Progressive Rock Utopia

A couple weeks ago I made my ninth or tenth...who's counting?...pilgrimmage with a fellow music appreciator and childhood bud to the Northeast Art Rock Festival, or NEARFest, in Bethlehem, PA, on the beautiful campus of Lehigh University. If you are old enough to recall Yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and Jethro Tull, and Genesis back when Phil Collins was an excellent drummer and Peter Gabriel sang most of the stuff...well, that's at least part of what I am talking about. A lot of pretentiousness and bombast, but mostly people trying to follow their muse and the "different drummer" in their head. Anyhow, I enjoy the music that pushes some boundaries. So anyway, for those two or three of you who are still reading with any interest, bless you, and here is the wrap up.

Last things first: Eddie Jobson was the last headliner. He has a long resume and has been associated over his career with Frank Zappa, Roxy Music, Jethro Tull, a spot of King Crimson, and probably some more stuff. Anyhow, he wields an odd plastic, luninescent violin, but I really like his keyboard work. He brought a powerhouse band with him, including two drummers who got into an interminable "drum-off", and Billy Sheehan, who was subdued on bass. It was a good, kinda muscular set, but Eddie put out a "no photos" message and I obeyed.

Back to the beginning. A band called Astra took the stage and channeled Echoes era Pink Floyd among other things. They capture the classic essence of Mellotron drenched prog excellently and it was a great set.
Something from France called Forgas Band Phenomena, next lent their blend of fusion to the affair. A nice blend of instruments, kicking of the "year of the violin/fiddle".
Third up on Saturday was a personal favorite of mine. Called Iona, they hail from Ireland and are named for an island off the Emerald Isle that was settled by Celtic Christians centuries ago. Many of their songs echo the beliefs of that ancient group. Best uilleann pipes ever (over on the left). ONLY uilleann pipes ever.
Last up Saturday was "Three Friends", a tribute band of sorts to Gentle Giant, a '70s band that crafted complex music that included things like recorder trios, odd a cappella madrigals, and xylophone passages. This band included original GG guitarist Gary Green and drummer Malcolm Mortimore. They reproduced the original music quite well, even though I understand the vocalist was called in at rather the last minute.
Sunday started with Moraine, a sort of avant music band that stretched into some ethnic things like regional Chinese music and such. It helped round out the weekend's music and the low-frequency sax was quite effective in holding up the bottom.
Back to relative mainstream music with The Pineapple Thief, a band of youngsters who could probably position themselves in more popular genres, kinda of going after the Radiohead/ Porcupine Tree crowd. But here they were, and I really enjoyed at least a couple of their tunes.
This brings us to the next-to-last band, and I have already covered the last. This was the Enid, a couple members of which had been around back in the 70's. They were sort of an after-the-fact band back in the day, trying to ride the coattails of some of the greats I listed up front. However, after a computer glitch that took them down for a few minutes, they launched the most pretentious (and I mean it in a good way), orchestrated set I have heard in a long time. The band founder (over on the left) played a keyboard connected to who knows how much software in order to play like a complete orchestra, with strings followed by flutes followed by brass, as needed. I have no idea how one pulls this off. Then there was the bass/xylophone/huge drum/tympani player (the guy on the right)... Quite a set.
Quite a weekend.

A mellotron. Makes sounds by running a tape of prerecorded strings, or flutes, choir, etc.,
in the corresponding pitch for each key. Really old-timey technology. I don't care. I want one.