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NEARfest 2011 canceled


BP3

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The lineup was intentionally a non-70s era legacy booking. It doesn't seem to have worked.

 

In the past couple years they have had Eddie Jobson, Three Friends (partial Gentle Giant), Gong, Steve Hackett, PFM and more. There were also plenty of newer, lesser known acts and the festival had a good balance between the two.

 

I've participated at NF as an engineer, musician and patron for over half of the shows they've done and I always enjoyed he hang. It is as much about the people who attend as the bands who play. Between the economy and the lineup I believe they found out an unfortunate truth. A prog festival without a legacy 70s headliner will not draw enough to be sustainable. The festival has always done best when it reunites bands that don't tour on a regular basis. It's a shame that the fest has gone dark this year. I hope they can regroup and give it another shot next year.

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The lineup was intentionally a non-70s era legacy booking. It doesn't seem to have worked.

 

In the past couple years they have had Eddie Jobson, Three Friends (partial Gentle Giant), Gong, Steve Hackett, PFM and more. There were also plenty of newer, lesser known acts and the festival had a good balance between the two.

I've participated at NF as an engineer, musician and patron for over half of the shows they've done and I always enjoyed he hang. It is as much about the people who attend as the bands who play. Between the economy and the lineup I believe they found out an unfortunate truth. A prog festival without a legacy 70s headliner will not draw enough to be sustainable. The festival has always done best when it reunites bands that don't tour on a regular basis. It's a shame that the fest has gone dark this year. I hope they can regroup and give it another shot next year.

 

+1 They also had Camel and Anekdoten. Apart from Curved Air and Accordo Dei Contrari i could careless about the other bands.

 

HALF PAST FOUR

CANADA

CANTERBURY/JAZZ

Now, how can you be a Canterbury scene band if you're from Canada? :snax:

"The purple piper plays his tune, The choir softly sing; Three lullabies in an ancient tongue, For the court of the crimson king"
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Some would call Happy The Man a Canterbury "style" band even from the mid-Atlantic.

 

It still makes no sense to me, but oh well...Let's hope next year they bring big acts like Procol Harum, Tull or even The Moody Blues, now, that would be great.

"The purple piper plays his tune, The choir softly sing; Three lullabies in an ancient tongue, For the court of the crimson king"
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The lineup was intentionally a non-70s era legacy booking. It doesn't seem to have worked.

 

In the past couple years they have had Eddie Jobson, Three Friends (partial Gentle Giant), Gong, Steve Hackett, PFM and more. There were also plenty of newer, lesser known acts and the festival had a good balance between the two.

 

I've participated at NF as an engineer, musician and patron for over half of the shows they've done and I always enjoyed he hang. It is as much about the people who attend as the bands who play. Between the economy and the lineup I believe they found out an unfortunate truth. A prog festival without a legacy 70s headliner will not draw enough to be sustainable. The festival has always done best when it reunites bands that don't tour on a regular basis. It's a shame that the fest has gone dark this year. I hope they can regroup and give it another shot next year.

 

Sorry to hear that, Bill. But I still hope to see your band play someday soon!

 

DC's Sonic Circuits Festival falls more on the "obscure" side of artist lineups. I sat in on festival planning meetings for a short amount of time in 2004 and I was amazed they were operating on such a tiny budget (about $4000). The ownership of the festival has changed hands a couple of times over the years. Lately though, their reach has gotten more ambitious - with Faust being brought in for 2009, and 2010 saw underground prog legends Miriodor, Univers Zero, and MAGMA all coming to play at the festival. I've joked with current head organizer Jeff Surak that his "Russian Mafia connections" made this all possible.

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Between the economy and the lineup I believe they found out an unfortunate truth. A prog festival without a legacy 70s headliner will not draw enough to be sustainable.

 

100% agreed. It's good for the newer acts, too, since they gain awareness and new fans via association with the older acts.

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