Huh, I saw that tour (1 of 4 I got to see!) and I remember the setlist being fantastic, but couldn’t recall a thing about the opening act so I looked it up…and it indeed turned out to be Saga. So I can’t recall them, but I’ll bet they were better than Whitesnake.
1982 actually; Tull didn’t tour in '83.
Of the bands in the poll, Yes and King Crimson made two of the first three albums I would grab for the proverbial desert island. (Tull made the third, but weren’t on the list.) Yes, however, has been phoning it in for the last thirty-plus years; their output during that time has ranged from pretty good to dire. (Haven’t heard the new one yet–from the samples I have heard it promises to be closer to the “pretty good” side of the spectrum, but still a far cry from the mind-blowing greatness of their '70s work.) King Crimson, while they have reinvented themselves drastically from time to time, have never made an album that was less than amazing. They get my vote.
Seconded. Saying that Rush was never progressive rock begs the question what is, then? Rush has virtuoso musicians each soloing extensively over unusual time signatures that, like the tempo, change frequently within 6+ minute songs of mostly instrumental music with lyrics centering around High Fantasy and philosophy and laced with literary references. Each one of these is like a bullet point in the Prog rock memo.
Early Rush wasn’t progressive rock, late Rush (arguably) isn’t progressive rock, but a couple dozen songs in their catalogue are as progressive as anyone out there. Most of the True Prog Rockers drifted far away from their PR roots as the '80’s rolled on, anyway - witness Gabriel-les Genesis, Yes’s toothpaste-commercial-style 90125, Gentle Giant’s last two records, Kansas etc. etc.
As per the OP, Gentle Giant is the progressive rock band I rank the highest and mostly listen to. The rest go through phases of intensive listening every now and then but never for long.
Surprised to see Rush and Kansas in there.
I don’t see why.
What Toxylon said about Rush applies just as much to Kansas. They went a little more radio friendly toward the end, but were still out there. Song for America, Leftoverture…Incomudro - Hymn to the Atman fer chrissakes
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