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Thursday
On Wednesday at Midnight Dropshard arrived at John Lennon airport. They were bright and happy inspite of being charged excess baggage by Ryanair for all their instruments. The scale of the festival was starting to dawn on me and when Matt Stevens and David Elliot arrived together from London at teatime on Thursday, the pulse was racing. Matt, cool as a cucumber arrived at the venue soundchecked in 5 minutes and the show was ready to go. Earlier in the day Also Eden and Credo had endured the horrors of Blackpool's one-way system and in Rich Harding's case the horrors of 2 flights of stairs up to the stage. The trials and tribulations had a good natured feel to them and as the crowd flooded into the room there was a strong sense of anticipation in the air. Matt's set was a joy. Effortlesly looping in multiple layers with selections from his Echo and Ghost albums. A veritable one man band with energy in droves. The crowd warmed to him immediately and by the set's close they were shouting for more. Also Eden are a band with whom I was only slightly acquainted. I liked the music I'd heard and was looking forward to seeing them play live. Rich Harding the vocalist has seen his performances severley curtailed since an horrific motorcycle accident.
I was blown away by their set. They were tight and ultra professional. I found them a joy to work with and was impressed with their level of prowess. Again the crowd went wild and the band left the stage with encore cries in their ears. Credo made up for the brevity of sets, playing 2 hours of selections from Against Reason (their latest album) and the rest of their back catalogue.
When Mark Colton accidentally punched the low ceiling it was laughed off with a witty quip, a series of which punctuated the set and connected with the audience immediately. Encoring with Staring At The Sea, Credo brought the house down with their powerful prog anthems and everyone left the venue really happy with a taste of what was to come over the next 2 days. 
Friday Friday was the international night and a packed house welcomed Dropshard to the stage for a performance of their Anywhere But Home suite. There was a sizeable italian contingent in the crowd and to say their performance was outstanding would be something of an understatement. Virtuoso musicians and such a well rehearsed rendition of a complex piece of music. There are elements of Riverside, Genesis, Steve Hackett, Dream Theatre but creatively a truly original sound. Their ovation at the end of the set was ecstatic, warm and emotional. Definitely a band to look out for. Nerve Toy Trio had the enviable task of following and as a 3 piece I was a little worried they would be able to get a responsive audience following such a stunning set. They soon proved me wrong. An instrumental set is sometimes hard to pull off but I soon had punters slapping me on the back saying things like "Where did you find these guys, they're amazing". If you like latter day King Crimson, Brand X, Soft Machine, National Health then you can't go wrong with NTT. A band to pore over with regard to time signatures and virtuoso playing. There are enough melodic runs and hooks to warrant a return visit to their compositions and you could do a lot worse than buying a copy of their new EP The Hard Cell. I hadn't seen The Watch before. From the first magnificent chord of Watcher of The Skies the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I couldn't have wished for a more sublime way to finish off the friday night. Everything from THAT solo in Firth of Fifth to THAT keyboard run in Cinema show was perfect. Interspersed with some awsome original numbers like Damage Mode the Watch simply must be seen live. What could make the evening even better? An encore of Supper's Ready. Oh Yes this was really one show you couldn't miss. 
Saturday 6 extensive prog line-ups onto 1 small stage in 6 hours was always going to be a challenge. I still don't know how we pulled it off but we did. The cost to myself was that I missed a huge chunk of the music. I caught 2 songs from Earthling Society the opening act and their extended line-up really served up some laid back space rock. The opening slot is always difficult and ES smoothly soundchecked and brought the big day to life in some style. They obviously went down well as their merch (including double vinyl) was flying off the stall. SeYes i also missed, but from the wings I heard Close To The Edge, And You and I and The Gates of Delirium. I had many people come up to me after their set saying they wished it had been a longer show. I know the crowd loved it but personally i'll have to wait for the DVD. Godsticks were a band I really wanted to catch but again back stage trauma's meant I missed the whole set apart from about a minute of the last number. Their Spiral Vendetta album is one of my favourites and they were a real joy back stage as we sought an answer to the mystery of the missing yoghurt! Catch these guys at the Cambridge Rock festival where I'll hopefully be giving them the box of EP's they left behind. A break for tea was followed by the 2nd ever north of England show for Anglo-Canadian outfit IT. The highlight of their set for this listener was Space Cadet from the impressive Over & Out album. Andy Rowberry on guitar had the crowd cheering mid-song and the high energy set was a contrast to some of the longer prog pieces we heard over the weekend.
Along with selections from their CD/DVD Departure, IT certainly impressed and achieved the highest merch sales of the weekend. The excitement was mounting as Abel Ganz took the stage. I'd been playing their album Shooting Albatross a lot so was looking forward to their set a lot. I got called away for the first 2 numbers but saw about the last 20 minutes. They achieved a near perfect sound and Ventura and Sheepish became even bigger epics live. The pre-Tangent phase saw me jump onstage to mention a few people who had helped make the festival such a success and if I forgot anyone I sincerely apologise. I'd seen the Tangent at the Peel in London a few months earlier and although it was a great gig the set was hampered by sound balance problems. No such worries in Blackpool with a perfect balance between Andy's keys and Luke's incredible guitar. Standing at the back, I couldn't fault the sound or the performance. A lengthy set with the usual inter-song dialogue from Mr T, they got through Where Are They Now, Perdu Dans Le Paris, The Music That Died Alone with increasing audience rapture. The Tangent don't do encores but tonight they did. 2 hours after they came on stage they bid us a fond farewell and the festival was over. I'm so glad we documented the whole thing with a professional film crew because I'll now be able to watch it in the comfort of my armchair!
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