By Jase Walker
I’m starting off today with a lovely interview with the folks in Kyros chatting about how their influences come together to form the wonderful whimsical sound of Kyros. Always nice to chat with a band that happily goes off on big tangents, it’s a lot of fun.
First up today musically is the ragtag bunch of mad Scots, Tiberius.
I absolutely bloody love that their backing image is quite literally their logo but doing the DVD Screensaver motion and im finding it way too distracting as I want to make sure I don’t miss it hitting a direct corner. I mean the music’s pretty good too.
These are a silly bunch but they do take their main craft of the music extremely seriously and all have fantastic chops in each of their specific roles. Rapid guitar riffs and leads, busy basslines with a good lick of funk, similarly intense drums and soaring vocal melodies, lovely stuff. Chris spots the Kyros folks standing next to me and singles them out and makes a motion as if he was about to jump into the crowd and literally grabs two folks’ heads for it, incredible.
Next thing I know we’ve got a Tiberius merch sporting skeleton (named Duncan) being crowd surfed over head. Not missing a chance to get stuck into the crowd again, Ryan jumps into the crowd to provoke a bit of goblin dancing, because why not eh? None of the band ever stay put for long, it’s not just Grant on vocals stomping around and playing to the audience, everyone is (Drummer is excused).
You know what time it is at the halfway point? Beachball time! Like about 15 of them in all directions so some poor sod is going to find their beer suddenly disappearing in a flash of bright colour! Well either that or, as I saw, the sound desk getting one landing right in the middle of their console. Grant decides to get himself stuck into the crowd too towards the end of the set. These guys are always great fun to watch, the mix of intricate music that’s so well crafted alongside completely unserious antics during their live shows is always a real joy to watch, big up Tiberius you bunch of mental Scots.
Next up is Voidchaser, and spotting a dingwall bass and two headless guitars that appear to be Strandbergs, this definitely bodes well for the forthcoming riffage. Sure enough, this is stuffed with virtuoso licks right from the start with the bass easily dancing alongside it while the drums pound away.
Initially I was wondering if this was all just clean vocals alongside the immense shredding on the guitars but nope, there’s just a bit of uncleans dropped in there, just enough to drive the heavier bits. Today’s theme definitely seems to be leaning more on heavier sounding bands that still have a bit of flair of theatric elements of yesteryear’s prog. There’s a lot of points during this set that I’m reminded of Haken, Between The Buried And Me and Rush, a fantastic display of modern prog sensibilities that still loves whacking a bit of blues in there for more dancey moments.
They’re running a backing track for some layering from keys, using old organ style sounds that reminds me a lot of Deep Purple. As it turns out they’re having to use the track because their keyboard player isn’t well at the moment and couldn’t make the trip which is a real shame, love a good live keys player just going ham whenever possible.
Why would Voidchaser be so brave as to say that cereal is in fact a soup? That is unacceptable and I will not hear such slander. These guys roll with a good sense of humour and the between-song banter is pretty entertaining too and helps keep the pace of the set going and avoids any awkward silences.
These have seriously impressed me though, I fully enjoyed their set and the style they roll with that’s an even mix of vocal styles and high energy playing for the whole set kept me fixated on them the whole time. Now I just need to hope that it’s not going to be several years until I get to see them again!
It’s time for a bit of Kyros now finally! One of my favourites for delicious synthy goodness, and I am going to get my fill today! Oh, and Kyros also have a DVD Screensaver with the band logo too, surely that can’t be a coincidence!?
Partway through the first song there’s a sudden cut in of ‘Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday!’ which gets a solid giggle from the audience, I suppose they can’t let themselves be upstaged by Tiberius now can we? I’m fully loving the sound mix they’ve got going too, the synths and guitars are spot on even and the bass and drums have the right amount of punch to drive it all along, lovely stuff.
It’s time for a bit of ‘Esoterica’ and I know the drill already, it’s time for the keytar and a bit of dance choreography, my favourite! Except this time the crowd also knows the drill and they’re all in on it too, hell yes. Also it turns out that Duncan the skeleton from Tiberius has been kidnapped by Kyros and somewhat abused and gagged, the tape on the mouth was a nice touch though. This has taken a bit of a weird turn to say the least. Shelby makes a crack at a pun literally visibly cringes the moment she says it.
Evidently the cringe for the puns isn’t stopping her as she’s leaning even more heavily into it. Over the course of the set the cover from their last EP, ‘Fear & Love’, has steadily grown from a small blip on the DVD Screensaver image to a massive imposition on the back screen, bearing down directly onto their drummer, Robin. They finally kick into ‘Fear & Love’ by the point of the face taking up almost the entire screen and I just know that they meticulously timed this video and set specifically for that moment, I’ll be asking them too.
At this point Grant from Tiberius jumps on stage in an attempt to snatch back Duncan and unbound his boney arms and erm, Kyros merch that’s been attached too. This rivalry is all in good fun though and I bloody love it, it’s been across their Instagram pages for a while and seeing this both culminate in a level of mutual trolling at ProgPower this weekend is an exclusive treat I don’t think we’ll see again for a while!
Shelby was sure they’d get a moshpit going for one song but it actually just ended up being a massive group hug thing instead! Oh wait, it did actually become a moshpit too, with Duncan the skeleton crowd surfing over the top. I genuinely thought they were at the end of their set but looks like we’ve still got ‘Ghost Of You’ to go before we finish, with the whole audience joining in with the dance routine. An excellent finish to an excellent set, thanks again Kyros, you’re breathtaking!
Sadly by this point my energy levels have fully crashed out and facing the need to get up mega early tomorrow morning thanks to trains for my return journey home being in disarray I’ve had to make the choice to return to the hotel for a super early night.
Overall ProgPower Europe has been a fantastic weekend that’s really surprised me with its cozy feel and fantastic family feeling that I’ve also felt at the likes of RADAR and Euroblast. These smaller festivals with much more curated lineups foster an incredible feeling of community and camaraderie that is a blessing to be introduced to and become a part of.
I think my festival choices next year will probably reflect a lot of my experiences this year, there’s no chance I’ll be missing this next year regardless of the lineup. An amazing experience that is another big highlight for 2025. Thank you, ProgPower Europe.