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Me and my 15-year-old son will also be at King's Place on 15 August. Tickets booked as soon as they went on sale!
There's not that many bands I'd be determined not to miss, but BBT are one of the very select few.

Hi RacingHippo! Yes, I'll be at Maltby this Saturday - and this time I'm bringing my son with me!
Looking forward to seeing you again!
By the way, I didn't see any Frosties say so already, but the new Moon Safari album Himlabacken Vol. 1 is gorgeous, clever and damn catchy.

I like the new album a lot - my favourite since 'Marbles', as the two in between didn't do as much for me as Marillion usually has done during my adult life. I particularly love the title-track and "The Sky Above the Rain" (heartbreakingly beautiful and tragic lyrics), and "Gaza" is just about worth all the positive hype - certainly an interesting narrative piece that shows Marillion doing new and interesting things in order to serve the storyline.

Missed the tour as I was in Edinburgh the night they were in Manchester, and then I was in Manchester the night they were in Edinburgh, etc.

Wow, what a wonderful band and a genuinely uplifting gig. Many thanks to Racing Hippo (and also Pygmy Hippo) for the lift; I enjoyed the exploration of Donald Fagen's solo albums on the long journey home - and apologies for my tired prattling the closer we got to home. How I managed to get up for work this morning I'll never quite know, although listening to the new 'Lover's End, part 3' EP on the way to Manchester probably helped...

Anyway, Moon Safari were well worth the time and trouble - certainly right up there as one of my very favourite bands nowadays, along with Frost* of course! Such joyful, soulful and playful music-making - and those intricate vocal harmonies came across wonderfully.

Kudos to The Solstice nightclub in Peterborough as well - a surprisingly roomy and comfortable venue. Support Prog covers band were decent too - played "Roundabout" with more guts than I've heard from Yes in quite a long time. I think they're hoping to establish a sort of Prog Rock haven in Peterborough, and want to invite more bands to headline, etc. I hope they make a go of it.

Moon Safari's new EP 'Lover's End (Part III)' is now streaming for just one week at Progstreaming:
http://www.progstreaming.com/_wb/pages/ ... lbum=00173 - Moon Safari - Lover`s End Pt. III (Skelleftea Serenade)

Themes from their last 'Lover's End' album make appearances in this epic track, so knowledge of them probably helps to increase the sentimental pull of the episodes. Apparently they're only selling the EP during their present tour.

Racing Hippo - thanks! Sounds great. I'll PM you.

Mike - I'm in Linthwaite, nr Huddersfield - so your guess was pretty close!

I was amused to spy on my eldest's iPod the other day (he's 18). Admittedly I had positive signs when his first CD purchases as a little nipper were Deep Purple's Greatest Hits and Peter Gabiel's 'So', but my heart was warmed to see his iPod stuffed with choice cuts by Marillion, Kino, It Bites, Yes, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Muse, Stevie Wonder, Dream Theater, Opeth and, of course, Frost*.

I might have a bigger battle on with my youngest daughter (who's 9), but she seems to have a thing for Moon Safari and this morning asked me to put Neal Morse on in the car. So there's definitely hope.

Worryingly skint at the moment so didn't pre-order, and am now kicking myself. Can't wait to get hold of this asap...

Just discovered Moon Safari a couple of months ago; my new favourite band (well, along with all the others, anyway).
Very tempted to also make the trek down to Peterborough from West Yorkshire - if only to be sure I'll get a copy of the new EP 'Lover's End Pt. 3'

David

At the moment, I'd say in alphabetical order:

Camel
Frost
Genesis / Steve Hackett (Genesis until 1977, thereafter generally Hackett)
It Bites / Kino
Marillion (but only really post-Fish these days to be honest)
Moon Safari
Pink Floyd / David Gilmour
Spock's Beard / Neal Morse
Transatlantic
Yes (though partly out of loyalty and they're in danger of dropping off the list)

Hard to exclude a mix of older and newer bands, such as ELP, Caravan, Dream Theater, Focus, Gentle Giant, IQ, Kansas, Panic Room, UK, The Reasoning, Rush, DeeExpus, Big Big Train, PFM, King Crimson, Flying Colors, Mostly Autumn, Jethro Tull, Alan Parsons, etc. I'd find it hard to exclude Queen and The Beatles, though some will turn blue before they accept them as "real" prog. I don't do Top 10s.

David

Jem - Who would win in a race to roll a giant cheese down a hill – Adrian Belew or Alex Lifeson?

Simon - Obviously the smart money would be on Mr Lifeson as he's had a few more years in the business with which to perfect his rolling skills (rumour has it that he swears at his cheese for up to an hour before the event begins to get it good and ready). By contrast, Mr Belew's form never really recovered from the infamous 'three cheese' collision between himself, Kate Bush and Meat Loaf back in 2002
 
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Now that's what I call top-notch prog interviewing!

David

One of these years the CRS stalwarts will realise that there's plenty of bands and albums out there that make Pendragon look very ordinary.

No offence to anyone who likes them (I sort of do - I've got a soft spot for a couple of their old albums), but, really...

Likewise, a few of the other results have more than a whiff of tradition to them.

Still, as a jurist for a couple of annual music awards, I know that you can never please everyone or anyone, and you most usually please noone!  :lol:

David

I would be glad to preview it for the Yorkshire audience.
 :mrgreen:

So would I! Maybe I can settle for the West Kirklees audience?

The various threads about this at Progressive Ears contain a lot of silly speculation and bile, but amongst it all there are some links to official press releases. It now seems Benoit David quit, and that it's permanent, and that Jon Davison is a hastily found replacement - but most who've heard his recent work with Glass Hammer are looking at this as quite a positive improvement on things. In the meantime, it's also been demonstrated that Jon Anderson was not invited back (despite rumours that he had), and would've said no had he been asked; Chris Squire and Jon Anderson are saying contradictory things about their relationship.

Personally, I think the rot set in when Bill Bruford left. Then when Patrick Moraz left. Then when Trevor Rabin left.

David

[/quote]
Maybe a naked man in a field playing the lute would suit you better?[/quote]

Depending on the man, it might have to be an archlute...

But a Frost* album imbued with the melancholy of John Dowland would be a genuinely surprising progression  :lol:

Hmm, now I think about it - prog rock inspired by Dowland's Lachrimae might not be all that bad...

David