ROSFest - The Reviews

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RosFest 08 – Day Two

This morning we got a incredible wake-up call. Blind Ego. The side project for Kalle and Yogi from RPWL. I was really looking forward to this since I’m a big fan of theirs. And they did not disappoint. I was not real impressed with the guitar work from Friday night and Kalle just outclassed them by a large margin. What clean, thoughtful playing. Never too many notes. The lead vocalist, Paul Wrightson from Arena (another favorite group of mine, was very emotional and active onstage. A great performer. Yogi Lang handled the atmospheric keyboards well, but I would not call him a great soloist. But his vocals lend power to the songs. The percussion is an unknown to me, but he ably backed them up with solid rock drumming. Nothing spectacular, but okay. And what can you say about John Jowitt (IQ, Frost). I saw him with IQ last fall and he is a lot of fun onstage and brings a nice easy bass line to the music. He helps keep the focus on the emotional lead vocals and guitar, the two soaring parts of the band.

The second show was a nice surprise. Ritual played very well and is led by Patrik Lundstrom on guitar and vocals. He is a very strong persona on stage. Each of the performers wear a very ritualist costume from the folk world of their homeland and abroad. The first part of their set was very rock oriented. A nice blend of all the instruments, none really standing too far out from the others. This helped set up the 2nd part of the set when they went acoustic. The percussionist, John Nordgren, picked up a nyckelharpa, which is a ‘keyed fiddle’ (as described in the program notes) and the bass player picked up an acoustic bass, which was more like a bass mandolin. This was a very nice change and showed their musicianship well. It also brought them to their epic finish.

RPWL was up next. Quite frankly, they should have been the headliner. They are a powerful line-up and are consummate musicians. This band brings Yogi Lang to the front for vocals and synth. He was very charismatic with strong convictions about the economic condition of the world. This was best demonstrated by their song that brought out a guest female singer who’s name I didn’t catch. She was, however, more of a rap style singer and we may have seen the birth of Prog/Rap. (yikes). Anyway, the set was excellent. After a few brief of the politically charged songs they slipped into the style we have grown to love. Very atmospheric backgrounds with blistering Gilmore-esque guitar work, courtesy of Kalle Wallner. They did not disappoint in the least and were everything I had hoped for.

The headliner for Saturday was a let down, to say the least. CIRCA is the band that everyone loves to hate, much like Asia. But it’s not because of a lack of talent. The problem is being compared to YES, whom each of them have been associated with at one point or another. Even Jimmy Hahn, who did session work on the Union album. I have their album and I found it able, but very much single-minded. I was hoping that live it would come over better and with more energy. I was right about that for the first couple of songs, but the repetitive nature of the songs became a little borning. This was not helped by an incompetent sound engineer for this group. Let me preface that with the incredible job the house and contract technical staff did. There were very few if any sound or like glitches through the festival – until this guy came in. It was stadium sound in a small venue (bleeding ears for everyone!). Many people blamed the bass guitar, but what really got the chest thumping was the supporting keys work of Billy Sherwood’s brother. He sang through the vocoder to give that layered sound that seems to be a Sherwood trademark over the years. He also supported Tony Kaye’s organ work. Now, I was sitting further back in the house, so I did get a better feel for what the overall sound was like (I was close to the sound board). I’m very grateful I was not with the rest of the crew in the front few rows. That must have hurt, a lot.

Now, overall, I was disappointed with CIRCA, but I think that is mainly because of the expectations we place on them. We want another group that is as good as YES. It’s the same kind of thing we expected from ASIA, and didn’t get. Those are big shoes to fill. What the group really lacks is diversity. This was shown most prominently when they did the Yes medley. Seeing the incredible range of composition from the early to late material of Yes, it showed how single-minded CIRCA was. I would agree with Rick, Billy’s bass work rivals Chris Squire But even with the great back-up talents of Alan White and Tony Kaye, the group really just comes off as a YES tribute band.

[OverHillandDale(Admin)]

Day Three – RosFest 2008

What a pleasant surprise this morning. Credo was the opener today and they were fantastic. The front man, Mark Colton, was a very emotional singer and performer. He had great stories for the songs and sang with expression and savvy. To me, this group was the surprise of the Festival. Some call them the best prog band nobody’s heard of. This was due to many years of health issues for band members that kept them from recording and touring. But they are strong and working hard now. Hopefully their new album that they are working on will be finished a lot sooner than their 2nd album, which took 11 years to complete.

The sound of Credo reminds one of Marillion and IQ. The emotional nature of the lyrics draws you in to the music, caresses you then holds you. My wife, Sallie, was quite taken by them. She liked them the best. Although, she admitted that Patrik was the cutest vocalist of the Festival. None of the musicianship really stood out from the others. They all blended will together. It’s not a group about personalities, but one for the music. Catch them or buy their cds if you can. Reward them for all the hard years.

The 2nd group for the day was Black Bonzo. This was a very tight and ready band. Again, this was a group led by a very emotional singer. He was also very athletic, hardly ever standing still. Very expressive. With the thrashing guitar work of Joakim Karisson and the Hammon organ of Nicklas Ahlund I would liken this band more to a progressive Deep Purple than Uriah Heep, as many are like to do. Now, they did have a missing component this morning. Nicklas’ keyboards were stolen at their last gig so he was without the synth and piano sounds he might normally have. This may have added to the rockier feel to the group this morning. It was a fun set and kept our attention.

There was a change in the schedule to accommodate a late arriving Wishbone Ash from Europe. Crack The Sky was next. There were supposed to be the Sunday Headliner and I’m glad they weren’t. The lead singer was burnt out years ago and lacks any real charm. His guitar worked lacked even more than his vocal prowess. Now, the rest of the group was much better. The dual guitar work of Rick Witkowski and Bobby Hird was spot on. Excellent stuff. The rhythm section was competent and the keys of Glenn Workman amiable and supportive. To say the least, I was very disappointed. Many folks seemed to be looking forward to them. I do not know their work, as they were a group I never picked up on. Although, I seem to have this vague memory of a group like them playing a concert at my High School, but I can’t swear it was them. The Beatles medley was a lot of fun, but overall it was not what I was hoping for.

The Festival concluded with Wishbone Ash. Now, talk about dual guitar work. Wow. These guys were spot on. Although I think they may have been a little tired from their trek across the pond to make it to this show. The music was very professional and sounded good, but perhaps a little too loud (but certainly not as loud as CIRCA). Without any keys this was certainly a straight up Rock & Roll set. Which, for me, was really the flavor of the whole festival.

Having done NearFest and FMPM last year, I got a very diverse mixture of styles of music. Each of those festivals are somewhat balanced with symphonic bands, as well as heavier guitar oriented group, even a little folk styling from the Strawbs. I found this festival to be much more Rock oriented (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I would have liked a little more diversity. But I think losing both The Flower Kings and Starcastle could speak to that, as they would have lent that diversity to the mix. I think the festival suffered from they’re not being here.

Now, overall, I did enjoy myself, especially the camaraderie of all the Moonies present. It was really great getting to know all of them and share our great music. The festival was run very professionally. Acts were up and ready on time each and every time. That’s a great compliment to the staff in the house as well as the technicians backstage. I too had a few issues from the security staff. They were just not there to have fun. I think, however, if there was more lobby space that may not have been such an issue. Having the merchandise right there in the main lobby caused lots of bottlenecks and congestion. Unfortunately, there really is not another place to put them. I really liked the little town the Keswick is situated in. There were plenty of food choices and the townfolk were very pleasant and seemed happy to have us there. I think there were even happier to take our money while they gave us service with a warm and sincere smile.