Author: Winfried Völklein

Without question one of the brightest lights on the American symphonic progressive rock scene, IZZ melds classic and modern prog influences, strong melodies, complex male-female multi-part vocal harmonies, and stirring guitar, synthesizer, bass, and double-drumming work into a refreshing musical sound.

Since the release of their first album in 1999, IZZ has been a stalwart of the American progressive rock music scene. Combining a passion for melody with an adventurous musical spirit, IZZ has produced some of American progressive rock’s most beloved songs of the last 20 years including Coming Like Light, Star Evil Gnoma Su, Late Night Salvation and 23 Minutes of Tragedy.

IZZ marked the 20th Anniversary of the release of their breakout album, I Move, by releasing a special remastered edition of the album including over an hour of bonus tracks in October 2022.

IZZ released their most recent studio album Don’t Panic to critical acclaim in May 2019. Centered around the 18+ minute epic, 42, Don’t Panic revealed a fresh, new energy evidenced immediately by the title track’s driving bass and catchy hooks, the unpredictable musical twists of Age of Stars, and the instrumental tour-de-force Moment of Inertia.

IZZ is currently nearly finished recording their new studio album which will be ready for release in the first half of 2024, just in time to present parts of it on the Loreley!

Band Line-Up:

Paul Bremner: Electric Guitar
Anmarie Byrnes: Vocals
Brian Coralian: Drums and Percussion
Greg DiMiceli: Drums and Percussion
John Galgano: Bass Guitar, Vocals
Tom Galgano: Keyboards, Vocals
Laura Meade: Vocals

IZZ will perform on Friday, 19 July 2024 during the Night Of The Prog Festival on the Loreley!

Tickets for the Final Night Of The Prog Festival 2024 are available in the WiV Ticket Shop.

IZZ Links:
Official Website
Bandcamp
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Instagram

In addition to our website and our social media pages (Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram), you can now also keep up with the latest news via our new NOTP WhatsApp Community Channel. You can easily join the NOTP Community Channel via this link.

In this community, only admins will post news and information about the 2024 festival. These are usually band announcements and later also information about the festival logistics. Members of the community cannot post anything. It is purely an information channel and as such an additional service for you. Your mobile phone number is invisible to other users in this community. You can also send the link to friends so they can join the community. All postings usually link to our website – as usual with links to the English and German pages.

The first band announcement will be made later this weekend.

Dear friends of the Night of the Prog Festival,

yes, it’s true. The 17th Night Of The Prog Festival (19-21 July 2024) will also be our last. There is certainly no perfect time for such news and so we have decided to inform you directly and include the news in our new header image. We know that the festival on the Loreley means a lot to you – it’s special for us as well. But we wanted to let you know early on that next year is definitely the last chance to visit the festival on the Loreley again. We will do everything we can to make it a worthy and glorious farewell to the Loreley. And for all those who may still be busy planning their holidays etc., perhaps we can convince you to include the festival in your plans once again.

Many of you wonder and ask why. We understand that, of course. Well, it was not an easy decision. On the one hand, we are all not getting any younger and all things must end some day. But there were also a number of other factors that gradually made it more and more difficult for us to organize such a festival. In recent years, there have been a whole series of bad news with Brexit, the pandemic and then the Russian war against the Ukraine and the resulting economic consequences (especially inflation). Costs are rising in all areas, the Brexit made it considerably more difficult to book many bands, and the staff situation in the business is also far from returning to previous levels after two years of work ban. In addition, there are logistical challenges on the Loreley festival site and the whole area, which had caused further difficulties over the years and forced us to find quick and individual solutions more often. The Night Of The Prog is and remains a niche festival, but it also has to work according to economic principles. And this became more difficult from year to year.

We know you are saddened by the news. Next year it will be 20 years since we first discussed the idea of such a festival. Then in 2006 the first Night Of The Prog took place and since then it became a trademark in the business. Eventually, a 3-day festival established itself on one of the most beautiful festival grounds in the world. We think back to memorable performances, to the many up-and-coming bands for whom the festival was a huge step forward in their career, and we think ahead and look forward to a terrific last festival in 2024. We look forward to an enthusiastic audience and to saying goodbye, together with you, to this wonderful place.
It’s not over yet, but we want to thank you all for the great support over the last 17 years!

We will do everything we can to put together an attractive and varied line-up for what is sure to be a very special festival. We will start with the announcements shortly.

Winfried Völklein and his team at WiV / NOTP

Dear Prog Community,

Three wonderful festival days are behind us and the WiV team would like to thank everyone who came to the festival.

We tried to take your suggestions into account beforehand after the experiences of previous festivals. This time we have organized the camping ourselves and decided to keep it as simple as possible for you while maintaining a higher standard of handling. We also stayed in contact with you during the festival and are happy that our efforts were appreciated.

We were able to separate the merchandise stand and the signing tent (where our graphic artist Frank exhibits his paintings every year) a bit, so that both had enough space. We were also very pleased about the great motivation of the bands to participate in the signing and of course your interest in it.

The line-up this year was a challenge in terms of composition, but in the end we were able to offer a very good mix of styles. Thank you very much for all the positive comments!

There were many highlights – Nick Mason (79 now!) and his band celebrated a real party full of early Pink Floyd classics and deep cuts, CYAN made themselves the secret festival stars with a splendid Pete Jones, Franck Carducci brought the rock to a boil with his Fantastic Squads and also had the most impressive signing session. The Musical Box managed to keep away the rain until almost the end and celebrated the story of The Lamb on Broadway one last time. Wishbone Ash celebrated a proud 50 years of their classic ARGUS, Abel Ganz virtually came out of the woodwork and on Sunday we had prog metal greats Soen and Leprous who played impressive sets. Anneke van Giersbergen had to improvise a bit after her keyboard player had to go to hospital at short notice. But even with the programme changed at short notice, Anneke took the audience by storm.

But it was also the new upcoming bands that made 2023 special. The festival opener on Friday, Time Shift Accident, raised the bar quite a bit. Agusa came with a brand new album, which was appropriately released on the Friday of the festival, and thrilled the fans. On Saturday, it was Aedon who kicked things off as newcomers and got the rock in the mood. FUCHS are not so new anymore, but still an insider tip and they also came with a new album. They have even released a digital Night Of The Prog EP before the festival. At noon on Sunday, the Ukrainians Karfagen played straight into the hearts of the fans. Mad Fellaz also managed to do the same and Oak once again showed why they were so well received in 2019. Panzerballett‘s cracking mix of styles with drumming legend Virgil Donati was certainly a challenge for many, but in the end it blended in excellently. Esthesis from France should now enjoy greater attention beyond their national borders.

Unfortunately, Alex Henry Foster could not perform due to health reasons – some fans took this as an opportunity to send him a video message and photos, which touched Alex very much. Here you can see a photo of this:

Your feedback on the 2023 Festival, which you have posted especially on social media, makes us mighty proud and is a great motivation to make it even better next year. Of course we can’t influence everything, but we always try to make your stay as pleasant as possible. Looking ahead to next year, we will remain in contact with the operators in order to achieve further improvements in catering, for example. We are particularly pleased that the camping situation is now much better. In addition, there was good cooperation with the security and the regulations regarding the chairs on the grounds also worked well and there were no incidents.

The Early Bird Sale is running this week and after the summer we will also start announcing the first bands.

We look forward to 2024 and of course any suggestions you may have. Feel free to send us an email!

Thanks again and best regards
Win Völklein and the WiV team!

Photos: Christian Gerhardts

Positive news: On Sunday the car ferry will also be run after the last act (Leprous). After the show, please proceed quickly to the ferry terminal, you will all get to the other side safely.

This has also become a tradition. We are once again offering organised signing sessions during the changeover breaks. You can then get autographs from the bands next to the merchandise in the signing tent (where Frank Grabowski also exhibits his prog art). Our staff will make sure everything runs smoothly.

Most of the bands have also confirmed their participation in 2023. Changes are possible, please keep an eye on the notices.

Notes: Nick Mason sells pre-signed merchandise on site and will therefore not take part in the signing session. Anneke van Giersbergen has no merchandise with her and will therefore not take part in the signing session.
On the second day Wishbone Ash will be at the signing session, but they don’t have any merchandise with them, so you’ll have to bring that with you.
On the third day, Soen can’t take part in the signing due to logistical reasons, Leprous haven’t made a statement yet.

FRIDAY

16:00 AGUSA
17:15 TIME SHIFT ACCIDENT
18:45 CYAN
20:30 ABEL GANZ

SATURDAY

17:30 AEDON
19:00 WISHBONE ASH
20:30 FUCHS, VENUS PRINCIPLE
22:30 FRANCK CARDUCCI

SUNDAY

14:30 CARFAGEN
15:45 MAD FELLAZ
17:15 OAK
19:00 PANZERBALLETT
21:00 ESTHESIS

It’s already becoming a tradition that our graphic artist Frank Grabowski exhibits his art works in the Signing Tent.

This time Frank has many paintings and art prints with a focus on The Lamb lies down on Broadway, matching the worldwide final Lamb show of The Musical Box.

With Progery Tyme by Frank’s partner CLAN-ART, limited direct prints on brushed aluminium are are offered on the Loreley for the first time. Motifs that make the heart of every prog fan beat faster.

Frank is also a treasure hunter, he brings the last 25 posters of a “Lamb” painting (1979) by our loyal fan Gottfried Dittrich to the Loreley.

WEBSITE

https://www.prog-art.de

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/byFrankGrabowski/

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/prog_art.de

TWITTER

Tweets by Grabowski_Frank

In this article we will give you a brief overview of the exact times and the schedule for the third day of our festival.

Tickets for the festival are available at the box office!

Parking on the grounds is free for all festival visitors. The box office is located at the entrance.

On Sunday the box office will open at 10:00 am. Please note that for technical reasons it is NOT possible to pay by card – cash only.

The beer garden behind the stage as well as the beer garden at the visitor centre are located outside the festival area and will be open from 11 am.

The times of the schedule are without guarantee and subject to change. There will be 15-30 minute breaks between performances. The exact schedule of the day:

11:45 Doors
12:15 Karfagen
13:30 Mad Fellaz
14:45 Oak
16:00 Panzerballett
17:45 Esthesis
19:30 Soen
21:30 Leprous
23:00 End

The shuttle buses will take you back down to the village after the concert. You can find out more about the shuttle service in this news item.

You can also find more information here on our website in the Festival section and in this news item.

To help you find your way around this year, we have put together some information for you.

Tickets

The WiV ticket shop will be sending out tickets until Monday 10 July. After that, you still have the possibility to buy tickets in advance via Eventim with the print-at-home function. On all three festival days there will be enough tickets at the box office. You can also upgrade your tickets there (for example, if you only have a Friday ticket but want to be there for two or three days).
IMPORTANT: For technical reasons, only cash payment is possible at the box office on the festival grounds.

Camping

Caravan camping will finally take place on the flatter meadow again and is therefore also closer to the festival site. You can also do your camping check-in closer to the festival site! There will be enough toilets and showers with up-to-date technical equipment on the camping site and the use of these is already included in the camping tickets. Further information can be found in the Camping FAQ on the website.

Chairs on the festival grounds

Chairs with legs are only allowed in the upper part on the lawn (to the right of the entrance). In the area of the amphitheater (auditorium), seat cushions and seat aids WITHOUT legs may be used. It is mandatory that all escape routes (e.g. the stairs in the auditorium) are kept clear at all times. If you have questions, you can also ask the security there.

Merchandise

The merchandise stand and the area for the signing sessions will be located near the “old” entrance this year. You will get more information about the signing sessions during the weekend!

Bus / Shuttle

There is a standard bus line (535) operated by the local public transport company and there is the Loreley Shuttle Service. They offer a bundle for all three days plus single day fares. You can then drive up and down as many times as you want. Buy tickets here or on site.
Please note: Shuttle buses operate until 30 min after the last show each day!

Ferry

As already announced in the detailed procedures for Friday and Saturday, the car ferry will bring all cars back across the Rhine on these days after the end of the last show.
For operational reasons, only the passenger ferry can run on Sunday after the end of the show. This means: You leave your cars on the other side of the Rhine in St. Goar on Sunday and take the shuttle bus up to the festival grounds and then down again. As the ferry is only operated by one person, we have to charge the fare in advance. We therefore ask everyone who uses the ferry to St. Goar on Sunday evening (after 10pm) to pick up their ticket at the box office for €3 per person. The ferry will bring you to the other side after the final show (Leprous).

Update:

Positive news: On Sunday the car ferry will also be run after the last act (Leprous). After the show, please proceed quickly to the ferry terminal, you will all get to the other side safely.

Hotel / Shuttle Service

For all those who have booked a hotel & shuttle service: There will be a fixed pickup place for the transfer this year.

Site plan

For better orientation you can find a map here.

In this article we give you a short overview about the schedule on the second day of our festival and box office times.

Tickets for the festival are available at the WiV ticket shop.

Parking is free for all festival visitors. You can also buy tickets at the box office. You will find the box office at the entrance. You can also upgrade existing tickets there, for example if you only have a ticket for Saturday but decide at short notice to attend the Sunday shows as well.

On Friday, the box office opens at 11:30 am. Please note that for technical reasons NO payments via card are possible – cash only!

The beer garden behind the stage as well as the beer garden at the visitor centre are outside the festival area and open from 11am.

The stated schedule may be subject to change. There will be 15 – 30 minute changeover breaks between performances. The exact schedule of the day:

14:15 Doors
15:00 Aedon
16:15 FUCHS
17:45 Venus Principle
19:15 Franck Carducci
21:00 Wishbone Ash
23:00 The Musical Box plays Genesis (final Lamb-Show)
01:00 End

The shuttle buses will take you down to the town after the concert and there will also be ferries to take you to the other side of the Rhine if necessary.

You can find more information here on our website in the festival section.

Info about Sunday will follow shortly!