Location: Nova Gorica / Kulturni dom / Slovenia
Concert date: November 26, 2014
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €12.00 (advance) / €15.00 (day of show)
One night is of course nowhere near enough to satisfy the appetite for an Eric Sardinas show, no matter how good the previous night’s gig was. We always want more, and this time we got it. Another Eric Sardinas show on our home turf – this time at Kulturni dom in Nova Gorica. Time for another trip to the Primorska region.
Eric has been known as the king of the resonator guitar across the pond and all over Europe for quite a few years now. He’s famous for his incredible knack for flirting with rock and Southern blues, his sensual, raspy vocals, and his serious skill at scratching the strings of his two slide guitars. Backed by bassist Levell Price and drummer Bryan Keeling, his path from his native United States leads him to Europe fairly often, but Slovenia hadn’t seen him in quite a few years. This year we got the honor two days in a row – the day before the Nova Gorica show, Eric had already played Figa Rock Bar in Koper – read the report HERE.
You can learn something new every day, and that day I learned that if a show is happening at a cultural center, you’d better show up on time. Otherwise you miss the start. So when we arrived shortly before 8:30 (the show was announced for 8:15), Eric Sardinas & Big Motor were already on stage and playing. And then came another surprise at the venue – seats. And a seated audience. Well, I honestly can’t imagine sitting through a concert. Luckily there was enough room along the edges of the hall to stand without blocking anyone’s view of the stage. The hall wasn’t completely sold out, but the nicely filled seats proved that Eric Sardinas in Nova Gorica was eagerly awaited and very much wanted.
This was my twelfth time seeing Eric Sardinas, but never before in a venue like this. A big stage and a seated audience. I couldn’t help wondering how a musician feels on stage when the crowd is sitting and not moving to the rhythm. But despite the sitting, the audience didn’t exactly stay still – some bravely clapped along, others stomped on the wooden floor, others drummed on their knees, and even the shyest at least nodded their heads in time. And everyone cheered the musicians on loudly, sometimes so loudly that Eric himself had to ask for a little more quiet during the acoustic bits.
Two days in a row, the same performers, but a completely different show. Just as the stage at Figa Rock Bar the day before was almost too small for the lively trio, at Kulturni dom there was visibly plenty of room on stage, and the calmer atmosphere in the hall brought a calmer vibe from the musicians too. Since the front-row seats sit a bit far from the stage, and the whole audience is pushed further back as a result, Eric often walked right up to the edge of the stage with his guitar to feel the crowd’s vibrations. He did it most during the acoustic parts of the show, when he turned down the volume on his resonator and sang right past the microphone. Thanks to the well-thought-out design and fit-out of the hall, the sound from the stage was excellent throughout. At one point, though, standing at the edge of the stage wasn’t enough for Eric to feel connected to the audience, so he carefully hopped off the stage on his sore leg, apologized that he had to take it slow because of a recently broken leg, and then, guitar in hand and without ever stopping playing, strolled through the crowd all around the hall. Here and there he stopped to greet a particular fan, then carried on his way, smiling and strumming.
The band doesn’t work from a setlist. Even the agreements between the players about what will be played when and where are very sketchy and minimal. But they say a lot to each other without words – through facial expressions, body language, what they feel in a given moment. With no pre-set selection of songs or running order, Eric basically starts playing whatever he feels like playing at that moment, and Bryan and Levell follow him on their instruments. It might sound simple, but considering that Eric practically never plays the same song the same way twice, it becomes clear that he has real experts in his rhythm section. Onstage it all happens with practically no verbal communication. From Eric’s expressions and movements, Bryan and Levell know exactly how many times the chorus will repeat, when a completely improvised part will come in, and where Eric will jam a bit at the start of a song as an intro. Despite that much improvisation, you practically can’t hear a single rhythm mistake during the show, whether they’re playing older hits or the newest songs from their just-released album Boomerang. The guys deftly poured one song into the next on stage, from Flames of love to I can’t be satisfied, and onward from a tribute to the king of rock’n’roll Elvis Presley with a reworked Trouble to a staple of Sardinas shows, Get down to whiskey. In the middle of the vocal-instrumental magic there was also a solo spot for Levell and Bryan. Eric slipped backstage for a few moments, and when he came back and tried to strap on his guitar, it unluckily came off the strap and crashed to the floor with a loud bang. That made the audience hold their breath for a moment, while Eric just smiled, shrugged, picked the guitar up off the floor and kept playing as if nothing had happened. And so the trio brought the show home without any major trouble. For the finale, the lively Behind the 8 thundered off the stage, and then the trio bowed and left.
Eric Sardinas & Big Motor always surprise with their shows. All three of them make sure every gig is a special experience. The only thing we can always expect is excellent improvisation and immense chemistry. Their show stays fresh and interesting no matter how many times or how often it’s on the bill. If you haven’t seen them live yet, don’t miss the next chance.
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