LoreleiProgFestival2013-7

THE LORELEI PROG FESTIVAL,

ST GOARSHAUSEN,

GERMANY,

JULY 2013

[7]

Feature links:

THE LORELEI PROG ROCK FESTIVAL, ST. GOARSHAUSEN, GERMANY - 2013 - [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

My brief comments (for what it's worth) - SATURDAY:

STEVE WILSON & BAND - [The prime reason for booking for the 2013 Night of the Prog event after an absence of some years was almost solely down to the fact that Steve Wilson and his band had been signed up to headline this unique festival Saturday night. The performance was certain to showcase his 3rd solo album "The Raven that Refused to Sing" which I had recently acquired. Some of the more melancholy material was still true to Steve Wilson's traditional mold of song-writing but it was the mouth-watering prospect of being able to hear live performances of the faster tracks on the album e.g. The Holy Drinker, a jazz-rock tour de force, particularly with the musicians assembled. The record features performances from Wilson’s touring band Guthrie Govan (lead guitar), Nick Beggs (bass guitar), Marco Minnemann (drums), Adam Holzman (keyboards), and Theo Travis (saxophone / flute), though for the Lorelei event, Marco Minnemann was replaced by drummer Chad Wackerman, who has played with the likes of Allan Holdsworth. Though Steve Wilson has in the past has perhaps shown an aversion to his music being labelled as such, one cannot deny that his latest offering is undoubtedly sprinkled with elements and borrowed sounds of the musical genre of progressive rock in the traditional sense, most notably the use of the Chris Squire-like Rickenbacker sound of Nick Begg's bass guitar and in particular, the extensive use of the mellotron sound, so much a hallmark of that era in the 70's. The prog influences are there: Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Keith Emerson. On the country music side, the harmonizing on The Watchmaker is distinctly reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

The audience were treated to material from earlier solo albums including a lengthy 20-minute piece in true prog tradition. Steve Wilson's attention to detail in a musical as well as visual context is quite astounding. The sound was superb and I was thoroughly engrossed. Generally more relaxed and in better spirits than I have seen him at Porcupine Tree gigs I have attended, he seemed, by his own admission, genuinely pleased to be playing at this event at long last, having shown an affinity to some of Germany's more progressive musical traditions, Klaus Schulze being just one example. In my opinion, Steve Wilson has emerged as the rock musical genius of our time. The fact that he is as successful as he is, having steadily built up and earned an enormous reputation in recent years, is a credit to his creative and musical ability, in this era where degenerate so-called 'stars' are manufactured through the likes of X-Factor, as a product of a current-day obsession with celebrity culture. If he had been around in the early 70's in the heyday of Prog, Steve Wilson would have seen his status rise to that of Prog God and would have undoubtedly become as big as Pink Floyd.

Current Steve Wilson Band line-up: Steven Wilson - Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Theo Travis - Saxophones, flutes, clarinet, keyboards
Adam Holzman - Keyboards
Guthrie Govan - Guitar
Nick Beggs - Bass & The Stick
Marco Minneman - Drums (Europe)
Chad Wackerman - Drums (USA/ S America)]