Off-Topic Forum

I started out listening to top 40 way back when til i got to high school and found what is now classic rock & progressive rock. Its hard to pick a top 5-10 fav bands but my #1 is Pink Floyd, followed closely by a group i found on Pandora, Ozric Tentacles a mostly instrumental band and The Alan Parsons Project. Ive seen at least 50 concerts the last being Santana for free thanks to the radio station. Seen Floyd once when they did 3 days up in Toronto, the music was GREAT but the vocals sucked, seen Uriah Heep 4-5x, Doobie Bros. 4-5x, Allman Bros. 2x, once when Greg was still going with Cher, Alice Cooper & ZZ Top on new years '76 i think with my late brother. I LOVE female singers and found Roisin Murphy on Pandora, shes an Irish gal raised in Britain. Seen the Tubes once & they have an almost x-rated stage show, seen the band Rennaissance at the same place b4 they tore it down for a burger king, The New Century Theatre. Also saw Fritz The Cat there for the 1st time.

I also read Heavy Metal, the adult illustrated magazine.

This is not a typo:

I live prog rock. I love it too, but I live it.

My username is based off of King Crimson (my absolute favorite). I am also a huge fan of Spock's Beard (new album out tomorrow), Van Der Graaf Generator (& Peter Hammill), Marillion, Porcupine Tree, as well as many of the old standards (Yes, ELP, Genesis, Asia, Roxy Music, Queen, Kansas, & Rush). I've had the pleasure to meet some of these fine musicians. My wife and I met by going to a concert together (Adrian Belew). I could go on. I've owned this card for a long, long time! This one and this one, too - but not quite as long!

Yup, prog-head here, too. Led Zeppelin got me into Rush which led me to Genesis and eventualy Spock's Beard and so on and so on. 

Aside from the current and latter-day staples you guys already mentioned, I also enjoy these bands: IQ, Flower Kings, Gentle Giant, IZZ, Enchant, Little Atlas and Echolyn to name a few.   Even into some prog metal such as Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Symphony X, Shadow Gallery, etc. 

Echolyn's 49-minute masterpiece "Mei" is my favorite all-time prog album, followed closely by Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood."  Both are beautiful for different reasons. 

Bands or performers I like that I have seen live, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull (twice), Robin Trower (twice), Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Satriani, Kansas, B.B.King (3 times), Pat Travers, Billy Cox and his Band Of Gypsys, Gary Hoey and Bootsy Collins. The Bootsy Collins was one of the best ever. House Of Blues in Boston. It cost $25.00 on the floor. Not crowded. VERY HEAVY. We were vibrating. It was that heavy!! Not loud. Just heavy. If you know what I mean.

I've lost count on the number of times I've seen King Crimson. It's like 7 or 8. Maybe more. And that's all been since 1995. I've also seen Spock's Beard 3 times (once as an opener for Dream Theater), Dream Theater about 5 times, Porcupine Tree 4 or 5 times, Marillion 6 or 7 times, Asia 2 or 3 times, Rush 4 or 5 times, Yes 4 or 5, Queen (with Paul Rodgers) twice, Kansas twice, and the rest once each: ELP, Roger Waters, Moody Blues, Steely Dan, Van Der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill (solo), King's X, Living Colour, Joe Satriani, a handful of other bands, and several decidedly non-prog acts.

I didn't mention John Wetton solo shows because that needs a special mention. Saw him several times, and had the unique chance to sit with him, one on one, and talk about music for well over an hour. He was a very special person, who meant a lot more to me than just his awesome music. It still saddens me more than year since his passing. A lot of unique experiences because of him.

ALLLL great bands, Joe Satriani .... Jeff Beck, FC Kahuna, Liquid Tension Experiment, Strawbs seen them, Particle, Jordan Rudess, King Crimson is 1 of my stations, Yonderboi, Heldon, Shawn Lane, Purity Ring, The Neon Judgement, Thomas Dolby, theres sooooo many. If you like a bit o jazz, check out Joyce Cooling, a guitarist/singer from San Fran area

ROCK ON !!!

Oooooh. Shawn lane - Powers of Ten. Phenomenal album, phenomenal guitarist.... too bad he's gone. Like Vroomed, my username is also band inspired by my all-time fave Rush. I was lucky enough to see them many times over the years along with many other great bands. In college I was part of the student entertainment board that brought bands to University of Illinois. We had some true classics come through while I was there in the late 70's. Including prog acts like Yes, Genesis, UK, and Pat Metheny. I also had the opportunity to meet John Wetton (with UK at the time) and others. I've been backstage for Santana (jammimg with someone I didn't recognize at the time) with Headeast, UFO with UK, Eric Johnson with Adrian Belew (interesting guy) and Harry Chapin. It's too bad concerts are as expensive as they are now. My kids won't have the chance to see shows like I did. Of course with the state of today's music, that might not be such a big deal. 

Wolfmother is probably my favorite progish band. My favorite shows have been Jack White, Gary Clark Jr, Turnpike Troubadours, Chris Stapleton, Ryan Bingham

I’ve lost track of all the concerts I’ve been too, but they range from prog rock to heavy metal. Highly Suspect is one of the newer bands I like, especially their first album. As we mentioned before, all the classics like Rush are among my favorites, along with Wolfmother. Favorite band is Metallica.

I'm not sure if they qualify as prog rock, but early Ambrosia is my all-time favorite band and their self-titled album. Never saw them live, though.