ROSfest 2012 Reports

[teermin8r]

Use this thread to write about your experience at this year's ROSfest. I will add mine later today when I get home from work.

[VAXman(Admin)]

No suite; No pool; No kegs; No Hello; No-dōz.

[Laudio9]

Welp, here's my take on the event and Karisssss is pretty much on the same page but this is just my opinion....

Friday night we seen the Best and the worst of the entire weekend.
I seen DeeExpus a couple years ago at RoS and to be truthful, I wasn't real impressed. To me DeeExpus is a rock band...not prog, but what got me this year was that you could not understand a word the singer was singer...his vocals were totally muffled and every song had intros that were on tape...When I go to see live music, I want to see "live" music....PLAY your instruments...the keyboard player did practically nothing...it was basically a guitar band with taped intros...very disappointing to me....
BUT THEN...
Karmakanic took the stage and totally blew me away.....Every one in the band are excellent musicians and guess what.....you could hear every word the singer sang, very crisp and clean and clear....To me this was the best band of the entire weekend... Top notch everything, Keys, guitar, bass, everything clicked. I have seen them before but this performance was the best in my opinion!

after that....we drove up the Eisenhower for the after party Trespass show...
I don't wanna dis them but lets just say, after 3 songs...sleep was sounding better than staying there listening to them play old genesis songs, average at best..singer did not sound or look like gabriel, actually he looked like Alice Cooper trying to be Peter Gabriel....soo we left...

Saturday-
Aaron English........really really interesting and a great performance...I was not expecting this band to be that good... I have one of their cds and it is more pop oriented but I really liked this band and have bought the other two cds I didn't have. Aaron (a.k.a. Ben Stiller, atleast some people thought he looked like him, I didn't) was great... great vocals, interesting songs, he did a couple cover songs and the one that was really different and great was All along the Watchtower....never heard it like that before and I thought it was the best I ever heard that song.... I have to say that Aaron was one of my favorites of the weekend and he was a very humble guy, down to earth and wasn't trying to be a rock star...cool dude.

Resistor was next up and Steve Unruh was very cool, not only playing guitar but also, violin and flute. I have all the resistor stuff and solo Steve Unruh stuff so I knew what to expect and I thought it was really good....a little Zappaish at times, all in all a good performance and a good band...

Hasse Froberg was up next and for me, I think Hasse's band was good but they are more Rock than prog also. Out of the three Swedish bands there, this was my least favorite. The thing about Hasse is, hes good but its basically guitar drivin rock music and his vocals for the most part seem to be strained...like hes almost screaming or its hard to reach some of the high notes but thats just the way his voice is. I don't wanna give them a bad rap but they weren't one of my favs...too much rock, not enough diversity. I actually like him better in the Flower Kings.

Then..... IQ........I know alot of people aren't going to agree with what I am about to say but I'm gonna say it anyway.... I've seen IQ 3 times...each time I was bored to death. Yes they did the whole Subterrania with theatrics but the whole thing was monotone...there was no dynamics there was no memorable parts, they were like a machine that just pushed a button and it played subterrania. Peter Nichols voice was the weakest out of all the times I've seen them. I do not think he has a great voice to begin with. I own alot of IQ cds, like, I think Dark Matter and Frequency were good cds but the live shows bore the hell out of me... I seriously couldn't wait for it to end and I was so glad there wasn't time for an encore...so needless to say they were next to the last on my list, the last being DeeExpus.

Sunday....
Sanguine Hum was first up on the bill and I really liked this band...they're young and I think they have a lot of potential. The guitar player is the main guy in the band and he was doing some cool stuff as was the bass player... I really think if they would add some type of sax or flute it would add alot to their sound....the keyboard player was more of an atmospheric keyboardist...he gave the guitar player a good background but I think he could have added more but all in all, I enjoyed them and thought they were good.

IO EARTH was next up.....I was really looking forward to this band...first of all they had the only female in the whole RoSfest line up this year and I like both of their cds.... Musically they sounded great, the guitar player is really good but he's a bit over the top, jumping around on stage, trying to be a rock star and the singer, she was ok, good voice but she came out with hoods and masks and thats cool if it has a purpose, Like for instance, peter gabriel and the old man mask...because he was playing a character of an old man...anyway.... sooo the combination of her and her antics and the guitar player and his antics kinda blew it for me... I like them better on cd than I did in concert BUT they were good.

Discipline was next up and Matthew Perrimeter came out with his clown makeup on once again....he has a dry humor and he is funny...I actually got into them the more they played...they kept getting better to me....by the end of their show I really liked them. I have all their cds and Ive seen them before so it was nothing new to me and they were pretty much what I expected except that I think I liked them better this year than I did at Nearfest.

Final band was Agents of Mercy.... This was up there on par with Karmakanic....Nad, the vocalist is alittle over the top, the most was when he came out with the fur vest and crush velvet pants for one song....but other than that, I thought he sounded good and the whole band was good... I have seen them before so I knew what to expect but I think Nad is getting more comfortable and more confident on stage and it shows...the band was very tight and I thought they did a great job.... Karisssss and I talked with Nad and Roine with his women Lillian and Lalla the day before and they were very humble saying they didn't know how it was going to be because they thought they needed more practice but of course they were great and to top it off, as was expected the encore for the entire weekend was Roine, Jonas and Hasse coming back on stage to do a couple FLower King songs, so it was a mini Flower King reunion.... Stardust we Are is a FK staple and they played that at the very end... the curfew for the Majestic is 11pm so I think they would have played more if they had more time but they couldn't.

Sooooooo Another RoSfest under my belt and it was fun... Gettysburg is always a fun place to walk around and take in the sights.... Karisssss and I had a great time and met some great people....hopefully we'll see some pics from the weekend, especially the Aural Moon Group Pic. The first one was taken with the guys from IO Earth and then we took another one of just moonies!
Good weekend..good time... if you've never been to a Rosfest....you should go.

[Magic Mountain]

Laudio, it was great to meet you this weekend. Thanks for the review and I think that it was mostly spot on and was representative of my impressions. The only disagreement was maybe IQ. I probably liked them a little more than you did, but it was my first time seeing them. In addition, I cut them some slack on the performance since it must have been extremely difficult to go on stage after suffering the mishaps with travel that they did. I know that they should be professional, but they are also human.

But Karmakanic and Agents of Mercy were just spectacular headliners. Morgan Argren is a fantastic drummer and it was a huge surprise that he was Karmakanic's drummer. "Blixt" the album by Laswell, Argren and Bjorkenheim last year made my top 10. Fantastic fusion drummer and actually fit in very well with the other musicians from Karmakanic. And what can you say about Lalle Larsson? He is one of the best prog keyboardists that there is. It is just a real treat listening to him play, and then we got him again for Agents of Mercy.

Regarding IO Earth, I cut them some slack also. All their gigs are probably in dive bars in the UK. I don't think that they were used to performing in a theater. So the guitarist jumped around a little (it is progressive ROCK ), he was very good and I enjoyed him immensely.

I had a great time and it was overall a great lineup. This was my 5th consecutive RoSfest and the crowd looked to be the biggest. The sound was perfect. I must have been in the sweet spot in Row K, center. Now it's going to take me a week just to recuperate. It was nice meeting everyone for the AM picture.

Karl

[teermin8r]

Laudio gave a nice review of the weekend. I don't want to rehash, but offer a lil of my perspective. Friday night kicked off with DeeExpus. A ROSfest favorite featuring Andy Ditchfield (party animal) and the hardest working young drummer in Britain, Henry Thomas. It was a good solid show. They were followed by Karmakanic, one of the best acts of the weekend. KW and JamForte said they were SO MUCH better than they were at Summer's End the year before. Great musicians with great music.

Saturday started off with a high energy show of the Aaron English band. Aaron is a great leader and I really liked his guitarists. They did 3 or covers and they did it in their style. Really good stuff. They should have been the Sunday morning prog church opening band!!!! They were followed by Resistor, Steve Unruh's band. Another solid performance and Steve is a great musician. Great show. That was followed by Hasse Froberg. Hasse's solo material is rockier but I really like it. His guitarist is going to be a great one eventually. Awesome play. Very good show. I was not disappointed at all. IQ was the Saturday night headliner. I was pre disappointed about them playing Subterreanea, but it came off so much better than I remember. I will listen to the cd again. I loved the costumes and videos that went along with the show. Because of travel problems beyond their control, their set started late and they barely got the whole cd in, so no encore. A very solid show.

Sunday morning in the prog church slot was Sanguine Hum. They were a very good band, but should have been on Saturday morning while we aren't so sleep deprived. George has always had a high energy band on Sunday morn to wake us up Solid performance. They were followed by the best band if the weekend. IOEarth. Dave Cureton is an awesome guitar player with a love for playing kick a** prog/roll. I loved his jumping around the stage because it showed the passion he has for his music. Outstanding show by all the band members. Discipline was up next and they were awesome. Great musicians all around and a very solid show. The more they played the more I was digging it. Final headliner was Agents of Mercy. Great musicians and I loved the singers (Nad) facial expressions, banter, clothes changes and showmanship. Nad would be the perfect frontman in any band. Quite the comic and exudes confidence. All in all, I think this was the best ROSfest ever. No bad bands. Discipline, IOEarth, Karmakanic and Agents of Mercy were definitely the best bands of the weekend. But they weren't that much better than the rest.

So if you've never been to ROSfest, what are you waiting for. I guarantee the best time of your life. Ask Museman. He's coming back next year.

[tobytanzer]

I can't disagree with any of the reviews above!
No band was awful, and as usual, the bands that I expected the least from were the ones that I liked the best, ie Aaron English, Discipline and Sanguine Hum. Pat, who is not particularly a prog fan actually liked those 3 too.
I think I'm getting a bit too old for the theatrics of Nad, Claire, the PG imitator and the Subterranea concept.
Discipline got better as Matthew gradually abandoned his masks and loosened up during his set.
Hasse and Friends was my least favourite band of the weekend, aside from Trespass, for the reasons listed.

Highlights? Aaron English's song Animals Like Us (with a prog "rap" in the middle), the FK mini reunion, Dave's guitar work in IO Earth, and meeting all the moonies and musicians.

All the bands scored between 7/10 and 9/10 IMHO.
The sound was great from my seat, and it was great to see a near sell out. I am always impressed by how attentive the Rosfest audience is....they are ALL there to listen to the music.
For those who haven't been yet, go before these festivals become history. It's are a bit like going to a family or high school reunion. The prog community is just so great to be with. The great music is the bonus.

[tobytanzer]

Almost forgot.
There was a guy upstairs in the merch room handing out his free cd's. Pat O'Connell from Buffalo.
His sampler is damn good! One track from each of his 5 cd's.
Gonna send it to Jim someday.

[museman]

Have to say meeting Teermi8ter and Thor at the Airport and hanging and sharing the music with them and all the other moon people made me glad the Aural Moon has been in my life as long as it has. Keithie was sitting with us as well all you moonies are great it was a pleasure to meet you. The music was explained well already. DeeXEpus a good rock band like Laudio said.
All the music had some great highlights I liked everyband and some of the new ones have a great future infont of them. Getting to know other prog listners and talking with band members made me feel at home as it is a family like none other as we share music on a deeper level then most people. Karmakanic-as each member in the band were fantasic but they all seemed to play better because of the new drummer in the band (kick Ass). Arron English band opened on Saturday with another fantastic drummer they had incredible sound they played ( All Along The Watchtower) in their own way ,plus across the universe and norweign wood by the Beatles also Kashmere LZ, all with no disrepect but with creative expression making each piece a new classic heart felt experience we are sure to all agree. Some of the best covers I have ever heard. Resistor and Disapline were both good ending Hasse Froberg who has a unique sounding vocal style fit for the hard rock style that came acrossed. Dare I say Rod Strwart other than his unique voice with wrasp would be the only reason.
It was great to meet all the bands except IQ I was bummed about that. Not my fav as a line up but I am not counting they will be together forever as I am an unconditional IQ fan....Sunday Sanguine Hum really had some great melodies Diving Bell is a good record. I O Earth played their livliest songs I was ready to dance in the aisles again what a fun set, the guitarist rocked my socks off as he did the at the after party the night before with some killer blus riffs. The show after the show was fun too. Looking forward to meeting more moonioes as well as lots of prog fans from around the world I already met one who wants to share expense as seems alot of the moon people want to do. It was fun as I had many people come up to me sometimes after a performance just to meet the guy that couldn;t sit still in his seat as I am a headbanger like Kethie. Maybe Jamforte can give me some dance lessons. Vax thanks for the moon pictures and sharring the beer on Saturday as the bar was closed. If you want to meet a great group of people take my advice do not wait as long as I did. Start saving now to go to RosFest.

PS Keithie I hope you feel better

Even though I was feeling a bit rough for most of Saturday and Sunday that didn't stop me having a BLAST!!!!!!!!

Best bands of the weekend for me were Karmakanik, IQ, I-O Earth and Resistor. The others weren't far behind....believe me.

Funniest moment of the weekend was definitely sitting in the Deli looking at a pair of Jeans and a pair of socks lieing under a table. I looked at the socks and said to the guys "Those are Marks and Spencer socks, they must belong to a Brit". Next thing we know in strolls Henry (Drummer with DeeExpus) wearing a sweatshirt and a bath towel. He casually goes over and puts on the Jeans and socks and mentions that it wouldn't be a good idea to try and drum while going commando because it's damned uncomfortable. Hen, my good man, you did us Brits PROUD man!!!!! Love ya!

Thanks to VAX and M for putting me up and looking after me so well. To T8R, Thor, museman, Jam, Prog Devi, Kurt, Kathy and all the rest of my beautiful Moonbuds and budettes, thank you for all the love. I adore each and every one of you.

It was delightful seeing Patsy again and Melissa (Hunnibee) too. Hang in there Mel, things will sort themselves out eventually I'm sure.

The only thing missing was Mortis.......I have never known one man have so many toasts drunk to him in so short a space of time. Get well soon Dad. I really missed your snoring and farting old man. Looking forward to us gigging again.

Here's to ROSfest 2013. I can't bleedin' wait!!!!!

[Ted]

ROSfesters....

Thank you all so much for sharing your thoughts and views about the 2012 ROSfest.

Now - you have filled us with words... the power of language.
How about some visual stimuli? Can a few of you post some pictures - or links to where your pics are on the web?

Thanks so much, especially from us non-attenders.

Regards from Texas,
Ted

[VAXman(Admin)]

Originally Posted by Ted

How about some visual stimuli? Can a few of you post some pictures - or links to where your pics are on the web?

Ted, I haven't even uploaded all of my cards into Aperture yet.

Taking more than a week away from my office duties with the Euro-moonie invasion and then ROSfest has me rather busy in its aftermath catching up. As it was, I was still righting wrongs each day prior to stepping out of the VAXman costume.

I'll try to locate and upload the latest Moonie group photo before the start of next week. Other photos will have to wait until I have less on my plate.

[Ted]

Originally Posted by VAXman

Ted, I haven't even uploaded all of my cards into Aperture yet.

I'll try to locate and upload the latest Moonie group photo before the start of next week. Other photos will have to wait until I have less on my plate.

VAX,

Thank you. Sorry, I wasn't trying to bother you about it - I was hoping some of the other attendees might post a picture or two - or if they had uploaded them - a pointer.

I quite understand about your plate - I appreciate any time you can give.

Thank you again!

Regards,
Ted