OCTAVIA SPERATI, DANNY CAVANAGH, LIQUID SKY & ADASTREIA
LONDON BARFLY 09/04/08
Changing rooms, we don’t need no stinking changing rooms. Fitting more than a couple of people into the one at the Barfly would be impossible and it was no surprise to see Adastreia troop out of the audience and onto the stage. I had not seen this lot since they supported Epica in 2006 and noticed they had lost their old female keyboard player. Apart from that, much was as I remember. Let’s put it this way, this is a band that are really going to appeal to the opera lovers out there. Singer Alexandra has one of those optic shattering ranges and as far as tonight was concerned this was pumped up to the max, making for a rather spectacular ear shattering assault.
‘In Stillness’ from latest album ‘That Which Lies Within’ was far from still to be honest. In the confines of this small venue it was necessary to back away from the sides of the stage and the speakers and get into the centre, I don’t ever wear earplugs at gigs but with these vocals could have done with them. Some quirky instrumentation allowed a bit of a respite from them and to be honest even after a short way into the set I was finding them just that bit too rich for my tastes and this was akin to gorging out on chocolate cake. There is an overriding sense of seriousness about this lot. They have what looks like a firm fan-base and are not looking for any sort of Nightwish commerciality or even accessibility in their craft. ‘It Remains’ had plenty of dramatic and bombastic swipes in it along with some Euro friendly ‘hey heys’ urging the crowd along. They peaked with a head-banging mindset and put on a good performance. That said four (longish) songs was enough for me and I feel like an old git saying “turn it down, too loud”.
I had heard from others that Liquid Sky put on a good show and having spent the morning reviewing the rather excellent ‘Identity’ was really looking forward to catching these Mancunians. As soon as they ploughed into ‘Titan’ it was evident that I was not going to be walking off in disappointment. On stage they looked completely at home, singer Hecate utilising as much space as possible and there was plenty of posing and coordination between members, swapping position and jamming away together. They not only looked incredibly happy but they also were rock solid musically and really did impress me from the offset.
Apart from those hemmed in at the front of the stage though they seemed to have the rest of the audience somewhat apathetic and standing around statuesquely when the likes of ‘Ghost In The Shell’ should have had feet stomping along. Mind you the album is only just available (the band were also giving it a good sales pitch) so hopefully when it gets heard they should get the reaction they deserve. Vocals and guitars were too powerful to allow hearing the excellent keyboard melody of ‘Dreamstate’ but that is a small complaint really. This was apparently the last gig for a while although they have others scheduled oop North in August. I am going to be keeping my eye on this lot closely and hope they do just like The Doors and break on through!
Next we had a rare treat in store with an acoustic set from a Mr Danny Cavanagh. No introduction should be necessary and the Anathema man informed he was here to show support to his friends in Octavia and have a laugh. This was great for those of us hungering for some new and apparently completed Anathema material but we got a trip back with some old classics such as the heartbreaking yearning of ‘Fragile Dreams’ It was perfect material for the likes of The Cambridge Folk Festival and we were told to leave our heads at the door and just get into it, no problems doing just that. The Floydian caress of ‘Leave No Trace’ with its No Future message sounded almost cheerful and the groups “most loved” song ‘One Last Goodbye’ was absolutely perfect.
The modern day Nick Drake also had a few surprises in store and told us to ask our parents about a band called Fleetwood Mac (yeah I wish) before jigging us around to ‘Big Love’. Octavia’s Silje joined him and I guessed they were going to do ‘Don’t Believe A Word’ but was wrong, this was saved for their main set and was a showstopper. Instead we got Kate Bush ‘Running Up That Hill’ which I recognised in two seconds flat and one I didn’t Iron Maiden’s ‘Wasted Years. Throughout the set the audience was respectfully silent and at times seemed absolutely transfixed. This was something you had to be at basically and it was a great bit of scheduling that we all enjoyed.
Octavia Sperati were not at full strength due to babies. The drummer’s wife and bass player having newborn arrivals meaning that two of the group were replaced by session musicians. Jan-Åge Svendsen and Tom-Erik Svendsen from Bergen band Temple Sleep had been drafted in adding 1/5 more testosterone to the group (and boy did that bassist add some balls as he rocked out). Despite this they were tight as ever and the second the thick bass and drumming in particularly rattled round the venue on opener ‘Going North’ we knew that this was a well practiced unit as the low end bounced us off the walls.
Girl power was far from lacking and Silje dominated as did the Vikingesque Bodil and Gyri on guitar. Moonlit had a fair few singing along in the audience with the chorus and getting down to the solid power chords as it brooded with a doomy intensity. ‘Guilty Am I’ proved that the audience were getting a good airing from latest album ‘Grace Submerged’ and there were a fair few egging out those annoying blurry mobile phone shots at the front. As mentioned the Thin Lizzy cover was beautiful and ‘Icebound’ was welcomed, especially as the venue was absolutely sweltering. There seemed to be a bit of a spark missing though and looking around the audience had thinned out somewhat negating the atmosphere. We have been lucky with plenty of visits from Octavia and perhaps they had played their most well known numbers in the first half of the set meaning that people had shuffled out of the school night gig a bit early.
That aside, all the bands played really good sets and you can comfortably see them easily getting those bigger band support slots in the future. This was a good up close and personal intimate show something that makes the Barfly one of the better places in the capital for seeing live bands before they make it and player larger soulless venues.
Pete Woods
Click here for photographs
MTUK HOME
