After a wonderful first edition of Progcity Festival (see review) it was only a matter of time when the second edition would be held. Organizer Gert-Jan van Middelkoop had two bands lined up I'd never seen perform live before; the Dutch band Profuna Ocean and German band Ashby. I know Profuna Ocean's music (I reviewed their latest album In Vacuum, see review), but I never heard any music from Ashby. While Profuna Ocean had played a couple of times before at Musicon, Ashby was playing their first ever gig in The Netherlands.
 

Profuna Ocean

The band did a wonderful performance that evening. It's a band that does well on both a small and big stage during a festival. They make solid progressive rock music, with some metal like riffs here and there. Drummer Fred den Hartog used an extra snare (or at least, I thought it was a snare drum) from time to time during his performance. Lead singer and guitarist Raoul Potters dares to do a lot more with his voice on stage than on the album, which gets a big plus from me. The track Clean Slate ended with a solo keyboard piece by René Visser. When René was finished Raoul thanked the audience for being so silent during that keyboard moment. The band became more loose and active on stage later on, but only really showed their energy and enthusiasm during the last track. I'm sure the band will be more energetic and loose when they have a longer set to play. The crowd itself was actually very loose during their whole performance, dancing to the music, and some even sang along.
 

Ashby

The band had a bit of a slow start due to some technical problems, but those were solved soon. A real progressive rock/metal band with a lot of surprising musical elements. They're leaning towards Haken and Dream Theater. The band contains young members, but they are far from inexperienced! They are very talented, play very tight and show that they really enjoy to be performing on stage. Female lead singer Sabina Moser is not afraid to use her complete voice range when it comes to soft and hard moments in the music. Sometimes she shouts a bit too enthusiastically outside her vocal range, making her voice too harsh, but most of the time she was singing great. She was also very energetic and dancing/head banging on stage. The members were interactive with the audience in between tracks, and people in the audience were dancing along to the music. A band I would really love to see perform again!

I had a fantastic evening, and I'm sure the rest of the audience really enjoyed it too. I can't wait for Progcity edition number three! A well-organized festival on a great location that shows us new, upcoming talent. I really recommend to go see this festival when you have the chance!

Iris Hidding (edited by Astrid de Ronde)