Moon Safari, Wesley Centre, Rotherham, UK 14/09/13

Now this was a band I had never really listened to before and thought "I will just go and support and see what I am missing".

This is part of the series of concerts that CRS (Classic Rock Society) has organised for the autumn. I arrived at the Wesley Centre well ahead of time and made some conversations to learn about the background of CRS and the schedule ahead. This must be the smallest (but very friendly) venue I have ever been (quick calculation says that it can not hold more than 250 people); as another attendee on the night described it: intimate .

First to the scene after some short announcements were Hekz, a very young bunch of guys doing their best for about 45 minutes to spring some energy to the relatively quiet and observant, laid back crowd. Their hard-rock/metal mix failed to impress me and more so the raw vocals of the singer; even if I am a heavy metal fan, this was probably beyond my reach... compositions were a bit dragging more than they should and the high-pitched vocals only made it worse. On a positive note, this is a very very young band (imagine college) and what they delivered, they delivered pretty well from a technical point of view, no major mistakes or disappointments. Some of their riffing I found quite interesting, some injections of prog metal provided the spice and the twin guitar soloing worked well, especially towards the end of their show (long live the Maiden). They closed with a pretty good cover of "Burn" from the might Purple, leaving as waiting for Moon Safari.

Having never watched these guys before and just listening to a few samples before I go on to watch them, I was surprised to see a 6-piece putting out so much energy to the stage. Technically very solid kith two keyboard players on stage, this strange group were jumping and giving all their best to impress the crowd which has now grown a bit bigger (~120 people or so). Amidst a few jokes and conversations that kept the atmosphere light-hearted they played more songs (as expected) from their newest "Himlablacken vol.1". Their sound reminded me of a pop/symphonic/prog mix of Kansas, Abba, Spock's Beard, a bit of Beardfish, with many references to the style of ABBA (!), and Beach Boys. The multiple vocals were definitely one of the strongest points, with all members seeming to have had taken vocal lessons! Although the show started with more "adventurous" tunes, it progressively turned to the more mellow, longer songs of the band, where the very melodic guitar soloing dominated. The connection with the audience was getting progressively more... intimate... and the applause was growing stronger and we were lucky to get a "double" encore, the last one being the band singing "a capella" in a colourful sound that was the epitome of a very energetic and powerful appearance.

Highly recommended for fans of melodic pop-symphonic prog sounds, get to see these guys live, you will not regret it.

Moon Safari playlist (or thereabouts...)

1. Kids
2. Too Young To Say Goodbye
3. Heartland
4. Barfly
5. Mega Moon
6. NYC Summergirl
7. Moonwalk
8. Red White Blues
9. A Kid Called Panic
10. Crossed the Rubicon
11. Lover's End Pt.III: Skellefteå Serenade
12. The Ghost of Flowers Past
13. Constant Bloom