ProgDay 2004
Day 2, Band 4 - Focus
Storybook Farm, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Sep 5th, 2004, approx 5pm - 6:45pm

Thijs van Leer - keyboards, flute, vocals
Bert Smaak - drums
Bobby Jacombs - bass
Jan Dumee - guitar

CD 1
1. Brand new song (no title given) (5:36)
2. Focus III (7:49)
3. Tamara's Move (10:20)
4. Eruption / band intros (18:32)
5. Blizu T�be (Close to You) (8:12)
6. House of the King (3:45)
7. Sylvia (4:41)
8. La Cath�dral de Strasbourg (6:23)

CD 1 Total Time: 65:26


CD 2
1. Harem Scarem (13:26)
2. De ti o de mi (From you or from me) (9:11)
3. flute solo -> scat yodelling ->
Hocus Pocus -> band intros ->
drum solo -> Hocus Pocus end (14:12)
Encores:
4. Rock & Rio (4:54)
5. Brother (7:23)

CD 2 Total Time: 49:11

Grand Total Time: 104:37

aud (stereo, digital?) > CDR > CoolEdit > WAV > FLAC Frontend > FLAC

This isn't my own recording (see notes, below), I got it in trade.
I think it's a digital recording. The sound is very good - just a
tiny bit "compressed" sounding, but overall very listenable.


Notes:

ProgDay 2004 was one of the best, IMHO. It was the tenth year of the
festival, and so was being promoted as "ProgDay X". The weather was
beautiful and most of the bands were great. Sunday in particular was
amazing - the Mexican avant-prog band Cabezas de Cera opened, followed
by jaw-dropping fusion from Mats/Morgan band, and then a Mahavishnu
Orchestra cover band (Mahavishnu Project). And wrapping things up - the
classic symphonic prog band Focus, one of the biggest names to ever play
the festival.

I think the only original member left in the band at this point was
keyboardist/flautist/yodeller Thijs van Leer, but the band still put on a
great performance. Van Leer was very friendly - I got him to autograph my
copy of Hamburger Concerto while he was sitting in the audience between bands,
and he made some joke about eating hamburgers. He's probably made that same
joke a hundred times, but he made it sound like he had come up with it on the
spot just for me. Really nice guy.

Unfortunately, the band's manager (I think that's who he was) decided that he
didn't like the look of my recording gear. About two minutes into the band's
set, he walked up to me, pointed at my microphones and intoned in a deep,
authoratative voice, "Not allowed". So I stopped taping and took my gear down.

Then I looked around and realized that there were at least two other people
visibly audio recording, and two or three people video taping! For some reason,
I was the only one who got shut down. Maybe it was because I was sitting right
in front of the soundboard, or maybe the manager just felt he had to shut *someone*
down or he wasn't doing his job. So I got no recording of my own, but fortunately
I managed to trade for this very nice recording.


About ProgDay:

If you enjoy this torrent (or any of the many other ProgDay torrents), then please
help support the festival. The best thing you can do is buy a ticket and go. It's
always a fun time - good bands, friendly people, beautiful surroundings and a
relaxed atmosphere. If you can't go, consider making a donation through the
festival's web site:

http://www.progday.net


About Focus:

Classic symphonic prog band with a sense of humor. Best known for the novelty track
"Hocus Pocus" with its mix of rockin' guitar and yodelling, but the band also had some
serious prog-rock classics like "Harem Scarem" and the epic-length "Eruption". I highly
recommend the "Hamburger Concerto" CD, which is one of the best symphonic prog albums
I've ever heard. Most folks seem to prefer the "Moving Waves" album, which is also very
good. If you like those, "Focus III" and "Live at the Rainbow" are also good ones.

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