Is bar good for Prog?

Ah..many a time I've been absolutely plastered and played prog on the jukebox, or requested some from a friendly DJ. Never did win me many dates at the end of the night, though

I used to bring albums to bars when I used to go to bars where I knew the guy spinning the records. People would complain, whine, kick, pout and scream until the DJ put back on the usual crap of the day.

This reminds me of an old joke: a jazz musician, a prog musician, a country and western crooner, a disco queen, a pop artist, a heavy metal shredder, a classical musician, and a rapper walk into a bar (sequentially).  Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

It depends on one's haunts.  At most of the places (pubs/ bars) I frequent fairly frequently, prog generally would not go down well.  At one it's more a soft jazz place, at another classical (no jukebox), at another it's jazz period, at another classic rock and country, and at another classic Prog in the vein of Yes and Pink Floyd would be fine, but probably not Art Zoyd, and of course there are many that are blues bars.

Actually. I go more to live music places or places with music set by the establishment than places with jukeboxes.  It depends on the place and also the kind of prog one chooses.  The jazz bar would probably be more tolerant of Miles Davis than Dream Theater, for instance.  I would be careful with my picks, and have brought along CDs for the staff to play that did not go down well.  Inicidentally, when I was a bartender for a playhouse, The Lamb would get played a lot in its entirety (that's when I got interested in the album) and Frank Zappa was often on.  No one complained.that I heard.  But the usual favourite was the soundtrack for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I've played Dance on a Volcano on one of the internet jukeboxes once.  I can't say it really went over well but I enjoyed it.

I played A Change Of Seasons once followed by Glass Prison lol. My friend tried Octavarium on St. Paddy's Day. The Bar reset the machine before the continuum solo ended

Yeah, those boxes where you can search and play are fun... you could load it up with some prog that will take up the good side of an hour on 4 songs ($5) ..  

Well first of all I have to say that I seriously doubt many people who frequent bars even know what prog is so in that sense it doesn't really matter what you play on the jukebox. You might get funny stares from people but then again if it's late enough they will all be so plastered it won't really matter anyway. ;)

Edited by Prog_Traveller - April 21 2009 at 23:45

In my city there was a bar called Ever, which was intended for prog music, and it only lasted a couple of  years. On the other hand, I know some bars in which you can listen some prog from time to time, mainly the most rock oriented artists (Zappa, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and so on), and people seem to enjoy, despite not really knowing what prog rock is. It seems to work, because they are often full of people

Bar, no.  Karakoe, yes. 

Back when I was in college this jukebox at a Pizza Inn had Another Brick In The Wall with One Of My Turns on the B-Side of the single.  Of course I picked it.  It didn't come on until I was leaving though.  I hope all the other customers enjoyed that.   "Would you like something to eat?"


Edited by Slartibartfast - April 25 2009 at 06:11

"One of My Turns"? OMG! I can picture people running out of the place, leaving their pizzas half-eaten on the plate...