The days were posted in the order that the bands performed. And if you missed Day Three, you can find it here and work your way back through the other days if you like. Or start with the beginning here and work your way forward.   Day 4 is way late and I was afraid this would happen. My memory is faltering. Oh well. Here we go. I’ll try to let the photos I took do most of the talking.  

 

Triosphere

(Power/Prog Metal from Norway)

Going into this I was familiar with them and really like their music I would repeatedly keep mixing them up with Temperance, another female fronted band whose band name looks a lot like this one. But they are different bands! 🙂 Triosphere, who was here this day, not Temperance, really brought their A game. Turning in a blistering 12 song set. I look forward to seeing them again. There was one interesting thing that happened during this set, though I have heard since that it was possibly faked (not by the band but by the people involved): the band mentioned someone in the audience and there turned out to be a planned proposal during this set. It was nice to see something like that happen and I do hope it was actually real. 

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/triosphere/2018/center-stage-atlanta-ga-63e84abf.html

Eclipse

(Hard Rock from Sweden)

  Talk about a band full of energy. One of the many bands I was looking forward to at this festival and they did NOT disappoint. It was a pretty damn not stop, full on rock/metal set! Packed house too! And everyone ate it up. Sadly they started a little late and had their set cut short.  

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/eclipse/2018/center-stage-atlanta-ga-73e84ab9.html

Soen

(Prog Metal from Sweden)

  Things got a little more laid back for a while when Soen took the stage. Though they cut loose a few times too. Things were a bit dark on stage so getting photos was a bit of a challenge. But I got a few. As with most of the sets, I was able to be right in front of the stage for the first two songs and had to go out into the rest of the crowd after that, which I gladly did as the vocals just couldn’t be heard that close for this set. That was kind of hit or miss from set to set. And looking back at the setlists now, I see they just keep getting shorter this day. But in this case, it is to be expected as the shortest song played is over 5 minutes. But they chose the setlist well. Sampling from previous works with a heavy reliance on the latest.  

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/soen/2018/center-stage-atlanta-ga-7be84ac4.html

VUUR

(Prog Metal from the Netherlands)

  I know a LOT of people that were looking forward to this set and I was too as I just love Anneke’s voice. As I have said before, there are a couple of songs on their debut that just didn’t grab me but was hoping they would translate better live and that they did! But they made up less than half the setlist. You got a few The Gathering songs, an Audioslave cover (Like a Stone), and Ayreon cover (Valley of the Queens), and one from Devin (Fallout). And the Audioslave and Ayreon songs were part of an acoustic portion of the set, which also included Saturnine from The Gathering, that was just fantastic. Absolutely loved this set!  

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/vuur/2018/center-stage-atlanta-ga-63e84ac7.html

Alestorm

(Pirate Metal from Scotland)

  I went into this show with only a cursory knowledge of this band. I knew they were a party band and I listened to part of their last album, and cracked up at the dog version of that album too. But that was about it with my history with them. I listened but also made the rounds of the venue to see who I might be able to meet, band wise. I grabbed a drink and started watching from the side of the stage for a bit and found they are a really fun band live. I made my way to the floor, which was packed, and squeezed in at the back near the soundboard. The crowd was starting to back up onto the stairs too, which security did a good job of keeping clear. Thankfully, I didn’t have to move so I could be present for the duck incident.  

Apparently, they do this duck thing at every show. There is a giant, inflatable duck that just sits on the stage through most of the set. Then toward the end, they toss it out into the audience where it bounces around for the duration of the song “Drink”. And at the end, they get the audience to kill the duck. It was freaking mesmerizing watching the whole thing. Fun show if you ever get the chance to go see it.  

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/alestorm/2018/center-stage-atlanta-ga-63e84acf.html

Tarja

(Symphonic/Gothic Metal from Finland)

  Being a huge Nightwish fan, I was really looking forward to this set and it did not disappoint, for me. I spent most of the set up at the front in the photo pit, since, thankfully, the sound was great for this one. Tarja was fantastic as expected and her band was incredible. Though, I must say, the cellist with his spider moves kind of freaked me out a bit. 😛 Tarja went through a couple of costume changes through the set but never diverged for the rock goddess image which she exudes nearly at all times.  

About 2/3 through the set I went to the back of the floor to get some wider shots and found that half the floor was empty and half the seats too. This was extremely disappointing. I feel that Alestorm was just a bit too much energy for their slot. And I’m sure there was a LOT of drinking during it too. So people just went to party it up at that point. Which is sad, as Tarja and band were just fantastic.  

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tarja/2018/center-stage-atlanta-ga-63e84ad3.html  

 

Well, that’s it for ProgPower 19. It was an incredible 4 days of awesomeness that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Looking forward to next year, where my dream sponsorship is coming true with Threshold! I still don’t feel that is real. Thanks to Glenn, Ralf, and all who work hard to put on this amazing festival. Every year is absolutely incredible.