They had some problem with the guitar sounds at the first couple songs. It was too loud. The band did everything by themselves (setting things on stage).

During "Promenade", the bass player walked off the stage and handed his bass guitar to the tour manager (Keith) to play the rest of the song. He was awesome!

The show was very intense. I like Roger's playing and singing. Everyone in the band was awesome, especially the drummer, Dave Kerman. He IS "The Man!" I like the way he hit the drums...so cool! It was very funny when I saw he used 2 barbie dolls to hit his cymbals. (Actually he used almost everything he had to hit the drums, such as chains, etc...) I could not keep myself from laughing out loud. Other people who were in the front row laughed, too. It's really creative, though. But those barbie dolls might be dead already after the show because he hit them so hard. I don't know if he also used those dolls at the other shows or not. I asked him about the barbie dolls after the show. He laughed and said that he did not intend to use them but....and laughed.... Reginald also hit on a piece of pipe during the show. They put on a pretty long show. The show ended around 1 a.m. because we left that club around 2:15 a.m.

We all (I and 4 friends) had a great time walking around to have the band sign stuff. I bought myself a big Present t-shirt (too big). I wondered how come they made really big shirts. Maybe they thought that Americans are very huge! My friends also bought some Present CD's as well.

I talked to the band again after the show. Roger said he wanted to play in San Francisco again if anyone can arrange the show. He said that fans need to e-mail the promoter of Progfest or other prog festivals where they want to see Present. Then maybe they can come here again. Reginald's English is pretty good. He said that Present will play in Japan in September. And the new album of Univers Zero will be out around the end of this year or in the beginning of 1999. That's a long time to wait, isn't it?

I'm glad that my friends did enjoy the show even though they never heard any of Present's music before. I think that I had a right choice to go to see Present instead of Keith Emerson. (Keith Emerson played the same night at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco)

The promoter said the Deus Ex Machina will be playing in San Francisco in August 1. I will try to be there since I have never seen Deus Ex Machina live before.

Try to catch the show if you can. You will not be disappointed. This is one of the best prog concerts I have seen so far in 1998.

AE