Jul012009
I want to ride again: NEARfest 2009
Filed under Music by Kim at 2:21 pm on Jul 01 2009
It’s like a rollercoaster. As soon as I got home from NEARfest, I wanted to go back. Despite feeling a little out of place, thanks much to Twitter, I was able to follow NEARfest folks and meet people! I even had someone stop me in the hall and say, “Hey, I recognize you from your twitter icon!” So that salvaged what might have otherwise been a mostly anti-social weekend.
Which would have been a pity, because proggers are very nice and interesting folks. As it is, I’m sad I went back to my hotel room to study while the party raged on.
Social dynamics aside, I was so excited to be exposed to a whole bunch of bands I had never heard before. There were plenty of surprises and even the bands that were not my bag were worth watching, and barely a weak spot was to be found in the lineup.
Cabezas de Cera: I saw “avant” and thought surely I would be indifferent. That was not so! There was plenty of musicality and a really engaging performance presence by this band. I tend to need vocals so for me to say I loved an instrumental set is high praise.
Beardfish: You all already know that I am a monstrous Beardfish fan. They did not disappoint. Thanks so much to Mike for 
letting me steal his seat for that set!! They did “Spegeldans” from their first album and that’s one of my favorites. I love the particular quirks of Rikard’s songwriting and Magnus’ lyrical drum parts, and the live show of course takes the whole thing to another level. This band is having fun and they project that in their live performance.
Gong: I had never heard Gong. I was a Gong newbie. I was totally grooving on their show and highly entertained. Thanks for weirding out beautifully! I have doubts about whether their music would carry over in studio albums, so if anyone out there wants to correct me on that, please do!
I also really loved hearing the VdGG set and the Trettioariga Kireget set, it was just a great experience all the way around. Next year who knows if I can return, but if I can, there is no doubt that I will. I also really enjoyed that the venue and the organization are very free about photography, so I was able to do a bunch of practicing with the manual settings. (Not to mention, the professional lights were a big help, and in most cases accented the performances well. Kudos to the lighting team.)
1 janice sullivanon 02 Jul 2009 at 10:28 am
Love your lighting! Awesome work!
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Kim Reply:
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Thanks so much!! I really lucked out with that lighting. I have to say your macro shots are inspiring. I don’t have a macro lens right now, but someday…
Currently I plan to focus on people.
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2 Wendyon 08 Jul 2009 at 4:25 pm
Hey Kim!
Ok, so, you’ve got photo skills, medical skills, mad computer skills and a heart for the music scene… It’s gonna be great to get to meet you at the workshop! By the way, I love these rock shots. You really captured some fantastic moments – very impressive use of the light!
Thanks for commenting on our blog. My very skilled and gifted husband took many of the photos you saw on the blog. He has been an amazing inspiration and knowledge source though our photographic journeys, so I’m hoping our forthcoming fun lady times will help me learn something I can teach him. 😉 It’s going to be a blast!
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Kim Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Oh, I am so very excited – it will definitely be great.
I don’t have those medical skills yet, but I will be getting them very soon! Always learning, that’s the way to be.
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3 Prosaic Paradise » ProgDay 2009: Like Coming Homeon 13 Sep 2009 at 8:32 pm
[…] to leave basically the day of. I had no idea how many people I’d get to see again from NEARfest! The social aspect of the experience was a whole different animal as a result. I also volunteered […]