Review: trioVD at Set Theatre

If there's one thing that the Kilkenny Arts Festival is good at is providing the room for you to break out of your comfort zone when it comes to the different strands of the festival. For me, last night, venturing into Set Theatre for trioVD's mind-blowing set was just that. Comfort zone, gone. Walls, knocked. Roof, blown off. Bass, thumped. Mind, blown.

The programme billing set the bar weeks ago, laying down the gauntlet to the band by challenging them to tear the roof of Set in the same way that And So I Watch You From Afar did last year. I was at that it, stuck in the middle of the crowd and in the aftermath of their performance, Langtons were lucky to have any of the building left standing, my ears not right for days as a result. Thankfully this time my ears don't have the same ringing aftereffects  (perhaps due to better care on my part) but last night's late night show left you feeling the force of TrioVD's 'riot jazz' in every inch of your body.

I picked up a copy of their 'Fill It Up With Ghosts' release the week before the festival. Whatever misunderstandings I had about the album, the song structure, where all cast to one side when the band took to the stage last night, opening up with the title track 'Fill It up With Ghosts' before moving through some more of their 2009 release and some tracks I didn't pick up on during the week.

My notes from last night's show echo conversations with others today who were at the gig: Mind blowing, fantastic, amazing, intense and beyond and in walking away from the gig after midnight last night, I couldn't have been any more impressed.

That said, it wasn't going to be amazing for everyone, far from it. The style of music that trioVD deliver couldn't be any more removed from the average street connotations that jazz music conjures up but last night saw three musicians (Chris, Chris and Chris) rook a guitar, saxophone and drums as well as I've seen any trio in a long time. It was frantic, energetic and high paced to the degree that at times you (or at least me) had to take a step back to try get a hold on how everything was being put together on the stage.

There were a few calls from the band to come up and dance in front of the stage, and while the offer was enticing to some extent, I don't think I'd be qualified to dance to something like it. Just when you think you're nodding to the groove of the tune, it changes, and changes again, and back, and again, and really keeps you guessing.

These guys are talented. They're incredibly, incredibly talented and last night they put on a powerhouse of a show. It was one of those shows where if you let the music take you over, you were drawn right into the heart of it, and had your head blown off in the process.

For a start like that on day one, it bodes extremely well for the next nine days of music.

- Ken

Take a listen - trioVD - Fill It Up With Ghosts

fill it up with ghosts by trioVD

trioVD Live at Set Theatre

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