A "Polished" Performance
Just
a day after their debut in Lisbon (or, as Mariusz Duda so politely put
it, “Seville”), the quartet from Poland is once again stepping onstage,
this time in Porto, roughly four years after a quick stint, then opening
for Dream Theater in their Chaos in Motion Tour, back in 2007.
Things
don’t start well for the Warsaw rockers, and as the clock hits 9:00 PM,
there’s only about 40 people in the room… Strangely enough, nothing
happens. Nor does anything happen for the 30 plus minutes that follow.
No
sign from the band (or from the audience, for that matter), till all of
a sudden the room fills in the blink of an eye and the corny power
metal that’s been blasting away through the PA system for the past hour
and a half finally subsides.
Familiar chords fill the air as the band finally finds their way onto the stage of this still half-filled room.
The
fact that guitar man Piotr Grudziński climbs onstage with an APC
t-shirt (that and the sheer number of Tool tees in the audience) could
actually mislead you, but as the chords of “After” finally strike, you
know you’re in Riverside land now.
Musically,
from the first bass note to the last synth chord, these guys rock,
there’s no two ways about it. The music flows flawlessly and we can feel
the chemistry between the band members as the compositions evolve into
what is quickly becoming a very complex musical portfolio.
Ever
since “Out of Myself”, you can see, hear and, most of all, feel the
complexity rising. Riffs become more elaborate, time signatures more
demanding. But unlike so many other bands who, as time goes by, become
more and more like someone else’s clone, Riverside have managed to keep
their sound, as a whole, pretty much intact.
But
if, on the one hand their music still keeps getting better and better,
on stage they seem to be becoming the epitome of the consummate
professional artist: in and out in about two hours, give’em enough to
want more, not too much so as not to bore them, don’t play the obvious
ones everybody wants to hear, appease the gods of prog by turning one of
your anthems (“Second Life Syndrome”) into some kind of hybrid
pseudo-medley that cuts throughout one the most iconic moments of the
“Reality Dream Trilogy” (namingly, “Parasomnia”), and, above all, push
out those encores like today’s specials. I mean it. And quite
personally, this is actually what bugs me the most. But we’ll get to
that in a sec.
If
we forget for a moment that the setlist for this concert is exactly the
same one played the night before (and, for that matter, the same one
that’s been featuring in all gigs of their 10th
Anniversary Tour), there still seems to be an aura of “lost in
translation-ness” between the band and the audience. Sure, these guys
are a product of too many years behind the Iron Curtain, but surely
things have gotten much better since.
The
concert has, here and there, strange (more like awkward) moments, where
the band attempts to communicate with the audience, but all efforts
seem to result in bafflement, above all.
For
example, somewhere in the middle of “O2 Panic Room”, at the brake
before the last chorus, the band stops playing altogether. The audience
remains silent, waiting for something to happen as the band members, now
looking downward, motionless and sphinx-like, start smiling, perhaps at
some private joke we just missed. Seconds go by and nothing happens,
until Mariusz starts gesturing for us to get loud. Ooooh! We finally get
it! So we’re supposed to… and you guys are gonna… oh! I see… Hmmm,
clever!… No, not really.
After
some more seconds of… well, getting loud, the band returns to the
“Sweet shelter of mine”, and we’re left feeling we’ve just taken part in
a Happening. It could work, but it just feels forced, contrived.
In
a sense, just as contrived as the “self-portraits they tried to paint
before”, which for some reason don’t make it onstage, and the song is
severely cut short of its last, crucial section. Shame on them!
All
in all, the concert is competent, musically and attitude-wise, but
that’s about it. The band seems to be strangely detached from the heart
and especially the soul they put into their albums. Perhaps they’re just
an uptight, introverted bunch that has a tough time loosening up.
Be
it as it may, they could use a bit more soul in their stints in front
of an audience. Ten years, four albums and a couple of EPs after,
they’re hardly rookies anymore. Soulful as their music might be, it is
important to be able to convey the feeling to an audience, not just
through the music recorded in an album, but through the living,
breathing band members themselves.
And we reach the encore bit…
Personally,
I’ve always felt that an encore is a bit like the delicate art of
tipping: underdo it, and there’s no motivation to go beyond the mere
obligation; overdo it, an there’s simply no way to tell the difference
between “good”, “OK”, “excellent” and everything in between with sugar
on top.
Sure
enough, nowadays the encore cult has almost disappeared, and bands
deliberately leave their biggest hits for the encore, regardless of how
the gig might go and what the atmosphere might be like. But quite
frankly, to have the band leave the stage only for the “roadie master”
to rout the audience into a noisy frenzy, like we’re getting ready to
invade some small country, is too much for me. The encore is either
natural or there is none. But to come onstage with two encores already
planned, waiting to happen, regardless of what happens during the show;
to have someone actually make us clap loud enough for an encore (or two)
to take place somehow seems cheap and unnecessary.
That’s
not the way, guys, surely it isn’t. If it’s good, we’ll still leave
wanting more, no need to force what can and should be natural and pure.
All in all, a good show, but only that: “good”.
Finally, just a quick word regarding the individual performance of the band members.
It’s
widely known that Duda is the soul of the band, especially in regard to
the lyrics (as he writes all of them), and being the front man as well,
most of the attention naturally falls on him. But I have to be honest, I
could not veer my eyes away from guitarist Piotr Grudziński.
The pure simplicity with which Mr. Grudziński plays brings about everything that’s beautiful in music.
Sure,
it’s prog; sure, sometimes it’s heavy; sure, sometimes things get
really complicated, with 6 by 4 and the upper diminished fourth elevated
to the power of the riff. But he’s not in a competition (like soooo
many other guitarists of our time) to spit out as many licks as he can
per second, nor is he trying to unlock the secret, über-difficult hidden
level in Guitar Hero. He’s simply playing out of love, and we get it.
It
doesn’t come as a surprise, then, when we find out who his four major
influences are: John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain of
Salvation), Danny Cavanagh (Anathema) and, of course, the Heavy Devy
himself, Mr. Devin Townsend. But the picture gets even clearer when he
reveals who his true guitar hero really is: David Gilmour.
Throughout
the concert (and the albums, as well), the similarities in style
between both are unavoidable. And even if a comparison is right out of
order (which it is!), it is undeniable that both play from the heart,
and that shows.
Let’s be honest, these guys can all play, and play they do.
But
beyond the drumming skills of Piotr Kozieradzki (“human metronome”, as
our very own Ki so eloquently puts it), the amazing technique and
melodic construction of keyboardist Michał Łapaj, and the virtuousness
of Duda’s bass playing style, it’s Grudziński’s guitar that stands out,
even more so live, and if Duda’s lyrics are the soul of Riverside,
Piotr’s crying guitar is clearly the heart.
Setlist:
After
Artificial Smile
Hyperactive
Living in the Past
Ultimate Trip
Conceiving You
Egoist Hedonist
Left Out
02 Panic Room
Second Life Syndrome
(the first half, at least, with a short section from “Parasomnia”)
Encore #1
Forgotten Land
Reality Dream
Encore #2
The Curtain Falls
