Almost one year ago the Italian act Unreal City from Parma impressed the audience at 't Blok in Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel (see review). The people of Progfrog, who were responsible for booking them, usually don't book a band twice. But I guess when they got the opportunity to have them on their stage a second time they couldn't refuse to let them return to the Netherlands. When the band made their debut in our country, they shared the stage with Dutch act Sky Architect. This time around they brought along their fellow countrymen of La Coscienza Di Zeno from Genoa-a band which already impressed me with all of their three studio albums. Therefore, I was already glad they would make their Dutch debut even before I heard a single note.
 

La Coscienza Di Zeno

Our friends from Genoa had the task of putting the audience in the right mood before the people from Parma could end another Progfrog Sunday afternoon event. La Coscienza Di Zeno consists of six members. However, during concerts keyboard player and main composer Stefano Agnini doesn't get on stage with his fellow musicians

Davide Serpico and Alessio Calandriello (r)

to play his parts. A kind of stage fright prevents him from doing live performances. But don't think he doesn't help the band when they are on tour. He comes along with them to support them. Also during their first visit to the Netherlands he was present.

Right from the start, the band proved to be a fantastic live unit. They opened and ended their one and a half hour long set with compositions taken from their amazing second album Sensitività (2013, see review). Perfect renditions of La Città Di Dite and the title track could be enjoyed as well. In between those two songs they performed material taken from their excellent debut La Coscienza Di Zeno (2011) and last great effort La Notte Anche Di Giorno (2015, see review). From their latest studio album they managed to come up with a superb version of the first part of the album. Giovane Figlia is a fantastic epic piece of music divided into six different parts. Each of them is a delight to hear. It features up tempo parts and laid back moments. The song is loaded with excellent solos played on the guitars and synthesizers. Guitarist Davide Serpico and keyboardist Luca Scherani can shine on their instruments but it is most of all singer Alessio Calandriello who steals the show with his vocal performances. He doesn't have any problems copying his parts recorded in the studio. Yeah this man can actually really sing the high and low notes without getting into any problem areas.

Luca Scherani

But of course I'll have to mention the rhythm section as well because they did an outstanding job as well. Drummer Andrea Orlando even managed to smile while playing his difficult parts and Gabriele Guidi Colombi was playing on his six string bass guitar as if it was his daytime job. Too bad that during the performance of one of the four tracks taken from their debut Luca's computer had technical problems. The reason was his mother keyboard was making no sound. After the problem was fixed they had to restart Nei Cerchi Del Legno again and continued with their set as if the problem never had occurred.

The band can look back at a splendid first performance in the Netherlands and hopefully they will return very soon. Because this kind of strong progressive rock music based on the music made in the seventies by Italian bands such as Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Locanda Delle Fate and Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso I'd like to hear more often on a Dutch stage. No doubt about that! And according to the reaction of the crowd I am not the only one who thinks this way!
 

Unreal City

Ema

During their Dutch debut they had to open the Progfrog Sunday afternoon event. This time they had to wait until their friends from Italy did their performance before they could climb the stage the second time in our country. It became very obvious that most of the spectators came to see this band as I found out while talking to the audience-an audience that was even bigger than the last time they came over from their home country. However the fans of the band did see this time around a slightly different line up, which were once again all dressed in fancy costumes. The core of the band was still intact with the presence of the happy couple Ema (main keyboards and lead vocals) and Francesca Zanetta (electric guitar and Mellotron). Also Dario Pessina (bass and backing vocals) could still be found on stage. However this time he had a different partner in the rhythm section playing the drums. It turned out that Marco Garbin was a perfect replacement for Andrea Gardani who left a little while ago. The addition of Matteo Bertani to the line-up was a good choice for the band to make. This way they can copy the violin parts, that you can hear on La Crudeltà Di Aprile (2013, see review) and Il Paese Del Tramonto (2014, see review) perfectly during the live performances. However

Matteo Bertani

this young musician not only handled the violin brilliantly, he also played additional keyboards and acoustic guitar parts very nicely. Furthermore, he occasionally sang some of the backing vocals along with Mr. Pessina.

Compared to the band's first gig at 't Blok, some minor changes could be found on the setlist. This time they skipped the long piece Ex Tenebrae Lux. This way they could play-during their one hour and forty five minutes long set-some tracks that were not performed last year such as two more tracks from their debut, namely Dove La Luce É Più Intense and Catabasi (Descensio Ad Inferos). Moreover, they gained time to do a new piece called Le Luci Delle Case (Spente) that showed that we can look forward to the band's third release, because this song really kicked ass with some strong instrumental parts played on the guitar, violin and synthesizers. Strangely enough they didn't wear any masques (although they had taken them with them) during Il Nome Di Lei

Francesca Zanetta

like they did one year earlier. However Emanuele did wear his masque a very short moment when they did play Catabasi (Descensio Ad Inferos). After the musicians ended their regular set with the earlier mentioned new composition they waved goodbye to their audience but soon realised they could not leave without doing a final song. To make sure that this song actually was done one of the nice guys of the organisation made a joke and told the band if they didn't do an encore they would not get their meal which they had brought along from Italy. Well they simply couldn't resist this and did an excellent version of Dell 'Innocenza Perduta.

After they finished, they left their fans behind with a smile on their faces. Once again they had conquered the hearts of the people who showed up to hear again a band in perfect shape-a band who can easily reproduce the music of their two excellent studio albums. So again, hats off to all of them! Just like one year earlier.

A round of applause goes once again to the people of Progfrog. They managed to come up with another wonderful Italian prog rock afternoon-a successor to the one last year with LogoS and Phoenix Again (see review). By giving both bands a perfect sound (they only could dream about) everybody in the audience had the time of their lives, including myself.

Henri Strik (edited by Robert James Pashman)