Rites of Spring Festival (RoSFest), one of north America’s most cherished progressive rock festivals will return on April 15-17, 2022. The festival will take place at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota, Florida.
The 3-day festival nearly shut down when the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions postponed all live performances indefinitely. Initial founder and promotor, George Roldan, cited increasing production costs, stricter visa restrictions, and financial losses due to the pandemic as reasons for no longer being able to continue organizing the event. Fortunately, with the support of a large fan base, musician and RoSFest patron, John Blangero, stepped in to revitalize the festival, putting together a new 6-member Board of Directors to drive the non-profit organization into the future. “People were heartbroken at the thought of RoSFest’s demise,” said Blangero, now President of the Board. “As a lover of the festival, I saw that the community was in need and stepped up.”
This year’s edition of RoSFest will include 9 bands representing a wide array of progressive and art rock music.
April 15
The festival is set to kick off on Friday, April 15 at 8:30 pm, with Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison, and former King Crimson guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, performing songs off the iconic Talking Heads album, Remain In Light, accompanied on stage by former members of super funk group, Turkuaz.
April 16
Saturday’s headlining act, progressive rock legend, Jon Anderson, together with students from the Paul Green Rock Academy, will delight concertgoers with classic songs by the band Yes along with a few other surprises.
April 17
Sunday, April 17, will close out the festival with a rock extravaganza from Miami resident, Dave Kerzner’s All-Stars of Progressive Rock.
Six support bands: Robert Berry’s 3.2, Pattern Seeking Animals, Ten Jinn, The Tea Club, Lobate Scarp, and Head With Wings complete the bill.
To see the full schedule and read about the bands, visit www.rosfest.org