Savatage / Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Chris Caffery has checked in with the following update:

"Due to circumstances beyond their control, Dream Evil was not able to keep their date at Prog Power this year. I’m going to be flying to Atlanta to play guitar with Doro once again! Looking forward to performing on the Prog Power stage once again! It’s been a long time! It’s also always an honor to share the stage with my good friend the legendary Doro and my friends in her incredible band!"

Heard a lot of stupid reasons for people/bands being denied access into the US, but this one goes right to the top of the list. Organizers of the two-day ProgPower USA pre-show have confirmed that Swedish power metallers Dream Evil have had to cancel their ProgPower appearance, due to somehow running afoul of the visa process. Get this:

Organizers state: "With the visa petition approved on March 23rd, the band proceeded to book their visa interviews. Four out of five members had no issues during that process and their visa was issued normally. The fifth member was notified when booking his interview that his passport number had been blacklisted due to a “previous conflict” and he wouldn’t be able to have a visa issued until at least January 2019. Upon further investigation, the US embassy in Stockholm found out that Dept. of Homeland Security blacklisted his passport number because on a recent trip with his wife to Mexico, they “flew into US airspace” - without actually landing in the country!"

Since this is a vital member for their performance, the band has no choice but to pull the plug on the show.

The organizers go on to say, "We have never, however, seen anything as absurd as this excuse. He has no criminal background nor there is a history of misuse or illegal entry in the country. We are still perplexed by how crazy of a reason this is. Even our visa lawyer is baffled. Embassy calls. USCIS calls. Lawyer calls. Milton personally involved one of his congressmen who was able to assist in clearing visa issues in the past, but no luck this time. In no way, shape or form this is the management or the band’s fault."

For in formation and updates on the 2018 edition of ProgPower USA, go to this location.