6. The Incident

It was summer and terribly hot.  Our friend Jorge called us and asked six of us to go to Bordeaux.  He was organizing a concert with three unknown French groups.  We didn’t miss the event.  We had dinner with Jorge and the members of the groups.  In total, 17 of us were having dinner.  Up to this moment everything was quite normal, but to tell the truth the atmosphere was a bit tense.  I noticed one of the guys eating at the table.  He was quiet and had an unhealthy look.  A freak.  Suddenly something really awkward happened.  One of the musicians launched himself across the marble table towards this guy and started hitting him.  In less than a second there was a big fight going on between the five members of the band.  More than a progressive dinner it looked like the Wild West or a Thrash Metal party in a squatter house with postcard punks high on amphetamines.

I remember that one of our friends’ girlfriend came with us on that trip for the first time.  We tried to explain to her that what she had seen wasn’t at all usual and that symphos were peaceful people and blah blah blah.  She didn’t believe us and that was the first and last progressive rock concert she ever attended.  At least she didn’t break up with our friend, even though they had only been going out for a week.

At Bordeaux we saw la creme de la creme of the progressive bands that were active during the 90s.  I was lucky enough to attend dinners and parties with groups such as Flower Kings, Spock’s Beard, Porcupine Tree, Riverside and so on.  Those were the days!