RIVERSIDE
TIDES FROM NEBULA
Bathed in blue backlighting and making a casual entrance onto the stage, Tides From Nebula make an unassuming start to the evening’s proceedings and to their first ever UK appearance. However, after a minute or so of guitar-derived ambient aural swelling, gradually building into the beautiful intensity of the first track from their new album ‘Earthshine’ (produced by composer par excellence, Zbigniew Preisner, who recently worked with David Gilmour on his latest album) the Polish quartet clearly have the crowd intrigued, for this is no standard prog-fare of twitchy time signatures, intelligent lyrical matter and well-sung vocals; this is purely instrumental, almost orchestrally structured, ambient guitar-led post-rock, (with a hint of psychedelia) and a perfect accompaniment to headliners, Riverside. Passionately delivered, swooping from dreamy multi-layered and looped guitar and bass melodies and gentle drumming, building into gradual crescendos of distorted, echoey power and intensity, with guitarists and bass player alike wildly flinging their instruments around and up into the air whilst still playing perfectly, it makes for one of the most awesome visual and sonic delights I have witnessed this year. Despite an abrupt and unplanned mid-set break caused by apparent power issues on stage, their set flies by in too short a time, and after airing numerous tracks from ‘Earthshine’ and previous album ‘Aura’ (including the excellent ‘The Tradegy of Joseph Merrick’) they’ve gained a well-deserved, positive crowd response. One can only hope that they return to these shores again so we can once again experience their sonic beauty. Truly spectacular. (HS)
DATE:
VENUE:
Sunday 15th May 2011
Picturedrome in Holmfirth, UK
Reviews by Mark Holmes & Hannah Sylvester; Photography by Mark Holmes
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TIDES FROM NEBULA
RIVERSIDE
Celebrating a decade in existence, Polish prog-rock/metal maestros Riverside's 2011 European tour sees them hit UK shores for only the third time to play two shows, one in London tomorrow and tonight in the small West Yorkshire town of Holmfirth. It's actually verging on five years since I last caught the Poles live, in Holland at ProgPower 2006, so it promised to be an intriguing experience to see how one of prog's most revered bands had actually progressed. Already a polished live act at the previous 5/6 times I had the pleasure of witnessing them in action (bizarrely in Holland on each occasion, including their first performance outside of Poland, also at ProgPower in 2004), I'm happy to report they remain the epitome of refined prog incarnate as they treat a packed Picturedrome to their emotionally disparate soundscapes through a display of versatile, accomplished musicianship. Mariusz Duda comes across as a far more confident performer since my last encounter with Riverside; not to say he wasn't previously, rather now he's the perfectly consummate frontman, looking a hundred per cent relaxed and comfortable on stage and with discernible command over the audience with whom he occasionally engages in witty banter. Keyboardist Michal Lapaj has also noticeably matured in his performance and looks like he's enjoying every moment of the band's 2+ hour set time as he smiles away to himself and fellow bandmates for most of the duration. Drummer Piotr Kozieradzki, barely illuminated behind his kit, makes his presence known with his skilfully executed beats while guitarist Piotr Grudzinski looks as chilled as ever stage left as he exudes his wide repertoire of sounds and fretboard techniques throughout the course of the evening. Collectively, Riverside are impressively tight through all the flawlessly executed twists and turns in their compositions and a perfect sound through the Picturedrome's PA provides a delectable aural feast for the near capacity crowd in attendance. Setlist-wise, each of Riverside's four albums are represented, rather apposite considering it's the occasion of their tenth anniversary and four vertical banners placed around the stage bear artwork related to each of these releases. Every song played receives euphoric cheers from their many British fans present and I get the feeling that whatever song choices the band had decided on would have been greeted in such a manner for, at least in my opinion, every song they've written is pure class - "filler" is not a word in Riverside's vocabulary. So opener 'Beyond the Eyelids' is followed by 'Out of Myself', 'Reality Dream III', 'Egoist Hedonist', brand new track 'Living in the Past' from new EP 'Memories In My Head', 'Conceiving You', 'Ultimate Trip', 'Left Out', 'Loose Heart', '02 Panic Room', and a portion of 'Second Life Syndrome'. If that wasn't enough, the band return to the stage for encore airings of another new track, 'Forgotten Land' and the original 'Reality Dream', then exit again before returning to rapturous cheers from a clearly excited crowd for the one-time standard climax of 'The Curtain Falls' which is complete with its concomitant finale of band members walking off one at a time as the song approaches its final bars. An awesome performance from an amazing band, Riverside's tenth anniversary genuinely feels like a fitting celebration of a decade's worth of music with the occasional nod towards the future. It pleases me greatly to witness Riverside's rise in popularity since their first ever appearance outside their home country over six and a half years ago for they are masters of their art, uniquely innovative and write some of the most exciting, genuinely progressive music to ever grace my ears. Here's to the next ten years. No, fuck that, the next thirty! (MH)
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