I was a little apprehensive before the beginning of the Renaissance concert Sunday night. It was the first time I had seen the band since the passing of Michael Dunford last November. I had last seen the band perform in October at the Kewsick Theatre in Glenside, PA. That night, the band was superb and Annie Haslam's vocals were on the money.
Sunday's performance had to be one of the first since Dunford's unexpected passing, and the show was fittingly dedicated to him by Annie Haslam. Replacing Dunford was local guitarist (from NJ) Ryche Chlandra whose credits include stints with Nektar and other prog-rock outfits. He did a nice job on guitar and back-up vocals. After all, Dunford was an integral part of Renaissance due to his superb writing and arranging skills more so than his guitar work. He was the main force behind the band's new Grandine il Vento recording.
The main essence of Renaissance (in any of its incarnations) is and always has been Annie Haslam. If Annie is on, the band is on. Sunday night, they opened with "Running Hard" (the program would feature Turn of the Cards (set one) and Scheherezade (set two). At the outset, Annie was a bit tentative, perhaps a little nervous, and definitely perturbed at the sound mix. As the concert progressed, though, she got stronger and her voice shaped up well. By the time they got to "Thinking About Things I Don't Understand", she was definitely focused and back in great form.
Also, a big part of the sound is Annie's keyboardist of the last 25 years, Rave Tesar. He plays the piano parts as well or better than Jon Tout ever did and he has a great feel for the music. He holds the band together musically on stage and helps create that true Renaissance sound.
Highlights included "Mother Russia", "Trip to the Fair" and the 25-minute masterpiece, "Scheherezade". As Annie sang the long finale of Scheherezade, it sounded almost like the original Renaissance on the LP of 38 years ago. Her singing was strong, emotional and spine-tingling.
The band concluded the show with two pieces from the new album: the title track and "Cry for the World", a song that took on more poignancy the next day after the Boston Marathon killings. Hearing it live, Grandine il Vento sounds like it may be the best Renaissance recording since the late 70's, before the original band began to splinter. It's a shame that it took so long (about 21 years) for Renaissance to finally re-form with a line-up that plays the old music and new music in that same classic style. It is very sad that Michael Dunford didn't live to perform this music and to contribute further to this classic prog-rock / cult band.
I highly recommend seeing this band live at least once and try the new cd also.