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Is there anybody out there who misses BajaProg

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charcoz View Drop Down
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    Posted: October 31 2019 at 23:28
Finding out... if someone had the chance to be at the BajaProg Festival in Mexicali-Mexico, and which was the artist or band you consider had the best performance you could see in the Festival. Or if you didn't have the chance of being there, which band you would've liked to see playing live.

Let's start From the beginnig, 3 bands in 1997: Cast, Ekus and Land's End.
I don't know anything about Ekus, just that they are from Argentina, so the band I woud've liked to see is Land's End.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 01 2019 at 07:22
Originally posted by charcoz charcoz wrote:

Finding out... if someone had the chance to be at the BajaProg Festival in Mexicali-Mexico, and which was the artist or band you consider had the best performance you could see in the Festival. Or if you didn't have the chance of being there, which band you would've liked to see playing live.
...

I have to admit that no line up in Mexico would get me to cross the border south of San Diego ... had issues with it before, and I don't trust the corruption of the border folks and the local police thing in all places all the way in the Baja, because they are just as bad ... it just has not been a nice experience for me, and, in fact, I doubt that anywhere in Latin/South America would be a nice place to visit right now ... you can go to Argentina and Brazil, but trying to get past the airport with 5 CD's you bought, many of the guards are going to lynch your wallet and the police will not give a damn because they are in it with them!

I know this sounds a bit ... over the top ... but my experiences have not been nice, and my name is Pedro ... not Peter!

What scares me more is that it is not done in America, where the ability to see/share this music is so much better, and California is actually a good place for it ... but I guess the San Diego area is probably bad, since no one goes there, right?
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rednight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 01 2019 at 13:24
^The festival is in Mexicali, not across the border from San Diego (that would be Tiajuana). As with the border crossing east of San Diego in Tecate, Mexicali is much tamer than Tiajuana. Missed Hackett at this festival several years back and have been kicking myself ever since.
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 02 2019 at 21:56
I know what you mean, when an artist tour Mexico, it goes to just one or two cities, but in other Countries the artist visits many places and offers more dates in its tour.
On the other side, fewer artists tour Mexico rather than other countries. 
So, maybe that was the reason of the importance of BajaProg Festival.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 03 2019 at 07:55
Originally posted by Rednight Rednight wrote:

^The festival is in Mexicali, not across the border from San Diego (that would be Tiajuana). As with the border crossing east of San Diego in Tecate, Mexicali is much tamer than Tiajuana. Missed Hackett at this festival several years back and have been kicking myself ever since.

I was quite aware of that ... but I had a Portuguese passport at the time, and the wolves were all over it, and caused problems ... and there was not a single anyone that could help and these things will hurt the commercial aptitude of a festival like that one ... by limiting the folks that can get there, even one can make a difference, but more than likely it would be 100 to 300 or even more ... that you end up losing.

I would love to have gone ... but I could not chance the border corruption one more time! AND ITS WORSE NOW!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 04 2019 at 19:10
Unfortunately I have not found nothing on the web about the First BajaProg. 

Continuing with the next BajaProg Festival, in 1998, there were 8 bands (that's what i guess):
Cruz de Hierro, Equinox, Illuvatar, Minimun Vital, Puppet Show, Salem, Ten Jinn and XII Alfonso.

And the bands I woud've liked to see were XII Alfonso, Minimum Vital and Illuvatar. Although i must say that I like all of these bands and i've never seen any in concert. (A shame)

About that Second BajaProg, I found that members of all bands collaborated to record a song (including the host: Cast). Nice song i would say.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 06 2019 at 18:44
If you missed Hackett, you'd like to watch this:

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 12 2019 at 20:53
Next BajaProg Festival was in 1999, there were 9 bands (including Cast):
After Crying, Arena, Crucibe, Halloween, Iconoclasta, Quidam, Tempano and Ten Jinn.

This time i should say i'm lucky! i've seen After Crying, Arena and Iconoclasta playing live, different styles between them, and excellent bands for me, but... I have to say After Crying is one of the best bands I've ever listened to, so i became easily a fan of After Crying music.

About the other bands, I'm also fan of Quidam, so it's a shame for me that i was not there in that concert at BajaProg 1999, Fortunately they recorded a live album http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1142, so i can feel like i would've been there when i listen to it.

Halloween and Tempano were other bands i would've liked to see in that Bajaprog.

Here it is what i could find to share of this edition of BajaProg 1999:

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 20 2019 at 21:13
I'm not supposed to talk about the Festival, but i can say that year after year BajaProg Festival were better. Anyway i just will write down of the bands that participated in the festival. In the 2000 edition  there were 14 bands:

After Crying, Eclat, Equinox, Five Fifteen, Halloween, Huesol, Isildurs Bane, Jadis, John Wetton Band, Kromlech, Nexus, Pallas, Ten Jinn and Tryo.

Defenitily ISILDURS BANE is one of the bands i would have liked to see playing live...maybe some day.
NEXUS is another band i like and i would like to see someday.
Five Fifteen, Jadis, Pallas, and of course John Wetton Band would have been good to see.
After Crying, Equinox, Halloween and Ten Jinn appered in past editions of the BajaProg.

Here it is what i could find to share of this edition of BajaProg 2000:
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 27 2019 at 19:48
BajaProg 2001, definitely that year (for me) was kind of Best Program Festival. I mean, I like the music of all the bands that participated in that edition (except Aria, 'cause I haven't listen to it). But I also can say 2001 were a Festival without a Well World Known Band, maybe an exception with Le Orme, but with excellent music (in my opinion). Unfortunately i couldn't be there.

There were 18 bands: Ankh, Aria, Azigza, Cast, Discus, Eclat, Exsimio, Finisterre, Iona, Kromlech, Landmarq, Le Orme, Omni, Priam, Solaris, Subterra, Sylvan and Vital Duo.

So, this time i won't write down the name of any band i would've liked to see, because they all are.

Here it is what i found to share of BajaProg 2001:

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 28 2019 at 07:46
Hi,

Honestly, I miss these big things a lot more than you can imagine.

I remember every band that played at the SFPMFestival ... and loved them all even if they were not my cup of tea ... my appreciation of things like Bondage Fruit, and even the worn down Brand X, was down a bit, but they all played their hearts out and tried ... and tried. Only one of them did not get my attention as strongly as all the others, and that would be Buckethead, that I thought ... should not have been there, as what he did was not exactly "progressive" at all, unless you consider watching a Godzilla movie on the screen while he was playing!

There are a lot of bands I would love to see, and these festivals are always a great source of excitement ... but sadly, my ability to catch any of them was/is limited. Working full time, and it seemed like the vacation time never matched anything ... and all I could do was make 2 visits to see mom in Santa Barbara ... 

But, for me, seeing new music has been a big thing since January 1974 when Guy Guden went on the air with his show (Space Pirate Radio), and he played so many new things, that many of us would make an immediate run on Monday Morning to go to a couple of places in LA to get the new albums ... remember, at the time it was all "imports" and there really were no "festivals" of this kind, although on occasion there was this and that with 3 or 4 bands in one night ... I think we saw one that included the Japanese band CHRONICLE, but I can't even tell you who the other bands were! I think Daevid Allen had one of his side projects going ... but it is a very faint memory.

One show I would have liked to see and enjoy ... Nearfest ... and its outstanding line ups time and time again ... but what is weird, one of the places that had a very lively scene with "imports" and "progressive music", is the one place where nothing of this sort takes place ... California ... which has priced itself out of the business of showing new/newer bands ... unless you happen to be one of the "left overs" (as I call them), on the Strip, or Haight and Ashbury!


Edited by moshkito - November 28 2019 at 07:46
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 28 2019 at 08:56
What about Nearfest? I'm sure there's some who miss that. I guess Baja and NF both had a good run.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 02 2019 at 19:38
Yeah Nearfest!!! another missed Festival.
The importance of those festivals were the opportunity to experiment with new sounds, musical proposals. But not exactly with the bands that played on the Festival, but the music that were all around, with the stands of CDs, the music others talk, the people who shared its preferences and recomendations... just getting involved.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2019 at 20:19
Bajaprog 2002, In this edition I don't know exactly what happend, but there were 17 band participating:
Akineton Retard, Cabezas de Cera, DFA, Ergo Sum, Glass, Greenslade, Hamadryad, Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Kopecky with Par Lindh, Muros de Agua, OMNI, Pendragon, Pulsar, Raimundo Rodolfo, The Watch, Thieves Kitchen and Visible Wind

I can see clearly 5 bands i've never seen live, and i'd like to: DFA, Greenslade, Kopecky, Pendragon and Pulsar. 
On the other side it would've been great to see Akineton Retard, Ergo Sum and Raimundo Rodolfo, only these three, because i've seen Cabezas de Cera, Il Balletto Di Bronzo and OMNI playing live in concert. I found a video of Visible Wind and they look good. https://youtu.be/N4TRp_RbBQo

Here I share more of BajaProg 2002:
Raimundo Rodolfo: https://youtu.be/BnRg_V7B_-o

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 27 2019 at 21:33
Happy Holidays  HugPartyBeer
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2020 at 21:27
2003 was an special year for me, that was my first BajaProg Festival. Without words all the things I lived all around the Festival. Everything great, really!

18 bands played in that edition:
Alquilbencil, Amarok, Ange, Ankh, Ars Nova, Cabezas de Cera, Cast, Entrance, Focus, French TV, Gallina Negra, Index, Magenta, Par Lindh Project, PFM, Pig Farm on the Moon, Ricocher and Trespass. And I didn't miss any! 

I could say the great surprises about bands I never knew were: Alquilbencil, Pig Farm on the Moon, Magenta, and Trespass. Excellent shows for me!
And of course seing live for the first time Ange, Ars Nova and Par Lindh Project, that was magnificent!
On the other side, I had the chance to see Cabezas de Cera, Focus and PFM again, and on an excellent shows also.

It's always difficult to say who had the best show and performance, nevertheless i can mention Cabezas de Cera, PFM, Par Lindh Project, Magenta and of course Ange!

To share of this BajaProg 2003, i'll leave this documentary of Magenta: https://vimeo.com/247029966
And these other videos i found:

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote charcoz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2020 at 20:30
For BajaProg 2004 there were 20 Bands/Artists playing. 

At the Theatre played:
Anekdoten, Arti e Mestieri, Cast, Deux Ex Machina, IQ, Jaime Rosas Trio, KBB, Kotebel, Matraz, Richard Sinclair with Glass & Friends, Pocos e Nuvens, and Softworks.

And at the Hotel were:
JJ.KAS, Clearlight, Equilibrio Vital, Forever Twelve, Guillermo Cides, Kre, Oxygene 8, and Psicotropia.

I think in this edition there was a mixture of different styles, all well received.

I can say that i had no surprises with the bands I didn't know, they were just fine. Maybe just give a special mention to Matraz (and its excellent guitarist Claudio Cordero).

But, on the other hand, with those that i knew, everyone was Great, specially those who played at the Theater. And if you force me to choose one day, that would be Friday, the day KBB, Deux Ex Machina and Softworks Played. 
Arti e Mestieri, IQ, Anekdoten, just without words 'cause i'm fan of its music, amazing. 
And the chance to see the greatests Richard Sinclair and Softworks! Clap

I want to share with you these complete performaces:
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2020 at 23:40
I worked my damn arse off to help Flash make an appearance down there in 2005....it was a real screwup.  

Only bassist Ray Bennett and vocalist Colin Carter showed up, and Bennett told some story that Pete Banks and Mike Hough couldn't make it due to "visa problems."  Bennett played 6 string electric, and Carter played tamborine and sang....I guess it was quite disappointing. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 25 2020 at 08:37
Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

I worked my damn arse off to help Flash make an appearance down there in 2005....it was a real screwup.  
...
Only bassist Ray Bennett and vocalist Colin Carter showed up, and Bennett told some story that Pete Banks and Mike Hough couldn't make it due to "visa problems."
...

Typical stuff on the road to nowhere in this world ... but my biggest complaint is that places like America and England, even France and Italy/Spain, are great places to have this, and it does not happen ... and the thought is, that it simply is no longer commercially viable to create these things ... 

Well, I can tell you that many of these folks, musicians included, live in the past, so far away from technology and history that it is not funny ... you can easily create a closed door stream festival ... and charge for it, and then make sure that the video off it has that signal that prevents recording ... (it scrambles the signal!) ... and voila ... you can have a whole bunch of these ... but these folks are not smart enough, and not creative enough, to find new ways to present the music ... it has to be presented in the same style that is now 50/60/70 years old ... and I have an issue with that ... 

Heck, even Rachel Flowers can play Focus live on an international feel band ... so tell me it can't be done!

As we get older, our ability (and cost!!!!) to travel, gets tougher ... and now, I would have to get my passport redone (and the Portuguese folks only do things by "papelinhos" ... like they did 400 years ago!!!), and then have to put up with hours upon hours of this and that ... and I'm done with that!

I probably can do better in Europe ... but you want me to get on a can of tuna to make it to Germany to see Guru Guru, of France to maybe catch Heldon/Pinhas? ... the only can of tuna you will see me on, is the one under the ground after I'm gone ... !!!

The internet is a heavenly thing ... but no one is smart enough to make use of it! Except waste it on complaints left and right and useless comments here or anywhere else! Confused


Edited by moshkito - February 27 2020 at 07:12
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote zwordser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2020 at 17:38
Yeah, I miss Baja Prog!  Only went in 2013 & 2014 (after the hiatus, I think due to the financial crash of 2008), and was planning and looking forward to 2015. I was totally bummed that it was discontinued that year.  Both years were awesome, but I think attendance declined in 2014 after a bumper in 2013 with Steve Hackett performing (he packed the house) so I don't think they could maintain if financially, though I don't know the whole story.  Its too bad because the lineup in 2014 was great too, with some big name artists/bands (as far as Prog goes).

I'll start with 2013. The performances I thought best were:

Steve Hackett Of course, though the vocalist had trouble with high notes, still a great Genesis-classics-only show.
Anglagard Amazin'! They tried to sell me their full CD/t-shirt special; I only got Hybris. In hindsight, should have taken the full package.
Crimson Projekt Even though they were ear-drum shatteringly loud!
Three Friends Essentially Gentle Giant revived with a couple of the original members--super performance!
Luz de Riada Had the coolest jazzy/world vibe, with unusual instruments; first I'd heard of them.
Galahad The lead had to shed his too-warm costume, as he was struggling with the heat. The first I'd heard of them: sort of punk-neo-prog. Bassist ran off stage into audience at one point.
New Trolls How they could afford the orchestra, I don't know, but enjoyed the back-and-forth classical/jamming; first I'd heard of them.

And I missed the final day. Would loved to have seen Jelonek and Mystery.

The documental is still out there on Youtube, with clips of all the performances. I tried posting a couple photos too, but they show up way too big in the message box.




Edited by zwordser - February 26 2020 at 17:51
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