Head With Wings are local progsters who jumped at the chance to open this show. A quintet with lead guitar, rhythm guitar, five string bass, drums, and singer. These guys are available whenever a top tier outfit sails through the area. They look to be in their 30s, so the prog had a touch of grunge mixed in. Lead guitar gave some nifty slide work and the 5 string bass added nice color. The singer was a character, engaging with the obligatory prog heckler. He had a normal singing voice that often elevated to a higher register, I mean a kick in the balls octave jump. He also switched gears into a creepy horror movie squelch. The lyrics followed the cosmic prog vibe, I mean mountains come out of the sky and were supposed to believe they, what, just stand there?
PAKT are an instrumental supergroup led by fretless bass phenom Percy Jones, Alex Skolnick on guitar, Kenny Grohowski on drums and electronics, and Tim Motzer on guitar and electronics. Jones played on some of the seminal Eno recordings and helmed the group Brand X. The fretless bass is a wonder to view allowing for rubbery runs. Jones hands were so large, they were necessary for his sound. Skolnick was mentored by Joe Satriani and did time in the progmetal band Testament. Grohowski had the Crimson mammoth kit and was in constant motion. Motzer played multiple guitars and moved his sound through an effects box that could bend the sound in many ways. The other members thanked Motzer for wrangling this tour. The music was all improvised but had an effortless feel in the hands of these pros.
