I've seen Run the Red Light play live many times.
I'm very familier with their music and show and thought I knew what to expect.
This show was different.
There were a couple of reasons that it different for me last Friday (for me).
1) to me it seemed that the band felt whole again. Mark (their talented bass player) had been away for a year in Holland experiencing Europe and seeing the world. The band had let him go his own way with hopes he would return. They even visited him in Amsterdam and played a show locally in that city.
I hadn't seen Run the Red Light since Mark got back and it was good to see him again and to see him back on the stage. It felt like all the pieces were back in place.
2) Run the Red light has one of the premiere lighting rigs in the city. Their light show is part of the live experience and the headliner last Friday requested that they leave it at home. Typically a national act will ask an opener not to "show them up" so to speak by having better lights, stage dressings etc. Friday they played without. It seemed...more intimate. I'll explain below.
The band seemed ramped to start the set. The club was sold out and as an artist there is nothing better then performing live in a small club to a capacity crowd. When the band kicked in they were heavy and loud. Ben has an intense drumming style. You could tell that he was really into it in the first 2 songs and was hitting hard and slamming the accents hard. All of the sound selection for this band is crisp and clear and the guitars sounded like a wall of sound. RTRL looked like they were just happy to be there with all smiles when the songs were finished. Also, they got into a few extended jams at the end of the heavier numbers and you could tell they were having fun.
Back to the lighting.
I've told Toby this before but their lighting rig has a tendancy to lose the audience's focus on the songs and you can lose the connection with the band. Friday felt more intimate. The entire crowd was glued on the band and was interested in every movement they made. Lighting would've been a distraction this particular night.
If you re-read my previous post here you will probably see that I am a huge fan of this band's music.
I have had a good enough relationship with Toby over the past that we give each other support on what "not-to-do" and what to improve on artistically.
A couple things I felt that would help their set going forward is the following:
- Their cover of New Years Day by U2 was great but their version although spot on felt weaker then their own original songs. My suggestion is to incorporate it into one/two of the original numbers with an interlude. I felt like I lost interest during this cover song and could sense that some of the audience around me was feeling the same way.
- Also another small tweak I would suggest is if the band could strip right down to just one guitar and vocals for 1/2 a song it would help the set dynamics immensely. There was a couple moments in the set where the instrumentation was minimal and as a listener was drawn further in only to be blown away when the band kicked into full gear on the big choruses. I felt that it could strip even further down and that as a listener would be taken on even more of a journey.
- Lastly, for one song, Toby put down his guitar and stepped up to the mic as a jus a singer. This was great and I would've liked to see him do it for more songs.
All in all, Run the Red Light is a brilliant band. They are brilliant live. They are some of the best players in not just Vancouver, but also Canada. You should really go and download all of their music get into them. I hope you get a chance to see them live soon!
They will be back at the Media Club on March 12th with Civil Twilight!
Details here!
Download their EP here
Check out Run the Red Light's website here
Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra
No comments:
Post a Comment