Komara & O.R.k., live at the Boerderij Zoetermeer, 17 February 2016

First, I would like to apologize because this concert review is a bit shorter than my concert reviews. The most important reason is that I actually was completely caught up in the music of both bands, and because of that I totally forgot to make notes during the gigs.

Komara:

The opener band of the evening was Komara, a trio band with Pat Mastelotto, David Kollar and Paolo Raineri. When Pat introduced the band to the audience he told the band name is a combination of their last names. Pat used a lot of drum and sound triggers while playing. It’s very experimental and ambient-like music with spiced-up moments. David uses a lot of guitar effects on his guitar and also uses an unusually shaped bow from time to time. Paolo plays on a trumpet and also uses a lot of effects. Sometimes he even ‘sings’ in the microphone to propel a certain sound. I really enjoyed their performance and I hope that this band will tour more often!

O.R.k.:

The first thing I noticed when the band started to play was the fact that bassist Colin Edwin and guitarist Carmelo Pipitone were standing far back on the stage, leaving a big space between the band members and the audience. Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari (better known as Lef) was positioned on the far left side on the stage (right side for the audience), while Pat was positioned on the other side, a very strange line-up. When the band was playing their line up really ‘suited’ the atmosphere of the music. Lef used some sort of transmitter communication device from time to time. Carmelo is a very energetic guitarist who left his position most often to entertain the audience or to communicate with Pat. Colin is a tremendous bass player, his technique is not comparable to that of other bass players. The music they played was beautiful, a good mix of hard rock, even metal-like parts but also very ambient and serene music. Lef is a wonderful singer and carries a lot of emotion in his voice.

Colin spoke the most to the audience in between tracks. He thanked the audience, was telling stories about the band/music and even made some small jokes. Before the encore started Pat told the audience that this venue was the best place in Europe. The gig of O.R.k. was sadly very short because it was a bit longer than an hour, and that’s because they only have one album of course. I really hope that this band will bring out more amazing albums and will tour again soon!