The Power of Two review.
Two bands (sort of) one powerful evening!
The name Magic Room says it all. On Oct 17th I was honored to be part of an intimate gathering to catch Karmakic and Agents of Mercy live at the Sound museum/recording studio/showcase building located at 155 N. Beacon St. in Brighton MA
The venue
Ok, so it was a bit hard to find. A GPS was all but an absolute. There was unofficial free parking available around the outside of the building. Inside, proved to be a warm and inviting laid back atmosphere with some of the band members floating around, happy to nod a hello, shake a hand or sign an autograph. It was cool.
Beer, wine and water were available via a make shift bar with coolers and a fold up table.
The area where the show took place was like a giant living room. This included a couch along the back wall. There were also plenty of fold up chairs for the less opportunistic. It was the most unique setting for a show I’ve ever come across.
The band(s)
The show was scheduled to begin at 8:00pm. The band members made their way onto the stage at around 8:15 only to walk off again a few minutes later when it was realized that the sound wasn’t turned on. At around 8:30p the sound engineer showed up with pizza (munchies) box in hand and the show kicked off. Sticklers for band line ups might have noticed that it was not exactly two separate bands playing but one line up for both sets.
I hadn’t paid attention to that until the night of the show so when I realized that the duties of the drums were being performed by non other than Nick D’virgillio of Spock’s Beard fame, my anticipation almost doubled. Accompanying Mr. D on stage was my personal guitar hero, Roine Stolt, with Jonas Reingold on bass, Lalle Larsson on Keys, while Nad Slyvan and Goran Edman shared the lead and backing vox respectively.
The first set were the songs from Agents of Mercy’s The Fading Ghosts of Twilight. Having only one release I though it was a bit redundant to announce which album each song was coming from but it did allow for a little humor when Roine Stolt mentioned how it’s a bit different when touring with the Flower Kings and how they fight over which songs to play, having to choose from about a dozen albums. Nad responded “well, don’t make so many albums then” and proceeded to complete a seemingly flawless one hour set (after the Show I overheard Nad lament over some errors made on his part).
After a short break the show continued with Goran now on lead and Nad on backing vox and again on mellotron ( he did this for AOM too). Each singer did their part as naturally as if the songs were originally recorded that way in the studio. I was amazed at how Nad’s very distinct voice blended so well where harmonies and back up vox were called for. Goran too is a most talented singer be it lead or back up.
By the time the show ended it was almost 2 ½ hours of fantastic progressive rock. There were solo’s throughout the show and for the first time in years I was actually looking forward to a drum solo. Yeah Neil Peart is great but having seen rush over 20 times, well, it’s a bit stale for me but Nick D’virgillio was fantastic. I don’t know how this line up came to be but it was as if these guys had been playing together for years. Songs from both band sets were textbook. The interaction between the members was enjoyable and upbeat. Although Roine is the main man behind AOM he let Nad do most of the talking for that set while Jonas spoke for Karmaknic who’s set list included music from both the second and most recent third CD. Their own solo’s were much anticipated and appreciated by all. I had never heard of Lalle Larsson prior to this tour but that man would give Rick Wakeman a run for his money.
One little separate note worthy of extra attention: I’ve been going to show’s for over 25 years and I’ll tell ya, the sound quality in this place set a new standard for any other show in any size venue anywhere. I mean it was freak’en phenomenal. As much as I appreciate the Reagent theater for its relative closeness to my house I’d just assume come back here again for another proggy night, it’s worth the price of a GPS, trust me. If it’s good enough for BB King (I was told he played there), it’s good enough for any body.
As All Good Things must come to an end, so did the night. Most of the band members were more than willing to hang around save for Roine (who was his usual reclusive self). Nick had to have been the most accessible, perhaps because he was the only one without an accent. You could have easily taken him for a dude working behind the counter at a deli. I have my fingers crossed for a tour to support Spock’s Beard’s fourth coming album due out early 2010 (from Nick’s mouth himself).
Summary
So, a very unique place (better established parking would make it supreme), a great double performance made the Agents of Mercy and Karmakanic (Power of Two) show at the Magic Room in Brighton on Oct 17th an unforgettable evening. I hope that other prog shows soon follow.
Thank you so much AL B. NEWEARS and BostonProg for making it all happen for us.
Steve S.
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