Piekary Community Centre in its history has experienced a lot of
concerts, it has hosted many musicians who are well known and those who
are going to be well known. However on 1 of May, an exceptional
performance took place there. It happened only because of the
stubbornness of one person, her photos are the decoration to my article.
RPWL tour in Poland were originally intended to go through 4 towns –
Poznań, Szczecin, Warszawa, Bielsko, and its end were to happen in April
but it was not! By the effort of Natalia, the tour ended in May in
Piekary Śląskie. On the first May evening we were able to watch RPWL at
„O.K. Andaluzja”! I have to mention that this band was a guest there in
September 2009 on a concert which were arranged in honour of Richard
Wright and was filled with repertoire of Pink Floyd. In May we could see
a band whose music were composed by its musicians and they have
probably climbed an artistic Mount Everest.
Their concert set was divided into two parts but taking it precisely
there is a need to say that it was divided into three essential
programmatic parts. The first part was totally filled with music from
their new album, this conceptual creation „Beyond Man and Time” is based
on the philosophical Friedrich Nietzsche story „Thus Spoke
Zarathustra”. In order to bring closer this to the public the group has
referred to measures well known in progressive rock, but nowadays less
and less musicians use them. The RPWL performance was a combination of
stage show full of visualizations as formerly Peter Gabriel did with
Genesis and Pink Floyd.
That is true that the staging „Beyond Man and Time” could look like the
Genesis concept of „The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” but I think that
RPWL composition will probably never lose the magical Pink Floyd
atmosphere and nobody who is a loyal fan of RPWL does not want it to
happen. There were three projection screens with flashing pictures which
intensified impressions of receiving sounds. Yogi Lang was putting on a
variety of outfits, he impersonated in various characters from „Beyond
Man And Time”, he wandered from hell to heaven, he was Quasimodo, an
insane chemist, a priest who sprinkled the audience with water. All that
happened that night is difficult to describe, the pictures do it
better.
The band in the second part used its previous repertoire picking up from
its bouquet some of more beautiful „flowers”. That night we could hear –
the title composition from „Trying to Kiss the Sun”, „Breathe in
Breathe Out” from „The RPLW Experience”, „Roses” from „World Through My
Eyes” (with a refrain chanted by the audience) and a gorgeous „Hole in
the Sky” from the first album „God Has Failed”.
Certainly that was not the end. As I mentioned there was a third part of
that unforgettable performance as well. The band once again referred to
its biggest musical inspiration, to Pink Floyd. That night it was
played a breathtaking expanded „Embryo”. We cannot find this composition
on no Pink Floyd studio album (it came into being while working on
r0;Ummagummar1; finally published on „Works” in the United States in
1983). The album version is much shorter than the life version. The RPLW
version is in proper length (about 20 minute), they performed it in a
way as if they were in the 70’s last century, not in 2012.
All the members of the band should be paid compliments however I would
like tell something about a new figure in RPWL the bass player Werner
Tauss who has replaced Christian Postl. I think all have noticed his
excellent skills as a bass player but I am not convinced about noticing
his brilliant vocal abilities. Tauss has ably supported Yogi Lang.
Still in this month (24 May) in O.K. Andaluzja there will be Wath, a
popular Italian band which is inspired with Gnesis, and which performed
here many times. German RPWL has placed the crossbar high. Are Italian
to jump over it? For certain one will be convinced only with one’s own
eyes.
