US prog festival Progstock continues their virtual live shows into September with another three weeks of concerts confirmed, including a Virtual ProgDay over the weekend of September 5/6. ProgStock Presents Virtual Series was originally announced in July in response to this year’s event being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of their livestream on September 12, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius will be premiering their new music video, Storm Surge. It features Saga’s Michael Sadler on vocals, Rachel Flowers on piano and flute, Fernando Perdomo on guitar, and Ruti Celli (Sound of Contact) on cello. Deninzon met Michael and Rachel when they all performed at ProgStock 2018.
Says organiser Thomas Palmieri of the festival's decision to go online: "The pandemic has closed music venues and brought in-person live music performances to a screeching halt. Accordingly, we have had to cancel ProgStock 2020. We don’t know how long we will have to wait before it will be truly safe to stage a festival, but we will be back!"
To keep the musicians and fans engaged, this team has been curating a number of online progressive rock events. Early on in the pandemic, they curated the virtual stage for Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, NJ, for the UnCancelled Music Festival. They started the ProgStock Presents Virtual Series on August 1, 2020, and plan to continue as long as musicians are out of work and fans have no live shows to attend. All the artists taking part in this year's streamed events are being encouraged to donate some or all of the proceeds from their show to the Bob Moog Foundation.
ProgStock Presents Virtual Series: September shows
05/09: Stop Motion Orchestra, Vespero, VAK, Les Evades
06/09: Hooffoot, Mad Fellaz, Ghost Rhythms, Gnarbot
12/09: Dave Bainbridge, Frogbelly & Symphony, Dark Beauty, Joe Deninzon and Stratospheerius
19/09: Manticore, Tribe of Names, Aaron Clift, Discipline (and friends)
