"love in reverse" In Concert November 18, 1996 - Gibson's - Tempe, AZ Photos by Gary Gustafson Review by Mary Ellen Gustafson

Michael Ferentino	Andres Karu

David Halpern

Thanks to "love in reverse" for the special effect color pictures! They had such a fantastic light show and moved around so much even high speed film couldn't catch them properly. Black & Whites below will give you a much better idea what they look like in concert!

Andres	Mike	Andres

Dave	Dave

Mike

If by now you've heard "love in reverse" on CD, or the radio, you know they've taken a new approach to Alternative Rock. Once you've seen them in person, you realize they've taken to the club circuit what you'd expect to see in an arena show. Their light show rivals some I've seen in giant venues. Their energy is unbelievable. And, their CD does NOT do them justice. There is so much talent in these three guys that doesn't come through until they're on a stage it's almost like the difference between day and night. It seems impossible that the sound and effects coming from "love in reverse" are only generated by three guys, but it's true. Their set in Tempe opened with a much shortened but truely awesome rendition of "A Feeding Frenzy." At the start of the show, most of the people in the club were there to see "Republica," but they certainly warmed up quickly to "love in reverse." By the time they started song number two, "Blueprint For A Possible Song," the area in front of the stage was jammed with people. It seems this single is more well known east of the Mississippi, but I doubt if that's still the case. Since I reviewed their debut release "i was here," even I was mystified how Mike Ferentino managed to work in all the voice effects used in the song "Morph." He told me back in July they were accomplished with the use of voice mixes all performed by him. After the show, I asked him if he had part of it recorded and the answer was a resounding "NO!" Over the past few months (and previous three tours) he's managed to learn how to quick change the timbre of his voice and the timing required to perform this difficult song. "Morph" was also one of the highlights of their set. "lir" did perform one song from their earlier EP "I Was Dog," called "I Inject You," (one of my favorites I might add), and their use of lights and instrumentals really got the crowd into what I still call an offbeat love song. By now the audience was mesmerized, and the response after each song just continued to grow. Since the concert was on a Monday night, in a fairly small club, without a giant audience, "lir" sure managed to rock the place! The final song of their set, "Super Car," can only be described as totally awesome!! The instrumentals showcased during this song were nothing short of incredible. Since this is a rockin' song to begin with, the addition of the solos, guitar special effects from Mike Ferentino, the lights flashing on the audience as well as the stage, and just plain good music had people up on their feet in the entire club. This extended version had a little bit of everything, and was truly a great song to close their portion of the show. I managed to finally meet Mike, and the rest of the band, in person at this concert (phone calls just don't give you the full picture!), and what a nice group of guys. We talked to them for a short time before they had to go for their sound check, and they seemed to be just as happy to meet us as we were to meet them. After their show, I talked to Mike for a little while and I will be interviewing him again after they finish this particular tour -- somewhere around the beginning of December. I did find out they will be returning to the studio after Christmas to cut a new album that's already pretty much written at this point in time. I'll be finding out more about that during the interview, so check back for all the newest things happening with this band. In the mean time, if you get a chance to see them, or check out their CDs, e-mail me and I'll include listener comments in the next "chapter" on "love in reverse."