Ok, where do I start ?? My first ever live gig was Hawkwind back in December 1972 and I think it’s very safe to say that over the years I have been to more live gigs and festivals than you can imagine and as a consequence, one tends to get “desensitized” and I have to say there are times when I get bored during a live band – Guys, we know you know how to play your instruments, we know you know how to play your brand new album note for note, BUT – we need to be entertained !! Years ago, my wife went to see Linkin Park with our daughter and at one point they asked if anyone in the audience knew how to play the guitar part for their next song and a number of hands went up. They got a young lad onstage and he played WITH the band, the entire song – he’ll never forget that and NEITHER WILL THE REST OF AUDIENCE !!! A gig, a concert needs to stay in your memory for all the right reasons of course 😉 😉 Tonight’s gig was one such gig !!!

So, after that brief introduction, let’s get down to it…..

Support was provided by French band Klone who played an unplugged set for the best part of an hour. Not overly familiar with the band (but their cover of “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden was superb), although my wife is a fan and suspect I would have probably enjoyed it more if it had been a full-on performance. It was a step-up from the overly familiar “one guy with an acoustic” which was a regular feature back in the 70s. With no knowledge of their music and with the anticipation of the mighty Riverside after the short break, I did tend to “zone out” at times, but in saying that they are an amazing set of musicians and I look forward to seeing a full-on electric set at some point in the future – DEFINITELY a band I will be delving into in the coming weeks…

Riverside, a band I’ve been following for many years and actually went to see them back in 2007 at Lydney Town Hall (one of only two gigs on that visit). To say the band have moved on and (excuse the pun) progressed since then is somewhat of a MAJOR understatement !! Having seen them several times over the years hence, this is a band that have grown in confidence and maturity a hundred-fold from their first trip to the UK and I have to say, a VERY encouraging and enthusiastic turnout (A nice mix of old and young – around 300 on a Monday night for a Prog gig is exceptional !!) , the future of Prog in the UK is in safe hands I reckon and Riverside and their ilk will lead the way, I suspect the band will be looking at bigger venues next time around, they need it, they deserve it….

Back in 2016, the band had to deal with the tragic loss of their guitarist Piotr Grudzinski and at that point, the future of the band lay in the balance. Ultimately, they decided to continue as a three-piece with Maciej Meller handling the guitar parts on the road, in 2020 he officially became a full time member of the band….tonight he proved beyond doubt that he is a very worthy successor to the memory of their former bandmate, amazing.
Sound and lighting throughout was superb, due credit to the lighting and sound engineers, job well done guys.

The band kicked off with Mariusz’ bass line from “#Addicted” off their 2015 album “Love, Fear And The Time Machine”. I have to admit, I’ve always felt that Riverside sometimes come across like a “Proggy A-Ha” (probably because Mariusz’ voice bears an uncanny resemblance to Morton Harket at times) and this song compounds that, but it has a very upbeat feel to it which pervades the entire set, a superb way to get the room buzzing. Next up we went back to “Rapid Eye Movement” for another bass led masterpiece “Panic Room”. Part way thru, the band froze mid play for 20 seconds before kicking off again – GENIUS !!!! Needless to say the audience went wild- an inspired touch.

The new album “ID. Entity” was covered well (as you’d expect) with five of the seven tracks featured in the setlist, but interestingly, we also had a couple of tracks from “Anno Domini High Definition” (2009) – “Left Behind” and “Egoist-Hedonist”, a superb and much under-rated album from their back catalogue, with some amazing guitar work courtesy of Maciej. I must at this point, put in a few words regarding Michal Lapaj (Keys and backing vocals), smiling throughout, he has SO come out of his shell and was very obviously having a whale of a time – there’s nothing more fulfilling than seeing a band happy to be there and enjoying themselves. Obviously a good audience turnout plays a big part in helping to achieve this as it’s very much a two-way thing and boy, did this audience play their part !! Throughout there was EXCELLENT audience rapport and one thing I’ve always admired about the band, they don’t mind “extending” a track and going off on a tangent. I personally find it boring when a band play their music note for note live, even though I know Prog is not without its nerds and completists (Steve Hackett’s live version of “I Know What I Like” is superb, even though there were a few detractors who went up in arms because there wasn’t a sax on the original studio version FFS !!). Mariusz even admitted during one his many monologues to the audience that they openly slot in parts of other songs part way thru’ a track and (blasphemy !!) extend songs from their original studio version, how dare they. Nice one guys.

The inevitable encore featured a nice mash-up of “Self Aware” from the latest album and yet another dive back into the ADHD album “Driven To Destruction”, we were even encouraged to try and spot the join, audience rapport at its finest. No prizes were awarded to those who picked it up btw 😉 ;-).
Finishing with “Conceiving You” from “Second Life Syndrome”, again enjoying an extended run time with a superb synth solo from Michal, we were also encouraged to “silent scream” following a full-on tutorial from Mariusz, which was entertaining – try screaming at the top of your voice, but slightly above a whisper and you may be partway there, but ultimately, when the song kicked back in, we all let rip and once again the whole room ROCKED. The two hours went by in the blink of an eye and for many, if not all of us, the end came way too soon. Job done, the band took to the front of the stage for bows and applause and fuck, did they deserve it….At this point, also need to give adequate praise to the man behind the skins, Piotr Kozieradzki who kept the band in tow with a tight rhythm section throughout the set.

What an absolute JOY it was – at this moment in time, a firm qualifier as “gig of the year” even though it’s only the middle of May. Miss these guys at your peril, a band that goes from strength to strength, long may they reign – memorable on so many levels.

Check out their website https://riversideband.pl/en/ for latest tour dates.

 

    Steve Gould