It's Saturday, and the final night of ProgPower for 2007. This time, we made it to the venue on time, largely because Jodi didn't want to miss Firewind. Fire wind took the stage around 4 PM with vocalist Henning Basse filling in for Apollo. Henning proved to be an even better fit for the band, at least on the live set. Gus G was good, as usual, but it was the other guitarist that stole the show by playing solos on the guitar and keyboards at the same time. Even a former Firewind vocalist made an appearance during the set. At some point towards the end, I left to get a spot in line for the After Forever signing session. If Firewind was a sign of things to come for the evening, then it was going to a great evening.
Next to hit the stage was Threshold. I missed much of their set, but managed to catch enough to at least be intrigued by them. Fast forward to Primal Fear, who was one of the more anticipated bands on the bill. They were in promotion of their new album, which unless you were at ProgPower this year or have access to the European distribution stores, you will have to wait for it in the U.S. until January. They did play four songs off the new album and they sounded good, but the highlight of the evening was the closer, Metal is Forever. There is a line that best sums up the whole experience: Metal is forever; nations come together. How true.
The last band to hit the stage before the All-Star Jam was After Forever, who was making their first foray onto North American soil. For me, this was the show stealer of the evening outside of the All-Star Jam, as vocalist Floor Janssen showed a great deal of energy. They were promoting their new self-titled album and even played a few songs off of the album. Included in the set list was the Metallica cover of For Whom the Bell Tolls(sorry, Floor wasn't singing on this one) and a snippet of Enter Sandman. I was actually at the railing in front this time, so I got to see everything, including powerful ballads.
The All-Star Jam was the last thing to go on and much of the supporting band was provided by Pagan's Mind. Vocalists for the session included Floor from After Forever, Ralf and Mat from Primal Fear, Nik from Redemption, Zak Stevens from Circle II Circle, Nils from Pagan's Mind, the Freak Kitchen guys, Lance King from Krucible, Bill, Chris, and Mike from Cellador, one of the Threshold guys, Gus G and Henning from Firewind, one of the Raintime guys, and the lead vocalist from Communic. This was clearly the highlight of the evening and didn't end until around 2: 30 AM. Afterwards, we got to hang with the guys in Communic and Ralf from Primal Fear. I even got to say hello to some of the guys in After Forever. As with all good things, they had to come to an end and that also meant no sleep for me until I got home, as I had to go back to the hotel at 4 AM and pack.
Other notes: That weekend marked the first time that I was on an airplane. They always say waiting is the hardest part, but the second hardest part is not being able to do much on the plane. Since then, I've always tried to make it a point to be able to leave a little later than 7 AM for the airport, if possible. That way, I can actually get sleep if I happen to be out the evening before.
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