Rites of Spring festival

Rites of Spring Festival
Rites of Spring Festival
Genre	Progressive rock
Dates	Annually in April or May
Location(s)	Phoenixville, Pennsylvania ; Glenside, Pennsylvania ; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania ; Sarasota, Florida ;
Years active	2004–Present
Founded by	George Roldan and Tom Smith
Website	The Rites Of Spring Festival

Last updated October 23, 2021

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

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 a subsequent announcement stating that RoSfest would continue under new management.^[2] On March 6, 2021, the new management announced that the 17th edition of RoSfest would take place on May 6, 7 and 8, 2022 at the Sarasota Opera House.^[3]

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

Date	Location	Headliners	Supporting Bands
May 5–7, 2017	Majestic 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, 2016	Majestic Theatre, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania	Magic Pie (Norway), The Electric Strawbs (UK), No More Pain (US)	Circuline (US), Dave Kerzner (US), Spock's Beard (US), Kinetic Element (US), 3rDegree (US), Kinetic Element]] (US), The Fringe (US), Bent Knee (US), Comedy Of Errors (Scotland), Zebra (US)
May 1–3, 2015	Majestic 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, 2014	Majestic 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, 2013	Majestic 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, 2012	Majestic 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, 2011	Majestic 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, 2010	Majestic 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, 2009	Keswick 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, 2008	Keswick 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, 2007	Colonial 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, 2006	Colonial 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, 2005	Colonial 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, 2004	Colonial 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)

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References

↑ George Roldan. "The Rites of Spring Festival says Goodbye, for now". Facebook. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
↑ George Roldan. "Change We Must, to Live Again!". Facebook. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
↑ RoSfest. "We're Back!". Facebook. Retrieved 6 March 2021.

External links

RoSfest.com – official website

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[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.

[3] RoSfest. "We're Back!". Facebook. Retrieved 6 March 2021.

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