Well, the third annual North East Art Rock festival has now come and gone, as organizers Rob LaDuca and Chad Hutchinson have once again raised the bar in presenting a weekend even more perfect than last year's fest (my first).  NEARfest took place at the Zoellner Arts Center on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The festival annually attracts progressive music lovers from around the United States and the world, and is without a doubt the premier showcase for progressive music within the U.S.  The Fest lineup was brilliantly composed of various bands that bared little similarity to one another, creating a universal atmosphere in which pretty much any kind of progressive rock fan would find something to like.  The result was a weekend in which every band sounded comparatively fresh and exciting.  I've been to other rock festivals before, and nothing has ever approached the impeccable organization, friendly atmosphere and comfortable environment of NEARfest, not to mention the exceedingly cool people, great music, and pretty much any progressive rock CD you could possibly want.

Saturday began with avant-melodic RIO group Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, one of our favorite bands here at the Giant Progweed, and for us a great way to kick things off.  Birdsongs, despite being fairly "out there", retains a very appealing melodic edge.  Mike and I had both seen the band before, and their NEARfest set bore a familiar fun vibe, and despite the lack of a live drummer, the band comes off very well live.  Their set was pretty phenomenal, playing significant portions of their latest Petrophonics, as well as some earlier material, which I wasn't immediately familiar.  The title track from Dancing on A'A was particularly awesome, as the band brought to life a blazing atmosphere of fiery horns that screeched through the hall like lava, as Erik Lindgren stood up and rhythmically slammed on his piano, like some other kind of Mesozoic denizen clomping through the steamy jungle.  In short, Birdsongs is one of the downright coolest bands around at the moment, and a great way to kick of NEARfest 2001.  One of the best sets of the weekend.

I wasn't expecting much from Under the Sun, and didn't really get much either.  Quite frankly, the band's style just doesn't do a whole lot for me, but I knew that they had their devotees in the audience, and they certainly provided a great contrast to Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.  The group is basically a semi-progressive hard rock group (complete with clichéd rock star stage moves), with some incidental synthesizers layered on top.  Good musicians who do what they do well, and I think their performance was fine, considering that people who were into the band enjoyed their set.  However, it was probably no coincidence that my accompanying significant other (who isn't exactly prog literate) commented during the set "So what exactly is progressive rock?  To me this sounds like something that could be on KRock (the local alt-rock station here in NY)".  Probably a more complex question that she realized, but it certainly raised an important point, and basically expressed my reservations about the group pretty well.

Like DFA last year, Norway's White Willow was for me the hands down surprise of the fest.  The band's last album, Sacrament, was a nice album, but this band really seems at home in a live environment.  Swirling analog synths, beautiful flute, fluid basslines worked around each other in the impeccable mix, every note was bright and powerful.  The biggest surprise was the live presence of their lead vocalist, whose voice was even more projected and passionate than on record. The band also had an extremely low-key stage presence, and seemed genuinely overwhelmed by the positive audience response. Many of the better moments from Sacrament were performed, as well as older stuff that I didn't immediately recognize (although Ignis Faatus is certainly on my wish list now).  The explosive climaxes came much more frequently than on record, and although some complained that the slower portions dragged a little, I found every moment utterly captivating.  Another one of my favorite sets of the weekend.

Deus Ex Machina blasted on stage with the energy level set to the proverbial "eleven".  They certainly weren't going to let the rug be pulled out from under them.  Though they only played a few tracks from their De Republica album, the only one I'm familiar with, the set was eminently enjoyable all the way through. The group's plays in a frenetic style, a kind of jazz-fusion mixed with hard rock guitar and sheer blazing power.  They had a very charismatic stage presence and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves.  Odd-time drum rhythms pummeled mercilessly beneath Alberto Pira's operatic bellows and the swirling chaos of guitar, bass and keys.  So chaotic, in fact, that it was almost difficult to follow.  The band's performance resembled a freight train roaring along a set of track, barely teetering on the edge of completely falling apart.  It was a tension that was both exciting and unnerving at the same time.  A great set from these Italian madmen.

After the dinner break, the excitement seemed to be building for Porcupine Tree, one of the most popular modern progressive groups. Although I knew that I'd rather be seeing these guys than last year's horrid Transatlantic, I still wasn't particularly looking forward to the group,  especially not a two hour set.  Still, the band had nice sound and put on a good performance, and I found myself pleasantly surprised with most of their set.  I didn't find them particularly original at all, especially considering their last two albums have apparently veered more towards brit-pop than the psychedelia of their prior albums.  At one point, lead man Steve Wilson was making comments about the "disease" of pop groups like N'Sync and Britney Spears, and I was tempted to yell "You mean like Blur and Oasis?”  I decided it might be unnecessarily antagonistic.  Still, his complaints were just a tad ironic.  The performance was better than I expected, but after the third encore I was ready to get back to the hotel and  regroup for day two.

The Underground Railroad was a band that I had heard good things about, and was therefore expecting quite a bit from their set.  I was  personally a tad under whelmed by their solid, but conventional, take on symphonic progressive.  The vocals in particular were less than impressive, and I was told that the harmonies come off much stronger on record.  After a fairly dirge-y set, they actually caught fire at the end, and hit an emotional climax during a new track entitled "The Creeper", which featured some blazing instrumental portions.  Others enjoyed the set more as a whole, and perhaps more familiarity with the group would have helped in this case.

Lack of familiarity proved not to be a problem with Djam Karet.  Although I hadn't actually heard the band before, they kicked my ass from the first note.  I was completely blown away.  The band fired away with an extremely aggressive opening tracks, mammoth guitar/bass riffs, tremendous grooves and scorching guitar from Gayle Ellet and Mike Henderson (sporting a very cool Lark's Tongue T-shirt).  After some very intense playing, Ellet brought out the keyboards and the band mixed in soaring, spaced-out textures. It was during these moments that Henderson made it clear that he could say just as much with one note as with the flurry of notes expounded during the band's more aggressive moments.  Djam Karet was without a doubt one of the best sets of the weekend.

California Guitar Trio was next up, and the band is made up of three guitarists who apparently studied together under Robert Fripp.  The group uses three acoustic guitars, and added in guest Tony Levin's bass to supplement their sound.  Overall, it was a lot of fun, as the band's original compositions were certainly interesting.  The also dipped into recognizable tunes such as Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" and "Discipline", as well as Beethoven's 9th Symphony and surf rock classic "Miserlou".  One of the more amusing moments of the weekend came during the groups rendition of Yes' "Heart of the Sunrise", during which the audience was invited to sing along, and did so falsetto.  Another highlight was the encore performance of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which invited some more ridiculous vocal treatment from the audience.  Overall, an enjoyable set, but to me they came off as more of a fun/novelty act rather than something I would go out and purchase an album to  hear, but they were still a great addition to the festival lineup.

After Crying's Megalázottak és Megszomorítottak album is one of my favorite albums ever, and their two other early albums, Overground Music and Fold es Eg are also classics of 90's symphonic progressive.  However, I was to that point pretty much in the dark as to anything after De Profundis.  Rumor had it that the band was going to be breaking out the old stuff, which is not something they do these days, presumably due to the unamicable departure of keyboardist Csabes Vedres.  Rumor also had it that the band would be singing in Hungarian, which is also something they don't really do for non-Hungarian audiences.  The first 15 to 20 minutes of the set were frankly quite frightening.  The band came on with some electronic pulses, and the first couple songs had some sort of dance/pop/techno thing going on.  Accented English lyrics were apparently in full force, most glaring in some unfortunate rap (????) section within one of the songs.  At this point, I was pretty confused.  Still, things did get better.  Although I wasn't immediately familiar with most of the stuff, it was at least in a good, complex symphonic rock style, with dual keyboards, trumpet and cello featured prominently.  The cello and piano then broke into the beginning of the first song from the glorious MeM album.  For a brief moment, I was in prog heaven, then, right as the vocals were set to come in (about 6 minutes into the 20 minute piece), the band broke into something completely different.  Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed.  Still, the portion that they did play was certainly beautiful.  Other highlights included a cello, piano duet as well as a piece in which both keyboardists played on the same keyboard, which was very impressive and well received.  The band closed the set with a lengthy tribute to Keith Emerson, which was good, and incorporated bits of the Fold es Eg album which I recognized.  It was only at this point that the vocalist finally sang in Hungarian, and it's really amazing how much better he sounded.  Not simply the lack of an accent, but just the timbre and confidence of his voice made it much more enjoyable.  Overall, an all right set, but disappointing in light of what might have been possible.

Finally, after dinner break on Sunday, Banco arrived to kick my ass.  Readers of these pages might know already that Banco del Mutuo Soccorso is quite possibly one of my favorite progressive rock artists ever, from any time period and from any country.  These guys do symphonic progressive like it should be done, and to me have always ranked among the truly legendary artists of the genre.  Their first four albums are all classics.  After the supposedly awe-inspiring performance at last year's Progfest, expectations were high.  Thankfully, they did not, by any stretch of the imagination disappoint.  The band made their entrance by the orchestral strains of Di Terra, building the anticipation.  

When all but lead vocalist Franceso DiGiacomo were present, the band broke into "Metamorfosi" from the self-titled debut.  Francesco appeared at the end for the rousing vocal-led finale, and his magnificent voice simply brought the house down.  The dual keyboard attack of the band's heyday was slightly altered within the band's current lineup.  The only members of the classic lineup remaining are keyboardist Vittorio Nocenzi, guitarist Rudolfo Maltese and DiGiacomo.  The lineup was filled out by a second guitarist, bassist and a wind player.  This made for some interesting altered arrangements, constantly keeping things interesting for those of us most intimately familiar with Banco's music.  The new instrumentation worked magnificently on the signature barnburner "R.I.P." and the lesser known (yet no less impressive) "Il Ragno" from Come in Un'Ultimo Cena.  These guys were no joke.  The sounds was awesome, the performance breathtaking.  Pleasant surprises included two new tracks, both of which were surprisingly impressive.  One was instrumental, and featured some blazing keyboard licks from Nocenzi.  Another was a piano/vocal ballad, in which Francesco harkened back to the dramatic flair of yesteryear.  If these tracks are a portent of the future for Banco, we're all in for a treat. Another surprise was the title track from Canto di Primavera, considered a second tier album by most fans, but was utterly amazing in the performance.  My only cause for disappointment was the extended drum solo, not that it was bad, but I would rather they had taken the time to play another one of the classic tracks.  Afterwards, they broke out "La Conquista Della Posizione Eretta" and "L'Evoluzione" from Darwin! while the first encore showcased "Non Mi Rompete".   Thankfully, the band was called back out for a second encore, and Francesco and Vittorio did a mind-blowing version of the incredible ballad "750,000 Anni Fa... L'Amore?”  Overall, a wonderful set, and without a doubt the best in the two years I've attended NEARfest.  There was no better way to send the festival off onto bigger in better things next year, in the greater capacity hall at the Trenton War Memorial. 

Overall, everyone did a great job.  The sound people did a superb job for the duration of the weekend.  All the bands put on enjoyable performances were very friendly and seemed visibly pleased by the heartfelt sentiments expressed by prog music lovers after their respective sets.  It's clear that none of these guys really give a shit about their bottom line, and maybe that’s what makes the event so beautiful.  All the fans and musicians care about is the music, and one gets the feeling that nothing means more to these bands than letting them know you appreciated their effort (I could be mistaken, but every single one of them was gracious and sincerely interested).  So to all the NEARfest bands, thanks for a great weekend, especially Birdsongs, White Willow, Djam Karet and Banco, all of whom really did it for me.  For those of you thinking about going next year, this is a hell of an event; don't miss it.  Thanks to Rob and Chad for putting such a great show together. 

        - Greg Northrup [June 2001]