[VAXman(Admin)]

Originally posted by Rick and Roll
I decided that I needed some time off, so I missed Steve Roach. I'm not an ambient fan, and after the Richard Pinhaus drudgery last year, I wasn't in the mood. Maybe someone can add on how he was.

It can be described in one word: BORING!

Imagine a 45 minute set in the dark with visual projections and Steve Roach blowing a drone on his didgeridoo while his synthesizer's VCO slowly modulates its VFC's Q on a white noise source.

Originally posted by Rick and Roll

Present was different... I had a chance to see them at Orion last week, but couldn't make it. It's a rare miss at Orion for me. I was told Cozy was there, and missed a chance to meet him. Present is not for everyone. There was a tune where Dave Kerman would occasionally yell "Didn't you hear what your mother said"! That was the tune he used the dolls to smack his symbols. I liked the soloing, but the supporting themes were very repetitive. I saw no reason for that, really. But it's a fun show. Not knowing the band, I was a bit confused about Roger Trigaux's lack of playing (he did almost nothing), but realized he has stepped back completely.

That tune is "The Limping Little Girl" from No.6. They also did "Ceux D'en Bas" from No.6 (the one with the "give the people what they want" chant). I, personally, was looking forward to seeing this performance and they did not disappoint.

Originally posted by Rick and Roll

IQ was pretty good. I'm not a big fan....I have only the Wake and the Lush Attic records, and they're excellent. My big beef is the singing of Peter Nicholls. But in concert, he was good, quite Gabrielesque. I guess 20 years makes one better. I felt sorry for him, he was having a rough go of it early in the show. Not evident to those more than several rows back, he was pissed about his monitor. Every few minutes he would shoot a menacing glance back to the techs, and periodically run off the stage. Only after he remembered they were shooting a DVD did he mellow out. But it was clear he wasn't happy (at least he didn't pull a "Sherinian"). IQ needs all the coherence they can get. They don't record together, and it's a testament to their musicianship that they make the show work so well. John Jowitt and Marty Orford play together in Jadis and work well together. The new drummer is outstanding, and I was especially impressed by Mike Holmes' guitar work.

As musicianship goes, they were pretty good. I was really looking forward to seeing IQ and was disappointed especially after KeithieW's comments about them last year. KW said, after seeing Marillion with me at the Astoria, that IQ at Chippenham ProgsFest blew away the Marillion performance and that Nicholls was a better front man than Hogarth was. I was expecting to be blown away by IQ at NEARfest from this description. I was not. Their performance was simply underwhelming. 3 tracks from Dark Matter: Sacred Sound (their opener), Born Brilliant, and the epic Harvest Of Souls.

Originally posted by Rick and Roll

Knight Area had a hard act to follow. The Sunday AM slot the past two years had Sleepytime and Hidria Spacefolk, two dynamic acts. However, they ended up being very enjoyable. Mark Smit's a great singer. I found two keyboards too much for a band like this...and two guitarists too? But that wasn't so bad cause they filled in each other nicely. The second guitarist reminded me of Gilmour. good strong neo.

These guys changed costumes more than key signatures... and their singer worked too hard looking like a big-hair arena-rock act than a progressive rock band frontman. There was more metal in the ring he wore than in the space shuttle.

Originally posted by Rick and Roll

Matthew Parmenter played the best 40-minute set I'd ever seen. I gave up my seat to Jeff (he was in the balcony) and I moved back about six rows (another friend dislikes Discipline!..and I took his seat). I wanted Jeff to see the show up close. Matthew was riveting. Three tunes on piano, VERY absorbing. Then five more on acoustic guitar. Also, we had a great time Friday evening and at chance meetings throughout the weekend, especially at breakfast Sunday and Monday. Here's an excerpt from my post on the Yahoo group....

To each his own.


FWIW, my NEARfest 2005 pix are at:

http://www.tmesis.com/bands_2005/NEARfest/