| Bands: |
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Camel:
Andy Latimer, Colin Bass, Denis Clement, Tom Brislin
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Magma:
Christian Vander, Stella Vander, James Mac Gaw, Philippe Bussonnet, Emanuel Borhi, Frederic D'Oelsnitz, Isabelle Feuillebois, Himiko Paganotti, Antoine Paganotti
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Flower Kings:
Roine Stolt, Tomas Bodin, Jonas Reingold, Zoltan Czörsz, Hasse Froberg, Hasse Bruniusson, Daniel Gildenlöw
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Tunnels:
Percy Jones, Marc Wagnon, Frank Katz, John Goodsall, Mark Feldman, Sarah Pillow
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Änglagård:
Jonas Engdegård, Johan Brand, Anna Holmgren, Mattias Olsson, Thomas Johnsson
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Kraan:
Peter Wolfbrandt, Hellmut Hattler, Jan Fride, Ingo Bishof
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Alamaailman Vasarat:
Jarno Sarkula, Tuukka Helminen, Erno Haukkala, Miikka Huttunen, Marko Manninen, Teemu Hänninen
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Glass Hammer:
Susie Bogdanowicz, Walter Moore, Flo Oakes, Fred Schendel, Steve Babb, Eric Parker, Matt Mendias, Rich Williams (of Kansas)
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High Wheel:
Wolfgang Hierl, Erich Kogler, Uli Jenne, Andreas Lobinger
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Sleepytime Gorilla Museum:
Nils Frykdahl, Dan Rathbun, Frank Grau, Moe! Staiano, Carla Kihlstedt
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There is way too much to talk about here, but I'll give it a shot. This was just an incredible experience for a number of reasons. I am a fan of several of the bands that played here, I bought 10 CDs from prog-only vendors, and I got to meet almost every band, including some of my heroes (Percy Jones!). Tomas Bodin and Zoltan Csorsz were probably the coolest to talk to.
High Wheel - boring
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - I don't know what they were doing at a prog festival. They seemed to be much more into acting/performance than music
Glass Hammer - also not very interesting. I thought their music was too generic and, unfortunately, typical of a lot of 90s/00s "prog"
Alamaailman Vasarat - every other band was great, including these guys. One of the weirdest bands I have ever seen - they are like death metal meets eastern european folk music. The cellists are playing with a lot of distortion so that they sound like metal guitars. The trombonist is basically headbanging. The saxophonist looks like Gimli. And the music was great! I did meet these guys afterwards and got them to sign my CD I bought there.
Kraan - oddly enough, I randomly decided to check out Kraan before this concert. The CD I bought was ok - certainly the production was sub par. But the concert was great! Very polished and enjoyable jazz-prog. I also met the members of this band, who proceeded to comment on how old my CD was.
Änglagård - I really thought they had the best live sound I've ever heard - then they told me they didn't get a chance to do much sound checking. Ok. Three mellotrons? Crazy. For the most part, I do not think this band lives up to the hype, but I do like them.
Tunnels - My friends did not appreciate them, but I thought they were great. Percy Jones bass solo was fantastic. Marc Wagnon was amazing to see. They really were very different from the other bands here though - no one else was nearly so fusiony. I got to meet all of the members, of course. Percy Jones seemed very shy, Marc Wagnon seemed very professional (and IMO didn't get nearly the attention he deserved), Jerry Goodsall (and his wife or girlfriend) were very much out there. The drummer was the funniest to me - the security almost didn't let him in, because he didn't have his pass - and this was after my friends and I had walked back in, unchecked, multiple times - through the side door.
Flower Kings - wow. Great performance. And the longest call for an encore I've ever seen - unfortunately none of the bands were able to do an encore, due to time and money restraints. One of the organizers had to come out twice to declare this! I got to meet all of the members here too, including Daniel Gildenlow. I remember having conversations with Tomas Bodin in particular - about his daughter and her body-building boyfriend, etc. Quite an experience
Magma - I only met a couple of the members here (there are like 10). As of the time of this writing, I still need to get more involved in Magma, but they are pretty incredible. Christian Vander apparently doesn't speak English, which I found out about 5 seconds after talking to him. Watching this band was like watching the musicification of science fiction (I don't know what that means).
Camel - I only got to meet Andy Latimer, who seemed very grateful to his fans. They performed very well, in what was to be one of their last shows (or perhaps their very last, I'm not sure). The end of a fantastic musical career.