Work Of Art – Ritmo y Compas, Madrid (Spain) – 21st January 2012
Four years after their very well received 2008 debut, who could have foreseen that Work of Art would be making their live debut in Madrid in 2012? But here we are, with fans from all over Europe packing the sold-out Ritmo y Compas to witness a little bit of AOR history, as one of the most talked about bands of the genre finally grace the stage. For tonight, the core trio of Robert Sall (guitars), Lars Safsund (vocals) and Herman Furin (drums) are augmented by bassist Andreas Passmark and keyboardist Jonas Grönning, and right from the start it is clear to see that these guys have gelled into a slick, professional team. The majority of the show is taken from 2011’s lauded ‘In Progress’ masterpiece, with the opening triple play of ‘The Rain’, ‘Nature of the Game’ and ‘Once Again’ even following the same order from that wonderful release. Lars Safsund is the consummate vocalist, hitting every note with ease and playing with vocal inflections, making it all seem so easy and effortless, while Robert Sall wrings every note of emotion from his accompanying guitar.
From the debut, we are then treated to ‘Her Only Lie’, ‘Cover Me’ and ‘Lost Without You Love’ before we’re back to ‘In Progress’ for ‘Emilie’. At this point, despite the superlative performance, my mind was starting to wander a bit, when the band pull a master-stroke and hit us with a cover of Bad English’s ‘Straight To Your Heart’ which gets a rousing reception from the audience. After treating us to an acoustic interlude with ‘Fall Down’ and ‘Camelia’, the band hit top gear again, visiting their latest release for the knockout one-two of ‘Eye of the Storm’ and ‘Never Love Again’ before walking off the stage to rapturous applause. Back for the well deserved encore, ‘The Great Fall’ is followed by a ‘English Eyes/Carmen’ Toto medley, before finally bowing out with fan favourite ‘Why Do I?’.
It really is incredible to think we have waited so long for Work of Art to hit the live scene, and surely after the fantastic response they received from the crowd tonight, this will only be the first of many. Be prepared to get blown away at Firefest later this year. This is AOR performed exactly how it was meant to be!
Bruce Mee
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Great to meet you Bruce, at an amazing gig ! 
