DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA, LOVECRAVE & HAKEN –
LONDON UNDERWORLD - 14/05/10
At the relatively early hour of 7.10pm, Haken came on the stage at the Underworld. A quick hello to the sparse crowd and it was straight into “Streams”. It’s always hard to come on and grab the imagination of a cold audience but Haken did it with their fluent brand of Prog. “Streams” was a good choice. It started a bit thinly in retro style but it quickly beefed up with a strong bass line and reinforced keyboards, remarkably so as tonight Haken were missing their keyboard player and relied on a guitarist to fill in. The vocalist, resplendent in his red trousers, mimed to the ethereal movement but moreover supplied a sweet voice before leading a deeply dark and impressive growled passage. “Eternal Rain” followed. Sounding like the fall of rain, the guitars worked in unison, and as Haken can be, it was quirky in parts but always flowed smoothly. The red trousers captured the enthusiasm but this wasn’t an exercise in Prog showmanship. “Celestial Elixir” completed the set of three – Haken don’t do short tracks – and the drama continued. We were taken from the jolly sound of the fairground to the level of darkness you would associate with a passing black cloud. Soft touches abounded too. Haken know how to master moods. Emotion-filled vocals matched a swaying rhythm, and then it all went manic. This is one good band and Haken deservedly went off to enthusiastic applause. Having recently reviewed their album “Aquarius”, from which tonight’s set came, I wondered beforehand how they were going to capture their kaleidoscope of sound in 35 minutes. Well, they managed it. I look forward to seeing Haken again in October at ProgPower Europe.
By contrast to Haken, I knew virtually nothing of The Lovecrave before they came on stage. In terms of appearance, the bassist and female singer looked like hippies while the guitarist looked super cool with his tight black curly hair and dark glasses. In fact he looked Italian, which was hardly surprising as the band come from Milan. The singer had a clear and distinctive voice – a Goth Madonna, perhaps. This was a great match for the pumping drums and solid rhythm which ran through their set. To listen to, The Lovecrave reminded me a great deal of the Spanish Goth Rock band Forever Slave. “Anybody hear me?” resonated the chorus of the first song “The Other You”. We did. Their music was catchy, fluent and shadowy. The Lovecrave knew how to get the best out of standard pop/metal structures. I wasn’t so taken with their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” although I did appreciate its thunderous beat. I preferred their own work, of which “Can You Hear” was typical with its tribal beat and flowing passion. The hooky quality and power of their music got the crowd going but undoubtedly a further factor in this was the fact that the band members were a likeable bunch and had great charisma. They earned 10 out of 10 from me for stage presence and audience interaction. Add to that the exotic voice of the singer and it amounted to an entertaining and enjoyable stage show.
I missed Diablo Swing Orchestra last year when they came to the UK, so I greatly looked forward to their show tonight. On the face of it, Diablo Swing Orchestra have got everything for a live performance – energy, a lively, original sound and oceans of theatrical quality. My fear was that they might be undone by the size of the stage and the sound quality at the Underworld. I needn’t have worried. In fact the setting suited them as six seemingly unhinged musicians and an opera singer packed the small stage as they played their Swing-, Jazz-, Classical-, Latin- and everything else orientated Metal. They gave the impression they were drunk. They did play “Vodka Inferno” later on, but they weren’t drunk. The precision of movement and music told me that. They are simply hugely gifted entertainers. Even the sound check was a scream. The frenzied tone was set with “Lucy Fears the Morning Star” and “A Tapdancer’s Dilemma” off the latest album “Sing-a-long Songs for the Damned and Delirious”. The constantly thumping melody befitted a Metal concert but you don’t normally get a fierce-looking opera singer pumping out her stuff, a trumpeter, the rhythm of the Jungle Book or a headbanging cellist. Ba-dap-pa-dap, injected one of the male troupe. We all laughed and danced. The net result: total mayhem. The mad cellist looked like Tintin with his short blond hair and quiff. His expression exuded an excess of intensity. I thought it was drummers who were supposed to be the most insane? Maybe it’s a Swedish thing. But by goodness, he can play as he proved on “Stratospheric Serenade”, harmonizing with the heavy guitars to create motion. The constant jungle drum beat kept things going. Tango time on “Heroines”. I couldn’t believe I was watching this. It was a complete riot up there and out here in the audience. Brilliant. There was no need to exhort the crowd. The non-stop energy did that. We marched on to “Velvet Embracer”, one of a number taken from the album “A Butcher’s Ballroom” in the mid-section. This changed the angle slightly. The opera singer continued to raise the roof above the constant beat and unique character of each song. We joined in the chorus of “Rag Doll Physics”, put our imaginary sombreros on for “Poetic Pitbull Revelations” and danced manically to “Infralove”. “Vodka Inferno” was full of insane energy. The band were kind enough to slow down for occasional moments of musical subtlety, giving us a break from our mental and physical workout before it all went mental again. After this they took a short and well-earned break before returning with my personal favourite “Ricerca dell’Anima”, an exotic mixture of furious strings, the sound of the Shadows, sophisticated solos and much more. The equally energetic “Balrog Boogie” finished proceedings and ensured that we bounced, moved and laughed just as we had done for the previous hour and a quarter. The opera singer disappeared just before the end and never reappeared to take a well-earned bow along with the rest of the cast. I don’t know why that was. Maybe I’ve been watching too many election broadcasts lately and am looking for significance in everything. The fact is that Diablo Swing Orchestra appropriately received riotous applause from everyone, myself included, for a fantastic evening’s entertainment.
Andrew Doherty
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