Renaissance London 2001 Live

Renaissance
Live in London 2001

Renaissance Live at the London Astoria, 9th March 2001

Set:
Orchestral version of 'Prologue' played over the PA
Carpet Of The Sun
Midas Man
Lady from Tuscany
Dear Landseer
Northern Lights
Ananda
One Thousand Roses
Trip To The Fair
Mother Russia

Encore
Ashes Are Burning

Musicians:
Annie Haslam - vocals
Michael Dunford - guitars
Terence Sullivan - drums
Mickey Simmonds - keyboards
Rave Tesar - keyboards
David Keyes - bass

Support acts:
Beverly Martyn and Claire Hammill

http://www.anniehaslam.com/ - Annie Haslam home page

http://www.enteract.com/~nlights/ - Northern Lights - Renaissance home page

This was perhaps one of the final 'Prog' nights at the London Astoria (there are rumours of a ban on Prog after the Mean Fiddler's 'men in suits' were sent in*). The capital, for the first time in a decade (or two), welcomed the return to the stage of Renaissance (well, at least some of them . . .).

Strange circumstances (an indication as to where Prog is going?); here we have a band playing a one-off home warm-up gig, for a tour of Japan in support of an album, Tuscany, that has only ever been released in Japan . . .

Building up the anticipation with a lengthy taped introduction in the form of the whole orchestral, instrumental version of Prologue, the band finally entered stage left to a very warm London welcome.

Carpet Of The Sun was a good choice of opening number - it got the crowd straight on their side, and indicated we were in for a evening of the Classic repertoire with some new material thrown in.

With Annie commenting, with just a hint of pathos, that it was great to be back after "such a short time", adding, "it's great to see that it's the exactly same audience members as well", Midas Man was introduced.

Then the first of the new songs - Lady from Tuscany. This started very well with Annie's wordless vocal acrobatics, and promised much. However, it then started to go a bit wrong. Renaissance have seemingly not yet learnt that the keyboard sounds and rhythms of the 80s and early 90s sound a lot more dated now than the classic basic sound spectrum of the 70's (I'm referring to a 'simple' analogue keyboard rig of piano and/or organ, and Mellotron). Throughout the concert keyboardist Rave Tesar, sticking to the classic sound, was wonderful. It was Mickey Simmonds who seems predominately stuck in an 80s time warp. There is no denying Mickey is a very talented keyboardist. He played some wonderful synth-orchestral sounds, perfectly filling out the instrumentation, and taking me right back to Live At Carnegie Hall. It was his lead breaks that were the problem. They may have worked on a Duran Duran album, but for Renaissance . . .

Dear Landseer was better - and the band did keep apologizing that they were playing songs from an album that we hadn't had a chance to hear.

What was needed now was another classic - and we got it: the hit single Northern Lights.
The band were now settling down after what I think had been a nervous start for them; I missed who it was, but someone on stage shouted over to Annie, "Well we seem to have got away with it so far . . ."

Next up a very Indian-influenced Ananda off the eponymous Haslam solo album, followed by One Thousand Roses - my favourite track from tonight's glimpse of Tuscany. Then it was back to the classics. First up, more of a 'forgotten' classic, Trip To The Fair from Scheherazade - a personal favourite, featuring a quite beautiful keyboard solo from Rave Tesar. You knew that really only one thing could follow, and as it began the crowd went mad - this is what they wanted - this is what they had waited for - this was Mother Russia. Perfect.

But then it was over - I glanced at my watch and the band had been on stage for just an hour and a quarter. I suppose I can't blame them - this was a warm-up gig, and the first for many a blue moon; just be grateful that they did it and are still on form. We had also been treated earlier to two short sets by opening acts Beverly Martyn (who replaced the originally-advertised Sonja Kristina) and Claire Hammill. So I have no complaints. OK, just the one - I really, really, really wanted to hear Ocean Gypsy. Oh all right, two. I'm an old Curved Air fan - Haslam and Kristina on the same bill had been a mouth-watering prospect.

The band returned to the stage for just one more number, and it could only be - Ashes Are Burning, featuring Prog's most famous (Prog's only?) bass solo, ably handled by newcomer American David Keyes.

Annie still retains that phenomenal vocal range, hardly missing each of those precise trademark octave jumps that has always given Renaissance such a distinct sound. With this final track she gave it her all, and I'm sure there was no way she could have sung anything more that evening as, for the first time, the strain was beginning to show.

So, in conclusion; it was marvelous to have the chance to see this legendary band again. Tracks like Mother Russia have proved to be timeless classics. But on this early hearing of Tuscany, although it sounds like an echo of the classic period, there does seem to be some wrongly-judged 'modernization' of the sound. My advice - stick to what you know and do best (and you do that quite wonderfully). But then again what do I know?

Ian Oakley March 2001

* Regarding my comments on the Astoria and no more 'Prog': it appears that although most Prog gigs at the Astoria sell reasonably well, there is just not enough money being spent at the bar for the accountants' liking. Personally, I'd rather pay a bit more for the concert ticket, than see yet another venue turn its back on an audience - just because that audience chooses to actually listen to the music in preference to sitting in a bar getting drunk.

If you don't have the BoA navigation bar to the
left of your screen, click the link below to reload it.