Riverside – Scala, London – Monday 16th May 2011 (Live Review)
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Written by Ben Bland
In the last decade Riverside has become one of the most popular and well respected bands in the progressive rock genre as well as one of the few Polish bands to gain an international reputation. Although being one of the more notable acts to emerge from Poland in recent times may not be much to write home about, Riverside do have undoubted talent and there is a reason why they are able to celebrate their 10th anniversary with a major tour stopping off at London’s Scala. The warm affection towards the band from their fans is demonstrated by the celebratory atmosphere in the air at the Scala tonight.
Even a fairly lengthy set by Tides from Nebula fails to diminish said atmosphere. Although Riverside’s fellow Poles put an impressive amount of energetic desire into their set, they suffer from the same crippling disease as many a post-rock band – that of being chronically boring. There are so many bands in the world doing exactly what they are doing that sadly for them their approach to the style cannot help but be incredibly mundane and predictable. The crowd don’t seem to mind but this probably has more to do with the level of anticipation for the headliners than because they have been genuinely impressed by Tides from Nebula. It’s hurts to criticise them too much because they seem so pleasantly surprised at even being able to play a show in London, let alone to an audience this large. Seriously don’t bother checking them out though.
When Riverside themselves do take to the stage it is to a slightly underwhelming, but very proggy, reaction. The crowd are very restrained but clearly in thrall to the four musicians on stage. The opening trio of songs culminates in the Dream Theater esque instrumental 'Reality Dream III', a track that displays the extremely impressive talent of each of the band members. Guitarist Piotr Grudziński and keyboardist Michał Łapaj in particular bewilder with some uncanny unison lines. The rhythm section of drummer Piotr Kozieradzki and frontman and bassist Mariusz Duda meanwhile keeps things rolling along with a consistently solid and unrelenting groove. Duda manages to steal the show somewhat by pure virtue of the fact that as well as playing bass he manages to produce a perfect vocal replication of the songs as they are in the studio throughout.
Certainly if you want to see four musicians on stage who have honed their abilities to the top level then Riverside are definitely for you. What perhaps makes their musicality stand out from the likes of the aforementioned Dream Theater is the fact that they never descend wholly into unnecessary bouts of fret wankery. Solos are fairly frequent but never seek to dominate an entire song.
To be fair to Riverside there is far more to them than just their musical ability. Unlike many of their peers this is a band that does have a string of songwriting nous to their bow as well. The likes of 'Out of Myself' and ballad 'Conceiving You' are undeniably catchy efforts with the latter inspiring, admittedly after some prompting by Duda, a large singalong to what he describes as “one of our only two simple songs”. More complex efforts such as new songs 'Living in the Past' and 'Forgotten Land' and classic main set closer 'Second Life Syndrome' are also deceptively well written, still featuring plenty of hooks. Sadly cuts from most recent studio album 'Anno Domini High Definition' suffer from being twice as long as they need to be, showing a worrying decline in quality from earlier material, which thankfully the band’s new EP seems to have addressed somewhat. There is a particularly disturbing moment in 'Egoist Hedonist' when the band seems to be fighting against a concerning urge to break into nu-metal boneheaded nonsense. To the relief of this reviewer at least, such moments are very much few and far between and, after a lengthy near two hour set, Riverside depart from the stage having celebrated their 10th anniversary in style and confirmed themselves as one of the most exciting acts in the world of heavy prog.
Riverside setlist:
Beyond the Eyelids
Out of Myself
Reality Dream III
Egoist Hedonist
Living in the Past
Conceiving You
Ultimate Trip
Left Out
Loose Heart
02 Panic Room
Second Life Syndrome
Forgotten Land
Reality Dream II
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
![Bad Omens Detail 26-Track 'Concrete Jungle [The OST]' Project, Share New Track The Drain](http://cdn1.stereoboard.com/images/artistimages/50/tn_bad-omens.jpg)
