Tarantula, Equaleft, Redemptus
Rivoli Theatre, Porto (PT)
19th October 2016
Promoted by Miguel Guedes and Porto City Hall
In a country with deep roots in metal but where such music is still much frowned at, having the City Hall backing up a metal event is a big thing. Even if we had to watch the concerts sitting down… I confess I was expecting the audience would eventually stand up, but that didn’t happen. Guess we wanted to prove the City Hall and the classy Rivoli theatre staff that we were all civilized, law-abiding citizens.
Calling it “Porto Best Of” is probably a tad pretentious, especially when there was only three bands on the bill, but then again, it showed respect for who was performing.
The first of those bands was Redemptus, a sludge/post-metal act that was formed two years ago in S. João da Madeira (yeah, the “Porto” part is also misleading). Why them and not some other with a longer career? Well, first, they’re good, and that’s reason enough; but there’s a second, which lies in their members having been around way longer and built quite a career in several different projects. Surrounded by smoke and dim-lit by red lights, the trio performed pieces featured in their debut “We All Die The Same”, released by Raging Planet Records early last year.
For Equaleft the darkness remained but now in shades of blue. At least now we had permission to shoot the first two songs in front of the stage (thanks for that, André). This was the second to last show promoting “Adapt & Survive” (review here) and, sadly, also the next-to-farewell performance of drummer Marcos – his personal life got to a point where playing in such an active band as Equaleft wasn’t possible anymore.
It was really weird watching Equaleft sitting down. While it’s easily manageable to headbang in that position to Redemptus’ sound, Equaleft’s groove makes your whole body pulse and the urge for movement is harder to control. But we did it, somehow. As for the band themselves, they didn’t stop and the floor literally throbbed to songs like “New False Horizons”, “Invigorate” (the light-saber song) or “When Ruin Becomes A Bliss”.
Tarantula is one of the biggest names in our heavy metal history so even though they haven’t been playing much and their latest record dates from 2010, it made sense to have them headlining this event. Their career hits the 35-year mark, if we count the four years going by Mac Zac. In 1990 they would release what’s considered their most significant album, “Kingdom Of Lusitania”, and that’s the album they celebrated that night. Among the big hits of the rest of their discography, that is, such as “You Can Always Touch The Sky”, “Freedom’s Call” or “Face The Mirror”. No “Power Tower”, though a few fans asked for it… Still, in the end, I didn’t see any disappointment in the almost sold out theatre except for that – that it had ended. After more than three decades, Tarantula still know how to pull a great heavy metal show and make you sing along and raise your fists like there’s no tomorrow.
I believe bands and audience proved that metal is something worth supporting and that more events like this will follow. I just hope they reconsider the chairs…
Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino
Valkyrian Music 