Rites
5) Gloryhammer