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Ah well, thanks. Haven't been here for a long long time. I did a mention of a Pedro in the thank you's on the Kompendium album and immediately thought "Hmm, Frost forum regular?".

Like the new logo a lot although it has a decidedly computergame / Xbox / PS3 vibe to it. It is something that I somehow associated with those "Colinwhatshisname" rally driver games

Any place where I can listen to this song without using the Advent calendar which doesn't seem to work anymore?

Thanks, Pedro.... nice way of getting me back to the forum which I haven't visited in ages.

From the first public service announcement on Progressive Ears where the short version of one of the songs was posted I have been all over District 97. Excellent album and some stunning musicianship. Leslie's vocals however are the factor that drew me in from the start and hopefully she will be with them for a long long time.

The long piece on the album, Mindscan, is a firm favourite. It is not an epic like Milliontown but it is almost like the audio equivalent of an X-files episode and when you approach like that it really does work.

Again, this one comes highly recommended.

Nope. Always a tough thing to start the second day.

Maybe from the perspective of probably not having a big crowd in front of you but from the viewpoint of logistics you can't have a better spot. At least, if the headlining act doesn't screw up their allotted soundcheck time in the morning you have plenty of time to set up and get a very good sound. I thought Moongarden did really well last year although I found their brand of prog a bit too heavyhanded for that spot. What you certainly don't want on that spot is a band that either kicks in very agressively or provides a lacklustre performance. Moon Safari however with their sunshine-prog will be excellent I think. Their reputation of being able to really nail all of those vocal harmonies is preceding them and I am looking forward to seeing them but .... Have been to a few NEARfest's in the US and the Sunday Morning spot (opening of day 2) has the reputation of yielding some really good surprises.
 
However, I am having really serious doubts wether I should go to this years NOTP. There are just 2 bands that I really want to see: Moon Safari and Eloy. Threshold, Riverside, Martigan and Anathema leave me pretty much cold. Haken could be interesting and IQ are always great to see and they are a nice added bonus to that weekend. But I will see them later in the year @ their Anniversary Celebration Weekend in Holland. I have seen RPWL live a few times but all of their albums since the brilliant World Through My Eyes have left me underwhelmed.

The only other option to see Eloy is to go the Burg Herzberg festival which I have never been to and has the reputation of being a sort off nu-hippy festival. But that is also like a 3 / 4 day festival with probably a lot of bands that I have never heard off... a complete line-up of that festival sure isn't up on their website yet.... Ah well, it's not summer yet ... first we have the Marillion Weekend in March  

Waht about David Hasselhoff?! Word is he's performing his 80's hits again!  :shock:

Ooeh... damn just his 80s hits... and I was so curious about his 70s and 90s hits and had hoped these would get an outing finally.  :mrgreen:

For a more vocally centred approach I would heartily recommend the Swedish act Moon Safari and their stunning album Lover's End. Their vocal harmonies are absolutely stunning and by all accounts, by those who have seen them live, they also can deliver the goods in that department on stage.

//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuB48k2CVMY

90s: Echolyn - Never The Same
(in case someone doesn't know the song here it is: //http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38jcBs7Qd14, it starts out very gently but it soon picks up steam and just never lets go me. Stunning combo of music, words and arrangement.. And this was recorded and released for Sony Music  :shock:  )

Very good, need to hear more now  

Run and get the whole album called As The World, IMHO the best album made since the 80s when it comes to prog. What I like so much about it, that it is defiantly uncompromising. Based on their previous album they got signed by Sony and any 'normal' band would maybe rethink their approach a bit so that it might be a bit easier for such a company to promote them. But, Echolyn's idea was that they wanted them because of what they had done in the past so they gave them more from that same well ... and probably their best songs up to that point. Luckily, everyone @ Sony left them to their own devices and they got coupled with a producer that was highly sympathetic to their music. Alas, shortly after the album their A&R manager (the guy who signed) got sacked and Echolyn's one album contract wasn't renewed. Ah well, the band did split up for a few years after that but eventually they got together again albeit with a bit of a different (more rootsy, Americana meets prog) sound. But basically, all their albums are worth checking out.

Oooh... that is so tough and if you ask me again tomorrow that list would be so different from this one

60s: The Beatles - the Abbey Road Suite

70s: Camel - Ice

80s: IQ - Headlong

90s: Echolyn - Never The Same
(in case someone doesn't know the song here it is: //http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38jcBs7Qd14, it starts out very gently but it soon picks up steam and just never lets go me. Stunning combo of music, words and arrangement.. And this was recorded and released for Sony Music  :shock:  )

00s: Marillion - The Invisible Man

10s: The Enid - Shiva

Any of you ever been to such an event? Anyone else from here going to the 2011 NL edition?

Yep, have been to every one of the Holland editions and it is always a blast. The whole park filled with just Marillion fans. Everywhere you go you meet people who are into the same music. I had hoped that Frost* might turn up as one of the support acts or even It Bites but alas ... BTW, I have never seen a support act during those weekends that really blew me away. Except for that one night they had this phenomenal Beatles tribute band in the smaller venue .... they were awesome and the whole crowd was heavily into them. In the end we even got an encore featuring Steve Hogarth belting out Helter Skelter with them. Bloody marvellous.

But what is the most impressive part is the fact that Marillion is putting on 3 stellar sets on 3 consecutive night.. that is 3 totally different sets. And these aren't short ones either ... Last weekend they did something called the shortest setlist ever i.e. all the long pieces in the catalogue. Epic night  :lol:

I think our party is going to be the smallest we have had so far... might be six people... but we always opt to have the cottage for ourselves ....

One of the daytime activities we always take part in is the infamous Marillion Pub Quiz (regulars might remember the name of our team: Mick & The Pointer Sisters  8-)  ), which is always a lot of fun although we don't do that well.

For the rest we take a leisurely pace during daytime bringing a small dvd-player with us and crapload of music dvd's to enjoy (Marillion then being off limits). If we are lucky this year we might have fine weather but do bear in mind since it is quite close to the seaboard (the park is separated from the main sea by a big big dam, part of the massive Delta Works) it gets quite chilly in the evening so the walk back from the huge concert tent to your cottage might be a cold one if you don't prepare.

Food: is quite pricey so if you have the opportunity to bring it yourselves the cottages are well equiped so you can make your own meals. But there are also fast food options on the park and if you time it well enough there are no long lines anywhere.

On the other side of the dam is a nice big beach which we usually do go to to let our 'hangovers' blow away (usually on Sunday Morning, Saturday being the big party night).

BBC4 on Friday Night is almost every time interesting. I even liked the Mark Knopfler night last Friday. Looking forward to seeing the Peter Green & Fleetwood Mac thing although I have a sneaking suspicion that it was broadcast before.

I read quite a credible newsreport (can't find the link right now) that the albums The Dreaming up to the album before Aerial will get the reissue treatment. Apparently those albums were not exactly owned by EMI but licensed from Kate Bush's production company and as such the license has expired.

Me too, & if you listen to Appalachian Spring you'll find that Mr. Copland used a familiar piece of music, which is also now part of 'Lord of the Dance'

Could it be that that particular bit is actually an old folk melody?