Karnataka - Backstage at The Green Hotel, Kinross 5th October 2023

This was a sold-out show, which perhaps indicates just how well Karnataka’s sensational new ‘Requiem for a Dream’ album has been received by discerning prog rock fans. They played all of it on the night – and why wouldn’t you – and I am happy to report that new singer Sertari sounded every bit as good on stage as she does on record with a very strong and enchanting vocal performance.

The show started in the same way as the album with the tick-tock intro into ‘All Around the World’, followed on the night by ‘Look to the East’ and the beguiling ‘The Night’s Dance’. You can view a well-produced video for the latter song online and it features some of the same imagery as the stage show which saw flowers wrapped around the mike stands and other equipment. ‘Road to Cairo’ from Hayley Griffiths’ tenure in the band then gets a run out before they delved further back for the heavier ‘Dreamer’ from ‘The Storm’ and the stools came out for an acoustic rendition of the now 23-year-old ‘The Journey’ from the same album.

The current band, featuring Rob Wilsher on keyboards alongside original member and bass player Ian Jones, are super-tight and create some amazing soundscapes which channel both traditional prog and symphonic elements with some interesting twists on both thrown in. Sertari handles it all without the assistance of any on-stage live backing vocals and even adds a few expressive elements of her own with a hint of a more restrained Kate Bush in some of her delivery. Southpaw guitarist Luke Machin is another important part of the mix. When not playing, he spends a lot of the set on his knees fiddling with his kit before rising to deliver some exquisite guitar solos. The first set ends with ‘Forgiven’ which is the most Within Temptation sounding song on the album but unfortunately the guitar cuts out completely before Luke can deliver its crowning-glory guitar outro.

After a lengthy scheduled break, the band return, but before resuming the scheduled set, they reprise the end of ‘Forgiven’ so that the audience are not denied the opportunity to see and hear Luke’s tour-de-force and the most thunderous applause of the night confirmed it was well worth waiting for. The next three songs were the most, if not commercial then at least the catchiest and most hook-laden, from the new album; ‘Say Goodbye Tomorrow’, ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Don’t Forget My Name’ and they worked beautifully. Which then brought us to the bad news / good news announcement of the title track from ‘Requiem for a Dream’. It was their last song but it’s 25 minutes long! From the ecstatic response at that song’s conclusion, an encore was a no-brainer and Sertari started it off before taking a seat in the front row to watch the boys go to work on ‘Forsaken’ from 2013’s ‘The Gathering Light’ album. The band had been very cohesive and devoid of self-indulgence throughout but it was nice to see the instrumentalists cut loose for a bit and send everyone home happy after what was a quite sensational performance.

It might not be too harsh to describe the band’s history as dysfunctional as they’ve been through a lot of personnel changes, including several vocalists, and there have been some huge gaps between releases. This album and tour have shown that they’ve never been stronger and it would be truly heinous if they lose momentum again. They are due to headline the first night of HRH Prog shortly and I definitely hope we hear more from them very shortly after that.