by Blake | Mar 14, 2017 | Prog Report
Progtoberfest III goes on sale today, March 14th, with its biggest and best lineup. We caught up founder/organizer Kevin Pollack to find out all the details on this year’s event which runs from Oct 20-22.
What is the latest with Progtoberfest?
Plans are moving along swiftly! Tickets are now on sale. We will still be adding one more headliner for Sunday in due time, but wanted people to be able to buy tickets now. We started planning this lineup back in November 2016.
The lineup looks amazing. How hard was it to get so many great bands?
It wasn’t hard at all. I started early with the bands, and after last year’s fest, I promised people this year will be bigger and better! So I went after as many bands as I could fit in 3 days. You’d be surprised how great it all worked out!
What can people expect this year?
A very diverse lineup. What I like to do is explore outside of progressive rock and go into sub-genres, like Jazz Fusion and post rock. I like to make Progtoberfest a fun atmosphere for people, and Reggies is the best venue for it. We’ll be having bands overlapping in 2 rooms on stages throughout all 3 days, there’s a record store on the 2nd level where we will have meet and greets with the bands and there is a 3rd floor rooftop where people can hang with a full service bar, and an all you can eat BBQ. Reggies has great food so people will not be disappointed!
Who is headlining each night?
Friday night we have the Dave Kerzner Band performing a Tribute to Greg Lake & John Wetton, The Alphonso Johnson Band feat. Chester Thompson, and Aisles (from Chile).
Saturday night we have The Tangent (from UK), Karmakanic (from Sweden), CAST (from Mexico), Wobbler (from Norway), Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins, Necromonkey (from Sweden) and Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief (from UK).
Sunday we’re excited to have a very special and exclusive show of Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre Band performing the iconic Jethro Tull album Stand Up in its entirety plus an ALL TULL set!
Is the festival audience growing each year?
When we first had the festival in 2014, we only had about 200+ people, then in 2016, we grew even more. This year, with this lineup, we hope to sell out and get more people coming from all over.
Where can people get tickets?
People can buy tickets on Reggies’ website www.reggieslive.com or through the direct ticket link here: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1450049?utm_source=MEL&utm_medium=214872
The post Progtoberfest III featuring Martin Barre, The Tangent, Karmakanic and more on sale today appeared first on The Prog Report.
Source:: Prog Report
by Blake | Mar 14, 2017 | Prog Report
While the world sits and waits for a new album, Tool still make themselves available for touring. New North America dates have just been announced.
The tour kicks off at Fairfax’s Eaglebank Arena on May 24 and concludes at the Rosemont Allstate Arena on June 8.
Tickets will go on general sale from 10am local time on March 17 (Friday) with tickets for the Rosemont show going live at 11am.
The band is reportedly working on a new album.
May 24: Fairfax Eaglebank Arena, VA
May 27: Bangor Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion, ME
May 28: Boston Calling Festival, MA
May 30: Rochester Blue Cross Arena, NY
May 31: Hamilton First Ontario Centre, ON
Jun 02: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Jun 04: New York Randall’s Island Park, NY
Jun 05: Pittsburgh Petersen Events Center, PA
Jun 07: Clarkston DTR Energy Music Theatre, MI
Jun 08: Rosemont Allstate Arena, IL
The post Tool announce new North America dates appeared first on The Prog Report.
Source:: Prog Report
by Blake | Mar 13, 2017 | Prog Report
Haken guitarist Richard Henshall has been very busy. Haken is preparing to tour in celebration of their 10 year anniversary, his side project Nova Collective just released their debut album to critical acclaim, and he is also a part of Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress touring group. In a recent interview with The Prog Report, Rich talked a little about getting to play with Portnoy on the Cruise to the Edge as part of The Shattered Fortress.
“It was crazy, like first to be asked by a legend as Portnoy is such an honor for us and yet a crazy, crazy ride. He told us about a year ago now, so on and off we’ve been kind of going over the songs and the hardest part was just the initial learning process. We learned the songs and then it was just a question of going over and over the songs until they become second nature. We’ve got a few more shows booked up for later this year with The Shattered Fortress stuff, so can’t wait to get out there and do that again.”
The lineup on the cruise was made of Portnoy, Eric Gillette, members of Haken – Henshall, Ross Jennings, Charlie Griffiths, Connor Green and Diego Tejeida, and guests vocalists Daniel Gildenlow and Ted Leonard.
“So Ted And Dan you see did the cruise but I’m not entirely sure if it’s a set up for the other shows. I know that Ross learned all of the songs say he’s got it in his arsenal to put them off but it would be awesome if Daniel and Ted could come along wince they’re such great singers.”
As for getting up to as many side projects as Portnoy, Henshall says doubtful. “I mean I’m totally open to just trying new things and playing with many people as I can really just enjoy playing music. So it’s great fun but I can never never get to his level.”
The post Haken’s Richard Henshall talks about playing in Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress appeared first on The Prog Report.
Source:: Prog Report
by Blake | Mar 11, 2017 | Prog Report
Here is the latest video from the upcoming live release from the Neal Morse Band for Morsefest 2015. The video is for the track “The Grand Experiment” performed on the 1st night of the 2 night event. The live set for Morsefest 2015 will be released on March 24th.
Read our review of the collection here.
Catch the band on tour during 2017 and at Morsefest 2017 on Sept 1-2nd.
March 22nd – Barcelona, Spain – Apolo
March 23rd – Milan, Italy – Magazinni Generali
March 24th – Pratteln, Switzerland – Z7
March 25th – Aschaffenburg, Germany – Cola-Saa
March 26th – Berlin, Germany – Lido
March 28th – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja Music Zone
March 29th – Hamburg, Germany – Markthalle
March 30th – Limbourg, Belgium – Salle Le Kursaal
March 31st – Cologne, Germany – Stollwerck
April 1st – Malmo, Sweden – KB
April 2nd – Tilburg, Holland – O13
April 4th – Luxembourg – Rockhal
April 5th – Paris, France – Divan Du Monde
April 6th – Birmingham, England – O2 Academy 2
April 7th – Glasgow, Scotland – O2 ABC 1
April 8th – Manchester, England – O2 Ritz
April 9th – London, England – O2 Islington Academy
August 17 Minneapolis – Amsterdam Hall
August 18 Chicago – House of Blues
August 19 Detroit – St. – Andrew’s Hall
August 20 Pittsburgh – Mr. Smalls Theater
August 22 NYC – Gramercy Theater
August 24 Boston – Wilbur Theater
August 25 Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse
August 26 Philadelphia – Keswick Theatre
August 27 Baltimore – Baltimore Soundstage
September 1&2 Crossplains TN, MORSEFEST 2017
Photo credit: Joel Barrios
The post Neal Morse Band – The Grand Experiment (Live Video from Morsefest 2015) appeared first on The Prog Report.
Source:: Prog Report
by Blake | Mar 10, 2017 | Prog Report
It was during the Falling Into Infinity sessions with Dream Theater that Mike Portnoy would create the first side project of his career. The idea for the Liquid Tension Experiment began when Portnoy was approached by then progressive metal label, Magna Carta, a label known for releasing compilations and tribute albums. The first LTE album was release on March 10th, 1998.
Mike Portnoy told The Prog Report, “Well we made the first LTE album, I think in 97 [released in 98], which was the height of my frustration in Dream Theater. We were sitting around waiting to make the Falling into Infinity album and waiting to get the green light from the label. We were being forced to work with Desmond Child and Kevin Shirley and it was just a very creatively frustrating period for me. At that point, Magna Carta came up to me and basically said “hey how’d you like to do a solo album. We’ll get behind anything you want to do, any kind of bands you want to put together.” So I immediately had this idea of doing kind of an instrumental all-star album.”
The success of the album would drive the foursome to return to the studio and record a follow-up. “It did well enough to the label that they were excited to do a follow up. We really enjoyed the chemistry and we wanted to make another one so not even a year later we got together, in 1998, and we did the follow up.”
Miek Portnoy recently performed a few songs from LTE with Tony Levin, Eric Gillette and Diego Tejeida on Cruise to the Edge 2017.
The post Liquid Tension Experiment release first album 19 years ago appeared first on The Prog Report.
Source:: Prog Report
by Blake | Mar 10, 2017 | Prog Report
Thank You Scientist have just announced a series of dates with Bent Knee in April. These dates come right before a series of shows with Devin Townsend. Tickets can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ThankYouScientist/events
w/Bent Knee
April 12th – Amityville, NY @ Amityville Music Hall
April 14th – Jersey City, NJ @ Monty Hall
April 18th – Detroit, MI @ The Shelter
April 19th – Kansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
April 20th – Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall
April 21st – Dekalb, IL @ The House Cafe
April 22nd – Iowa City, IA @ Blue Moose Taphouse
April 23rd – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
w/Devin Townsend Project
April 28th – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House*
April 29th – Flagstaff, AZ @ The Orpheum*
April 30th – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater*
May 2nd – St Louis, MO @ The Ready Room*
May 4th – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues*
May 5th – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Smalls*
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Source:: Prog Report
