Rites of Spring festival

The Rites of Spring festival or RoSfest is an annual progressive rock festival taking place at the end of April or in early May.

This article is about the festival in Pennsylvania. For the Vanderbilt University festival in Tennessee, see Rites of Spring Music Festival.
For other uses, see Rites of Spring (disambiguation).
Rites of Spring Festival
GenreProgressive rock
DatesAnnually in April or May
Location(s)
Years active2004–Present
Founded byGeorge Roldan and Tom Smith
WebsiteThe Rites Of Spring Festival

Established in 2004, the festival was first held at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania until 2007, and then moved to the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania for 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the festival moved to the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and in 2019, the festival moved to its current location at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota, Florida.

On December 26, 2020, co-founder George Roldan announced on the official RoSfest Facebook page that RoSfest would end its 16-year run as of 2020. Increasingly expensive production and travel costs, combined with tighter visa restrictions for international artists traveling to the United States, plus financial losses resulting from the cancellation of the 2020 festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic had made continuing the festival unsustainable. [1]

However, on February 1, 2021, Roldan posted another announcement stating that RoSfest would continue under new management. New event dates have yet to be announced.[2]

History

RoSfest was founded in 2004 by George Roldan and Tom Smith. The intent of the promoters was to establish a new international progressive rock festival in the United States. The inaugural three-day festival was held April 24, 25, and 26, 2004 at the famous Colonial Theatre located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The RoSfest artwork since 2007 has been designed by Ed Unitsky. Through the 2013 festival, 104 different bands will have performed at the Rites of Spring Festival.

Lineups
DateLocation HeadlinersSupporting Bands
May 5–7, 2017Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Moon Safari (Sweden), The Neal Morse Band (US), Anglagård (Sweden) Kyros (UK), The Aaron Clift Experiment (US), Unified Past (US), U.N.I.T dB (Australia), The Fierce and The Dead (UK), Evership (Us), Edensong (US).
May 6–8, 2016Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Magic Pie (Norway), The Electric Strawbs (UK), No More Pain (US) Circuline (US), Dave Kerzner (US), Spock's Beard (US), 3rDegree (US), Kinetic Element (US), The Fringe (US), Bent Knee (US), Comedy Of Errors (Scotland), Zebra (US)
May 1–3, 2015Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Heliopolis (US), Spock's Beard (US), Fanfare (US) Strattman (US), Sonus Umbra (US), Abel Ganz (Scotland), Haken (UK), Might Could (US), Lo-Fi Resistance (US), Synaesthesia (UK), Glass Hammer (US), Enchant (US),
May 2–4, 2014Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Caravan (UK), Beardfish (Sweden), Collage (Poland) Clepsydra (Switzerland), Shadow Merchant (US), Elephants of Scotland (US), Sound of Contact (UK), Thank You Scientist (US), Fright Pig (US), Red Sand (Canada), Subsignal (Germany)
May 3–5, 2013Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 The Flower Kings (Sweden), Riverside (Poland), Shadow Gallery (US) Bolus (Canada), Kingcrow (Italy), Jolly (US), Pain of Salvation (Sweden), Believe (Poland), Dream the Electric Sleep (US), MoeTar (US), Electric Asturias (Japan)
May 4–6, 2012Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Karmakanic (Sweden), IQ (UK), Agents of Mercy (Sweden) DeeExpus (UK), The Aaron English Band (US), Resistor (US), Hasse Froeberg and Musical Companion (Sweden), Sanguine Hum (UK), IO Earth (UK), Discipline (US), Trespass (US).
May 20–22, 2011Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Moon Safari (Sweden), Daemonia (Italy), Quidam (Poland) Epiicycle (US), Tinyfish (UK), Osada Vida (Poland), Phideaux (US), Gallactic Collective (US), Mars Hollow (US), District 97 (US), The Reasoning (UK)
April 30 – May 2, 2010Majestic Theatre,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania		 Pendragon (UK), Magic Pie (Norway), Renaissance (UK/US) Mystery (Canada), Gazpacho (Norway), Manning (UK), Ajalon (US), Von Hertzen Brothers (Finland), Oblivion Sun (US), Deexpus (UK)
May 1–3, 2009Keswick Theatre,
Glenside, Pennsylvania		 Nektar (UK/Germany), Lazuli (France), John Lees' Barclay James Harvest (UK) The Syn (UK/US), Iluvatar (US), Silver Pipe (US), Frost* (UK), Abigail's Ghost (US), Moth Vellum (US), Mangala Vallis (Italy), Moon Safari (Sweden), Touchstone (UK)
May 2–4, 2008Keswick Theatre,
Glenside, Pennsylvania		 Ambrosia (US), CIRCA: (US), Crack The Sky (US), Wishbone Ash (UK) GPS (US), RPWL (Germany), Ritual (Sweden), Blind Ego (Germany/UK), Black Bonzo (Sweden), Credo (UK)
April 27–29, 2007Colonial Theatre,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania		 Starcastle (US), Pendragon (UK), Spock's Beard (US) Puppet Show (US), Tempustry (US), Carptree (Sweden), Galahad (UK), Rocket Scientists (US), Magic Pie (Norway), Retroheads (Norway), Darwin's Radio (UK)
April 28–30, 2006Colonial Theatre,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania		 NEO (UK), Satellite (Poland), The Watch (Italy) Pallas (UK), The Pineapple Thief (UK), Magic Pie (Norway), John Young (UK), Ephemeral Sun (US), Karmakanic (Sweden), Hamadryad (Canada), Mirthrandir (US)
April 27–29, 2005Colonial Theatre,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania		 Arena (UK), Magenta (UK), The Tangent (UK) Myriad (US), Dennis Haley (US), Tiles (US), Kino (UK), Eyestrings (US), Sylvan (Germany), Man on Fire (US), Cryptic Vision (US)
April 24–26, 2004Colonial Theatre,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania		 Jadis (UK), RPWL (Germany), Man on Fire (US) Alias Eye (Germany), IZZ (US), Orphan Project (US), Salem Hill (US), Little Atlas (US), Sonus Umbra (US), Frogg Cafe (US)

References
  1. George Roldan. "The Rites of Spring Festival says Goodbye, for now". Facebook. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  2. George Roldan. "Change We Must, to Live Again!". Facebook. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
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