ProjektFest '10 Review & Photos by Kenny Dreadful

ProjektFest Philadelphia 2010

This event was beautifully put together by Sam Rosenthal and the Trocadero was VERY accomodating.The vendors all had pleasant attitudes, and the show room was spacious. The lighting and sound crew was second to none. They went well beyond the call of duty on this one. Everything exceeded my expectations but none more then the performers themselves.

Nickie Jaine has an ABSOLUTELY breath taking, lust filled voice that sweeps the listener away. Her guitar work and violin artistry were simply amazing. She played only a handful of songs; 4 at most. They were enjoyable if short lived moments.

The Twilight Garden was the second act and where simply amazing despite that this was only their 3rd live performance together. That in it itself is astounding. The Twilight Garden definitely had an early cure sound and feel to them. The vocals of Todd Loomis are without compare and his stage presence is phenomenal. I went into this show expecting something a little new and not that well put together. I ate every bit of that and not ashamed to admit it. I was blown away and even met up with Todd and his bandmates in the bar. We had a very nice, polite chat together. Very nice down to earth gentlemen.

Unto Ashes was the Third act for the evening. And what can be said about Unto Ashes that has not been said before? They are beautiful, haunting, lyrically unstoppable and full of life and energy. Their creative energy seems to be an ending flow. Unto Ashes played around 6 songs and even included the use of a Hurdy Gurdy and a Harmonium in their set. Seriously, if the kitchen sink were a musical instrument, Michael Laird would master it and make any attempt of your own to play it look foolish. That is how good he is. And the rest of Unto Ashes don’t fall far from that tree at all. Their Rendition of don’t Fear the Reaper blew me away more then I had thought possible.

By the time Black Tape for A Blue Girl took the stage I was PRIMED for just absolute beauty. And I was not let down at all. There was the beautiful miss Nickie Jaine again, along with our esteemed founder Sam Rosenthal on the keyboards. Front man Athan Maroulis has that bring you to your knees voice that you just have to hear in person to believe. The bass was heavy. The vocals were clear. And the stage presence was beyond brilliant. Pleasure and the Pain and Knock 3 Times are crowd favorites and did not disappoint. You can’t help but want to move and sing along. The amount of heart on display is just that powerful.

Last up came the main event, Voltaire. This man is an icon and it was just him on stage with a hat barely slanted and a guitar. For a moment, I thought that all of the energy had left the room. As it turns out, everyone was simply awed into silence. Voltaire does not disappoint. Every performance was a one of a kind experience. He plays with the crowd, jokes, and invites you in; and even in this case invites you up on stage. By the time he left the stage with a crowd pleasing rendition of “It’s so easy when your Evil” from the album The Devil’s Bris, nobody wanted him to leave. His humor is compelling and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. But his art is pure show. There is none better and he has the kind of act that makes you wonder if he didn’t sell his soul to the devil after all.

After the live performances we wrapped up with some sets from the DJ’s of the evening. All in all there was not a single thing disappointing about this event. And to the people that didn’t show up, you missed one Hell of a show.