SECRET OYSTER Closes ProgDay 2008!

ProgDay announces SECRET OYSTER, the legendary fusion group from
Denmark, as our closing band on Sunday. The band was formed in 1972 by
KARSTEN VOGEL (saxophones, keyboards) of BURNIN' RED IVANHOE who had a
vision of a new band featuring long improvisational instrumental
passages pushed along by a driving rhythm section. Joined by Claus
Bøhling (guitar), Kenneth Knudsen (keyboards), Bo Anderson (drums) and
Mads Vinding (bass), that vision birthed what would eventually be one
of the foremost fusion ensembles to arise out of Europe in the 1970s.

SECRET OYSTER was incredibly active in the 70s, releasing four studio
albums to great commercial and critical success and performing over
500 concerts (including a 30,000 sellout in Paris) with the likes of
WEATHER REPORT, SHAKTI, GEORGE DUKE and HERBIE HANCOCK. They were
poised by Columbia Records to be their next big thing after Weather
Report, but when CBS changed direction and withdrew their support, the
band began to unravel, ultimately playing what everyone thought was
their final show in December, 1977.