Vita de Vie - Bucuresti - 20 Februarie 2016 - 20 de ani de Vita de Vie

If there is anything that I am forced to say about Adrian Despot, the frontman of Vita de Vie, is that he is a true artist. The concert tonight was spot on, even if I am not a fan of the band. The guest bands were pretty good, too, but I have to admit that for most of them I was waiting for them to stop playing so I can listen to the great playlist from DJ Hefe. The audience was really mixed, ranging from little kids to old people. It felt great to see all these people singing along and reliving some of the greatest hits of the band.

I started watching the concert online. It was kind of extreme to go there at 16:00 and stay until 23:00, especially since I was worried about the food/drink/toilet situation and there was an afterparty as well. I have to say that all my worries were for naught. Really decent access to the food and drink stands and there was no queue at the toilets outside. Of course, the drinks and food were shitty and overpriced, but that was to be expected. It also was a really wonderful thing to stand in the middle of a crowd of people and not feel like I was smoking a cigar. The law against smoking in public places has finally reached Romania so it felt really wonderful.

By the time we got to the concert hall - umm, heated tent, but it was better than it sounds - the last band before Vita de Vie was playing, the rather good Relative, from Cluj. Energetic, professional, kind of bad public speakers, but they have time to improve. They were pretty emotional about their first venue in Bucharest and performing before so many people, so they were sweet. Then the main show started, with light shows, projections and a volume that felt like twice as loud as the bands before. My ears are still ringing.

Unfortunately something happened that ruined my evening, so I went home after the concert, rather than go to the after-party at Fabrica. I wish I was in the mood for that, but well, shit happens. So yeah, the show was great, the music pretty good - although I felt like the band would have done a better job with another lead singer :) The point is that Vita de Vie, like any other band - let's be honest, is a project. Individual people don't count unless they push the project further, make it better somehow. Adi Despot made that obvious when he called the previous members of the band to play some songs, as well as some collaborators in sideprojects started by current members of the band. Like him or not, he did bring showmanship to the project and he deserves to be the frontman.

Bottom line, I was impressed by the way the concert was organized (I am used to those really bad things where people just stand brushing against each other, suffocating in smoky improperly ventilated places, trying their best not to slip into the beer and piss left by people who couldn't get fast enough to the few malfunctioning toilets provided). I was also impressed with the guest bands, doing a really professional job, even if they have a lot to learn still.

You might be interested in the Facebook link of the event.