WINTER'S END

Chepstow is bathed in glorious weather for Winter's End 2025, something normally reserved for Summer's End during our increasingly clement Octobers. But even though the increased sun and warmer temperatures seriously raise the heat in the old Drill Hall to sometimes uncomfortable levels (damn these well-built buildings from days of yore, when winters froze and summers merely rained!), they seem to buoy the mood of everyone attending prog's premier live event of the calendar. Or maybe that's because this event's grand 20th anniversary is nearing, and a sense of celebration is in the air. As usual, a weekend's worth of great prog music is something to savour.

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Friday kicks proceedings off with a high-quality European line-up. Dutch band Lesoir focus on their excellent Push Back The Horizon album. Under The Stars showcases Maartje Meesen's softly impassioned voice, while Ingo Dassen's imaginative guitar injects Fireflies with insectoid menace. The Drawer's taut conflict between spoken vocals and spectral slide guitar is otherworldly, eccentric and quite brilliant. The widescreen Babel shows their more diverse ambitious side. Orwellian quotes thread through Dystopia's, sinister Floydian climax - the crowd revel in its power, gladly entering Lesoir's Ministry of Love.

Norway's Airbag immediately impress with the throbbing Machines And Men. Bjørn Riis's majestic guitars are initially low until he shouts, “Kill the fucking bass!” and he then flies high on the brooding, titanic Redemption. Airbag show soulful restraint on Never Coming Home, featuring Simen Johannessen's lush keyboards. Dysphoria builds atmospherically, Riis peeling out perfect guitar licks over a mesmeric soundscape. Asle Tostrup's mournful voice perfectly fits the decidedly melancholy Erase and Megalomaniac. Encore Colours, from their debut, is a beautifully poised sonic oasis before they embark on the spectacular, Gilmour-esque Homesick epic suite as the whole band write stories in sound. Airbag really make an impact with this impressive UK debut performance. Bleakness rarely induces such joy.