Location: Vienna (Austria), Planet Music
Concert date: 18.09.2005
Attendance: 250
Ticket price: 19,00€
After almost two full years, the road took me back to Vienna in a gorgeous all-day downpour, which by now has pretty much become a synonym for this year’s weather. The show kicked off at 10 PM, and the two support acts were local and not even worth mentioning. The Austrian home crowd was thrilled with them, of course, chanting and cheering for their own, but average power metal just doesn’t cut it on the crowded international scene. After everything I’d already sat through, my ears didn’t deserve second-rate noodling on top of it, so I trudged back to the cafe for one more bitter coffee.
Arena, the modest Brits, standard-bearers of neo-prog British rock, a one-of-a-kind phenomenon that grew out of the UK with the rise of bands in the eighties like Marillion and I.Q., heavily influenced by the legacy of the giants Genesis, are a relatively young band in terms of years (10 years in existence), but they’re made up of seasoned, battle-hardened old cats, with drummer Mick Pointer (ex_Marilion) and keyboardist Clive Nolan (ex-Shadowland, Pendragon), whom many place alongside the greatest in the business (Tony Banks or Rick Wakeman, say). They opened with Bedlam Fayre from their current studio album “Pepper’s Ghost”. The band ran into some sound problems early on as they hunted for their stage balance. What stuck out most was Mitchell’s way-too-loud guitar, at the expense of Nolan’s mellotron in particular.
The setlist was phenomenal. Arena really set the place on fire by bringing the fantastic A Crack In The Ice back onto the setlist, and of course, not just that, but songs from their album The Visitor (1998) dominated the set. On stage, singer Rob Sowden stood out, dressed up as one of the characters from the concept story of the Pepper’s Ghost album. To top it off, Sowden wore glasses and a wig that made him look uncannily like Gary Oldman in the film “Dracula”. Besides his superb, fully immersed singing, Sowden also shone with a bravura stage performance that won everyone over and had him grandly in control of the situation the whole time.
During Smoke & Mirrors, Mitchell came in late with a riff and the band didn’t catch each other at the switch into a new rhythm. Mitchell instantly turned to bandleader Nolan as if to say, “Sorry pal!”, and Nolan didn’t even blink.
Still, Arena delivered in their own distinctive way exactly what makes them so hot. They conjured up fantastic stage magic, built from a heap of high-flying moods that flowed into one another, effectively and seamlessly. “Music of many moods”, as bandleader Clive Nolan calls their music, swept the small crowd at Planet Music off into the band’s fairytale world. Having one of the band’s classics on the setlist, the excellent, compact Medusa, made me especially happy, and one of the peaks of the night was the performance of The Shattered Room, where the band’s mission shone through in all its essence. Mitchell and Nolan carried the lead roles, and Mitchell in particular won me over here with his magnificent guitar playing. The band closed the main set with the excellent, punchy Enemy Without, which sounded especially explosive and uncompromising live. The crowd really came alive right at the end.
Arena came back out for an encore. Only Sowden and bassist Ian Salmon appeared on stage, opening the encore with acoustic guitars and the song Friday’s Dream. Cying For Help VII was a surprise (for those of you who skipped the band on their last “Contagion” tour). The original is a completely “a cappella” song. This time, though, they turned it into a hard-hitting rocker that once again got the whole audience on their feet. Then Arena said their goodbyes, very much the pros.
What I didn’t expect was the chanting of a handful of people in attendance, maybe ten at most: “Heeeelp me, Heeeelp me, oooooh Help Me!”, that is, the lines from the closing song. Arena showed up on stage again. Mitchell and Nolan had already changed, Salmon was shirtless. “If you’d been ten seconds late, we’d have been in the shower already!” Nolan told the audience, and Mitchell, who once more showed an exceptional feel for sophistication in this song, started strumming the familiar intro of the excellent Jericho from their debut “Songs Form The Lions Cage” (1995). “Thank God!” I thought. The show had been missing the sound of the classics, and this time Jericho hit the nail right on the head. Jericho added its own little piece to the mosaic of the band’s stage performance, which, as far as repertoire goes, was honestly phenomenal.
Despite a few sonic hiccups and a relatively lukewarm response from the Viennese audience (what the hell is up with these Austrians!?!?), the British perfectionists left a thoroughly satisfying impression in front of a three-quarters-empty Planet Music and won over everyone there with the signature, unique Arena stage magic.
Setlist
1.The William Tell Overture (Taped Intro)
2.Bedlam Fayre
3.A Crack In The Ice
4.Midas Vision
5.A State Of Grace
6.(Don’t Forget To) Breathe
7.Smoke And Mirrors
8.Purgatory Road
9.Witch Hunt
10.Medusa
11.Serenity
12.The Shattered Room
13.Chosen
14.Skin Game
15.Enemy Without
encore I
16.Friday’s Dream
17.Crying For Help VII.
encore II
18.Jericho
