Friday night, sandwiched between the Anathema and Falconer sets, ProgPower USA XVII and it’s line-up were announced at the festival, gathering an explosion of applause and screams with every name to come up on the screen. Next year’s main festival will take place on Friday September 9th and Saturday the 10th, with the Wednesday Midweek Mayhem and Thursday Kick-Off show taking on a new format. Tickets for the Friday show go on sale October 3rd, and tickets for Wednesday and Thursday going on sale on November 7th.
Headlining the Friday and Saturday dates are Fates Warning and Devin Townsend Project, respectively. Fates Warning will be playing their third album, and first to chart on the Billboard top 200, Awaken the Guardian in its entirety with their original vocalist John Arch for a US exclusive show. Devin Townsend will be joined by special guest Anneke van Gierbergen, who famously appeared on his latest two albums, Epicloud and Z2, which means that we may end up with a show similar to what he recently did for his Retinal Circus dvd. Another announcement to earn a noticeably large reaction was Green Carnation, who will be playing their sophomore album, Light of Day, Day of Darkness, every single song on it as a US exclusive.
This year’s program came with a message from the show organizer Glenn Harveston, announcing a slight change in the format, something that would be affecting the Wednesday and Thursday shows. Those bands have yet to be announced, but can be expected within the next few weeks.
“How about we progress next year?
ProgPower USA Mid-Week Mayhem: Gone
ProgPower USA Kick-Off: Gone.It’s time to shake things up a bit and kick it up a notch. We will be moving to a new format next year we believe is best for everyone. ProgPower USA XVII will now be a four-day event in the main theater at Center Stage. Milton Mendonca (Mid-Week Mayhem promoter) & Nathan Block (Kick-Off Promoter) will co-promote both nights going forward. I’m also going to throw my hat in the ring with next year to help transition things as well. So, what should you expect?
Wednesday will see four bands on the main stage including a headliner that could headline any night of the main festival. Thursday will only see three bands. However, these bands will be the “promoter’s pick.” In other words, Milton will personally book one band, Nathan will personally book one band, and I will book the headliner. After that, they will take over those two nights completely in the future.
The only difference is there will only be two-night tickets placed on sale for Wednesday & Thursday initially n November 7th (Friday & Saturday tickets will go on sale October 3rd). Individual night tickets will not go on sale till July of 2016 if any remain. Trust me when I say we are building a roster worthy of getting you down to Atlanta for all four nights.
Jen (my partner, best friend, and wife) & I wish all of you the best an thank you for your continued support.
Cheers,
Glenn”
2016 running order:
Friday:
Ascendia (Canada)
Vanishing Point (Australia)
Freedom Call (Germany)
Gentle Storm (Netherlands)
Scar Symmetry (Sweden)
Fates Warning (USA) “Awaken the Guardian” in its entirety with John Arch. – a U.S. Exclusive
Saturday:
Savage Messiah (UK)
Serious Black (Multinational)
Green Carnation (Norway) “Light of Day, Day of Darkness” in its entirety. – a U.S. Exclusive
Refuge (Germany)
Haken (UK)
Devin Townsend (Canada) with special guest, Anneke van Giersbergen
ProgPower USA XVII Roster Presentation from ProgPower USA on Vimeo.
ProgPower XVII Flyer
