(RAHWAY, NJ) -- PROGSTOCK 2017, “North America’s Newest International Progressive Rock Festival,” lands on the East Coast this fall amid encouraging signs of renewed appetite for a musical movement that continues to celebrate the technical wizardry of musicians over the studio prowess of producers. ProgStock 2017, a three-day gathering of some of the world’s most masterful “prog” acts, will take place October 13-15 at the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) in Rahway, NJ.
Glass Hammer (Chattanooga, TN); Echolyn (Philadelphia); Karmakanic and The Tangent (Sweden), and Francis Dunnery (England), are among the 18 artists rejoicing together in the global passion for a brand of rock as it regains its North American popularity. Three-day tickets are $135 (Mezzanine) and $195 (Orchestra), starting August 23. Single-day tickets ($45 to $85) go on sale Friday, September 22 at 3 p.m. EST.
Supporting acts include A Kevin Gilbert Retrospective, with Nick D’Virgilio, Don Carr and Lloyd Landesman, Aisles, Rachel Flowers, Peter Jones (of Tiger Moth Tales), 3RDegree, Circuline, The Tea Club, Cell15, and Resistor. After-hours acts include EchoTest, Rani Chatoorgoon, Jason Rubenstein, and Simon Godfrey.
PROGSTOCK 2017 is capturing a diverse international fanbase that includes teachers, physicians, engineers and other professionals who share an affinity for complex rock music. The genre is also attracting a growing number of young people who, largely through internet radio, are getting introduced to progressive rock’s musicianship and complexity.
PROGSTOCK 2017’s Main Stage will feature music that most rock radio programmers consider too long and intricate to add to their playlists. Terrestrial radio has not collectively embraced a wave of new progressive rock bands since the second British Invasion in the early 1970s made legends of Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and their peers during the ensuing decade for elevating the genre to a higher commercial art form. Response to PROGSTOCK 2017 already is proving there’s more room than ever in today’s musical landscape for a resurgence in a genre of music that began migrating underground in the 1980s.
All the artists at PROGSTOCK 2017 arose in the 1990s or later, setting the stage for a new wave of acts starting to bubble up from the underground.
“Prog never went away, it just went underground,” says PROGSTOCK 2017 promoter Thomas Palmieri. “There are thousands of wonderful bands out there. Popular tastes change, but the authenticity and originality of progressive continues to flourish. The passion for this music is alive and well around the world.”
Based on a strong foundation of international appreciation and respect for music and its heritage, PROGSTOCK 2017 is an international music festival that strives to create, build and sustain a solvent and vibrant music scene.
As Palmieri sees it, the decade that has passed since the demise of the record industry created more opportunity for independent artists to be heard, opening new portals for progressive rockers to rise and flourish.
“The only thing we’re up against is the corporate machine, much of which is excessive in terms of production rather than musicianship,” he says. “If there was any time to bring prog back to the attention of the mainstream listening public, now is the time.”
