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ROSfest pre-show
Vax and Rick, feel free to add to this thread...
Arena was very tight for the Friday night pre-show headliner. They play a heavy-ish style of prog that I typically don't like a lot, but Arena is a band I DO like a lot. Clive Nolan's keys are more subdued than when he plays with Pendragon, but they add a nice flavor. Guitarist John Mitchell is what elevates Arena from the muddled masses of heavy-prog. He can shred, but rarely does; he can soar and often does; and he mixes in a lot of sonic variations.
First Friday nighter was Dennis Healy, a solo keyboardist with loops; kind of new-ageish, but pretty good.
Middle band was Myriad, and due to a weird schedule on my part I only caught a small part of them. They were good enough, but didn't stand out to me. Maybe Rick or Vax have something to add.
Afterwards, happened to walk into the hotel at the same time Tangent was arriving, and ended up having a few drinks with them. Despite being jet-lagged (they played two shows in two different European countries on Wed and Thurs, and arrived in the US only a few hours before), and having a near disaster with their equipment (the taxi following their personal transportation absconded with much of their equipment - after phone calls to the police and several hours later, a different taxi driver showed up with their gear), they were very gracious and enjoyable to spend an hour with; guitarist Krister enjoyed a Laphroaig moment on my tab; keyboardist Andy, saxophonist Theo and bassist Jonas were particularly hospitable and interested in Aural Moon; and contrary to popular opinion, drummer Jaime was the first to go to sleep.
More from Day 1 (Eyestrings, Kino, Tiles, and Magenta) tomorrow...
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