ProgPower USA III -- Saturday

One day down, one to go!

My first order of business was to try to wake up after getting very little sleep -- it wasn't easy! -- but I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the shower just in time to make it for the SeismicRadio deejays' gathering at 1pm at Houlihan's, up on Peachtree near Colony Square. (I wasn't particularly keen on getting anything heavy before a show, so I settled for soup and a salad -- for $8. Sheesh!) There were a number of other ProgPower people there as well, including a few other groups, like the TEOFers -- it's one of the few "decent" restaurants within walking distance. Okay food, high prices for what you get, but when it's the only walkable place to go....

A kind soul took several pics using different deejays' cameras, and they took two with mine, here and here. You can have fun with these pics by quickly flashing back and forth between them; it looks like DJ-Axe teleports about ten feet across the front. :)

By the time we finished eating there wasn't time for me to drive back to the hotel and change, so I drove directly to Earthlink Live and parked down below, being careful -- this time -- to park as humanly close as possible to the top of the ramp. I got there after doors had opened for Gold Badge holders, but before they were opened to the general public, and I bought a few CDs, slipped down to Catering for some food, and generally hung around before Reading Zero opened the show promptly at 5:30. Here are some pics from their performance:

Reading Zero #1
Reading Zero #2
Reading Zero #3
Reading Zero #4
Reading Zero #5
Reading Zero #6
Reading Zero #7
Reading Zero #8

After the first three songs we photogs were beckoned out of the camera-well, so I watched the show for a bit and then went outside to browse more of the CDs and shoot the shit with friends. Then it was time for Threshold's first performance in the US, and I got quite a few pics to commemmorate the occasion:
Threshold pic #1
Threshold pic #2
Threshold pic #3
Threshold pic #4
Threshold pic #5
Threshold pic #6
Threshold pic #7
Threshold pic #8
Threshold pic #9
Threshold pic #10
Threshold pic #11
Threshold pic #12
Threshold pic #13
Threshold pic #14
Threshold pic #15
Threshold pic #16
Threshold pic #17
Threshold pic #18
Threshold pic #19
They were much better than my previous experience with them in 1999 at the very first ProgPower festival in Europe, when a bit of over-inebriation cost them a tight show. This show was a lot better!

Now it was time to prepare for something special, something that really meant a lot to me personally -- my first time seeing Devin Townsend perform live. Much had been said about Devin not "fitting the format" that well: many of the power-metal fans just chose to ignore his presence as much as possible. Others thanked me (in some cases, over and over :)) for bringing Devin in to play, commenting that it was good to see some variety, especially in a year where it seemed like the schedule was weighted toward power-metal bands.

After the first three songs the other photographers in front and I were asked to leave the well, so I went to the middle of the floor, a bit in front of the soundboard, so I could -- presumably -- hear the show at its best. It sounded great! Very heavy, very powerful, but clean with no distortion, a "wall of sound" effect that captured Devy's studio sound quite well. The only complaint I've heard is that Devy's vocals could have been a bit higher in the mix.
I got several pics, moving gradually forward on the floor, aiming over people's heads and remarkably, not getting any badly mis-aimed shots:
DTB mid-floor pic #1
DTB mid-floor pic #2
DTB mid-floor pic #3
DTB mid-floor pic #4
DTB mid-floor pic #5 (note the excellent crowd-response, something Devin had been wondering about....)
DTB mid-floor pic #6
DTB mid-floor pic #7
DTB mid-floor pic #8
DTB mid-floor pic #9
DTB mid-floor pic #10
DTB mid-floor pic #11
DTB mid-floor pic #12
DTB mid-floor pic #13
DTB mid-floor pic #14
DTB mid-floor pic #15
DTB mid-floor pic #16
DTB mid-floor pic #17
DTB mid-floor pic #18

Then I slipped over toward stage-right and took two more....
DTB stage-right pic #1 and DTB stage-right pic #2, and then I went backstage-right for a few more pics from the side of the stage:
DTB side-stage pic #1
DTB side-stage pic #2
DTB side-stage pic #3
DTB side-stage pic #4
DTB side-stage pic #5

I also took a few shots of the floor, where the audience had grown substantially during Devy's set:
DTB Audience pic #1
DTB Audience pic #2
DTB Audience pic #3
The expressions on the faces, especially in the last pic, make the whole sponsorship thang worthwhile. :)

I went out, found Jim, compared notes on Devy's show, and then went back to congratulate the band on a great show. Like most of the other non-power-metal bands on the bill, Devy didn't draw quite as many people as, say, Gamma Ray or Blind Guardian or Edguy, but he started with a respectable crowd which grew during his set. As I told him after the show, if anyone came into that room and left thinking "I've never heard Devin before, but that was pretty cool," then the show can only be regarded as a success. :)

Now it was time for Gamma Ray. I was backstage when they went to the stage (passed right by me in the corridor -- "have a great show!") and since it was easier to go up to the side viewing balcony, I took a pic of them from there (it's dark), then went down and still had some time to get the following pics from the camera-well before "3-song-thirty":
Gamma Ray pic 1
Gamma Ray pic 2
Gamma Ray pic 3
Gamma Ray pic 4
Gamma Ray pic 5
Gamma Ray pic 6
Gamma Ray pic 7
Gamma Ray pic 8
Gamma Ray pic 9
Gamma Ray pic 10
Gamma Ray pic 11.

I then spent a long time chatting with Devin and some fans just outside the backstage door. Devy went around the lobby and he and his band "held court" and signed autographs. My friend BiD took this really weird pic of Devin and me. We had no idea what the mysterious blue sparkly thing is in the photo -- an alien presence? The Frozen Seventh Wave? We still don't know, but at least the remake pic turned out better. :)

So, now it was Angra-time, a band I've loved ever since I heard Holy Land back in the heady days of the Ytsejam Mailing List, back before there were things like message boards and forums. I got quite a few pics again from the camera-well:
Angra pic 1
Angra pic 2
Angra pic 3
Angra pic 4
Angra pic 5
Angra pic 6
Angra pic 7
Angra pic 8
(audience pic)
Angra pic 9
Angra pic 10
Angra pic 11
Angra pic 12
Angra pic 13
Angra pic 14
Angra pic 15
Angra pic 16
Angra pic 17
Angra (long shot from the stairs showing the backdrop)

By this time my camera was completely full o' pics. Angra did a realllly cool Brazilian percussion interlude where everyone in the band participated, but unfortunately by the time I managed to clear a "bad" pic out of my camera to make room, it was over. :(

All too soon, it was time for their encore, and all too soon, they played Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" and the show...and ProgPower itself -- were over. We hung out as long as we could inside, then went outside to chat more in the chill, then we drove back over to the Fairfield Inn and chatted even more in the lobby with some of Zero Hour and Johan from Pain of Salvation. Sometime around 4:30 or 5 am Kyle G. and I finally returned to the hotel room and since Chris O. was about to get up to drive home, I didn't go to bed until he and Kyle (catching a ride to the MARTA station) left. I waved goodbye and tumbled into bed, too tired to think and too happy to fall asleep right away. Eventually I did.

I woke up -- way too early -- for noon checkout and took care of that little task. When I got to the lobby, Devin and his band were busily loading up the shuttle van with their stuff, and he thanked me effusively for sponsoring him and shook my hand. That, and the fact that he gave my Ozric Tentacles t-shirt a thumbs-up, just "made" the whole weekend for me. :)

I waved as they headed off, said goodbye to some friends in the lobby, and drove the 10 miles back home, tired, throat raw from screaming and cigarette smoke, and deliriously happy. What a great weekend!

There are far too many people to credit for such a wonderful time, but Glenn Harveston and his crew deserve the utmost respect for again pulling off the finest prog-metal festival in the US, if not the world! Jim Raggi, my co-conspirator in Project Devy, deserves at least as much credit as I do for making it all happen. Devin, his band and Tracy were all extremely cool to meet in person. I was so happy I'd sponsored a Nice Guy...and not some stuffy, self-important twit. :)

To my friends who encouraged me to participate in the festival as a sponsor, and who thanked me afterward for bringing Devin and for a great show, you're what made it all worthwhile. You're welcome, one and all. :)