Having just returned from Prog Power IX in Atlanta, I have many thoughts I want to put to paper. However, I know that the festival review is not the right place for it would be twenty pages long. So take this editorial this week and next week will be a review strictly on the musical side of things, I promise. This is the “bonus content” of that forthcoming review.

I have been attending Prog Power USA since it’s third installment in 2002. Since then I have only missed two years, one was Prog Power VI when I was on tour with Lilitu and last year due to financial reasons. I really don’t count me missing VI as too bad because what I learned, the knowledge that I gained from that tour was so much more important to me not only as a person, but as a landmark towards my eventual job in the industry. I learned about what goes down on tour, I experienced how different personality types clash throughout, I developed bonds of friendship that run deep, I saw how various labels work and what they offer to their clientele. It took me awhile to get over missing Pink Cream 69 but I say it was worth it. Last year I didn’t have such a valid excuse other than money. Missing that year however did really show me what this festival has meant to me over the years.

I started my yearly excursions to the ATL when I lived in Midland, Texas the place where metal goes to die. Between III and IV I went to this many concerts. 0. Earlier in life my dad had taken me to some monster, influential shows like The Misfits, SOD, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Def Leppard, The Scorpions and Motley Crue. When pops moved out of the country, so did my concerts. I was too young to drive and my mom sure wasn’t taking me. Add that to the fact that I saw all these shows in San Antonio or Austin when I would go visit my dad. I never saw a show in Midland or Hodessa. What made me aware of Prog Power II when it happened was I saw that Balance Of Power was playing. I had just discovered them and saw that they were playing in the US. Oh shit, there’s Angel Dust and Steel Prophet too? Man, that’s sweet! I couldn’t make that one at sixteen and no plane fund or anything but I kept my eye on the thing. Fast forward a year and there’s an announcement about Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray. Good god, but again, how am I going to get the money? Then one day Edguy was announced. Within two weeks I was frying chicken at Popeye’s and saving my paychecks. One of the better decisions in my life, certainly not the worst.

My experience at Prog Power III shaped what my expectations of band members are now. Despite having seen shows before with dad, I never met anyone from the bands. Shows like Iron Maiden / Dio and Motley Crue / Megadeth are generally not the kind where you can go out and wait by the bus. This wasn’t the case at Prog Power. I go to find the person I was splitting a room with and I ran smack into DC Cooper at the front desk of the hotel I was staying at. While I’m talking to him the guys from Zero Hour stroll by. Interspersed between the band guys are people with bad ass concert shits, shirts that made me go and strike up conversations with them. Typically, these types of conversations would last well into the morning hours. Over the course of the weekend I met Hansi Kursch, Tobias Sammet, the Angra crew and to top it off, I bumped into Kai Hansen buying soup and smokes at four AM in the only twenty four hour gas station within walking distance of the hotels. Bam, there’s like four of my metal heroes right there and they turned out to be cool people. I never thought I would ever see them perform a show and here I am actually running into them and talking to them like a normal person in the streets. Everyone I met was so nice and gracious. For many it was their first time in the US and they thought the USA was just like Midland, devoid of metal. From that day on I expected every musician I met to be as cool as these people were. Surprisingly, I haven’t run into an asshole from a band I liked yet. I’ve seen more than a few chode band members in my lifetime but have yet to have someone that means something to me put me off.

Another aspect about Prog Power that I enjoy are the little things. This year had a really cool story to it. I was outside chilling on Friday night when former Metal Reviews member Brent aka the Annihilator master introduced me to Bill Owen and Dave Abell. Bill and Dave were in very early incarnations of Iced Earth. Bill played guitar when they were called Purgatory and Dave was the bassist through the Purgatory days and up to Burnt Offerings. They hadn’t seen Jon Schaffer in years and were really excited to meet him again. I hung out with them for a good while and they had some pretty cool stories from the early days. Bill talked about how they met Jon when he was eighteen years old. Jon said that he was going to take his band all the way, all the way to the fucking top. Bill talked about how Jon would be roofing all day and come into band rehearsal sweaty, sunburned, dirty and just ragged. They would then practice for at least two hours a night religiously. David talked about that first tour of Europe and how incredible the shows were. He also told me about the band sleeping in an ATM booth to catch a few hours of rest while people would step over them to get their money. I learned a lot about dedication and what it takes to win. As cliche as it sounds, there is no gain without loss. For true greatness you have to be willing to sacrifice everything. You'll give all you can and then be expected to give even more. There are very few people in this world that have that kind of grim determination and Schaffer was one of them. Bill and Dave were proud for their peer and friend. After the set when we were outside waiting by the bus they informed me about Jon’s recent endorsement deal with Gibson guitars. Bill said unless you’re fucking Paul Stanley, Gibson doesn’t give away free guitars. And there’s their once teenage friend, onstage with an army of brand new axes. After about twenty minutes Jon must have gotten word that his old boys were outside because he came swiftly around the corner and walked right up to the them with a huge smile on his face. “Bill! Dave! How are you, how have you been?” Jon came out so fast that the other couple dozen fans waiting didn’t even recognize him for almost a minute. I was standing there with my stack of sleeves in my hand but I knew better than to interrupt this reunion. It was cool to see that happen right in front of me. After talking some Jon told them to come to the Orlando show he’d put them on the guest list and that he wanted to talk more and catch up and they better come to the Orlando show! Bill and Dave most definitely agreed. Dave said, "Well, I thought I had a softball thing to do tomorrow." To which Bill replied, "Ha, that isn't going to happen because we've got an Iced Earth show to go to," and both guys started laughing and looked happy as hell. Jon then proceeded to talk and sign everything for everyone waiting. A little bit later Matt came out, put his stuff in the van and did the signing thing too. I noticed that he is a very humble person who commands respect. I watched as he helped load out merchandise boxes on a dolly with the crew. Brent Smedley and Freddie Vidale were cool fellows and took the time to shoot the shit with me too about Alive In Athens and San Antonio. I learned what type of work ethic a band like Iced Earth has and how much of a class act they are. And you know what was funny? Jon even remembered the Wal Mart trip that he took with my friend Adam and I in Austin four years ago.

Little details like the above Iced Earth story are what make this festival so damn special. I’ve had many learning experiences from it as well as experienced some stuff that I will treasure for a lifetime. Prog Power USA isn’t just a cool weekend in the fall every year, it is a mecca for North Americans who listen to this type of music. Even though bands that once headlined are now touring the US on a semi regular basis, there are little delicacies to relish that I don’t think come many other places.