The journey to attend ProgPower USA XXIII (PPUSA) began in August of 2023 in my initial conversations after meeting my friend Christina. She made a comment about a Monsters of Rock Cruise (MoRC) shirt I was wearing and how the 2024 sailing would be her first time on that cruise.
Soon, our conversation shifted to had I ever been to PPUSA? My answer was, I had never even heard of it. After more conversation and hearing how Christina had been to all twenty two previous festivals, I knew I needed to check it out. Upon further research I discovered that:
“ProgPower USA is a progressive and power metal festival held annually in the United States since 2001…The festival’s band selection process focuses on quality over quantity. In addition to the emphasis on the power and progressive metal genres, the festival has branched out into other genres with the inclusion of the “oddball” slot that does not fit the normal motif.
ProgPower USA gives bands that have never performed in the States a chance to perform in the country. The festival has been described as a cultural experience for fans with autograph signing sessions, guest appearances, reunions, and meet-and-greets. The festival has hosted over 70 bands’ USA debuts…”[1]
After meeting some of Christina’s PPUSA friends and hearing their excitement as they talked about years past and how much they were looking forward to this year’s event, I could sense the same feeling of a family community within the PPUSA community that I have experienced with the Monsters community.
When the planets aligned for me to not only attend PPUSA, but cover the event, my travel arrangements were made within the hour after said planetary alignment. This year’s event was again held in Atlanta, GA, September 4-7, 2024, at Center Stage, a mid-sized concert complex comprising three separate venues.
The 2024 lineup was stacked with bands that it would be my first exposure to, and I specifically chose to go in ‘deaf and blind’ so I can experience these bands in their live, raw sound.
Before I begin to describe the awesomeness that this festival experience was for me, I want to express thanks and gratitude to the behind the scenes staff who make this event happen, specifically the stage production staff, the sound and lighting team and the security group.
I also want to mention the great job that the venue food and beverage staff, the box office staff, fellow photographers, and the ProgPower USA staff did as a whole. There is tireless dedicated work before, during and after an event like this and there is no way it can be successful without the people who make it happen. I know the effort that goes into making this event run smoothly is considerable.
I spent a bit of time familiarizing myself with the event website where a detailed daily schedule was posted before the event and I compliment the team on keeping things running on time and smooth for the entire event.
On the site I felt the Promoter’s note (Glenn Harveston) solidifies my thought that any song played is THE song any given person there came to hear being performed live when he wrote “…you will see new bands.
You will see old friends. You will see bands that make you question my sanity. You will see bands you think suck, but others think are awesome…”[2]. I for sure saw a ton of new bands, and for that reason alone I think makes it worth stepping out of your comfort zone in life to experience new things.
Due to my work schedule I was not able to attend the first day of the event or my knowledge of new bands would be that much greater. However, at my hotel in Atlanta, in the late evening hours I did encounter many obvious first day festival attendees.
We metalheads roll deep and conversation ensued between a few of us and already new friends were made. After arriving at the venue and making my way to the seating and floor area and being totally unfamiliar with the venue, I found a slightly elevated section at the back of the floor area in front of the seats. The first band I was exposed to was Temperance and the amazing operatic vocal range of Kristin Starkey.
An Italian modern melodic power metal band, I was more fixated on the power behind amazing Kristin’s vocal delivery. While the words melodic and power metal do not seem to go together to the uninitiated, this band made it work and certainly captured my attention. The day and my festival experience was off to a fantastic start.
Earthside was up next and they were a little too atmospheric for me. I decided to check out the rest of the venue after getting a few photos of the band performing.
Each band is given a minimum of an hour to play, with progressively longer sets as the day goes along, so I knew I could pop back in and I did at the end of their set as I always appreciate seeing the fan reaction and Earthside was shown a lot of fan love at the conclusion of their set.
There were TV feed in multiple places in the venue’s lobby so one was never far from the action. Of the three venues inside the one building, the vendor room was set up in the smaller of the two in the main section. This was also where the autograph sessions would take place throughout the weekend.
After the Earthside set concluded, I went into the main performance area to get a good look at it in the light. With an open floor area surrounded by elevated stadium style seating with a capacity just over one thousand, it truly was an intimate setting where literally any and every seat in the house has a great sightline views.
As I was waiting for this set to begin, I noticed more and more people on the floor brandishing blow up swords I sensed there would be a lot of raised swords in the air from my vantage point and I elected to find a seat a couple of rows up and on the stage right side.
Twilight Force took the stage and here is where I first questioned Glenn’s sanity. I saw band members dressed like Robin Hood characters and could not snap enough photos.
It took me a few minutes to realize it was Kristin Starkey on stage again and just delivering vocal power unlike anything I have ever heard before, well, at least before today. I had never heard of the term ‘adventure metal’ but there it was when I looked the band up after their set:
“The group describes themselves as “adventure metal,” in part due to the use of costumes, props, and demeanor onstage. The band has cited early role-playing games like Heroes of Might & Magic and table-top role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons as inspiration for their appearance.”[3]
I felt like their set was an adventure – like I was fighting the dragons in my life and having an army of metal brethren by my side. It was the most visually stimulating set that I witnessed this weekend and after their set, Glenn’s sanity was no longer in question.
Next up was Leprous, a Norwegian progressive metal quintet that surrounded themselves on stage with a mass of piped in smoke/fog, which made it difficult to get decent photos. After the fact, once I was home and had a chance to go through my photos I realized while difficult at the moment of clicking the photo, the smoke/fog actually gave the photos a really neat visual effect.
The technicality of this band’s music is completely off the charts, as some of their earlier catalog makes use of an eight stringed guitar, which allows for a wider tonal range and non-standard tuning. I made a mental note that I needed to dig deeper into this band’s discography.
Swedish melodic death metallers Dark Tranquility closed out as the headliner for my first day in the PPUSA realm and the second day of the festival. I had heard of this band before but had not knowingly heard any of their music.
After the fact, I discovered Dark Tranquility are considered one of the pioneering bands in the melodic death metal genre and after my experience I can describe their musical sound as balance of aggressive ferocity and melodic emotion. Their set was my first instance of seeing a mosh pit break out on the floor.
They had the entire crowd captivated and I was mesmerized by the tonal harmonic melodies created by the twin lead guitars that just seemed to fit well with vocalist’s Mikael Stanne use of genre expected harsh, growled vocals. It certainly made for a wide musical range for the various bands that performed this day.
At the conclusion of this day’s events I elected not to attend the after show party in The Loft upstairs. I used the walk back to the hotel to reflect on what I had witnessed this day. The new bands I had been exposed to, and the depth of the love fans have for this event and each other.
At festivals, I love to people watch and see the moment when a fan is overcome with emotion at a certain part of a song and this happened numerous times today. It is those memories that help me appreciate the planets aligning for me to attend this year and to call it a successful first day for me at this year’s ProgPower USA 2024 event.
For more photos of the day’s festivities, go here.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProgPower_USA
[2] https://progpowerusa.com/media/PPUSA-XXIII-Mini-Program.pdf
