Ryan Reed, UCR<\/span><\/p> Bruford, meanwhile, focused entirely on the present\u2014in the very literal sense. With the Pete Roth Trio, he cruised through two improvisational, exploratory sets that wove\u00a0jazz harmony\u00a0with funk rhythms and avant-garde moves. Given that Bruford was retired from drumming between 2009 and 2022, fans seemed thrilled just to see him set up behind his kit, navigating minimal grooves with\u00a0his hallmark\u00a0precision and\u00a0curiosity. Scanning the theater crowd, you\u00a0saw waves of cell phones zooming in on his every move\u2014it felt warm and celebratory in a way few shows do.<\/p>\n Over the years, as various prog legends have died or stepped aside, Cruise to the Edge have stayed nimble\u2014filling out the lineup with younger bands (like prog-metal mainstays Haken) and subtly broadening their horizons. That trend continued in 2026: Canadian post-rocker Alex Henry Foster staged two of the most\u00a0intense, dynamic\u00a0sets in the fest\u2019s history, his voice rising from a hushed spoken-word to a violent scream over hypnotic Krautrock pulses, noise guitar spasms and chilled brass. Elsewhere, fellow Canadians Crown Lands earned two encores with their late-night atrium set, adding a live scrappiness to their spacey, Rush-influenced ruckus.<\/p>\n Still,\u00a0the OG artists keep delivering year after year, headlined in 2026 by heavy-prog heroes Wishbone Ash<\/a> and violin-keyboard virtuoso Eddie Jobson, who came out of retirement to revive a live project saluting former supergroup U.K. (That band\u2019s first album, of course, featured none other than\u2026Bill Bruford. Prog\u2014it\u2019s a small world, even when the music is enormous.)<\/p>\n From ‘The Lamb’ to ‘Octopus’ to ‘The Snow Goose’ \u2014 the best LPs that dream beyond 4\/4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Ryan Reed<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTop 50 Progressive Rock Albums <\/h2>\n