A Brief History of the North East Art Rock Festival
by Rob LaDuca
July 2006 It seems like just yesterday that Chad Hutchinson and I introduced the first NEARfest in tiny Foy Hall with knocking knees in June of 1999. During planning stages for that first event, we had no idea that a "NEARfest tradition" would have grown, with the festival becoming arguably the most prestigious event of its type on the planet. If you had told us back then that NEARfest would have hosted progressive rock legends such as Keith Emerson, Steve Hackett and Tony Levin, modern luminaries such as Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings and IQ, rare appearances by Camel, Banco, Le Orme, Caravan and Kenso, reunion concerts by Happy the Man, Nektar, Anglagard and FM, all the while showcasing newer groups across the progressive music spectrum from Guapo and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum to Glass Hammer and Riverside... well you would have gotten the patented LaDuca Cackle(tm) and the classic Hutchinson HA!(tm) right in your face. If you had also told us that all eight NEARfests to date would be complete sell-outs... we would absolutely have died on the spot due to a terminal fit of laughter. But the support of the progressive rock community for NEARfest has been no laughing matter. All of you who have ever attended NEARfest have been extremely serious about keeping the flame of live progressive rock burning into the new millenium. Travelling from all over the country and the world, NEARfest attendees have put their money where their heart is, investing in tickets and costly travel and lodging. Some of you who have been blessed financially have shared your gifts with us and signed up for places in the Patron Program, or lent us advance money when the staging of the festival in 2003 was threatened, albeit briefly. Most of all, NEARfest attendees have all been willing to rearrange their busy work and family schedules and give us the greatest gift they possibly can... their time. Chad and I are more thankful than we can ever possibly hope to express for all of the monetary and intangible support over the past years.
Each NEARfest has had its own personality, difficulties, and joys, just like different children in the same family. 1999's festival in the Foy Hall cradle (428 seats) gave birth to the NEARfest tradition, and it certainly had some growing pains on the production end. Chad and I learned that bands don't always follow contracted set times, that a "decent" sound company wasn't quite up to the task of a two-day multi-band event, and that things don't run very smoothly on stage if everyone in a band speaks only Hungarian. But there were some extremely memorable performances, including the prog festival debut of the Canadian prog fusion juggernaut Nathan Mahl. Soon thereafter their keyboardist Guy LeBlanc found himself in Peter Bardens' old chair in Camel. Al Lewis of Alaska, who were the first ever band to take to the stage at NEARfest, is now the lead vocalist for Starcastle. The newer generation of prog musicians has been injecting new life into some of the classic groups, in part due to the reputation of their NEARfest performances. Solaris, IQ, and Spock's Beard delivered sterling sets in the higher profile slots on the bill. Due to the 200-person wait list for tickets, we thought bigger for NEARfest 2000, booking the 1002-person capacity Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University for the second annual event.
2000's festival was our first of many lessons in "you never know what you will receive if you never ask". In summer 1999, we sent a letter and a program to Stan Whitaker of the then-dormant Happy the Man, along with a financial offer. We thought the chances slim, but it was only a couple bucks in postage. I soon got a call from Stan, who said: "Dude, do you want us to play all f***ing weekend?!" In a couple of months time the Happy the Man reunion was confirmed with Kit Watkins-megafan and world-class keyboardist David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Billy Joel) on board. Happy the Man delivered a prodigious set that belied their 21 years away. The modern day supergroup Transatlantic (with members of Dream Theater, Marillion, The Flower Kings, and Spock's Beard) was approached, and due to a lucky simultaneous break in all of the musician's schedules, NEARfest was able to host the group's live debut gig. Other highlights of NEARfest 2000 included incendiary sets from Argentina's finest active symphonic prog band Nexus and the melodic Italian prog fusion masters DFA, along with a gallery appearance by NEARfest logo and Genesis album cover designer Paul Whitehead.
We approached the ticket sale date for NEARfest 2001 with some trepidation, because one of our headliners (Porcupine Tree) did not fit the traditional symphonic prog mode, and the other one (Banco) was a replacement act for PFM, who were forced to cancel for medical reasons. We shouldn't have worried. Well, Chad quickly had to worry when he realized he would have to make good on his promise to wear a dress to NEARfest 2001 if the tickets sold out in one day... and they did. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic delivered a stimulating RIO set and were the surprise hit of the festival. They served notice that avant prog had a significant fan base and gained many new fans (including legendary visual artist Roger Dean, who was in attendance after designing the festival logo for the first time). Other highlights included the lilting folk prog of White Willow and the alternatingly blistering and soothing Djam Karet. Porcupine Tree delivered a powerful headline set, and Banco absolutely blew the roof of Zoellner Arts Center with their passionate virtuoso performance, which is now already legendary in prog festival lore. I have never seen more grown men welling up in one place than during Banco's third encore.
2002 saw the expansion into a larger venue, Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, New Jersey. At virtually the same time as negotiations with Steve Hackett were wrapping up, I received a phone call out of the blue from Caravan's manager Mark Powell. He proposed the possibility of a full band Nektar reunion at NEARfest 2002, with synthesizer wizard Larry Fast to boot. We were amazingly lucky to have this opportunity fall right in our laps. Except for a couple of unforeseen band cancellations, the preparation period for the fourth NEARfest was extremely smooth. As ticket sales approached, Chad and I were nervous once again. After all, the War Memorial is almost twice the size of the Zoellner Arts Center! But again, amazingly, people from all over the world sold out NEARfest within 45 minutes on the strength of the solid undercard, the rare Caravan and Steve Hackett appearances, and Nektar's grand return to the stage. The surprise hit of the festival was clearly Miriodor, who wowed the audience with their deft and intricate yet fun and melodic brand of avant prog rock. Caravan, Nektar, and Steve Hackett received raucous receptions for their outstanding sets by fans who had waited decades to see them live. There were the typical minor logistical glitches because it was the first year in a new venue... and then there was the matter of those now infamous box lunches... but all-in-all NEARfest 2002 was a resounding success, and we soon got to work planning the fifth annual event.
2003 was by far the most difficult year in the festival's history. Crises battered us from every side. The fifth annual event was threatened by cancellation twice. First, in March 2003, the Trenton War Memorial changed its policy from 2002 and refused to pay out a cent in ticket receipts until the day of the festival. Secondly, our original insurance underwriter suddenly remembered that they were not licensed to write event liability policies in New Jersey and terminated our coverage... just three weeks before the festival. Venue management made it painfully clear that NEARfest would be cancelled if new insurance was not in place by the time of the event. Just before the insurance crisis caught us unaware, the wife of Guy LeBlanc, keyboardist for Camel, suffered a heart attack (she's now well). Camel's entire Farewell Tour and NEARfest headline performance were thrown into severe doubt. All was well that ended well, however. A few "guardian angels" lent us enough money to cover advance costs such as band airfares, at no interest, after attempts to arrange short-term bank loans failed. Miraculously, Lloyd's of London came through on very short notice, despite the fact that most other insurers were reticent to underwrite any music festivals due to the then-recent Great White club fire tragedy in Rhode Island. Tom Brislin, recently off his stint in Yes, managed to learn Camel's repertoire in a week and joined the band's U.S. tour. NEARfest 2003 is widely regarded as having one of the best lineups ever for a progressive rock festival with essentially four headliners: the reunited Anglagard (yes, with three Mellotrons), The Flower Kings, Magma, and Camel. The fest itself was a stunning artistic success, with outstanding, surprising and emotional performances from all the bands. When it was over, however, Chad and I took stock. We were definitely the worse for wear. The stress level involved in putting on NEARfest 2003 was well beyond something that should be a fun hobby.
That July, Chad and I considered moving NEARfest back to Zoellner Arts Center, home of NEARfest 2000 and 2001. Lehigh University thankfully yields the ticket proceeds well in advance of the show, which dramatically reduces the stress level from our end by enabling us to meet pre-fest costs. We contacted the Zoellner staff, who were very eager to host the event again despite Porcupine Tree's punishing sound levels breaking some of the house lights in 2001. Some dates were pencilled in for a potential NEARfest 2004 in Bethlehem. But then we thought of the 850 or so progressive music fans who would not fit into this smaller venue... and commenced contract discussions once again with the Trenton War Memorial for 2004. These negotiations ground to a screeching halt when venue management refused to budge from their policy of not releasing any ticket money in advance, and also insisted on an additional $12,000 in rights fees for recording the event, even to 2-track audio for free-of-charge Internet broadcast. They also demanded that the five-figure theater rental fee be paid immediately, 12 months in advance. Any one of these demands was a deal-breaker. At that point, our decision to leave the War Memorial was essentially made for us.
We were left at this point with four choices. We could end the event permanently, take a year's hiatus, move the festival to a new venue about the same size, or return to Zoellner Arts Center. The first two choices were unconscionable to us. Progressive music is too important to many people's lives. As for the third option, it was too late to do an exhaustive venue search although we did look into a few possibilities. Sadly, we turned up only venues that refused advance payouts, had restrictive union work policies, possessed no ancillary space for vendors, or charged extortionate recording fees. So there was really only one avenue left... to come home to Zoellner and Bethlehem, where NEARfest remains to this day.
NEARfest 2004 saw a needed format change. We thought that dropping to four bands a day, while at the cost of removing two precious performance slots for deserving groups, would relieve fatigue among fest staff and attendees alike. We also learned from one of the stupidest things we've ever done, attempting to set up and soundcheck Anglagard with their fifty piece drum kit, forty inputs, and seven keyboards (including the aforementioned three Mellotrons), in 45 minutes. Set-up times from non-headline full band performances are now 75 minutes, allowing for a better soundcheck and cooler heads among the artists and crew. With the added flexibility in the schedule, we added the new Solo Spotlight features... shorter sets with minimal set-up logistics, by world-class progressive musicians without full bands. On the night before NEARfest 2004, the newly minted Progressive Arts, Inc. hosted an evening with the world-class Genesis tribute act The Musical Box right in Zoellner, essentially adding a third day to NEARfest weekend. The NEARfest 2004 lineup celebrated the incredible diversity of progressive music. From the reunion of the electric guise of folk-prog stalwarts The Strawbs, to the USA debut of RIO mastercraftsmen Univers Zero, to the quirky unclassifiable music of The Mike Keneally Band, and to the prog-metal-fusion of Planet X, NEARfest 2004 certainly had something to offer for all progressive tastes. The surprise act of the festival was Finland's Hidria Spacefolk, who wove their prog space rock jams into the minds of all attendees and into festival lore.
NEARfest 2005 (and the Friday night Progressive Legends Showcase) featured prog luminaries Kerry Livgren and his new/old band Proto-Kaw, Italian legends PFM and Le Orme, Belgian dark RIO masters Present, and the first repeat act in NEARfest history, IQ. That year's "surprise" hit was clearly Kenso, whose dual keyboard and guitar-led symphonic fusion attack had the audience on their feet and the band in tears of joy.
The NEARfest tradition continued into 8th annual event in 2006 with living legend Keith Emerson as the festival headliner, along with breathtaking instrumental powerhouses Ozric Tentacles and Niacin, the return of the widely beloved Canadian trio FM, and the USA concert debuts of the French theatrical prog troupe Ange and the Polish power prog quartet Riverside. The now traditional Friday night concert sponsored by Progressive Arts featured the world-class Tony Levin Band and the American debut of Canterbury legends Hatfield and the North.
The NEARfest tradition is on target to continue due to the overwhelming support of the progressive rock community. Each year 1002 devoted listeners spend their precious time and hard-earned money to support this wonderful and unique form of music by coming out to NEARfest. We are extremely thankful for the advance financial support of each year's Patron Program participations, who provide much of the needed funding for booking high-level talent. We continue to be amazed and incredibly thankful that NEARfest sells out so rapidly year after year after year. More than simply three days of world-class progressive music, NEARfest weekend is the biggest "family reunion" of the prog community in the USA. New friendships are made and old ones are cemented for life. We hope see both new and old faces in the years to come at future editions of NEARfest!
July 2006 It seems like just yesterday that Chad Hutchinson and I introduced the first NEARfest in tiny Foy Hall with knocking knees in June of 1999. During planning stages for that first event, we had no idea that a "NEARfest tradition" would have grown, with the festival becoming arguably the most prestigious event of its type on the planet. If you had told us back then that NEARfest would have hosted progressive rock legends such as Keith Emerson, Steve Hackett and Tony Levin, modern luminaries such as Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings and IQ, rare appearances by Camel, Banco, Le Orme, Caravan and Kenso, reunion concerts by Happy the Man, Nektar, Anglagard and FM, all the while showcasing newer groups across the progressive music spectrum from Guapo and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum to Glass Hammer and Riverside... well you would have gotten the patented LaDuca Cackle(tm) and the classic Hutchinson HA!(tm) right in your face. If you had also told us that all eight NEARfests to date would be complete sell-outs... we would absolutely have died on the spot due to a terminal fit of laughter. But the support of the progressive rock community for NEARfest has been no laughing matter. All of you who have ever attended NEARfest have been extremely serious about keeping the flame of live progressive rock burning into the new millenium. Travelling from all over the country and the world, NEARfest attendees have put their money where their heart is, investing in tickets and costly travel and lodging. Some of you who have been blessed financially have shared your gifts with us and signed up for places in the Patron Program, or lent us advance money when the staging of the festival in 2003 was threatened, albeit briefly. Most of all, NEARfest attendees have all been willing to rearrange their busy work and family schedules and give us the greatest gift they possibly can... their time. Chad and I are more thankful than we can ever possibly hope to express for all of the monetary and intangible support over the past years.
Each NEARfest has had its own personality, difficulties, and joys, just like different children in the same family. 1999's festival in the Foy Hall cradle (428 seats) gave birth to the NEARfest tradition, and it certainly had some growing pains on the production end. Chad and I learned that bands don't always follow contracted set times, that a "decent" sound company wasn't quite up to the task of a two-day multi-band event, and that things don't run very smoothly on stage if everyone in a band speaks only Hungarian. But there were some extremely memorable performances, including the prog festival debut of the Canadian prog fusion juggernaut Nathan Mahl. Soon thereafter their keyboardist Guy LeBlanc found himself in Peter Bardens' old chair in Camel. Al Lewis of Alaska, who were the first ever band to take to the stage at NEARfest, is now the lead vocalist for Starcastle. The newer generation of prog musicians has been injecting new life into some of the classic groups, in part due to the reputation of their NEARfest performances. Solaris, IQ, and Spock's Beard delivered sterling sets in the higher profile slots on the bill. Due to the 200-person wait list for tickets, we thought bigger for NEARfest 2000, booking the 1002-person capacity Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University for the second annual event.
2000's festival was our first of many lessons in "you never know what you will receive if you never ask". In summer 1999, we sent a letter and a program to Stan Whitaker of the then-dormant Happy the Man, along with a financial offer. We thought the chances slim, but it was only a couple bucks in postage. I soon got a call from Stan, who said: "Dude, do you want us to play all f***ing weekend?!" In a couple of months time the Happy the Man reunion was confirmed with Kit Watkins-megafan and world-class keyboardist David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Billy Joel) on board. Happy the Man delivered a prodigious set that belied their 21 years away. The modern day supergroup Transatlantic (with members of Dream Theater, Marillion, The Flower Kings, and Spock's Beard) was approached, and due to a lucky simultaneous break in all of the musician's schedules, NEARfest was able to host the group's live debut gig. Other highlights of NEARfest 2000 included incendiary sets from Argentina's finest active symphonic prog band Nexus and the melodic Italian prog fusion masters DFA, along with a gallery appearance by NEARfest logo and Genesis album cover designer Paul Whitehead.
We approached the ticket sale date for NEARfest 2001 with some trepidation, because one of our headliners (Porcupine Tree) did not fit the traditional symphonic prog mode, and the other one (Banco) was a replacement act for PFM, who were forced to cancel for medical reasons. We shouldn't have worried. Well, Chad quickly had to worry when he realized he would have to make good on his promise to wear a dress to NEARfest 2001 if the tickets sold out in one day... and they did. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic delivered a stimulating RIO set and were the surprise hit of the festival. They served notice that avant prog had a significant fan base and gained many new fans (including legendary visual artist Roger Dean, who was in attendance after designing the festival logo for the first time). Other highlights included the lilting folk prog of White Willow and the alternatingly blistering and soothing Djam Karet. Porcupine Tree delivered a powerful headline set, and Banco absolutely blew the roof of Zoellner Arts Center with their passionate virtuoso performance, which is now already legendary in prog festival lore. I have never seen more grown men welling up in one place than during Banco's third encore.
2002 saw the expansion into a larger venue, Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, New Jersey. At virtually the same time as negotiations with Steve Hackett were wrapping up, I received a phone call out of the blue from Caravan's manager Mark Powell. He proposed the possibility of a full band Nektar reunion at NEARfest 2002, with synthesizer wizard Larry Fast to boot. We were amazingly lucky to have this opportunity fall right in our laps. Except for a couple of unforeseen band cancellations, the preparation period for the fourth NEARfest was extremely smooth. As ticket sales approached, Chad and I were nervous once again. After all, the War Memorial is almost twice the size of the Zoellner Arts Center! But again, amazingly, people from all over the world sold out NEARfest within 45 minutes on the strength of the solid undercard, the rare Caravan and Steve Hackett appearances, and Nektar's grand return to the stage. The surprise hit of the festival was clearly Miriodor, who wowed the audience with their deft and intricate yet fun and melodic brand of avant prog rock. Caravan, Nektar, and Steve Hackett received raucous receptions for their outstanding sets by fans who had waited decades to see them live. There were the typical minor logistical glitches because it was the first year in a new venue... and then there was the matter of those now infamous box lunches... but all-in-all NEARfest 2002 was a resounding success, and we soon got to work planning the fifth annual event.
2003 was by far the most difficult year in the festival's history. Crises battered us from every side. The fifth annual event was threatened by cancellation twice. First, in March 2003, the Trenton War Memorial changed its policy from 2002 and refused to pay out a cent in ticket receipts until the day of the festival. Secondly, our original insurance underwriter suddenly remembered that they were not licensed to write event liability policies in New Jersey and terminated our coverage... just three weeks before the festival. Venue management made it painfully clear that NEARfest would be cancelled if new insurance was not in place by the time of the event. Just before the insurance crisis caught us unaware, the wife of Guy LeBlanc, keyboardist for Camel, suffered a heart attack (she's now well). Camel's entire Farewell Tour and NEARfest headline performance were thrown into severe doubt. All was well that ended well, however. A few "guardian angels" lent us enough money to cover advance costs such as band airfares, at no interest, after attempts to arrange short-term bank loans failed. Miraculously, Lloyd's of London came through on very short notice, despite the fact that most other insurers were reticent to underwrite any music festivals due to the then-recent Great White club fire tragedy in Rhode Island. Tom Brislin, recently off his stint in Yes, managed to learn Camel's repertoire in a week and joined the band's U.S. tour. NEARfest 2003 is widely regarded as having one of the best lineups ever for a progressive rock festival with essentially four headliners: the reunited Anglagard (yes, with three Mellotrons), The Flower Kings, Magma, and Camel. The fest itself was a stunning artistic success, with outstanding, surprising and emotional performances from all the bands. When it was over, however, Chad and I took stock. We were definitely the worse for wear. The stress level involved in putting on NEARfest 2003 was well beyond something that should be a fun hobby.
That July, Chad and I considered moving NEARfest back to Zoellner Arts Center, home of NEARfest 2000 and 2001. Lehigh University thankfully yields the ticket proceeds well in advance of the show, which dramatically reduces the stress level from our end by enabling us to meet pre-fest costs. We contacted the Zoellner staff, who were very eager to host the event again despite Porcupine Tree's punishing sound levels breaking some of the house lights in 2001. Some dates were pencilled in for a potential NEARfest 2004 in Bethlehem. But then we thought of the 850 or so progressive music fans who would not fit into this smaller venue... and commenced contract discussions once again with the Trenton War Memorial for 2004. These negotiations ground to a screeching halt when venue management refused to budge from their policy of not releasing any ticket money in advance, and also insisted on an additional $12,000 in rights fees for recording the event, even to 2-track audio for free-of-charge Internet broadcast. They also demanded that the five-figure theater rental fee be paid immediately, 12 months in advance. Any one of these demands was a deal-breaker. At that point, our decision to leave the War Memorial was essentially made for us.
We were left at this point with four choices. We could end the event permanently, take a year's hiatus, move the festival to a new venue about the same size, or return to Zoellner Arts Center. The first two choices were unconscionable to us. Progressive music is too important to many people's lives. As for the third option, it was too late to do an exhaustive venue search although we did look into a few possibilities. Sadly, we turned up only venues that refused advance payouts, had restrictive union work policies, possessed no ancillary space for vendors, or charged extortionate recording fees. So there was really only one avenue left... to come home to Zoellner and Bethlehem, where NEARfest remains to this day.
NEARfest 2004 saw a needed format change. We thought that dropping to four bands a day, while at the cost of removing two precious performance slots for deserving groups, would relieve fatigue among fest staff and attendees alike. We also learned from one of the stupidest things we've ever done, attempting to set up and soundcheck Anglagard with their fifty piece drum kit, forty inputs, and seven keyboards (including the aforementioned three Mellotrons), in 45 minutes. Set-up times from non-headline full band performances are now 75 minutes, allowing for a better soundcheck and cooler heads among the artists and crew. With the added flexibility in the schedule, we added the new Solo Spotlight features... shorter sets with minimal set-up logistics, by world-class progressive musicians without full bands. On the night before NEARfest 2004, the newly minted Progressive Arts, Inc. hosted an evening with the world-class Genesis tribute act The Musical Box right in Zoellner, essentially adding a third day to NEARfest weekend. The NEARfest 2004 lineup celebrated the incredible diversity of progressive music. From the reunion of the electric guise of folk-prog stalwarts The Strawbs, to the USA debut of RIO mastercraftsmen Univers Zero, to the quirky unclassifiable music of The Mike Keneally Band, and to the prog-metal-fusion of Planet X, NEARfest 2004 certainly had something to offer for all progressive tastes. The surprise act of the festival was Finland's Hidria Spacefolk, who wove their prog space rock jams into the minds of all attendees and into festival lore.
NEARfest 2005 (and the Friday night Progressive Legends Showcase) featured prog luminaries Kerry Livgren and his new/old band Proto-Kaw, Italian legends PFM and Le Orme, Belgian dark RIO masters Present, and the first repeat act in NEARfest history, IQ. That year's "surprise" hit was clearly Kenso, whose dual keyboard and guitar-led symphonic fusion attack had the audience on their feet and the band in tears of joy.
The NEARfest tradition continued into 8th annual event in 2006 with living legend Keith Emerson as the festival headliner, along with breathtaking instrumental powerhouses Ozric Tentacles and Niacin, the return of the widely beloved Canadian trio FM, and the USA concert debuts of the French theatrical prog troupe Ange and the Polish power prog quartet Riverside. The now traditional Friday night concert sponsored by Progressive Arts featured the world-class Tony Levin Band and the American debut of Canterbury legends Hatfield and the North.
The NEARfest tradition is on target to continue due to the overwhelming support of the progressive rock community. Each year 1002 devoted listeners spend their precious time and hard-earned money to support this wonderful and unique form of music by coming out to NEARfest. We are extremely thankful for the advance financial support of each year's Patron Program participations, who provide much of the needed funding for booking high-level talent. We continue to be amazed and incredibly thankful that NEARfest sells out so rapidly year after year after year. More than simply three days of world-class progressive music, NEARfest weekend is the biggest "family reunion" of the prog community in the USA. New friendships are made and old ones are cemented for life. We hope see both new and old faces in the years to come at future editions of NEARfest!