MAGENTA
VENUE THE DOME, LONDON DATE 07/04/2018
There’s no support for Magenta at The Dome tonight, but there’s no danger of anyone feeling short-changed as the band play two albums, We Are Legend and Seven, in full over the course of their two-and-a-half-hour set.
First, to get those prog muscles warmed up, they start off with Speechless. The mix takes a moment to settle down, particularly with Christina Booth’s voice being a little low at the outset, but as the band hit their stride, the sound gradually moves closer to equilibrium.
While Speechless is one of the more straightforward songs in Magenta’s repertoire, from there they launch into the epic Trojan, the first track from last year’s excellent We Are Legend. Chris Fry always has a smile on his face as he makes his guitar wail, and it’s a treat to hear a guitarist play melodies in his solos rather than another technically polished but robotic shredder trying to set a new land speed record.
“Is anyone else warm or it just me being menopausal?” asks Booth after Trojan reaches its zenith to loud acclaim. The frontwoman’s banter is entertaining all night, even if bandmate Rob Reed scolds her for talking during applause, of which there is plenty.
Colours shifts through an impressive array of tempos, but drummer Jiffy Griffiths navigates them all without missing a beat. “Don’t frighten our drummer, he’s very shy,” says Booth, introducing Griffiths, who also plays in the Kinky Wizzards. He’s a bundle of energy, leaping to his feet to give his cymbals a thorough thrashing.
Legend wraps up the first part of the performance with bluesy playing from Fry and terrific dynamics.
The second part begins with Prekestolen, which Booth introduces as an interlude to “refresh the palette”. The band are joined by Karla Powell on oboe and Katie Axelsen on flute. In an age when so many bands rely on backing tracks, there’s an undeniable frisson that comes from using real musicians, and the two guests add an extra dimension to the sound.
The rest of the main set is taken up with six tracks from 2004’s Seven. Compared to
We Are Legend, there’s more of a neo-prog vibe to songs like Gluttony, Envy, and Lust. Anger is a definite highlight, building from just acoustic guitar and voice towards a spectacular finish.
The crowd has thinned a little by the time Sloth wraps things up – presumably people have trains to catch. But the early leavers miss out on encores The Lizard King, surely the catchiest song in Magenta’s catalogue, and finally Pride, which borders on fusion thanks to Rob Reed’s funky keyboard work. That concludes a long night’s work for the band, but it never felt like it for a single moment.
“THERE’S AN UNDENIABLE FRISSON THAT COMES FROM USING REAL MUSICIANS.”