2026 Necronomicon Reflections

The 2026 edition of Necronomicon was an incredibly memorable one that was full of so many amazing people, fantastic events and fun times! I was fortunate enough to perform live each day of Necronomicon this time around and each performance was an absolute joy and honor to be a part of.

The entire festival kicked off on Thursday, August 13th with the legendary Andrew Leman and our performance of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” in celebration of the story’s 100th year anniversary. For the performance, Andrew went to the John Hay Library of Brown University to make a copy of Lovecraft’s original manuscript with his handwritten notes to read from for this very special performance. Since this performance was at the start of the festival we weren’t sure what to expect attendance wise and we were thrilled to see The Black Box theater instantly reach the point of standing room only right after the doors opened and before the event started. Andrew gave an astoundingly powerful and emotional reading of Lovecraft’s masterpiece and it was an absolute joy and a total privilege to share the stage with Andrew that day and serve his masterful reading of the tale with my synthesizer and drones based soundtrack written just for this performance. Andrew’s performance was so electric and full of emotional intensity and laser focus precision that I experienced something that rarely happens to me during live performance which is a feeling of having a kind of out of body experience in which all of the music flows out in such a natural way that I almost forget that I’m in the midst of performing it. An immensely impactful experience brought on by Andrew being such an incomparable force in his space. It was a perfect start to an unforgettable series of days.

On Friday, August 14th I had another early afternoon performance at The Black Box and this one with my great friend, Jon Padgett. I’ve been lucky enough to perform with Jon many times now since 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Orlando, Florida, Haddonfield, New Jersey and Hammonton, New Jersey. At Necronomicon this year we performed Thomas Ligotti’s “The Bungalow House” for only the second time ever anywhere. The first performance of “The Bungalow House” was an extraordinary Cadabra Records event that took place at The Convent in Philadelphia in May of 2019. The Cadabra live show in 2019 was the first Cadabra live event for the first Ligotti record that was released by the label and brings back so many wonderful memories which were all possible due to Cadabra Records label head, Jonathan Dennison’s visionary brilliance on many fronts as he created a world and an experience that has seemed to stay firmly planted in the mind of everyone that attended that performance back in 2019. Going into the Necronomicon performance of “The Bungalow House,” Jon and I were so glad to have the chance to revisit Ligotti’s masterpiece for a live audience. This held extra importance for Jon in that he was a Guest of Honor this year as part of Necronomicon and his magnificent family was with him for the festival for the first time and it also marked the first time they were able to see Jon and I perform the work of Ligotti. Once again, it was unknown going into the performance how it would be attended due to being an early start time and once again, the room instantly filled up immediately after the doors opened for the show. Jon was in top form from the second he started until the end of the performance. His brilliant reading of “The Bungalow House” was stunning to witness and perform music to. Jon’s total command of the material captured all of the “killing sadness” and black humor perfectly and allowed me to easily navigate the ever shifting tones and sections of music that oscillate between synthesizers, effected finger-picked electric guitar parts, processed acoustic piano melodies and layered drone structures. It was a transcendent experience to go back to the story and perform it once again with Jon.

After two early day performances during the first half of the festival, another excellent friend, the inimitable Robert Lloyd Parry and I got to perform a night show in the beautiful Capital Ballroom of the gorgeous Art Deco building that is Graduate Hotel on Saturday, August 15th. Robert and I performed two works by two different authors that evening. The first was “The Nameless City” by H.P. Lovecraft. We had only performed this work once before live as part of the 2023 edition of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. Robert gave a commanding and intense reading of “The Nameless City” once again in the Capital Ballroom and it is always such a pleasure and privilege to share the stage with Robert. Thankfully we were also able to perform the recently discovered “Gibbet Hill” by Bram Stoker that night. Robert and I did a live performance/recording of the tale back in April of 2025 at Retro City Studios, in Philadelphia for Cadabra Records as part of the phenomenal Haunt series of limited vinyl releases the label put out through this year. Due to the nature of the Haunt series live performances/recordings, they are performed in sections live and not continuously for post-production reasons so the Necronomicon performance this year marked the first time Robert and I performed this hypnotic and strange story all the way through without the stop/start nature when recording it live for an audience. Robert’s transfixing performance of “Gibbet Hill” is breathtaking and has an understated power and beauty to it that only he can pull off in such a staggering way and this allowed me to weave in and out of the passages with ease when providing the soft tones and heavily delayed arpeggiations from my synthesizers for the performance.

It was an amazing experience to open and close out the 2026 Necronomicon festival. For the closing night, Sunday, August 16th, the massively talented, Aoibhin Redmond as NIMF and I performed solo sets along with a set featuring our forthcoming collaboration on Yuggoth Records as part of a long-standing tradition, the finale of the festival, The Dunwich Horror Picture Show. This was an outdoor event that took place outside of The Red Door with the street blocked off. As my wife Julia Bozzone observed, the atmosphere was one of a kind of carnival with folks milling about the surrounding area and the smell of popcorn in the air. It was a special closing event. My set consisted of performing songs from my solo album on Yuggoth Records, “Phantom Flowers” as well stripped down and entirely synth based versions of some songs from my collaborative project (with my wonderful friend, film and concert hall composer, Peter Scartabello) Seer, drawing from our first of two albums, “Glimpsing Into Oblivion.” The wind was blowing heavily that night and I had to hold down my notes and lyrics with a very heavy A/V Direct Box so my papers didn’t blow away. Between the carnival type setting and the wind, everything felt just right while singing and performing my solo set. NIMF followed with her solo set which consisted of two mesmerizing and beautiful songs from her magnificent 2026 debut album, “Sirenoscape.” Next up, NIMF and I had our live debut of our collaboration. We performed four songs from our upcoming album and there was a definite magic in the air as we performed shrouded in radiant purple and blue light. It was a deeply intense, atmospheric and beautiful experience and I can’t wait for people to experience the full album and hopefully play the material live more soon. After our set ended Yuggoth labelmate, Hemlock performed a heavy psych rock set of the highest order. The festival came to a close with The David Tessier Old God All Stars impeccably performing a live soundtrack rendition of Les Baxter’s timeless score set to Daniel Haller’s film The Dunwich Horror while Big Nazo’s Lovecraftian creatures poured out into the street wreaking havoc for attendees in glorious form.

Endless thanks to Niels Hobbs and his unbelievable team along with all of the enormously appreciated volunteers who made the 2026 Necronomicon such an unforgettable experience for everyone who was lucky enough to attend the festival.

Each Necronomicon I’ve attended has been special in its own way. The feeling of community and friendship was off the charts this year. It was so awesome to spend time with so many amazing and talented individuals including but certainly not limited to Yuggoth label owner, Peter Scartabello whose beautiful home Julia and I were able to visit and spend time with on our way back home; Yuggoth and Cadabra artist, Matt Jaffe who is responsible for so much stunning art that adorns records I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of over the years on both labels ; musician, sound designer and filmmaker, Alex Kuribayashi and all of his outstanding work leading into Aoibhin and I performing together along with the prep and rehearsal beforehand; musician, record store owner, filmmaker, writer and editor, Mike Hunchback who amazed all that were able to witness his singular Hunchback project on Saturday night (at the same time I performed with Robert, no!); Pamela M. Durgin whose debut novel “Desert Radio” is soon to be released and already receiving amazing praise; writer and editor Carol Gyzander; writer, scholar, novelist, Timothy J. Jarvis; novelist Tony LaMalfa. It is always so inspiring and fun to not only perform with but also hang out with both Jon Padgett (I’m also so glad I was able to finally meet his incredible wife Carolyn and their wonderful daughter Mamie) and Robert Lloyd Parry. Thanks to Julia for providing loving support throughout and for documenting all of the festivities and performances so brilliantly with loads of outstanding photos and videos. I already can’t wait for Necronomicon 2028!