Graspop is incredibly organized. Upon our arrival down to the minute, every detail of our show was on time. We performed in Marquee 2 tent just after a Danish band called Mercenary. They're really nice guys with big melodic songs.
We headed to the stage a few minutes early and a production person approached us saying "you have to wait another 6 minutes". Sean went behind his kit to restart the intro chant that we are using as an opening mantra for all our shows. The crowd roared, assuming we were about to start again. Between the double up on the chant and the intense down pour of rain outside our tent, the crowd was cleansed, purified and ready to embrace Cynic!
Although this was another gigantic festival - hurry up and play experience, we felt more relaxed this time. We had space to get our hearts and minds in order before the show. We headed to the stage and the entire tent was packed. The people of Belgium were gracious and attentive. I saw many smiling faces, just happy to be hearing the Focus tunes again. Other's headbanging while the musicians in the audience just stare, analyzing each members fretboards. I'm one of those people! Sean's four limbs at work are an act in itself to watch.
I knew that once we launched into the opening notes of 'Veil Of Maya' the show was going to be fluid. Again, a few technical details that I could mention, but this overall performance felt solid due to the setup time. Over the years of building and deconstructing a complex midi-guitar rig, I have to surrender to the reality of stuff occasionally not going right. Tonight's issue, due to low visibility, I plugged a midi cable into an input instead of an output. As a result, my multi-fx unit didn't respond when needed and Sentiment intro didn't go as planned. Luckily Sean caught on quick and went ahead into his intro drumpiece. These kinds of mishaps are the nature of things and bound to appear. Sometimes these accidents are little treasures. We like to keep an improvisational aspect around the structure of a setlist and sometimes the improvisation forces itself upon you. Either way, one just moves forward without hesitation.
We were given a slightly longer set tonight which allowed us to change the pace and play another non-Focus track. 'Cosmos' is a big breather after the intensity of the Focus tunes. It's expansive and open sound sits well in this set as another post Cynic environment.
The guys from Children of Bodom were there to greet us after the show. Really nice people. We caught their set on another stage and enjoyed it. Super preciseneo-classical shredding between the keyboards and guitars! Later in the night we watched some of Slayer's set. I felt sixteen again! Amazing how long they've been together. I must give it to Kerry and Jeff, for those monstrous riff's that defined a generation of sound in the metal world.
My perspective is clearer now after the 2nd show. I'm more reflective about this reunion journey which is not a repeat of past efforts - all artists grow as I have grown. One of my favorite thinkers Emerson said: "Because the soul is progressive, it never quite repeats itself, but in every act attempts the production of a new and fairer whole". Here we are shaping our wholeness with a new found presence, wisdom and artistic growth. It comforts me to know that art can transcend space and time and live in it's own universe un-regulated by gravity and other human energies. Music is of the spheres, the planets, the entire universe and beyond. How lucky we are as a species that get's to embrace, enjoy and provide a sonic landscape to our short life experience, (atleast for those of us with hearing).
Thank you fans of Graspop for welcoming Cynic and creating such a comfortable warm space for us. We again confirm the value of this reunion as a present to you and to us. Cynic truly belongs to the fans now and forever.
Paul
Graspop set list
Veil Of Maya
Celestial Voyage
The Eagle Nature
Sentiment
Evolutionary Sleeper
Uroboric Forms
I'm But A Wave To
Cosmos
How Could I
5 comments:
Paul, when will we have tha magic opportunity to listen or at least read the lyrics of the NEW song?
Thanx for your reply!
Paul, Thank you for creating this music.
Thank you for playing again in Cynic
Thank you for everything
Gustavo from Chile, South America.
Magnificant show, I think I was there an hour before the show started and could witness Sean warming up, what an amazingly insane drummer, I would even dare to say the best in the metal scene. The setlist was perfect though I missed Textures, the new song perfectly suits Cynic's musicstyle and the performance was near perfection. Absolutely great experience, I'll see you guys again thursday in Holland. Looking forward to it !!
Thanks for this reunion of one of the greatest bands in musical history.
Pure nostalgia, musicwise, throwing me back in the days and relive some nice memories. It was good to see you play at Graspop!
Welcome back!
Although the guitars were mixed a bit low, I enjoyed the atmosphere and the vibe of this gig. Thanks for coming to Europa!
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