NEARFest Day 1

NEARfest Day 1
Zoellner Arts Center
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA
Saturday, June 23, 2007 11:00AM
Section Orchestra, Row A, Seat 33
Patron seats: $240

NEARFest - the North East Art Rock Festival - is one of the most successful and professionally run progressive rock festivals in North America. It was started by my friend Rob LaDuca. He was a volunteer organizer for ProgDay one year, and he thought of all the ways he could improve the stability of a prog festival. He moved it indoors, to a more densely populated area of the country, booked better known bands, and promoted it better. There have been nine NEARFests, and all nine sold out. Some in a theater that held 2000.

That said, NEARFest is not my favorite festival, with so much going on it can be an endurance test. It scaled down a few years ago, and we stayed home for a couple years. I was now over the burnt-out factor and ready for the fest!

The bands on the first day were IZZ, Nebelnest, Bob Drake, Magenta, and Hawkwind. We were skipping Hawkwind in order to catch the Adrian Belew show in nearby Sellersville. Roger Dean, Paul Whitehead, and Annie Haslam were also there to sell artwork and chat with fans.

I needed to chat with some fans too. There are so many people I know at NEARFest, sometimes it feels like all I can do is say hi to a few people, not really build a relationship with them. Over the course of the weekend, we got to spend time with Linda, Jeff, Peter and his brother Dan, Mark from one of my Yeslists, Chris, Tina, and Krista.

We'd seen IZZ a couple of times, Roy more than me. IZZ played ProgDay on our wedding day, so they always remind me of that happy day. I like them well enough. They have two female backing vocalists who add a lot to their sound - I'd like to see them as co-leads and used more often. It gives more color to their sound. They're a traditional song based band.

During one of the breaks, we talked to Roger Dean. He had a bunch of new posters he was selling. Roy asked him to sign the live Asia CD we bought the night before. Roger confirmed that he did some additional artwork for the cover, but they made it the wrong color. He lamented about how hard it used to be to do a layout, and now "people who make coffee" can change his artwork. Roger also complemented Roy on his tshirt - the Big Electric Bear from the 2002 Bears tour. He thought it was a dog, and when I said it was a bear, he said "Even better!" He's always a good person to talk to, very polite, but very honest about what he sees.

I also talked with Annie Haslam, the former lead singer of Renaissance. I love that band and got to know Annie a bit because she lived near me and did local shows a couple times a year. She's also the friend of a friend of mine. I talked to her more like an old friend than a fan to a rock star. She hadn't seen our mutual friend in a few months, so I didn't get any news on him. I also told her how much I enjoyed all those concerts in the '90s. There was always some concert to look forward to when I lived in Philly, and hers were always great.

The next band was Nebelnest. I saw them years ago at ProgDay 99, and I didn't get into them. Same here. They're not bad, but all their pieces sound so similar, they don't keep my attention. Roy looked tired, so I
suggested we skip the rest of the set and get lunch. Roy got a chance to talk to Annie Haslam, and we both talked to Krista for a little bit.

We sat down with Peter and Dan for lunch. We had some time before Magenta was going on stage. I was thinking how nice it was to sit outside and have time to catch up with people. Damn it, I forgot about Bob Drake's set. We left quickly and made it back into the theater. Drake's spot was a "solo spotlight" that ran about a half hour. We were able to catch the last 20 minutes.

Bob Drake is a singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer. He's played with 5uu's and done some solo work that I like. His music and performance had a sense of humor. It kept me interested and entertained through unfamiliar material. His drummer was Dave Kerman, who has played at a few prog festivals. Instead of going offstage for songs without drums, he was wearing a robe and showercap, and brought out a pillow to nap when he wasn't needed. More twisted pop than "prog", but I enjoyed his set a lot.

The next band was the one that made me think "I need to go to NEARFest to see them". Magenta. I think they've played at Baja Prog and ROSfest previously and got great reviews about their live performance. We have their first two albums, and they sound great. They're another song-based symphonic band, with strong female vocals. The performance left me, I don't know, underwhelmed. Roy described it as their rhythm section getting into this groove that was hypnotic. Too much of the same sound, too little dynamics. I felt like I was watching it on TV rather than attending a live performance. Everyone else seemed to like it, so what do I know?

After Magenta, we left quickly and drove to Sellersville for the highlight of the day and the performance I was most looking forward to all weekend, the Adrian Belew Power Trio.