Centrum Koncertowe A2, Wroclaw, Poland24h September 2018
The Rasmus - “Dark Matters Tour”
On 24th of September, in the concert hall A2 in Wroclaw, there was a concert of the Finnish band THE RASMUS. The previous day the band performed in Gdansk; both concerts were a part of the “Dark Matters Tour” promoting the group’s recent album, ‘Dark Matters’.
It was a five years gap between the newest release and the bands last album of 2012 – it’s quite a lot taking into consideration it’s usually two-three years break if not a year in between subsequent ones. Still, the hiatus did not seem to impact the music in any negative way, it rather refreshed it - what is presented on the release (and consequently also at the concerts) is far more electronic than the previous output of the band. If it’s up to the fans taste or not - I guess it's highly individual matter. Lauri Ylönen, Pauli Rantasalmi, Eero Heinonen and Aki Hakal have been active since 1994; during that time they released eight albums featuring rock music tinted with melancholia and a dark touch. The most acclaimed song of the formation is ‘In the Shadows’ of the album ‘Dead Letters’, released in 2003. http://therasmus.com
Music & Performance
Finland is a country of many good bands - the reason for it was given by THE RASMUS drummer, Aki Hakala, who, while interviewed by the portal Antyradio, said that there are so many of them because of low temperatures characteristic for Finland. Due to that people prefer spending time indoors (like, e.g. in rehearsal rooms) rather than outdoors, say, playing football. There you go - a reason for Finnish artistic productivity in a nutshell. Be it this way or another, the concert the band played in Wroclaw was an excellent presentation of overpowering energy, positive band - audience interaction, and a fine spectacle of both music and light. The very fact that I’m used to far heavier sounds did not prevent me from appreciating a great communication the band had with the fans and loads of emotions given out during the show.
The artists’ engagement, dynamism, communication, interaction, power and positive vibrations which are so vital in music after all - they are all significant components of every show and they have always been very important for me in terms of valuing the presentation. I must say it was THE RASMUS’ strong point - they did a great job in this area. I stood there among the dancing, laughing, screaming people and I saw how much joy and enthusiasm they experienced thanks to the intensity of the band’s performance. And there was no difference - the ecstatic reactions were of both, the young and the slightly “older” fans the same way. It’s a great advantage of THE RASMUS - it was clear the fans in Wroclaw love them and the band paid it back twice the same. Additional plus was about beautiful the lights - atmospheric or intensive, they either enhanced the subtlety of some moments to intensify the power of other ones - they played well together with the vitality and dynamics presented by the musicians on stage.
Their music was a rather gentle Rock seasoned very nicely with some dark tones and harsher, bit metal pieces. Highly dynamic, energetic mixture was bound together by a very characteristic, a bit hoarse vocal and emotional, melancholic lyrics. The songs presented during the concert in Wroclaw satisfied every taste - we were given the most popular hits like ‘In the Shadows’, ‘First Day of My Life’ or ‘Livin’ in a World Without You’ and also the newest pieces being a vibrant mixture of harsh and gentle such as ‘Paradise’, heavier ones like ‘Wonderman’ or the electronic ‘Empire’. Looking at the concert and having in mind older released of the band one could not escape the feeling the vocalic line evolved greatly through the years losing a bit of its characteristic hoarseness to gain plasticity and harmony. To sum up briefly - the concert was a big success - rich in all sorts of sonic shades and emotional blasts. Big energetic kick - thank you!
Setlist
01. Paradise
02. F-F-F-Falling
03. Guilty
04. No Fear
05. Empire
06. Keep Your Heart Broken
07. Time to Burn
08. Immortal
09. Justify
10. Nothing
11. Funeral Song
12. In My Life
13. First Day of My Life
14. Livin’ in a World Without You
15. In the Shadows
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16. Holy Grail
17. Wonderman
18. Sail Away
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All pictures by Karo Kratochwil
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