Live gig review – Riverside (The Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh – 19 May 2017)

What’s to like?

Prog-metallers Riverside return to live performance with a tour that will help to heal band and fans after a traumatic year, and will lift spirits along the first tentative steps towards a new horizon in the band’s development.

The low down

Polish progressive rockers Riverside have had their fair share of troubles over the last couple of years, with the unexpected death of their guitarist and childhood friend Piotr Grudzinski. Given how tightly knit the four piece were as friends, as much as bandmates, there was considerable speculation over whether the band would continue or simply call it a day.

By 2016, they’d amassed an impressive run of well-received albums, and if they had disbanded at that point I think it would also have been a terrible shame. The band’s success was growing steadily, from home-grown heroes to genuine international contenders, and all those years of graft had seen the band develop into fine songwriters and musicians.

So after a respectful period of silence and reflection, the band’s decision to continue was met with genuine warmth, particularly because their motivation was to honour the legacy of their friend.

But rather than go straight back into the studio and record new music, the remaining trio needed to rediscover and redefine themselves, and wisely chose to embark on this new journey by going out on tour and reconnecting with everything that had contributed to Riverside’s growth as a band.

Riverside have been steadily returning to Scotland on each recent tour. I caught their first Edinburgh show in 2014 and was surprised at how well it was attended and it was the same again at this show. Doors barely open and the venue already filling up quickly. There was no support act, so the crowd didn’t have to wait long, but there was a surprise in store.

Instead of lights going down after the intro tape, the lights actually went up and the three band members quietly walked on stage. Singer and bassist Mariusz Duda then briefly and poignantly welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming along and expressed the hope that by the time the show was over, everyone would take away feelings of hope and positivity. This was such a humble and classy way of re-engaging with their audience, and I just knew that this gig was going to go well.

The trio kicked off with an extended jam based around the Coda track from Shrine of New Generation Slaves, which gave the audience a chance to settle into the sound, before their guest guitarist Maciej Meller quietly slipped onstage and slowly began merging his guitar into the sound, so by the end of the song the band were playing as one. Again, a nice touch that allowed the band to recreate their signature sound and also respect the absence of their former guitarist.

Things then really got underway with the epic Second Life Syndrome – a metaphor perhaps? – which allows the band to fully explore their sound, with its mix of driving bass lines, melodic guitar lines that ring out, solid drumming, and Michał Łapaj’s wonderful organ sound. In many ways it’s the quintessential Riverside song.

The opening songs sounded fine, given the limitations of a club venue, but it took a couple more numbers for the sound to really bed down, and when it did it was subtle, but everything gradually sounded a little clearer and richer. No distortion and no excessive volume. The only distraction was Mariusz appearing to hold back a little on his vocals for the early numbers, but by mid-set he seemed to be in his comfort zone and came across really clearly.

Perhaps he felt to call to duty to rescue the band’s acoustic arrangement of Lost, when the crowd struggled to sing along during the quieter moments. I’m not sure why, because they were loud enough in their cheers, and it was a simple refrain to sing. At one point Mariusz fixed his eye firmly on the crowd, and quietly said “really?”. It’s a measure of his experience as a front man and his calming presence, that he only needed to utter one word and the crowd immediately got the humour behind the gentle chiding.

And that was the vibe throughout the whole evening. It wouldn’t have mattered to me what was in the setlist because it was all sounding so good and there was a tangible feeling of wellbeing and goodwill among everyone. The guys certainly seemed to be very relaxed and happy, and although Maciej was a picture of concentration (understandably) even he loosened up towards the end of the set.

As you’ll see from the setlist below, it was an interesting mix of songs, with a couple of nods to the past but the focus very much on the most recent albums. That’s understandable, given that those albums seem to have opened them up to wider audiences, and the band perhaps didn’t want to settle on a nostalgia-heavy set focussing on the older material, when they’re endeavouring to move forward again.

Setlist: (courtesy of Setlist.FM) Coda,  Second Life Syndrome,  Conceiving You,  Caterpillar and the Barbed Wire, The Depth of Self-Delusion (with extended jam ending), Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened By a Hat?) (acoustic version) , 02 Panic Room, Saturate Me, Escalator Shrine, Before. Encore: Towards the Blue Horizon, Coda (with ‘Goodbye Sweet Innocence’ snippet)

But even he newer material got a makeover live, with extended jamming in some sections, and that lovely version of Lost where Mariusz swapped bass for an acoustic guitar. The extended jam during Depth Of Self-Delusion was particularly good, with each member getting an opportunity to cut loose and improvise, and reminded me very strongly of the way Pink Floyd started out in their early days. Having recently been listening to the Floyd’s archive live releases, I was struck by the same similarities in the way Riverside created their soundscapes live, with lots of swirling organ and long extended guitar notes.

And Maciej was outstanding on guitar that night. Not an easy job to fill in for another musician who’s guitar playing was so intrinsic to the band’s sound, but he nailed every solo and underlying theme. His playing was tasteful and respectful, and with just a hint of his own personality. I’m glad the band took their time in choosing their guest guitarist – they chose well, and I really hope he gets the gig if the band ever decide to make a full-time appointment.

Riverside wrapped up a full two hour show with the same way they began it, by revisiting the song Coda. But this time it was a more upbeat arrangement, a little less melancholic and a lot more hopeful for the future. Some might have felt a little short-changed at getting the same song twice in the set, but using it to bookend the show made perfect sense to me in light of the events that had unfolded in 2016.

As Mariusz commented at the end of the show, “We don’t have fans – we have family”, and with this tour, Riverside have re-engaged with their extended family in a way that is both dignified and purposeful, slowly saying goodbye to the past and moving forward with renewed hope and purpose.

The river continues to flow.