March 16, 2022
Pigs - Canada's Pink Floyd Tribute
The Pink Floyd tribute band Pigs - Canada's Pink Floyd Tribute, will be in Montreal on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at the Rialto Theatre (5723 Park Ave, Montreal) to present their COMING BACK TO LIFE TOUR 2022.

Formed in 2008 in Victoria, British Columbia, Pigs have been amazing audiences ever since with their dynamic re-creation of one of the world’s favourite rock groups.

Pigs’ claim to fame is their authenticity, which means looking, sounding and feeling like the real Pink Floyd in their hey-day: the ’70s. Audiences can expect long, pyschedelic jams to such songs as ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ and ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ as well as impassioned performances of emotional material like ‘Comfortably Numb’ and ‘Us and Them’.

This concert was originally scheduled for 2020 and postponed to Saturday, April 2, 2022, but will now be taking place on Saturday, May 7, 2022. You do not need to exchange your ticket, as it will be valid for the new date.

Show at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $54 to $61, available through Ticketpro. Presented by Ghostfingerproductions.com.

February 25,2022
Martin Levac back in concert!
Martin Levac announces a series of shows this spring!

"We're back on the road! 2 years ago, our lives shifted into unknown territories. We stayed in touch as best we could with Facebook live shows, with videos, and with messages on social medias.

After these two long years, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you are up to see live music again and that you will be there so that we can finally share our music onstage! The venues are ready to welcome you and I am ready to take you on a trip to the land of nostalgia!

It will be an awesome spring!"

Martin will be performing at:
Hector-Charland Theater in L'Assomption
Symphonic Rock show
Sunday April 24, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
https://hector-charland.com/programmation-spectacles/show-rock-symphonique/

Salle André-Mathieu in Laval
Phil Collins & Genesis show
Friday, April 29, 2022 at 8:00 p.m.
https://www.co-motion.ca/spectacles/martin-levac-phil-collins-et-genesis/

December 15, 2021
Riverside at the Corona Theatre
Legendary polish proggers Riverside will be at the Corona Theatre (2490 Notre-Dame Street West, Montreal) on Saturday, April 23, 2022 with very special guest Randy McStine.

Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8:00 PM, tickets available through evenko.

April 18, 2022
Behemoth & Arch Enemy at the MTelus Metropolis
A great evening of heavy metal with Behemoth & Arch Enemy at the MTelus Metropolis (59 Ste-Catherine Steet East, Montreal) on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, with opening bands Napalm Death & Unto Others.

Show begins at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $61, available through Ticketmaster.

December 15, 2021
Brit Floyd at Place des Arts
Don't miss "The World's Greatest Pink Floyd show, Brit Floyd" at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.

Brit Floyd presents their brand new production, Echoes 2020. Including material from The Wall, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Division Bell, as well as a sensational 23 minute “note for note” performance from the iconic song Echoes, composed 50 years ago and taken from the Pink Floyd Meddle album.

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Brit Floyd's show which was scheduled to take place on April 14, 2021 has been rescheduled on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Ticket holders are requested to keep their original tickets as they will be honored.

Doors at 7:15 PM, show at 8 PM, tickets available through evenko.

February 20, 2022
An Evening with Bruce Dickinson
Metal legend and lead singer of Iron Maiden Bruce Dickinson will be at the MTelus Metropolis (59 Ste-Catherine East, Montreal) on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, to present his spoken word and Q&A tour on the road.

Split into two parts, the first section of the show sees Bruce taking a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, treating the audience to private insights into his drive and ambition, peppered with plenty of Maiden anecdotes, and a myriad of other experiences encompassing not just the giddy heights but also the extreme lows, told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style, punctuated with photographs and sometimes even erupting into song a-capella, to illustrate a point.

The final section of the evening is devoted entirely to a Q&A session, with the opportunity to pose questions on any subject whatsoever. As Bruce’s answers will all be completely improvised – the more left-field and quirky the question, the more interesting and compelling the response is likely to be!

Doors at 6:30 PM, show begins at 8:00 PM. Tickets are available through evenko.

August 6, 2021
Liquid Tension Experiment - A review
Here's a quick review of Liquid Tension Experiment 3:
Fans of Liquid Tension Experiment have always hoped for a reunion after the band's two stellar releases in 1998 and 1999, but as the decades passed, It seemed more and more unlikely.

But late last year, to the surprise of all, Mike Portnoy announced that the group had gathered again – in the Dream Theater studios no less – to record the third opus of the mighty LTE. They had confined themselves in order to work together in the studio. LTE3 was released in mid-April this year.

This third new album captures the spontaneity, energy and originality of their first one, and I must admit, is far better than their second one. The quartet as always, puts the accent on impressive instrumentation and blistering virtuosity throughout the album, which is composed of a solid selection of fiery, energetic numbers, ballads and improvisations. Some of the compositions have riffs directly lifted from Petrucci's Dream Theater library of melodies! It was no surprise that their famed interpretation of "Rhapsody In Blue" by Gershwin was featured on this album, as they had introduced it during their US tour in 2008 much to their fan's delight!

The group also released promo videos for the songs The Passage of Time, Beating the Odds and Hypersonic. The regular edition of LTE3 contains eight tracks; the special edition with bonus disc comes with almost one hour of improvisations. It was released in digital, CD, LP and Blu-ray formats, including a limited 2CD+Blu-ray artbook edition and a limited deluxe box set.

August 5, 2021
PAKT - A review
Here's a new energetic jazz fusion band with a super cool lineup! PAKT !
PAKT is made up of fretless bass guitar icon Percy Jones (Brian Eno, Brand X), guitarists Alex Skolnick (Savatage, TSO) and Tim Motzer, and drummer Kenny Grohowski.

Elaborate instrumental proggy jazz fusion, with a superb level of virtuosity, the PAKT project is fluid and improvised yet highly organized. This album was released in July 2021, from a recording made of a live stream at the height of the pandemic lockdown, on August 15, 2020 in Brooklyn, NY. The intimate setting/live atmosphere of the ShapeShifter Lab Studios made for a splendid collaboration and instant chemistry between the musicians, something that would probably not have been possible if this project had been made in a home studio with the musicians sending their individual music tracks through email.

Alex Skolnick says: "When we play together it is non-categorizable, although one could probably apply terms like jazz-rock, ambient, experimental etc. It is entirely in the moment. The closest thing I've done to this was a project called Attention Deficit (with Michael Manring), although that was pure studio, never live. Fans of Attention Deficit will love PAKT, which can be seen live, and in fact, is all live, all the time."

Mixed and mastered by Benjamin Schäfer and Markus Reuter and produced by PAKT and Leonardo Pavkovic, this album is now available in CD format (2CD) on the Moonjune Records label, as well as on Bandcamp.

February 3, 2021
Return to Forever - Return to the 7th Galaxy
Here is a review of a splendid "greatest hits" of one of the finest fusion bands of the 70's.

Return to the 7th Galaxy (1996) highlights the music of 4 albums of Return To Forever, during their most creative era between 1972 and 1975. Various incarnations of the band during that period featured spectacular musicians like Lenny White, Bill Connors, Al Di Meola and Joe Farrell, but all of these 4 albums had in common Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke as the core team.

The first disk concentrates on the latino jazz formation in 1972-73. The second disk delves into the later jazz rock fusion era of the band, with probably their most classic lineup lineup of Corea, Clarke, Di Meola and White. Four of the songs on this compilation are live recordings that capture the pure energy of this band onstage, even though these recordings are a bit harsh at times, but include a blistering 14 minute version of Spain, it's worth getting that compilation just for that track.

Essential tracks are part of this anthology, including Celebration Suite, Majestic Dance, Cosmic Rain, Hymn of the 7th Galaxy, No Mystery, Vulcan Worlds and 500 miles high, rounded off by a well-balanced selection of other renowned tracks. It's a very good musical portrait of Return to Forever if you're looking to explore the music of this legendary band.

February 3, 2021
Apple & programmed obsolescence...
Today i'll be talking about Apple products and their longevity. In the early days, Apple had a business model where their products were very well engineered, well built, easily upgradable and their operating system was superior in many ways to their PC world counterparts (but that is a debate for another time!). Their crowning achievement was the longevity of their gear, many computers, devices and equipments far outlasted other brands, before failing or becoming truly obsolete. But there was a cost to that: Apple gear was damn expensive.

So for Apple, they compensated having to manufacture a bit less gear by selling it at a price that made your eyes water...

But with the years, many companies caught up with Apple as far as ease of use, flexibility and upgradability. When Steven Jobs passed away, I noticed a subtle change in Apple products. I don't know, maybe a shift in accessibility and flexibility, a compromise in quality, that did not benefit the consumers, and made their gear very hard to repair or update. This prompted a movement called the Electronics right to repair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics_right_to_repair). In essence, it's a "bill of rights" of sorts stating that no company can forbid users from tinkering with their own gear and prevent them from repairing or upgrading it, especially if it is out of warranty.

In particular, Apple in the mid 2010s had started making phones, tablets and computers much more difficult to repair or upgrade, or simply disassemble without potentially destroying them, they went as far as to introduce code in their OS that purposely slowed down older devices, in an effort to make consumers throw away what doesn't work anymore and replacing it with brand new gear... Sneaky buggers!!!

In 2005, replacing a Lithium Ion Battery on a PowerBook involved purchasing from Apple a new battery module, and pop off the old battery by turning a penny on a slot in the back... Nowadays, you have to bring it to an Apple authorized dealer because they have made the battery so inaccessible that you run the risk of breaking your computer if you attempt to replace the battery yourself, unless you are an expert at microsurgery.

And I have also noticed that the quality of their gear has suffered too. phones and computers do not seem to last nearly as long as their earlier components. For the sake of extreme miniaturization and high efficiency, they sometimes cut corners and make poor engineering decisions. Remember the G5 era and the bad caps? Between 2002 and 2007, Apple manufactured many G5 computers that had faulty capacitors that performed flawlessly for 2 or 3 years, then failed because the faulty capacitors started overheating or exploding, releasing stinky magic smoke before giving up the ghost, of course all of these machines had just ended their extended warranty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague). Also the unfortunate iPhone 6 that would literally bend out of shape and crack if you left it in your back pocket while sitting. More recently, a friend of mine bought a high end PowerBook a few years back (2017 model if I recall), and its screen broke down and was replaced twice, before Apple decided to replace the whole mac with a new unit the third time... the replacement unit had its motherboard crapping out a year later. Unlucky? Maybe, but it goes to show that Apple had "eras" where their stuff was not as reliable. More often than not, they will declare the original device dead, and if it's out of warranty, well, you're out of luck and you'll need to buy another one. Some would say it was an attempt by Apple to make some of their products affordable for the average joe, but still their gear was pretty expensive and now failed much faster than in previous years.

The best example of good and bad eras would be the years 2010 and 2011. Seems this was an excellent era for Apple products. My laptop dates back from 2010. My iMac 27" also. And even my iPhone 4S dates back from that era. I have never had the slightest problem with any of those and I use them daily. And all of them are relatively easy to access for repairs or updates.

Let me describe a recent event that illustrate this:
My iPhone 4S, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, was starting to show signs of wear, the battery could no longer hold a charge and was pretty much dead after one or two calls. Hey, 10 years on the original battery ain't bad. So I decided to look up on the 'net for a new battery. At local electronics stores, it was a bit expensive, and I'm not even talking about an authentic Apple replacement battery, which was a hefty $50, so I ordered a new battery kit on AliExpress for around $10, and it even includes a special little "pentalobe" screwdriver for the custom screws used on the iPhones outer shell.


The kit includes the battery, screwdrivers, and spudgers


Using the pentalobe screwdriver, you remove the two screws on each side of the power/data connector


You can then slide off the cover upwards a bit and it will come right off


The opened iPhone, two little philipps screws hold the 4-pin connector in place. After removing them, the connector can be pryed off (do not force it, just rock it up and down gently) and the last thing to do is to carefully pry-off the battery, held in place by strong adhesive

So I proceeded to open the iPhone, two little screws on each side of the power connector hold the back cover to the phone. Once unscrewed, you simply slide down the back cover about 3 mm and it just pops off, as seen in the images accompanying this article. From that point on, you simply remove the two screws holding the connector, then pry off the battery (stuck in place with a pretty strong adhesive) and swap the battery.

That new battery kit, which includes the two tiny screwdrivers, cost about $10, and brought back the phone to life for another few years. It still takes great pictures, holds plenty of music, I can text and talk... I need nothing more from it! This repair job was done 3 days ago and prompted me to write this article.

Attempting a repair job like this on more recent iPhones would have been awfully hard, but oddly, for their most recent iPhone 12, they brought back the easy-to-open back cover held by two screws! I must admit that if I am going to plunk down nearly $2000 on a phone, I sure as hell want the option of changing the damn battery myself in a few years and I expect to get a solid 10 years out of it at least!

Another example of pure throwaway consumerism is the Apple AirPods... they are rather expensive ($175 to $250) and most consumers will use them for about 12 to 18 months before they can't hold a charge anymore and become useless. No way to replace the internal batteries, the units are completely sealed in epoxy! I would be pissed to throw away headphones a year after I bought them because they don't work anymore. I have a set of wired Apple earbuds that I have been using regularly for nearly 10 years and they work like new and they sound awesome! What can I say, wires don't bother me! That's why I have an Apple Smartmouse WIFI that I have never used and probably never will (Apple has never in their entire existence, made a good mouse, they're just bad at it).

I love technology but there's a firm line in the sand that I will not cross. Wifi everything isn't my thing. Call me the Analog Kid or the techno-caveman, it's alright!

Apple has always been notorious for their unilateral decisions to abandon technologies by purposely rendering them obsolete and leaving consumers and manufacturers shaking their heads in disbelief. Remember Firewire? A lot of musicians and video engineers have invested in insanely expensive gear that they can't use anymore on newer macs because they abandoned this technology for the proprietary Thunderbolt technology, now superceded by USB3 and USB4/TB4, it's hard to follow especially when some of those aren't even backwards compatible. Then there was their unbelievable arrogant decision to do away with audio jacks on their more recent phones and computers... but you can buy a USB to audio adapter for ten bucks. Some even accuse them of abandoning mass market in general to concentrate on high end, luxury products that the average consumer no longer can afford.

But it's not all doom and gloom, they have been pioneers in audio-visual technology and graphic arts, their iMacs and PowerBooks are extremely popular among artists of all kinds despite their high prices. The macbook air was the thinnest computer available when it was released. Apple TV is a cool little piece of technology and many companies include equivalents in their smart TVs, the latest Apple TV 4K is almost unequaled by any other technology nowadays. The Apple watch, although a bit bulky, is the closest thing to the futuristic Dick Tracy watch of the 1940's! And the iPhone is a highly reliable phone and people still stand in line to get the latest version when it hits the stores, it introduced technologies like the multitouch screens, high-resolution cameras, Siri, and the sturdy gorilla glass. And mac OS, despite all its flaws and multiple updates, is still a reference of stabiliy and security among operating systems.

Many may agree or disagree with all of the above but as I said, it's just a platform for discussions and suggestions, most of my gear is mac-based and am more comfortable with mac computers than PCs but I still use both regularly. I refuse Apple's obsolescence! As long as I can tinker with my Apple gear, I will support it, otherwise, I am out!

February 2, 2021
Loreena McKennitt - Nights from The Alhambra...
This morning I am revisiting a Loreena McKennitt live album from 2007, Nights from The Alhambra.

Recorded in September 2006 in the courtyard of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, this great box set is composed of 2 CDs and one DVD. This recording captures a splendid outdoors performance from her Ancient Muse tour. Impeccable production quality, and a beautifully recorded, mystical, ethereal performance by Loreena and the 11 musicians that accompany her. The sound is in glorious 5.1 digital and 2.0 PCM!

Fans of LM and of her live concerts will seek this album, as it is a perfect portrait of this wonderful Canadian composer. With 10 studio albums and 6 live albums, she is a prolific artist, her latest album Live At The Royal Albert Hall, was released in 2019.

Here's an excerpt from the Alhambra concert, her "anthem" song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz3lqVv0vCEe

February 2, 2021
Spotify...
Is it good or bad?
Streaming services are utterly convenient for many people and have taken off in a big way with our current level of computer technology and connectivity, but the concept at the very source, is mortally flawed for the creators of its content. If your music is on Spotify, you're paid mere peanut shells for your work. Not even a whole peanut. There are other services like Pandora, Tidal, Apple Music, that have similar business models and revenue brackets but Spotify, at 0.4 ¢ per stream is pretty much the most popular and least generous of them all.

You could say "all musicians should unite and boycott Spotify" but it's not that easy, the genie is out of the bottle, and the tens if not hundreds of millions of users are not gonna vanish in a puff of smoke any time soon. They are used to the simple access, anywhere, anytime on any device, of whatever playlist they create on the fly.

I am an adept of physical media myself, but nowadays, with our easy digital technology, physical media sales have decreased dramatically, and I can only imagine that the pandemic will have exacerbated this decrease. Even vinyl LP sales have overtaken actual CD sales in recent months.

As in politics, there will be two camps with vastly different ideologies. On one side, you have the Spotify generation that might never even have bought a CD in their lives, and consider music the same way they consider TV, something that's there to entertain, or background noise. You can't just ask them to support the artists, buy their music instead of getting it for free, it's an essential consumable commodity to them, like air or water.

On the other side, you have the older generation, who know what's involved to make music, make an album, they have CD collections, they go to shows, they buy their music, either on disk, in download format, or even on good ol' vinyl LPs. They support the artists actively. Again with the pandemic, their numbers are on a steady decline, since there have been no live shows for nearly a year now, some are losing interest in music, loin des yeux, loin du coeur as they say in French.

Yes I agree that there are older people who have gone full digital, and there are young folks who are avid collectors of CDs, LPs and audio cassettes. They are not a majority however, but whatever their age, the two ideologies are far apart and can be summed up this way; they either support musicians and their work, or they don't. And yes also, i know that there are people who actively buy music and support musicians, but have their whole collection on Spotify. I commend them and praise their support, but this article IS NOT about them.

Two different ideologies, but unfortunately, one of them is getting new followers daily, and the other is shrinking rapidly. This is a losing battle for the music industry, and only the big corporate names on major labels can still make a living of their art.

Thankfully, there's Bandcamp, a digital content provider whose business model actually benefits musicians, that will be discussed in another blog at a later time

Here's the perspective from Benn Jordan, a musician who's been actually fortunate enough to barely scrape a living out of streaming services, he discusses about the positive side of Spotify, but mostly the numerous negative points about that service and its impact on the music world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXudOLStaXA

February 2, 2021
Memories of the days of Arena Rock:
Journey's Greatest Hits on DVD
Last month, I decided to finally check out this DVD that I bought at a thrift store years ago and never watched: Journey - Greatest Hits DVD - 1978 - 1997

Some observations:
1) The DVD was manufactured in 2003 so I didn't expect much. For starters, it's in 4:3 screen ratio, back in the days when CRT TVs were still king. And from what it appears, some of the clips were literally in VHS quality.

2) It's a hosh-posh collection of videos, and live clips of varied quality. Later live material from the 1986 Raised On Radio era looks good and sounds good, but some of the 1979-1981 material sounds and looks truly awful.

3) Many of the music videos on that compilation are truly cringeworthy... And I mean bad, bad, baaad! Hard to imagine when a band with such a unlimited budget could make such terrible music videos, when other artists of that era (Peter Gabriel, A-Ha, Billy Idol, Tom Petty, Duran Duran to name a few) were making legendary videos that are still brilliant and relevant 40 years later... There are one or two that weren't too bad but still, ugh .

4) Criminally bad overdubbing of studio tracks over live performances, even the tracking and lipsyncing is off. And they pass this for a "music video" ... Really? Dreadful.

5) I remember the little yellow leopard print tank top Steve Perry was wearing when I saw Journey at the Montreal Forum, and the Afghan puppy haircut he had, quite a trademark look!

6) Journey in the 80's was a sublime, tight band and their live shows were worth every penny. The energy of that band is best captured on this compilation with the 1986 Raised On Radio tour clips.

7) Damn that Steve Perry had a unbelievable, unique voice! It became a bit more gravely and deeper over the years, but it was just magical and unique!

8) Even though this was a pretty lame compilation, it was still enjoyable to see.

February 1st, 2021
John Jowitt & Andy Edwards (IQ)
present their new band: Rain
Singularity by the newly created band Rain features Andy Edwards on drums, Rob Groucutt on vocals keys and guitars, Mirron Webb on vocals and guitars, and John Jowitt on bass.

Pure, highly refined progressive rock with catchy, captivating, refreshing melodies and harmonies, a badass rhythm section that just sounds enormous, two seasoned musicians contributing at times a sound or a style they are renowned for (IQ, Frost, Arena etc) accompanied by two immensely talented newcomers. Elegant guitar work, precise, delicate, layered, rich harmonies and in the words of JJ himself, "nothing but epics!"... Thoroughly enjoyable! The band is currently working on their second release and hopes that they can book a few live dates in 2021.

Listen to this wonderful interview by fellow progger Pete Pardo with Andy Edwards and John Jowitt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MIrC4vyUPI

You can find Singularity on bandcamp at: https://rainprogband.bandcamp.com/album/singularity

November 23, 2019
Devin Townsend at the Corona - New added show
Canadian Metal hero Devin Townsend will be at the Corona Theatre (2490 Notre-Dame Street West) on Friday, February 28, 2020, accompanied by british prog band Haken and american prog metal band The Contortionist.

Update: The Friday show is sold out, and due to popular demand, a second show has been added on Wednesday, February 26, 2020. Tickets available through evenko!

Devin will present new music from his latest album Empath, as well as many of his classic tracks and fan favorites.

Doors at 6:00 PM, Show at 7:00 PM. General admission tickets are $49, available through evenko.

April 12, 2019
Kansas plays Point of Know Return
Legendary American progressive rock band, Kansas, will be at the Théâtre St-Denis (1594 St-Denis, Montreal) on Saturday, November 2, 2019.

Kansas will be touring select cities in the US and Canada in during the fall and winter, on the third leg of their popular Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour. Launched as a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the massive hit album Point of Know Return, the band will be performing the album in its entirety. The tour showcases more than two hours of classic Kansas music including hit songs, deep cuts, and fan favorites. Tickets and Kansas VIP Packages available through evenko.

Kansas is currently comprised of original drummer Phil Ehart, bassist/vocalist Billy Greer, vocalist/keyboardist Ronnie Platt, violinist/guitarist David Ragsdale, keyboardist Tom Brislin, guitarist Zak Rizvi, and original guitarist Richard Williams. The band has released 15 studio albums, including its most recent release The Prelude Implicit (2016), and plans to release of another new studio album in 2020.

September 23, 2019
Rick Wakeman and his
Grumpy Old Rock Star Tour!
Contest winner!
Keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman embarks on its first solo U.S. tour in 13 years and will be at the Théâtre Olympia (1004 Ste-Catherine East, Montreal) on Saturday, September 28, 2019.

The contest for the pair of tickets for the show at the Olympia has ended and we have a winner!

Congrats to Marylene Poudrier in Beloeil!

Thanks to Ruben Fogel Productions for the great prize and a big thanks to all who have participated!

Wakeman’s The Grumpy Old Rock Star Tour will combine spellbinding piano music with sidesplitting jokes and revealing insights into his 50-plus-year career. Expect an evening of superb musicianship, featuring music from Yes, Rick’s own solo epics and early Bowie hits, plus fantastic arrangements of Beatles’ tunes, and much, much more, interspersed with knockabout (and sometimes bawdy!) typically British humor. Professional musician, keyboard player, songwriter, broadcaster and raconteur, Wakeman’s career started as a much-in-demand session player, who performed on recordings by David Bowie, Elton John, Lou Reed, Al Stewart and hundreds more artists. His big break came in 1971 when he joined Yes, who went on to become the most successful prog rock band in the world, but Wakeman has also always gone his own way outside the framework of that group.

In the Seventies, he achieved chart-topping success with solo albums such as Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which cumulatively sold over 10,000,000 copies in North America alone. He has written several film scores, amongst them two for director Ken Russell (Lisztomania and Crimes of Passion) and two ‘Harry Palmer’ movies starring Michael Caine (Bullet To Beijing and Midnight in St. Petersburg), and in the UK, has built up an impressive reputation as a witty guest and host on shows like Grumpy Old Men, Countdown, Watchdog and the comedy cabaret show Live at Jongleurs. His wickedly irreverent acceptance speech when Yes was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 nearly brought the house down!

Tickets are $90.00 / $75.00 / $60.00 (Taxes included / service charge extra) available online through L'Olympia boxoffice. VIP packages available.

May 12, 2019
The Musical Box presents
A Genesis Extravaganza: Contest winner!
The Musical Box will be at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of the Place des Arts on Saturday, May 18, 2019 to present their latest 3-part Genesis Extravaganza.

The contest has now ended and we have a winner!

Congratulations to Glen Ellement of Dollard-des-Ormeaux who wins the pair of tickets to the Montreal show
Thanks to evenko for the great prize and a big thanks to all who have participated!

In an all-out performance of live visual signature stunts, a museum-worthy array of vintage instruments and a dizzying pace of iconic tracks and stage rarities, The Musical Box indulges for the first time in its 25 years of existence, in an intense 3-act voyage into the world of early Genesis music.

Act 1 - The Wind's Tail features music from Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering
Act 2 - Broadway Melodies features music from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Act 3 - Before the Ordeal features music from Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot and Selling England by the Pound

Tickets are $53.75 to $66.75, available through evenko.

April 29, 2019
Marillion Weekend 2019 in Montreal
The Montreal edition of Marillion Weekend is just a few days away, from the 17th to the 19th of May, 2019 at L'Olympia, Montréal, Canada

Here are all the details:

Friday, May 17 to Sunday, May 19, 2019

Doors: 7:00pm
Show: 8:00pm

Configuration: General admission standing. Tickets (tax included, service fees to be added) are $206.95 Regular.

The Marillion Weekend 2019 – Montreal will take place over 3 nights at L’Olympia, Montreal. The concerts will feature a different show every night. Friday & Saturday Nights are surprise nights! As in previous conventions the set-list will be revealed on the night and is sure to delight… Sunday Night Is Album Night and will feature the Happiness Is The Road album. See you there!

April 20, 2019
District 97, Karcius and Hamadryad at Petit Campus
A formidable evening of progressive rock fusion in perspective as American group District 97 and the Montreal bands Karcius and Hamadryad will be at the Petit Campus (57 Prince-Arthur, Montreal) on Thursday, May 16, 2019.

District 97, from Chicago, is composed of Leslie Hunt (2007 American Idol top ten finalist), Jim Tashjian, Andrew Lawrence, Tim Seisser and Jonathan Schang. Their creative and imaginative style of progressive rock has been acclaimed by critics.

Show at 8 pm, tickets are $27.50, available through LePointdeVente.com.

October 8, 2018
New music
Cool new music from all around the world, here are some recent (and future) releases of interest:

Glass Hammer - Chronomonaut : One of the most enduring prog rock bands from the US of A, Glass Hammer will release their 17th studio album on October 12, entitled Chronomonaut.

Bassist Steve Babb says the new concept album tells the story of “the ultimate prog fan.” Chronomonaut is a stand-alone album but also acts as a Part Two for the highly successful 2000 release Chronometree. Babb elaborates, “Our album deals with time travel, nostalgia and the love of prog-rock. Chronomonaut’s protagonist, Tom, starts his own band and then makes the attempt to go back to the seventies in hopes of becoming a prog-god. It’s all in fun and is really a very tongue-in-cheek look at how our favorite music can take us back in time.”

Steve Babb is joined by Susie Bogdanowicz, Aaron Raulston, and Fred Schendel. Guest appearances include Discipline’s Matthew Parmenter and Chris Herin.

“Immaculate storytelling, soaring and varied musical passages, an uncanny number of musical styles, and Bogdanowicz’s angelic voice combine to make Chronomonaut Glass Hammer’s most majestic album yet.” Brad Birzer – Progarchy

Check out Glass Hammer's Melancholy Holiday video from the new album Chronomonaut.

Here is the tracklist of Chronomonaut:

1. The Land Of Lost Content 1:54
2. Roll For Initiative 7:43
3. Twilight Of The Godz 8:13
4. The Past Is Past 9:56
5. 1980 Something 5:51
6. A Hole In The Sky 4:49
7. Clockwork 2:17
8. Melancholy Holiday 4:27
9. It Always Burns Sideways 5:49
10. Blinding Light 6:01
11. Tangerine Meme 3:05
12. Fade Away 10:27

The seventy-minute long Chronomonaut releases on October 12th, but fans can pre-order autographed copies of the album and limited edition t-shirts at the band’s website. http://glasshammer.com/official-store/

Available at all good independent record stores including Freeson Rock.

March 21, 2019
Frost* and Mystery in Montreal tonight!
British band Frost* and Montreal's Mystery will be at Salle Jean-Paul Tardif for a long-awaited double-bill for Progressive Rock fans. The event will take place on Friday, March 22, 2019. The Frost*/Mystery duo will also be in Montreal on Thursday, March 21, 2019 at La Tulipe (4530 Papineau).

Frost* is a British supergroup formed in 2004 by keyboardist Jem Godfrey. Their sound is very modern and dynamic. In 2017, their album Falling Satellites was in the top 10 of several critics of the music press.

The band also features Craig Bundell on drums (Steven Wilson), John Mitchell on guitar (Arena, It Bites), Nathan King on bass (Level 42, It Bites).

The evening will begin with the performance of the excellent Montreal band Mystery. They will present brand new material from their latest album Lies and Butterflies as well as highlights from previous albums.

Mystery is composed of: Michel St-Père (guitar), François Fournier (bass), Jean-Sébastien Goyette (drums), Antoine Michaud (keyboards), Jean Pageau (vocals and flute) and Sylvain Moineau (guitar).

Mystery is one of the most respected progressive rock bands in the country. Very popular in Europe, they will begin in April, a tour that will take them to Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

Tickets for the Quebec City show available through the Salle Jean-Paul Tardif box office.
Tickets for the Montreal show available through Admission.

December 19, 2018
Within Temptation at the Olympia
Heavy Montreal Presents Within Temptation with In Flames at the Olympia de Montréal (1004 St-Catherine St East) on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, with opening band Smash into Pieces.

The Dutch symphonic metal band will present new material from their latest album Resist.

Doors at 5:00 PM, show at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $60 to $155, available through evenko and at the Olympia boxoffice.

October 14, 2018
Roine Stolt and The Flower Kings in Montreal
The legendary guitarist of Swedish progressive rock band The Flower Kings, Roine Stolt, will be in Montreal on Thursday, February 28, 2019 at the Club Soda (1225 St. Laurent Blvd, Montreal) and in Quebec City on Friday March 1, 2019, at Salle Jean-Paul Tardif. He will present the music of his new album Roine Stolt 's The Flower King "Manifesto of an Alchemist" which will be available in November.

The Flower Kings was formed in 1994 and was one of the leading bands in the progressive rock renaissance of the 1990s. They have twelve studio albums to their credit.

Roine Stolt is one of the most prolific musicians in today's progressive rock movement. Alongside The Flower Kings, he has been seen in such bands as Transatlantic, Agents of Mercy, The Tangent, Kaipa and more recently The Sea Within. He has also worked with Steve Hackett and Jon Anderson.

Roine Stolt will be accompanied by Hasse Froberg (vocals, guitar), Jonas Reingold (bass), Zach Kamins (keyboards) and Mirko Demaio (drums).

Doors at 19h, show at 20h. Tickets for the Montreal show are $54, available through the Club Soda box office and www.lepointdevente.com. General admission seated places.

October 21, 2018
Neal Morse at Club Soda
The prolific singer and multi-instrumentalist Neal Morse will perform in Montreal on Monday, February 18, 2019 at Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent, Montreal).

The Neal Morse band will be promoting a new album, The Great Adventure, to be released on January 25th.

Neal Morse is also a dominant figure in two other musical groups. In 2000, he set up the Transatlantic rock-progressive super-band with Pete Trewavas (Marillion), Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) and Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater). Neal Morse is also part of the group Flying Colors whose first album was released in 2012.

In 1992 Neal Morse founded, with his brother Alan, the band Spock's Beard. The latter quickly became one of the most respected band of modern rock-progressive movement thanks to their first album: The Light. He left Spock’s Beard in 2002 to begin his solo career.

Neal Morse's music is known for being eclectic, energetic and rich in vocal harmonies. During his concerts, he surrounds himself always virtuoso musicians.

The Neal Morse band is composed of Randy George (bass), Eric Gillette (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Bill Hubauer (keyboards, violin, saxophone and vocals), and popular drummer Mike Portnoy.

Show at 8:00 PM, tickets are $54, available through LePointDeVente.com.

May 2, 2018
The Musical Box at Place des Arts
The Musical Box presents A Genesis Extravaganza at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of the Place des Arts on Saturday, February 9, 2019.

In an all-out performance of live visual signature stunts, a museum-worthy array of vintage instruments and a dizzying pace of iconic tracks and stage rarities, The Musical Box indulges for the 1st time in 25 years an intense 3-act voyage into the world of early Genesis. Act 1 is The Wind’s Tail, Act 2 is Broadway Melodies and act 3 is Before the Ordeal.

Doors at 7:15 PM - Show at at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $53.70 to $85.20, available through www.evenko.ca.