Life is Beautiful (this year's release) ... rather disappointing, imo.
Definitely.
I'll skip it then.
Probably one update today as I was at work, but possibly three updates tomorrow.
#21
Orvam: A Song for Home
Need
Genre: progressive metal
2014
Recommended to me by: lonestar
Finally here’s another band I saw live. Looking back my list, the latest update with the band I saw in person was Amorphis at #29, which is somewhat ridiculous, considering how well-known a few bands from the latest updates are, and how I apparently love their albums, but hey, that’s one of the many reasons why living in Russia sucks. Not that I saw Need in Russia, too.
Let’s get obvious stuff out of the way before I tell you this captivating tale of
love and betrayal seeing them play in person: Need is a Greek band that does awesome progressive metal music. RJ introduced me to then via Lady Obscure, with this very album, and their latest, called
Hegaiamas: A Song for Freedom is almost as delightful as this one. With a somewhat darker edge than your usual prog metal, this band is apparently rising in popularity ever slowly since Orvam, playing at ProgPower and touring Europe. Alright, back to the story.
I spoke a few times of how I saw them supporting Evergrey on their tour in support for
The Storm Within in Siegburg, Germany, mostly in the Evergrey thread I think, but the truth is, well, first off, I was planning a vacation in Germany anyway, so it was kind of lucky to me to catch that tour, but second, I went as much for Need as for Evergrey. That was a perfect situation when you love both the opener and the headliner of the gig. The club was actually very small, there was maybe space for two hundred people, and Siegburg itself isn’t very huge town. I think it was in the basement of some nightclub or restaurant, but I don’t remember it too well—I remember the person who checked our tickets was in disbelief seeing where we came from (I think the country was listed on the ticket), saying “wow, you travelled a long way for this”.
I didn’t have Evergrey t-shirt, but I had one Need t-shirt as I bought the Orvam bundle from bandcamp, so I was sporting it, of course; first thing I see entering the venue are two merch stands for the band, and the guy at Need merch stand grinning at me and complimenting my t-shirt. I ended up getting another Need t-shirt, so now I have two and the
Siamese God CD (their album before Orvam). I wanted to buy their ProgPower DVD, but the guy gave it to me for free, then asked if I already had a pick with the band’s name on it, gave me that, then gave me a bunch of stickers and told me to promote the band. Everyone go listen to Need.
Well, needless to say, my evening was already pretty great, and there were just a few minutes before Need was supposed to start playing, so I quickly grabbed some beers from an unassuming guy at the bar—I was amazed that he poured it into thick beer glasses and I was allowed to take them with me into the crowd, which is a huge no in my country—and when I say the crowd, I mean ten people that are standing there. No fighting for front row, nothing, just a few people standing randomly there as the guys from Need got on stage and began playing.
The setlist was mostly from
Hegaiamas with one song from
Orvam, and people began trickling in during the first two songs, but not too many, perhaps a whooping thirty people overall. None of them seemed to know this band, as I was the only one to expect the rocking moments, mouthing the words along. Well, so the gig was great, now it’s a half an hour wait for Evergrey, and I see there’s not a lot of people in the crowd, so I leave my spot and go back to the bar to get another beer.
This was right at the end of my vacation—I saw some of you folks at Ayreon Universe and then spent two weeks in Germany—and as I usually travel with a backpack and no other luggage, I don’t pack my razor as it’s not allowed to be brought on planes. So I’m sporting a two-week stubble now, and, this is important, all musicians from Need are bearded. By the sound of it, we’re also the only foreign people in this venue. So I ask for a beer, and I figure if it’s alright to bring the glass in the crowd, I may as well ask for the bottle so he won’t have to pour it and I won’t have to return the glass. This time it’s another guy at the bar, and when I ask him if I can have it in the bottle, he says with a thick accent:
Bar guy: You’ll have to ask the manager about this.
Me: Uh, what?
Bar guy: The manager, you have to ask the manager first.
Me: (thinking I’ve heard something wrong)
Um, what manager? (I’m such an eloquent guy)
Bar guy: Alright, you know what, wait, I’ll go and ask the boss.At this point I’m quite dumbfounded at the whole exchange. The guy goes to the unassuming fellow on the other side of the bar which poured me the beer for the first time, points at me and they have a quick dialogue, after which he returns and says:
Bar guy: Oh shit, you’re not from the band that just played then?And that’s how I’ve got a beer and this story.
Favourite songs:
Lifeknot (
YouTube,
Spotify),
Mother Madness (
YouTube,
Spotify),
Orvam (
YouTube,
Spotify)