ProgDay is happy to announce that we are currently pulling together a virtual event for this year. The idea is to present streaming performances from 4 artists a day over the Saturday and Sunday of the originally scheduled ProgDay weekend (September 5 and 6). Once the lineup and scheduling are worked out, details and instructions will be posted on the ProgDay website.
Virtual ProgDay 2020 is being greatly facilitated by Tom Palmieri and Ann Rinaldi of ProgStock (http://www.progstock.com/2020/). On Saturday, August 1, ProgStock kicked off the ProgStock Presents Virtual Series, a series of weekly shows streamed online through StageIt.com. After reading of ProgDay’s cancellation, Tom and Ann reached out to ProgDay and invited us to partner with them for our virtual event. The result is that Virtual ProgDay 2020 will be presented on Labor Day weekend as part of the ProgStock Presents Virtual Series.
Please note that ProgStock is not getting anything for this. All funds that are raised will go to ProgDay and the artists that perform.
Thank you Tom and Ann!
We are also excited to announce that ProgDay is now a tax-exempt non-profit event.
In 2017, Musical Arts Progressive Society, Inc. (MAPS), was formed. MAPS is a non-profit organization that advocates for, educates about, and promotes national and international musical artists creating progressive and innovative music. MAPS recently received its confirmation as a 501(c)(3) company. Donations to MAPS / ProgDay are now tax-deductible.
Virtual ProgDay 2020 Performances
Once it was decided that the physical ProgDay event would not happen, the decision to try to have a virtual event was born from the desire to have ProgDay continue in some form this year and to provide our regular audience with an experience that would be fun, entertaining and worth their while. So we set out to present a series of performances that would be streamed live, as they were happening. The challenge we faced in doing this was the combination of the short time frame in which to contact bands and for them to arrange a concert, as well as the really tough job of each band not only finding a viable performance space, but also having the ability for all of the band members to gather and play at the particular time they were to perform over ProgDay weekend.
Ultimately, between the various situations created by the pandemic in various countries, the technical requirements of ensured streaming and the lack of time for producing the event, it was just not possible for many of the bands to pull off a live-in-the-moment broadcast.
The result is that Virtual ProgDay 2020 will offer truly live performances combined with pre-recorded shows done especially for ProgDay. In the case of pre-recorded shows, the concert you will see will be a performance that has been played and recorded especially for the ProgDay audience and has never been seen anywhere before. The prerecorded shows represent a huge amount of effort on the part of the participating bands to get their music in front of you. During prerecorded shows, we will speak live with band members that will be present during the broadcast.
Once again ProgDay has assembled a group of bands that we think are worthy of your attention. While we know that many of you are already familiar with some of these bands, we also know that few of you will know all of the bands. To encourage our audience to check out all of the performers over the weekend, we have set ticket prices at $6 for all shows. We hope this economical price will allow everyone that is interested to experience all of the music. We also hope that those who are in a position to contribute more will show their appreciation to the artists by tipping additional money during the performances.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The start times shown for each performance are Eastern Daylight Time, the current time zone for the east coast of the US.
Stay tuned… There are three more confirmed bands to be announced.
Saturday 11am • Stop Motion Orchestra (US)
Seasoned musicians from Austin’s progressive and experimental music scenes mixing influences ranging from Henry Cow, Cardiacs, Haniwa-Chan and Picchio Dal Pozzo, to traditional music from Eastern Europe and South Asia.
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link:
Stop Motion Orchestra ticket
Saturday 1:30pm • Vespero (Russia)
Elements of Space Rock, Psychedelia, Kosmisches Musik, Symphonic Rock and ethnic influences are morphed, mutated and blended into music that varies from one album to the next, but is always singularly Vespero.
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link:
Vespero ticket
Saturday 4:00pm • VAK (France)
Zeuhl is alive and well! VAK defines the state of the art, delivering complex, dramatic, emotional, grooving and melodic compositions.
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link:
VAK ticket
Sunday 11am • Hooffoot (Sweden)
As the band says, “Santana loved Miles. Magma loved Coltrane. Soft Machine loved pop. Pink Floyd loved Soft Machine. Weather Report loved African grooves. The Italian progressive bands loved classical music. Return to Forever loved Brazilian stuff. Frank Zappa loved Black Sabbath. Hooffoot love them all. Forget about labels like rock, jazz, progressive and kraut…”
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link:
Hooffoot ticket
Sunday 1:30pm • Mad Fellaz (Italy)
A cross-genre combination of Symphonic Rock, Fusion, RPI and more, cohesively combined into music that has evolved over the years into an eclectic mix that is uniquely MAD FELLAZ.
This performance will be streamed live from a venue in Italy.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link:
Mad Fellaz ticket
