After a brief site outage, 52 weeks continues…
Aah, Evolver. I’ve been waiting a long time to see these guys perform. Fortunately they were conveniently lined up to open with Driverlane for The Parlotones at the Blues Room on the 29th June.
The venue was packed to the seams, providing the perfect opportunity for Evolver to impress some new listeners. And indeed they did that, and they did it well.
Their intro is brash, in your face, we-are-here-now-listen-to-us. It works. Evolver are quick to catch the audience’s attention and maintain that attention by seeding their set at intervals with their more popular songs. For this 4 piece (Acoustic Guitar&vocals, Keys&backing, Bass, Drums) it’s not all mindless thrashing hard rock – they have a couple of brilliant ballads as part of their musical offering.
The whole band puts a lot of energy into interacting with the audience – from posing for photos through to cracking jokes and sharp comments – they get the idea of being entertainers and not just a band on a stage.
Their act is polished nicely with a smart-casual more upmarket fashion sense which is consistent across all band members.
Evolver’s is a distinct sound marked by the lead singer’s voice. Their is diversity in their music that takes them from almost country to rock and roll, and then on to more hard rock. They have good solid riffs with no overbearing instruments and the drumming is well executioned and subtle where required. Evolver even performed a jazzy, bluesy rendition of “Play That Funky Music”, dragging the not-so-reluctant audience once again into participating in the song. Excellent. I loved the keys on that song too – the band were obviously enjoying this jamming session.
So the question is, can Evolver go anywhere from here? A resounding yes – they are certainly distinct from all previous bands I’ve seen, and they have the talent and the enthusiasm to take it a long way into the future.
Beer Price: R 12.00
Quality of sound: 10.0
Rockstar rating: 9
Overall rating: 9.0
Tags: Evolver, band, rock, music, South African Rock Music, 52Weeks, Blues Room, South Africa Music
Why 52weeks? For the Funky Music.
