By entering the stage of venue 't Blok, it was the first time that the Italian progressive rock bands LogoS and Phoenix Again played outside their home country. These performances were made possible thanks to the efforts of the people of ProgFrog. This Dutch organization brought already several excellent bands to our country. Even rather unknown acts get a chance to present themselves for an audience, although they know that the place won't be sold out! This also applied to this Sunday afternoon in November when these two Italian bands set the stage on fire with their excellent music!
 

LogoS

L to R: Luca Zerman, Fabio Gaspari and Claudio Antolini

Many fans of Italian prog rock in the Netherlands were already aware that LogoS from Verona made a very impressive third album in 2014. Most people that showed up mainly came for this band in the first place. I love their CD L'Enigma Della Vita (see review) as well. The combination of strong keyboard and guitar parts on this album made me curious to find out how they would perform their excellent compositions live on stage. However, I saw that the line-up lacked a guitar player, but strangely enough I didn't miss a lead guitar at all when they started to play the opening piece of their latest album. Keyboard player Claudio Antolini perfectly replaced the original guitar parts on Venivo Da Un Lungo Sonno by using the same foot pedals for additional effects that guitarists use most of the time. The vocals in the Italian language sang by keyboardist Luca Zerman could hardly be done better.

Alessandro Perbellini

Right from the start the band played amazingly well; most tracks were taken from their latest album. These pieces have been chiefly inspired by the great prog acts of the seventies such as Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Genesis, Yes and King Crimson. After the audience enjoyed five pieces of L'Enigma Della Vita it was time for a composition from their second album Ásrava (2001). After Terra Incognita was perfectly finished LogoS paid tribute to Le Orme, one of the big names in the history of Rock Progressivo Italiano. When LogoS started in 1996 as a cover band they already played songs from this legendary band. During the four covers of Le Orme the lead vocals were done by Fabio Gaspari. This excellent bassist was together with drummer Alessandro Perbellini responsible for the strong rhythm parts throughout the show that lasted approximately seventy-five minutes. After the final notes of Collage they left the stage, while they took a well-deserved applause from the audience leaving them speechless!
 

Phoenix Again

L to R: Marco and Antonio Lorandi

Those visitors who came mainly for LogoS soon found out that Phoenix Again were certainly not a band you'll easily forget. This instrumental band from Brescia showed that they could entertain an audience throughout their set, which lasted about one hour and forty minutes. The songs taken from ThreeFour (2011, see review) and Look Out (2014, see review) were perfectly copied and, whenever possible, the musicians even created room to improvise as well. The strong instrumental pieces reminded me of the music made by early Camel. Those who listened closely could hear a small part of Camel's Lunar Sea during the opening tune Adso Da Melk. I heard the same kind of rhythmic parts and also guitarist Andy Latimer crossed my mind as the song continued. I guess those musicians who were responsible for this resemblance were drummer Silvano Silva, bass player Antonio Lorandi and his brother Sergio Lorandi (lead guitar), who got a solo spot while playing The Phoenix Flies Again. They started the band Phoenix in the early eighties. These musicians are mainly responsible for the band's strong compositions as well.

Sergio Lorandi

The compositions not only contained fine melodic guitar solos, but keyboardist Andrea Piccinelli − with a Jordan Rudess-like beard − showed several times that he could entertain the audience as well. Even rhythm guitarist Marco Lorandi, the son of the bassist, occasionally showed some musical tricks. He also introduced the songs and the band members and he told the audience some background information about the music. This sometimes led to fine moments between him and his father. Although an encore was not planned they got a well-deserved one all the same. Before playing the title track of their second album they thanked everybody. This final piece once again proved how well these musicians play on their instruments with several solos. After the show was over they left the audience speechless for the second time that day!

These two Italian bands demonstrated that you don't need to have a big name in the progressive rock scene to captivate the attention of an audience. Once again the ProgFrog team succeeded in organizing two fine Sunday afternoon gigs. So thumbs up for LogoS, Phoenix Again and the organizers!

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)