Website: http://www.bajaprog.com
From: David Levkovitz <>
Date: Sun Mar 9, 2003 9:11 pm
Subject: BajaProg
Just got back from the festival. As always it was great! Alfonso sure knows
how to put on a great 4 day party. Here are my quick impressions of the
different performances.
Missed Gallina Negra. Still driving down from
LA.
Ars Nova - I have seen them 3 times, and find
them boring. Both keyboard players can play very well, but the drummer is
sloppy, always behind, and only has one fill. Their compositions go nowhere,
they are just a bunch of keyboard noodling.
Cast - I have really liked them in the past, but
this time they didn't seem to have the kind of energy and power that they
displayed in previous performances.
Alquilbencil - The first great surprise of the
festival. They were quirky and complex but never lost sight of the melody.All
were great players, especially the keyboardist. A little jazz, a little
Crimson and even a little klezmer.
Trespass - more Emerson like keyboard noodling.
a lot of people enjoyed them. They were good musicians, but lacked any
interesting melodies.
Index - Mediocre NeoProg. Left early. I heard
they did a nice cover of Los Endos.
Cabezas de Cera - Now we're talking! This is
what prog is supposed to be. They are definitely new, unique and unusual.
They are comprised of Chapman Stick/guitar, drums/edrums (a very minimalist
kit) and sax player. The have a small Crimson influence (mostly in the stick
playing) but the way they weave South American influences in are both subtle
and beautiful. The drummer is a phenom, the stick/guitar player is stellar
and the horn player can play almost every reed instrument there is. They got
many, very spontaneous standing ovations.
Richocher - very mediocre Neo. I heard nothing
progressive. Great singer and good musicianship, but very simple, mundane
songs and melodies.
Ankh - I am not sure what all the fuss is about
these guys. They lost their violinist, who was their only saving grace last
year.
Entrance - fairly decent "by the numbers" prog.
Sounded a little like Tempus Fugit from Brazil.
Pig Farm on the Moon - I liked these guys quite
a lot. Great interplay between both, very talented guitarists. Singer (who
looked about 17) had a very good voice. Nice melodies (they started sounding
a little similar after a while), fairly tight playing and some Prog Metal
intensity from time to time.
Magenta - they had a first class performance. A
lot of power and emotion. Great playing by all members and a great
performance by Christina Murphy. She has a great voice and is sexy as hell on
stage.
Ange - truly majestic. I can't say enough about
their performance. Great theatrical prog. Christian DeCamp has a great stage
presence. His son on keys is also immensely talented. The guitar player was
one of the best guitarists of the festival. They don't do anything extremely
complex, but their melodies and the way they build the drama in their music
are incredible.
Focus - never one of my favorite bands of the
70's although I did like much of their stuff, were slightly disappointing.
This Van Leer was in good form, but they came off sounding like the ultimate
Focus cover band. Which is not far from the truth. Van Leer heard them play
as a cover band and they kicked out their keyboardist and started calling
themselves Focus. Sorry. No Jan Akerman, it's not Focus. Very nice version of
Eruption, one of their best pieces.
French TV - these guys were hot! Quirky, over
the top complexity, and played impeccably. If you took a Happy the Man
composition and stuck it in a blender then tried to play it you might get a
little close to their performance.
Amorok - Very nice performance. Never heard them
before. Kind of like Finistere meets Azigza at Andy Latimer's house. Well...
not really, but you get the picture. Beautiful melodies, played extremely
well. Great female vocalist. Very nice Hackett like guitar work. Great sax
player (and she was beautiful also)
PLP - Never liked them in the past, but as a 3
piece they were very enjoyable. Maybe it was Hasse Brunnesson on drums
(Flower Kings percussionist and Samla Mama's Manna drumer), maybe it was Bill
Kopeky's bass performance (maybe the best of the show). Or maybe it was Par
Lindh toning down his over the top bombast.
PFM - First it was Le Orme, then it was Banco,
then Il Biletto Di Bronzo, now PFM! I have seen all the best Italian prog
bands, I can die happy. Ok, so they did 3 pretty crappy songs off their later
commercial albums, they did their classics and played the hell out of them!
Mussida blew up his guitar, so there was a 15 minute pause in their set, but
who cares. Is there anything better than those Italian melodies? They also
had the violin player from Deus Ex Machina with them, the boy can play!
That's about the best I can do with only about 4 hours sleep. If anyone went,
please feel free to critique my reviews.
Dave