Gig Review: RIVERSIDE / JOLLY – The Classic Grand, Glasgow,16 March 2013

Bass players are second only to drummers in the musician joke stakes. Often seen as failed guitarists the art of the bass player is usually hidden deep in the depths of the live mix somewhere behind the bass drum. Tonight though we were witness to two amazing bass players who were front and centre and an integral part of the show.

First up was Anthony Rondinone in New York proggers Jolly. Kicking off with ‘Storytime’ the band were seriously impressive mixing Radiohead style indie rock with ultra heavy prog metal passages.

The four piece are all consummate players with the aforementioned intricate basswork of Rondinone being evenly matched by the guitar playing of Anadale. The hat wearing Anadale looked genuinely surprised at the warmth of the Glasgow welcome and the energy from the crowd seemed to fuel the band.

At one point in the proceedings drummer Louis Abramson took to the mike to thank their fans for helping out the band last year. They lost their recording studio in Hurricane Sandy and it was only through donations from their fanbase that they were able to release their latest album and head out on this tour.

Other set highlights were ‘Joy’ and the closing number, ‘The Pattern’, which again featured another heavy mid section with all four on stage locked together with one common goal, to steamroller the crowd into submission. This was an impressive set from a very talented four piece.

With the Classic Grand now rammed and suitably warmed up, Riverside took to the stage with our second bass player extraordinaire. As well as attending to bass duties Mariusz Duda also handles vocal duties with great aplomb.

Opening with ‘New Generation Slave’ from the band’s latest release, ‘Shrine Of The New Generation Slaves’, they got things off to a gentle start. With the stage bathed in blue light Duda sang the quiet opening passage which soon gave way to heavier guitar and keyboard driven interludes.

Again all members of the band are seriously talented musicians with intricate bass patterns from Duda intertwining with the powerhouse drumming of Piotr Kozieradzki . This provides a solid base for the guitar and keyboard work of Piotr Grudziski and Michal Lapaj and provides them with a canvas upon which they create musical masterpieces.

Again the crowd were behind the band from the opening chords and were happy to participate where requested. One of the highlights was the shortest track of the night, ‘Feel Like Falling’, again taken from the new album. With a more commercial edge it is a number that gets lodged in your brain and had the crowd bouncing along.

It is however on the longer, more intricate numbers that the band really excel, ‘Driven To Destruction’ and ‘Left Out’ were possibly the highpoints of the set and the crowd lapped up every time change and bass flourish.

After a couple of encores the band left the stage to resounding cheers from an appreciative crowd who had borne witness to an amazing night.

The band were filming the gig tonight and if it eventually makes it on to DVD at some point it will definitely be one to add to the collection. Tonight proved that prog is alive and kicking and most definitely in safe hands. It also disproved the comment made by Blackie Lawless of WASP fame a while ago that the bass guitar is the ‘instrument of ignorance ‘, it all depends who is pulling the strings !

Review and photos by David Wilson

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