This DVD consists of a concert that Spanish band Dificil Equilibrio gave at the Teatre Albéniz in Tiana-Barcelona on May 24, 2008. While watching, it wasn’t difficult to conclude that King Crimson must have been a big source of inspiration for them, because most of the songs go in the direction of Crimson’s Red-era. Thus it seemed logical to me that there must be a cover version of KC on the track list. And I was right. When I looked at the back of the DVD-case I noticed Easy Money, but that’s not the only cover on this release. The songs I Dream Of Wires and Brightness Falls may ring a bell by some of our readers. The first one is a cover of Gary Numan’s second solo album Telekon. The second one appeared on the album The First Day made by David Sylvian and Robert Fripp released in 1993. Those covers are the only songs that contain some vocals. It’s sad to find out that these covers also belong to the few highlights on this DVD. The rest of the music mostly sounds very monotonous and similar. Besides, the band has no keyboard player, singer Alberto Diaz hasn’t got a very strong voice and he sings with an accent. Even with two guitar players in the line-up they couldn’t bring a smile on my face by playing an excellent guitar solo or a strong riff. Singer Alberto Diaz is just an average guitar player and the support of the additional guest guitarist Joan Santanach didn’t lift the music to a higher level. However, drummer Lluis Rodrigues isn’t a bad musician at all. From time to time he sounds like Bill Bruford, but unfortunately that’s not enough to enjoy the music of Dificil Equilibrio. Moreover, the entire concert of seventy minutes is way too short to justify the release of a DVD. They added seven minutes of bonus footage, but no idea why they did so. All you see are the images of tour posters accompanied by the music of the band. The way the band was filmed and the recording of the sound however, are quite good. There could have been some more light on stage in order to have a better look on the performing musicians. Probably there wasn’t enough money available for this release. That might be the reason why this DVD can’t in no way compete with releases from bands as Porcupine Tree and Marillion or with the many Polish Metal Mind-releases. Dificil Equilibrio Live Tiana 2008 is just a moderate release, no more, no less. It’s only interesting for people enjoying the music of this band or for die-hard King Crimson-fans who like to have everything from this band or from any other band that sounds like their heroes. ** Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
