Norwegian rock was the flavor of the night in Orlando as Leprous played The Plaza Live. The doors opened an hour late but didn’t hinder the moderate crowd’s excitement for the night’s eclectic rock mix.
Norwegian metal band Fight the Fight kicked things off with a 30-minute set of high-octane songs that would be the heaviest of the night. Though the band occasionally dipped into slow, sludgy sounds, most of the set consisted of mid-tempo alternative metal or rapid-fire metalcore. Lars Vegas’s vocals shifted from growls and shrieks to clean, but at all times, the formidable frontman and his backing band oozed testosterone.
The Plaza Live opened in 1963 as a movie theater and was the city’s first multi-screen theater. Since then, it has transformed into a theater space and then a concert venue. Earthside’s half-hour performance felt appropriate for each of the venue’s iterations. The New England progressive rock band describes its music as “cinematic rock.” The primarily instrumental set — except vocals from a backing track on two songs — was more about mood than power. Jamie Van Dyck’s guitar playing ranged from orchestral to jazzy to metal. The songs expanded and contracted, veered off in surprising directions, but never got too repetitive, as long jams often do. Whether playing a keytar or a synthesizer, Frank Sacramone’s long, curly hair was always flying around in a constant state of head-banging. At one point, Sacramone jumped off the stage, climbed the barricade, and played inches in front of the first row of the crowd.
“We haven’t been to Florida in a long time. Our old tour manager must’ve taken those Florida Man memes too seriously,” Van Dyck said. “Our current tour manager is putting us in harm’s way.”
Earthside played dense soundscapes full of trippy vibes and occasional bursts of metal intensity. Toward the end of the set, drummer Ben Shanbrom was joined onstage by Leprous drummer Baard Kolstad to add to double the heaviness of the rhythms.
Then it was up to prog metal band Leprous to finish the night. Throughout the 90-minute set, the Norwegian rockers delivered powerful anthems loaded with hooks, powerful vocals, and emotional catharsis. The set was heavy but in Leprous’s unique way. Songs like “Silently Walking Alone” and “Slave” showed the power of Simen Børven’s down-tuned bass synced with Kolstad’s bruising drums. Tor Oddmund Suhrke’s choppy guitar riffs anchored earwigs “The Price” and “Like a Sunken Ship.”
But the star of the show was singer Einar Solberg. His voice was a velvety croon on power ballads “Unfree My Soul” and “Below.” At other times, he belts with the power of an opera singer or shifts to a soaring falsetto. In a few of the heaviest moments, he went to a grainy death metal scream. Solberg’s range was as impressive as that of the musical compositions.
And then there was “Nighttime Disguise.” As an experiment during COVID, the band allowed fans to help write the song. “We tried unsuccessfully to involve fans in the writing process, and the song ended up all over the place,” Solberg told the crowd. “Why do you want us all over the place? That’s for the other prog bands. We’re more focused.”
Self-deprecating humor aside, “Nighttime Disguise,” though a bit all over the place, showcased what makes Leprous so compelling. The song wildly careened between slow and fast tempos and heavy and soft attitudes while Solberg alternated between soft serenades, hair-raising falsetto, and frighteningly harsh screams. Fans who helped write it picked everything they liked about Leprous and threw it into one song. The fans in attendance shared the same enthusiasm for the show-stopper.
Another highlight was “Faceless,” built on Børven’s jazzy bass grooves. For the final chorus, the band brought several crowd members onstage to sing the choir part. After the skittering synth jam “From the Flame” and the thumping bass of “Atonement,” Leprous returned to the stage for an encore, but they didn’t have a song planned. Once again, the fans would have a say.
Solberg tossed a water bottle into the crowd and allowed the person who caught it to choose three songs, one of which would be played to finish the night. After the fan chose obscure songs, Solberg protested. The fans would have a say but within reason. “Don’t just go onto Setlist.fm and find songs we’ve never played. That’s a bonus track. That’s like the least reasonable song you could pick,” he joked. After more discussion, the band and the fan agreed on the last song, and Leprous tore through it with the energy fitting for the finale.
