On 22nd & 23rd May IQ was due to play two shows, Uden in the Netherlands and Nancy in France. Of course these have now been canceled as a result of the recent COVID-19 lockdown measures, so the band thought it would be a good idea to stream a live concert from their recent ‘Resistance’ tour.
Mike Holmes: “I know it was beyond our control, but we’ve never had to cancel a gig before and it didn’t really sit well with us, especially as we knew so many people had made travel and accommodation plans for the shows.
I’ve seen quite a few artists doing various lockdown videos from their homes which is a great idea, but it’s not really going to work with the IQ setup. As luck would have it we recently played two gigs in Germany and the first one at Aschaffenburg was filmed and recorded for our own archives. The video footage wasn’t quite what we hoped it would be so we had no real plans to do anything with the files, but with this whole lockdown thing in place for the foreseeable future, we figured we’d try to do something to show in place of the two concerts in May.
The setlist for the Aschaffenburg show was pretty much the same that we would be playing in Uden and Nancy and as it’s the entire two and a quarter-hour concert it seems kind of appropriate for the moment.”
The live stream will take place on Friday 22nd May at 20:00 GMT (link will appear on the IQ website https://www.iq-hq.co.uk/index.php/253-streaming-event ) and will be available for the following week to make sure that everyone has the chance to see the show. There’ll also be a live chat with members of the band during the initial stream.
The first edition of the Indian Summer Festival will take place in Poznań at the end of summer, on September 26 to 27. Hosted by Independent Music Market and Agencja Oskar, this is a special event designed with progressive rock fans in mind.
Legends and rising stars of the genre will perform on the stage of the historic Zamek Cultural Center. There has never been such an event in Greater Poland before! Indian summer, or gossip in Polish, has a chance to become a new tradition.
The event is two magical evenings at the Zamek Culture Center in Poznań, which will surely fall in the hearts of progressive rock fans for a long time. The cast of the Festival is a mix of rock legends and stars and prog rock, a wide range of styles, and finally, a great opportunity to fulfill your musical dreams and see your favorite, often truly legendary performers on stage!
The festival will take place on September 26-27, 2020, in the beautiful setting of the nineteenth-century Imperial Castle in Poznań. A total of nine bands will appear on stage. The composition promises to be really impressive!
Saturday, September 26, 2020:
More about the festival and artists, tickets, among other things, on their website: (HERE)
The Night of the Prog festival is showcased at The Loreley Amphitheater is a UNESCO World Heritage and holds legendary ROCKPALAST shows in the 70s and 80s. On the hill of the River Rhine, it is located between Frankfurt and Cologne in Germany. Since 2006 the Night of the Prog Festival is happening at the legendary rock.
Featured bands and artists over the last years were: Dream Theater, Eloy, IQ, Riverside, Jethro Tull, Asia, Anathema, Steven Wilson, Spock’s Beard, Arena, Pendragon, Tangerine Dream, Fish, Steve Hackett, Marillion and many more.
VOYAGER IV will perform Sunday, 19th July at Night of the Prog 2020 promoting their current release Pictures at an Exhibition
The classic piano-cycle “Pictures At An Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky from 1874 was only the start of an exciting musical journey. VOYAGER IV then just stop along the way at 70ies supergroup ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), who reworked three of Mussorgsky’s “pictures” for their album “Pictures At An Exhibition” back in 1971.
Arriving in the 21st century, those three and further five of the “pictures” can be found on VOYAGER IV’s most recent album and live shows, reworked with vocals and virtuous instrumentation. London based producer Jon Caffrey is responsible for the fresh sound design.
They have a stunning light show, special and rarely seen instruments and they create a mix of cosmic space rock sounds and vocal arrangements plus instrumental passages. VOYAGER IV is one of the most exciting cross-over projects within the prog genre. Singer and songwriter Johannes Kuchta also has a stunning voice, that reminds fans of Peter Gabriel, Greg Lake, Phil Collins or Fish.
“Really enjoyed the new album! Some very bold and adventurous avenues taken with Modest Mussorgsky. I always enjoy listening to someone’s interpretations of otherwise well-known themes. I like that fact that you incorporated those ideas in your own way and varied them enough to make it your own. Well done!”
Marc Bonilla (recorded 4 albums with Keith Emerson)
Other shows include Voyager IV – Pictures At An Exhibition Tour
Friday, February 21, 2020, at 8 PM
Kesselhaus & Maschinenhaus (Kulturbrauerei) Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin, Germany
Voyager IV – Pictures At An Exhibition Tour
Friday, April 17, 2020, at 8 PM
Unna Lindenbrauerei 59174 Kamen
Like the last album, The Road of Bones, there will be two discs: one with the official album and one with even more cracking new songs, two of them of + 20 mins length.
“This has been an interesting album to work on – years of talking about it and putting down all the different ideas in demo form, and then a frantic period of trying to finish it for the scheduled release date.
It would have been quite easy to put out ‘The Road of Bones Part 2’ but it felt a bit different this time and we just let the music dictate to us the kind of album it should be.
Again we had so much stuff kicking around when we were putting the running order together that we decided to do a second disc with the tunes that didn’t quite gel with the atmosphere of disc one. We did this before with The Road Of Bones and it proved to be really popular. We’re now coming round to thinking that the material on disc two is so strong that we should maybe make it an official double album. I have to say its quite liberating writing for an extended-release – the extra time allows you to give the music room to breathe and evolve which feels more organic, at least in my head it does. As a result, there are two 20 minute tracks on the second disc”. Michael Holmes
DISC ONE
A Missile Stay Down Rise Shallow Bay If Anything For Another Lifetime
DISC TWO
The Great Spirit Way Fire And Security Perfect Space Fallout
Resistance, The brand new album from IQ will be released on September 7th 2019
Pre-orders will start soon. Further details nearer the time on Facebook and at http://www.iq-hq.co.uk
The release gig will take place on 7th September at Islington Assembly Hall, London. See the band on tour throughout the year with new shows to be added in 2020
I have loved Art-Rock and what many now call Prog or Progressive Rock since the late ’60s. I can still recall the day and place I discovered my first Art-rock band it was the summer of 69 I was listening to a pocket-sized AM radio while visiting relatives when I heard a song called White Bird by San Fransico based band “Its a Beautiful Day”.
Soon I would discover many other Art, Prog or Psychedelic bands such as Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Traffic, Procol Harum and Jethro Tull, by the ’70s it was Electric Light Orchestra, Barclay James Harvest, Supertramp, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and in the 80s I was into all styles of music from The Art of Noise,Alan Parsons Project, Tears For Fears, Kansas, Marillion, IQ, It Bites and the story continues today. Yes, I was a fan of the staple bands: Yes, Rush, Genesis, however, I seemed to have gravitated to and built a strong love for all things Melodic.
Which leads me to Pattern-Seeking Animals a fantastic new US melodic Art-rock band formed in 2018 by John Boegehold songwriter and guest musician on many Spock’s Beard albums. Starting with Feel Euphoria (2003) and including Octane (2005) Spock’s Beard (2006) and finally X (2010). Spock’s Beard not only is one of the most important US prog bands, but also one of my favorites. Pattern-Seeking Animals is rounded out by Ted Leonard, Jimmy Keegan & Dave Meros all of whom have been involved with Spock’s Beard or still are.
Boegehold comments: “My goal was to produce music that’s progressive and intricate while keeping things immediate and melodic. Whether a song is four minutes or ten minutes long, I didn’t want more than a few bars go by without some kind of instrumental or vocal hook.”
So what’s in a name? According to my wife and a google search “Humans are pattern-seeking animals and we are adept at finding patterns whether they exist or not” I have to say this seems to fit the debut very well indeed.
I will not give you a play by play of each track, but I can tell you there are no fillers on this album, the album is filled with brilliant fretwork and tasty hooks, stunning Vocals & Harmonies that remind me of the heyday of Styx, ELO as well as Flying Colors, and Spock’s Beard, the album is chalk full of memorable lyrics that you will want to sing along with: and if that’s not enough the album is rounded out by lush and majestic keyboards and a top-notch rhythm section.
As I said before, there are no fillers on this album but there a few tracks that really sealed the deal for me like; Orphans Of The Universe, These Are My Things, No One Ever Died And Made Me King, or We Write Ghost Stories
1 – No Burden Left to Carry (9:38) 2 – The Same Mistakes Again (5:10) 3 – Orphans of the Universe (10:28) 4 – No One Ever Died and Made Me King (3:54) 5 – Fall Away (4:47) 6 – These Are My Things (4:52) 7 – We Write the Ghost Stories (3:22) 8 – No Land’s Man (5:35) 9 – Stars Along the Way (10:20)
Line-up: John Boegehold (synths, keyboards) Ted Leonard (vocals & guitar) Dave Meros (bass) Jimmy Keegan (drums & vocals)
I listen to a lot of music nowadays so its sensory overload, that said… it’s refreshing when something comes across the desk that makes me go OMG what is this? P-SA is a must-have for any respectable music collection. ★★★★★ Un-qualified-Kritic
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