A half-filled venue could seem a bit disheartening to the average artist who performs at the Rock & Roll Hotel, but not to Mauro Remiddi.
Remiddi, with stage name, Porcelain Raft, was anything but crestfallen. It was as if he was opening for M83’s sold-out shows like he did in 2011 again—all with a smile on his face.
Opening the show with “Think of the Ocean,” arguably his strongest song off his latest album, “Permanent Signal,” Remiddi performed it in a more upbeat tempo to really captivate the small audience’s attention.
With only a small playlist of nine songs, he included, “Cluster,” “Night Birds,” “It Ain’t Over” and “The Way Out” from his latest work.
Probably the biggest (and really only) weakness in this show was the lack of songs played from “Strange Weekend,” which was the release that gave him a lot of fan-recognition in January 2012. Remiddi played only two songs from this album, including “Shapeless and Gone” and “Drifting In and Out.”
“Dragonfly” from his “Gone Blind” EP was also played and was one of the strongest performances of the concert.
Just like his albums, there was an enchanting and spellbinding atmosphere throughout the show. Remiddi was absolutely captivating, exerting a bottomless amount of energy. After every song he made sure to modestly thank the small crowd, saying how grateful he was to be touring in D.C.
For his encore performance, it was no surprise Remiddi played “I Lost Connection,” which was the perfect song to capture the overall theme of “Permanent Signal.” Before they played it though, Remiddi asked the audience to remain silent while inviting some fans onstage and to embrace each other while he performed.
With those last notes on the keyboard, Remiddi tip-toed off stage, while waving graciously to the audience and giving handshakes to the bug-eyed admirers onstage.
Perhaps it was the mature, older demographic that was present at the show, the calmness and tranquility of the reverberating melodies from his keyboard, and the pure humility demonstrated by Remiddi that made the evening overall pleasant. It’s comforting to see a truly talented artist appreciate his fans, no matter how small the crowd may be. With the performance that Remiddi gave, however, one can only see his fan base grow from here – not that it matters much to him.
scene@theeagleonline.com
