Bit of a cool, drizzly Monday, perfect day for a little instrumental metal to get nice and warm.
Portraits started off the evening at Fine Line. The group from LA consists of guitarists Joseph Anidjar and Joshua De La Victoria. Rounded out by bassist Jacob Umansky and drummer Lang Zhao. Having never been to full on prog show before, Portraits set the tone for what would be a night full of guitar magic and time signature tom-foolery. They just released a new album “Vaguely Western” on Oct 2. Very talented group of young people. If you are into the prog rock/metal genre these guys will tickle your fancy. Stand out song of their set for me was “Red Bourbon.” Short but very successful half hour set, huzzah to Portraits!
Second out of the batter’s box was another California born group, the trio Night Verses. Night Verses upped the heaviness. A delightful blend of melodic and intense, drifting between the two emotive styles with ease. They played a set consisting of songs from their albums “Every Sound Has A Color in the Valley of Night” and “From the Gallery of Sleep”. Drummer of the night goes to Aric Improta. He loves his craft as one could tell from the level of energy he had while playing, the gymnast level of jumping he was doing behind his kit and his level of crowd engagement. When upstairs to get an eagle eye view on the action, amazing to see such passion and talent. Night Verses rocked and would absolutely see them again. “Arrival” and “8 Gates of Pleasure” were headbangers. Bassist Reilly Herrera said they don’t know when they will be back (tonight was 1st time in the Twin Cities in 7 years), hopefully they can find themselves on another tour in the near future.
Last up was the Aussie himself Plini, hailing all the way from Sydney, Australia. Fun fact, he used to play under the name Halcyon before changing to his first name Plini. Minneapolis got a slightly different experience tonight as Plini and company walked onto the stage sans an intro. Plini began to explain how their supporting guitarist Jake was too ill to play tonight but that they would have recordings of his solo parts, thus still remaining part of the show in spirit. It worked without a flaw, and made for some great interaction between the band and crowd. Every time Jake’s parts would come up, the lights would spotlight to his empty spot on stage with plenty of cheers from the audience. One of the best moments of the night, and one that I’ve never experienced before at a show was when a particularly heavy Jake song was up, and since he wouldn’t be on stage, we as fans were challenged to face the back wall of the venue. Almost everyone participated, and for the lion’s share of the song.
Plini is an up and coming guitar player’s dream; a model to what results can happen with time, practice and dedication to an instrument. When you read about the many influences and inspirations for the band, two that stand out to me are Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. If you are familiar with those two legends you can really hear how the affinity for those two epic guitarists contribute to his sound and song-writing. They played a wonderful 13 song set. Such a different kind of show, typically caught in a swirl of bodies at most metal shows, navigating ever-evolving circle pits, brusk elbows and sharp shoulders. It was nice to relax amongst the crowd beer in hand and enjoy a night of top tier musicianship. Plini was also the catalyst for a first time concert experience where instead of asking for a wall of death, he politely asked everyone to face away from the stage while they played “Manala”. Being the nice Minnesotans we are we obliged. Was pretty hilarious as most people turned away for most of the song.
Plini is welcome to the Cities anytime!
