Artist: Veronica
Release: 2005
Rating: 3.8/5
The Aquasphera DVD is a live project recorded at the Laguna water park in 2005. Considering Veronica aren’t exactly a hugely popular band, this must have been a pretty big financial undertaking, since in this show they mix music with visual effects and dance. Through projections, dance and music, they tried in several ways to point out that taking care of nature (water in particular) is a human responsibility. And the band themselves put it even better on the DVD sleeve: “Aquasphera is a multimedia show that, with emotional leaps from melancholy to shock, calls attention to a responsible attitude toward nature, of which water is a key part. Observers of the project turn into receivers of the full range of sensory perception. Through a moment in real time, they step into a single day and eternity at once, into transience and timelessness. Aquasphera, a water world of a thousand endless possibilities, in which only the chosen ones become our reality. Water also remembers and changes, and with our interventions we defile it and thereby destroy the only world capable of sustaining us.” Maybe a bit over the top and new age, but by and large I’d agree with that message myself.
The show itself kicks off with a long Floyd-style guitar solo while all sorts of projections of nature roll by. Soon the guitar fades out and the band switches to songs from their three studio albums. Unfortunately, the track titles aren’t listed on the DVD, but it hardly matters, since the songs come across as one whole. If you haven’t read any reviews of Veronica’s music yet, know that they mostly mix rock and jazz, with a bit of classical and a few other genres here and there. Their greatest strength is a great sense of melody. The songs are mostly played very close to the album versions, but there’s also plenty of room for improvisation, so the guitar, drums and woodwinds can breathe freely. Veronica aren’t a band that plays live a lot, yet it feels like they do it every day. That’s not so strange when I think about how their studio albums were mostly recorded live anyway. No doubt about it, they have total command of their instruments.
All the way through, various films play alongside the music, showing trees, water and nature imagery in general. The ideas for the stage design and the films came from the mind of drummer Franc Podgoršek. The show has been going for quite a few minutes before the dancers finally come out on stage in tight black and white outfits. Soon they start strolling and splashing around the watery stage. Their delicate movements portray humanity’s symbiosis with nature and its struggle against it. I’m not a big dance fan, but it turned out rather pleasing.
I have to admit that when I thought a bit about the album’s message and the location of the project, something felt off. What strikes me as odd is that a show meant to warn people about a responsible attitude toward nature was staged in such a huge, “capitalist,” exploitative amusement park, which if anything contributes to damaging and destroying nature. But then, if you want to make an impact, you have to do something spectacular. I won’t complain, since I enjoyed the show a lot. The nice message on the album may have been a bit superfluous, given that by performing at Laguna they themselves helped destroy nature a little. Still, for me personally this is their greatest achievement. It seems to me their music comes across best in this combination of the sonic and the visual. The various emotions just flow into one another, and you get a really fluid, liquid feel, as if the music were one whole piece of calm water. I listen to their studio releases more, but when I put this DVD on, I definitely enjoy it more, and even though the album’s message combined with the location was a bit unfortunate, it matters to me that the members of Veronica are environmentally conscious like me.
Lineup
Matej Oset – keyboards
Franc Podgoršek – drums
Cveto Polak – bass guitar
Miha Stabej – guitar
Lado Jakša – woodwinds, percussion, sound effects
guest: Boštjan Leben – e-bow, guitar
and Plesni teater Igen
Production
Veronica
