Prog and Rock Day – Wokingham Festival 25th August 2025

I Was invited as the guest of Bad Dog Promotions to attend this very well organised and run event, as it featured several top-notch bands in the modern Prog world,

Yes it was a fair distance to travel but the line up was such that it warranted the effort on my part, My journey down was eventful due to delays on the rail network meaning a connection was missed and I had to wait an hour for the ne t train, but even so made it to Wokingham by 6:40 pm and found my hotel the Premier Inn easily enough and checked into a rather spacious room with a good view and with free Wi-Fi, I’d booked unlimited continental breakfast, so as to set me up for the day, this was a good decision and I heartily consumed large quantities of carbohydrates and fluids to help me bear the heat, Cantley Park lies a mile of so out of Wokingham town Centre but Uber got me there easily enough and without any issues, I quickly gained admission and my event wristband and was good to go,

Thankfully I’ bought a suitable chair for the day, and settled down after being greeted warmly by Carola Bear of Ruby Dawn who were playing later in the day

The first band were a local band called Neon fields whose music combined an almost industrial sound with an excellent vocalist in Ed Barrett, Keyboard and guitar player Piers Ward and drummer Luke Russe who together make an exce6and pretty thunderous wall of sound, Even so this is mot at the expense of genuinely emotionally charged material such as Rituals, Light them up and Last Light, they were very fine opening act and have much promise for a bright future, the sound was great and clear. They were well received by the admitt7smaller audie6as it was still early doors for many

They were followed after a brief break by another local Band Ruby dawn who I’d seen previously in Reading and they were excellent a short 45 minute set was full of songs from their latest album, Blood On Water, including the wonderful Alice Come Home and Juliet along with excellent Run Rabbit not about rabbits as bassist Ian Turner told us, Guitarist Dave Salisbury being exceptionally fine and his playing working very well with the emotional vocal of Canola Bear, Bassist Ian Turner and Drummer Adam Perry providing a solid platform on which everyone could soar.

After another break for equipment changeover we were treated to a set from the ever excellent John Hackett Band, who were promoting both their latest album Red Institution and also celebrating John’s involvement with his Brother Steve Hackett’s debut solo album, Voyages of the Acolyte which is 50 years old this year, John had a big part in both the writing and performance of this landmark album so their set featured music from each album along with a wonderful version of king Crimson ‘s I Talk To The Wind, a song which made a huge impression on John and led him to the Flute as a result, The band were joined for this by Olga Karpova (Dikajee)Who graceful tones blended well with main vocalist Jeremy Richardson to mesmerising effect. Their set also featured the wonderfully fluid guitar lines of Nick Fletcher who is seriously accomplished. The back is completed by John’s Keyboards and Flute and Saxophone, and by the percussive brilliance of Duncan Parsons,sadly theirs was 9nly a short 45 m8nute set but even so it was very impressive and made lots of new fans in the process.

By now it was a lot busier with around 1000 people on chairs of strolling around

Next on were Scottish favourites, EBB whose theatrical brand of Prog had to be toned back a little due to time and staging constraints but nonetheless EBB made a very strong impression with songs like cost and consequences and new tracks from their forthcoming album The Mirror, which is due early next year, EBB certainly Rocked hard and made a very strong impression on the festival crowd.

This meant next up were the wonderful Solstice whose music is perfect for a summers day festival as it has lots of energy and Joyfulness in its tone, Solstice again only had a short 45-minute set but they certainly made the most of it opening with the incredibly upbeat and joyous Light Up

Their set was excellent with the 3 vocalists Jess Holland, Dyanne Crutcher and Ebony Buckle all getting to exercise their vocal cords often in the same song, Solstice even had Prog Dancing and left a very happy crowd wanting more but sadly time constraints made this impossible so Solstice left the stage for the next act The Tom Robinson Band, meanwhile on the other stage Alpha line made a strong impression as did Dikajee with her own heavy almost gothic set ( The guitarist wearing a hood in a very hot tent was truly impressive and The Dead Can Wait went down well with the crowd,

By this time it was gone 6pm and as such time for my next adventure, So I booked an Uber who picked me up promptly in a Tesla ( my first time in a tesla at that) and dropped me at Wokingham station to get the train back to reading and to my hotel at the Travelodge where I’ve stayed previously before heading back to Cheshire on Tuesday morning.

Wokingham Festival was a great day with beautiful weather a great audience, very friendly and well organised and an absolute joy to attend, Hopefully I can do so again next year. to attend this very well organised and run event, as it featured several top-notch bands in the modern Prog world,