Location: Vienna (Wien) / Szene / Austria
Date: Tuesday, 17.05.2016
On a tour marking the twentieth anniversary of their most celebrated studio masterpiece, “The Masquerade Overture” (1996), the legendary British neo-prog rockers Pendragon played Vienna for the first time since they’ve existed (they formed in 1978). That makes this a real milestone in the history of this incredibly tenacious band, which only rarely wanders this (relatively) close to Slovenia. At first it looked like turnout at Vienna’s Szene would be seriously modest, but shortly before showtime enough people had gathered in front of the stage after all. The crowd was made up of four Slovenes, locals, and a handful of Slovaks and Hungarians, and it chipped in a little to the generally positive gig vibe. After a quickly forgotten, soul-numbing support act in the form of the teary Austrian duo We Love Silence, everything was set for a high-level progressive rock get-together
In the first part of their sets on the current tour, Pendragon play “The Masquerade Overture” in its entirety, which is definitely a lovely gesture toward everyone who first heard of them right when this cult achievement came out. The first surprise when the band came on stage was that behind the drums, instead of Craig Blundell (absent because of his commitments to Steven Wilson’s touring band), sat a relatively unknown stand-in drummer, Jan-Vincent Velazco. He put on a superb drumming show all night and convinced as a worthy replacement for the absent grandmaster Blundell, which went for his short solo spot too.
The second surprise was the presence of two backing singers: the baroque young woman Verity Smith, with an enviable vocal range, and the seasoned mezzo-soprano Christine Booth of Magenta. Both did a great job with their backing vocal harmonies and added a lot to the superb atmosphere that quickly took over the hall. During the opening song “As Good As Gold”, which followed a recorded intro, they wore opera masks. The stage design was well done too, with interesting projections in the background, and the lighting deserves praise as well. Of course, most of the attention went to the ‘old guard’, led by the charismatic bandleader, guitarist and singer Nick Barrett, bassist Peter Gee (the only original member besides Barrett) and keyboard wizard Clive Nolan (Arena, Shadowland, Caamora), who has been loyal to Pendragon for thirty years. Nick and Clive have been friends since childhood, and when they started working together in 1986, Pendragon slowly left their obscure beginnings behind. In the nineties, especially after “The Masquerade Overture” came out, they became one of the most popular and respected neo-prog acts. Still, they deserve more recognition outside the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland, where they traditionally have the most support.
Nick, Clive and Peter led the band confidently through the beloved “The Masquerade Overture” standards, headed by the aforementioned “As Good As Gold”, plus “Paintbox” and “Masters of Illusion”, which came off especially well. Nick and Clive, who this time sat on a rotating platform so his keyboards could be seen from every side, are among the most admirable prog rock virtuosos around, and it’s always a pleasure to watch their fingers even when they’re not pulling off solo acrobatics. Nick’s virtuoso string-rubbing is a must-see up close, at least once, for all worshippers of Steve Hackett (Genesis) and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd). Pendragon’s music, especially the nineties stuff, is extremely positive, so a great energy quickly took hold of the hall between the crowd and the band.
Visually, Pendragon do look a bit funny, if not downright sloppy, especially Nick, who was dressed that night in a cheap ‘Hawaii’ shirt, while the sight of Clive is a little worrying, since he gets wider every year. No wonder there were very few women in front of the stage this evening too, especially single ones (only one was spotted nearby), but the band members more than make up for their unflattering looks with an exceptional instrumental performance. On top of that, Nick, who certainly didn’t lack humor and good spirits, was in fantastic vocal form all night. He especially delighted lots of fans when, at the end of the “The Masquerade Overture” songs, he announced “King of the Castle” and “Schizo”, two bonus tracks from the era of the aforementioned masterpiece.
Pendragon continued their show without a break with “Beautiful Soul”, which comes from their (still) current studio album “Men Who Climb Mountains” (2014). With it they announced some newer material, which, roughly since the album “Believe” (2005), has been marked by a noticeable stylistic shift toward darker arrangements and more serious messages. From the current album they also played “Explorers of the Infinite”, dedicated to all the adventurous explorers of the high mountains, and “Come Home Jack”, dedicated to Nick’s father. Then the mood got a bit more playful again, as they performed the classic “Nostradamus (Stargazing)” from the album “The Window Of Life” (1993), whose lively chorus managed to ‘wake up’ the crowd a little more.
“The Green and Pleasant Land” from the album “Passion” (2011) had a similar, welcome effect, while the epic treat “Breaking the Spell” brought the main set to a close. Then came the guessing about what the band would play on their return to the stage: would it be some long-standing classic, maybe even from the debut “The Jewel” (1985) or the cult ‘comeback’ album “The World” (1991)? Probably nobody would have guessed the final song of the evening, but we were all delighted by the performance of the excellent “Indigo”, which actually opens the masterpiece “Pure” (2008), in some people’s opinion even their best album so far.
Nick Barrett and his unruly Pendragon crew spoiled us for almost three hours with the sonic perfection of wide-open ambient landscapes. Nothing was left to chance in creating the perfect sound, and all the members of this cult band proved once again that they’re masters who are a pleasure to listen to and watch whenever they get behind their instruments. Even though turnout was far from ideal, the chemistry between stage and crowd came together mostly thanks to Nick’s charisma and readiness for cheeky banter, with the standout being the one about the unwanted grapefruit juice at the Loreley prog rock festival, while nobody expected the cold English cynic Clive to smile more than three times all evening anyway. Pendragon delivered their long and ambitious show with the energy of twenty-year-olds, which these days is far from a given among their musical peers. Let’s hope the chance for another get-together with Pendragon comes before the twentieth anniversary of the album “Not Of This World (2001) arrives in five years, since sadly they played nothing from it tonight, even though it’s one of their best achievements.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. The Masquerade Overture (intro)
2. As Good As Gold
3. Paintbox
4. The Pursuit of Excellence
5. Guardian of My Soul
6. The Shadow
7. Masters of Illusion
8. King of the Castle
9. Schizo
10. Beautiful Soul
11. Nostradaums
12. Explorers of the Infinite
13. Come Home Jack
14. This Green and Pleasant Land
15. Breaking the Spell
—encore—
17. Indigo
