FMPM 2009 Day 1

Festival des Musiques Progressives de Montreal - Day 1
Gesù – Centre de Créativité
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Section Centre, Row F, Seat 15
$106.67 CAN

This wasn't a great day. I woke up with a huge headache, and kept pushing myself to see all the bands. We kept thinking maybe some food and drink would make me feel better, substituting that for sleep. I'd end up in the dark theater, zoning out during every band's performance.

That morning, we went out for breakfast. We had a slow morning. The bands weren't starting until 1pm, so I had time to go back to the hotel and take a nap before heading up to the venue. I should have slept longer, but we scheduled a wake up call so that we'd get there before the music started. Roy and I tend to influence each other's opinions. He is always aware that any band could be the surprise hit of the festival, and he doesn't want to miss that performance. All of the unknown bands become must-sees. I see his point, and I have seen it happen in reality, so I cut short my nap and recovery. (Let me add here that don't drink alcohol, so this was a different type of headache than most FMPM attendees had that morning!)

I don't like to rush at these festivals. I don't want to make it there just in time. I like to buy my water, look at the vendors, see my friends, not just rush in to the dark theater just as the band is starting. That's what I was expecting this time, but the festival was running a half-hour late. I had time to do all those things and hear the opening welcome and annoucements.

We purchased gold seats for the festival itself, we were in the sixth row on the aisle. This was a really nice venue. The seating was tiered, but also staggered. I wasn't looking directly behind the person the row in front of me. It was a place that can truly say, "every seat is a good seat". The sound was good too. This was a smaller venue than the place where it was held in 2007. I really noticed it in the lobby - too full of people and no good places to sit. Thankfully, the weather held up, and we could go outside during the breaks.

I did like the first band ExCubus. They were a band that formed back in 1970, a real first-generation prog band. They did many live shows back then, but never finished recording an album. Decades later, they reunited. It was a nice addition to the festival, but I would have felt better for the whole day if I had just slept through this set. I struggled to stay awake and pay attention.

I thought we had an hour break before the next band. Rouge Ciel. There was no announcement of when they'd be starting. The festival was a half-hour behind schedule and there was supposed to be an hour-long break between bands. Roy thought I'd feel better with something to eat, so we went back to the food court I had lunch at on Friday and I had the same delicious panini.

It turned out that there was only a half-hour break. Rouge Ciel must have set up very quickly and started on their scheduled time. We got back in time to see the last 20 minutes of their set. It's just as well. They didn't do anything for me. One piece had melody, the others were just a bunch of musicians playing different things.

The weather was nice and I love walking around cities. Roy suggested we go on a walk during the next break. I knew vaguely where the old Montreal area was, so we walked down there and got to the banks of the Saint Lawrence River at the southern tip of the Old Montreal before we had to turn around and walk back. This is another thing that I should have enjoyed, but I was fighting not feeling well and doing more exertion wasn't great. We saw Linda and Juan, and made plans to meet them for dinner at the next break.

There was a piano in the lobby. When we walked back in, it was being put to good use. There was a group singalong to Gentle Giant's Think of Me with Kindness with piano accompaniment. Juan said one of the musicians from the festival was playing. Later on, he played some Genesis before the break ended.

I had seen the next band DFA at Nearfest back in 2000. They went over well, but did nothing for me then. I like their music well enough, but I can't handle sitting in a dark room doing nothing but listening to it. Sean McFee, one of the FMPM festival organizers introduced them as an amazing jazz-rock band. I saw the first part of their set. I got frustrated that this band wasn't at a setting like ProgDay, where I could pull out a book and turn any music into part of the atmosphere, rather than the sole thing to pay attention to. I watched a couple songs, then left the auditorium.

This break was what I needed. I talked to a few people out in the lobby. Buster, who goes to a lot of fests, wasn't afraid to skip some bands. He actually wasn't seeing any of the bands this day, just hanging out with people. I found another woman sitting on the steps of the venue reading. I joined her and indulged my need for downtime by reading for the next hour. I went back into the lobby shortly before the show was over to meet up with everyone. I opened the door to the auditorium, and DFA was getting a huge response from the audience. I'm glad people enjoyed them.

We had a big bilingual group dinner at a cheap Italian place in the nearby mall. This is a city with such great restaurants, it seems a shame to eat someplace so ordinary, but they were able to get us in and out quickly. That was of the essence, because the next band was the legendary Le Orme. We couldn't miss them.

Roy and I saw Le Orme in 2001 at Baja Prog, and Roy saw them at ProgFest in the 1990s. Loved them then. I really liked their first couple songs and Felona and Serona. Aldo Tagliapietra still has a beautiful voice. Drummer Michi Dei Rossi looked a lot older, but still looked so happy while playing. This was the first band with real songs and vocals all day, and I needed that in this setting. However, the whole day caught up with me. I was tired and still kept zoning out. This is one of the key bands of the Italian progressive scene, but the show didn't have as much of an impact on me as last time. The band had a different lineup this time: instead of two keyboards, they had one keyboard player and a bass player. The show was less dramatic: I remember highlights of Aldo playing a sitar last time. It's good that they don't play the same set year after year, but this one dragged in places (or maybe it was me). I talked to some friends about it later: Linda just loved it, and Juan thought he had seen them too many times. Roy thought the long midtemp ballad-y piece in the encore brought the show to a slow point.

I felt like I should have paced myself better this day. It all culminated with not being in the right place to enjoy a band like Le Orme. At the time, I wondered if it was me or the festival, and what a shame it was to travel all this way and spend all this money if I wasn't going to enjoy it. In hindsight, it was just me. I felt better the next day and ready to enjoy the music!