ProgPower USA XXIII | September 4-7, 2024 | Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
Festival day 4, September 7, 2024
Fully rested up after a rocking day yesterday, ProgPower USA’s XXIII (PPUSA) last day started early with an acoustic show with Jeff Scott Soto & Jason Bieler performing for VIPs and Gold badge holders upstairs in The Loft. It was my first time checking out the upstairs area of the venue and it was quite spacious, accommodating for just under seven hundred people. Seats were set up for today’s attendees and one of my local Tampa area friends, Rob, was traveling with Jason and Jeff handling their merchandise. This provided an opportunity to introduce Christina to Rob, as we never had that opportunity earlier this year on The Monsters of Rock Cruise.
Not only are Jeff and Jason’s performances packed full of comedic gold with the banter between themselves, the musicianship and the emotion in their delivery sets their performances apart and I always seek out their time slots when they play at events. This set of theirs was freaking hilarious, and a bit adult oriented with humor, among the tasty musical treats they played the two Siagon Kick songs that always bring a tear to this metalhead’s eye – ‘All I Want’ and ‘Love is on the Way’. They also played a surprise version of Iron Maiden’s ‘The Number of the Beast’ and left the stage to a rousing, standing ovation from the crowd. Definitely, a highlight set for me from the weekend and it was great to say hi to Rob.
On my way back to the venue after lunch I encountered Rob on his way back as well and I had the chance to show him around the venue as he had only seen the Loft. We had a great friendly chat with Joel, the Jedi event photographer, and got a pic of the three of us before the next band started. German progressive metal band Disillusion was the first band that I saw today and they were another band performing for the first time in the United States. Once again, the heightened level of excitement was in the air as their set started. Their music shifts between flashes of intense, crunchy heaviness and softer, more melodic sections, and their vocalist effortlessly switches between genre-defining growls and clean, melodic singing, which adds an emotional depth to their music. Yet another band that plays across several of the metal genres and again their musical technicality and complexity was on full display, balancing aggression and melodies.
As this set was concluding, Rob and I met back up and I went in and checked out the merchandise room in more detail. We met and chatted with two band members of Apetron Bound. They made a comment that they were in a band based out of Tampa and instantly new friends were made. Contact information was exchanged and sadly, Rob had to depart for the airport. Bidding my new Tampa friends in the merchandise room farewell I made my way back into the main venue arena in time for the next band.
Illumishade was next, and this is another band performing for the first time in the US. After the fact, I learned that this band originated as a class project for one of the members to complete her Master’s degree. “The band’s name is a combination of the English words illumination and shade and refers to the contrast between light and darkness that emerges in the songs, as well as the contrast between quiet and heavy songs”[1]. Their music has an epic storytelling feel, and again with the twin guitars, one being a seven string. Heavy, but not overpowering, synthesizers add to their musical structure and compliment the powerful vocals. This was the band that Christina and her friends ‘sponsored’ this year. Again, here is where the uniqueness of this festival comes to light, in that as part of a band ‘sponsorship’ the sponsors are given exclusive access to their sponsored band both before and after their set. From the photos I saw from Christina, and other sponsors I met and chatted with, it takes their festival experience to a whole different level having additional access to hang out with their favorite bands.
Damian Wilson was up next and he is an English singer-songwriter and musician who has been in the progressive metal scene since 1991. What in impressive fireball of energy this wild man was. Convinced at this point that every band had two guitarists, this man had the crowd absolutely mesmerized within the first few notes of his set. During the second song, while I was still up front in the photo pit Damian, with help from the VIPS, sponsors and photographers in the front pit area, gingerly stepped onto the barrier and fell back to crowd surf while still singing. Somehow making a surprise appearance at the back of the venue he made his way down and literally parted the crowd before making his way back on stage. Posts and comments in the online Facebook group for this event, people were still talking about this set in particular for days after everyone had made their way home from Atlanta.
Winger was up next and this was to be a special one-off show where the band would be performing their third studio release, ‘Pull’, in its entirety. This would be my tenth time seeing Winger and their set was my musical highlight of the festival. Kip Winger introduced his brother, Paul, as he would also be performing and contributing backing vocals with the rest of the band, for the ‘Pull’ portion of the show. The band sounded fantastic. Crisp and spot on from note one. It was easy to tell on some of the faces in the crowd near me, these songs were a trip down memory lane for most of us in the crowd. Kip mentioned “…This is by far the most difficult show I’ve ever had to sing. It’s been very fun to play this again, so let’s hear it for the promoter for insisting on us doing this show. We had a great time putting this together, and it’s probably the only time we are ever gonna do this…”[2]. One musical hiccup resulted in a song being restarted and Kip reminding us that this proved they were indeed playing live in front of us. Even being one of the longer sets of the day it went by too fast and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there is only one band left to play for the weekend.
One thing to note is that “…Promoter Glenn Harveston has shared the following message in the aftermath: “There has been universal praise across social media that Winger not only had the best sound this year, but perhaps in the history of the fest. Every single thing was crystal clear and pitch perfect….and zero backing tracks.
There are two reasons:
1) Their soundman is world class.
2) They took this show so seriously that they went out and rented the exact FOH board that Center Stage has and rehearsed with it for a few days prior to the fest. They soundchecked for 45 mins on Saturday morning without even going through a full song – just jumped around to certain verses and choruses of different songs: ‘Third chorus, A- minor…’ and they instantly started on that spot.
I have never seen anything like it. They were just testing various sound aspects they had worked on prior to even walking in the door. No one has ever done that at the fest and I doubt no one ever will again.”[3] It really was the definite moment of the festival for me, it was the set I was most looking forward to and delivered awesomeness in literally every aspect of their performance.
Pagan’s Mind was the headliner of the festival and it was a complete shock to find out “…Their music is influenced by Stargate, especially the theatrical film. In an interview, frontman Nils K. Rue said: “I wouldn’t say I like the TV series Stargate, because I never saw an entire episode of that. But I really like the film Stargate. Of course, I took some inspiration from that…”[4]. After the fact as I read up on this band, their longevity as a cohesive unit has lasted through the entire existence of the band beginning in 2000. Vocalist Nils is very theatrical in his delivery, almost operatic in stance. This band blends their intricate instrumental sections with both melody in the guitar and vocal lines. Certainly a fan favorite the band was shown love from the crowd from before their first note. Playing their complex arrangements flawlessly, their songs go from intense, riff-heavy sections filled with time signature changes to the melodies that result in massive, climactic moments. The band was certainly interesting and was another added to my list of must check out more in depth.
Their set concluded a festival experience where fifteen of the seventeen bands I was able to see were new to me. I very much compliment the promoters of the event, Nathan Block, Day 1 Promoter, Milton Mendonça, Day 2 Promoter, and Glenn Harveston, Owner & Days 3-4 Promoter for their well thought out and executed festival. It truly is intimate enough where you are not surrounded by tens of thousands of others and actually have a chance to meet and interact with members of the various bands. They are staying in the nearby hotels just as we fans are so there is fan interaction at every turn. While intimate, the festival is also internationally reaching and recognized, their pull evident by the strong contingent of bands making their US debut year after year.
It was a heartfelt parting of ways with new friends and the friends I had traveled here to see. Likewise to venue and festival staff who were all so friendly and welcoming. I ran into several familiar and smiling faces at the airport and it was a somber trip home and back to reality, and a ton of new music to listen to. PPUSA was certainly a fun adventure, with a ton of interesting, and highly talented and technical bands, incredibly friendly and passionate attendees and staff. It is a community of people who all have at least one common interest.
With VIP tickets already sold out for the 2025 festival, 900 general admission tickets will go on sale October 19th, 2024 at 12PM EDT. I highly encourage any fan of any of the metal genres, or even all of them, to check out this festival at least once.
For more photos of the day’s festivities, go here.
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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illumishade
[2] https://www.instagram.com/p/C_53i_pPsQR/
[3] https://bravewords.com/news/watch-winger-s-entire-progpower-usa-2024-show-crystal-clear-and-pitch-perfect-and-no-backing-tracks