Hard Rock Rising - Final!
Three bands. One stage. A room full of supporters. A voting system that had already produced three rounds of nail-biting results. By the time Sita Rizzi, Protocol Shift and Moscow walked into Hard Rock Cafe Valencia for the Hard Rock Rising final, nobody was pretending this was going to be a polite Wednesday night with a few guitars and some polite applause. This was the final, and the atmosphere had been building for three weeks.
The three finalists had all arrived by very different routes. Sita Rizzi was the first through the door, winning Round One with her alternative pop-rock sound, mixing rock and electronic influences with a strong stage presence and an obvious ability to connect with a room.
Moscow had taken Round Two after bringing their hard-rock indie attack, guitar muscle, attitude and swagger to a packed venue, edging out City Of Fury and Horrorwolf in another brutally close public vote.
Then came Protocol Shift, who had survived the full pressure cooker of Round Three, battling through an evening of heavy music, torrential rain outside and a seriously lively mosh pit inside to secure the final place. So there was no obvious formula for this final. Three bands, three identities and three very different ways of attacking the stage.
Sita Rizzi opened the final, bringing the alternative pop-rock/electronic blend that had already carried her through Round One. Having been the first finalist to qualify, she had the advantage of knowing exactly what the Hard Rock Rising stage could throw at her, and she looked completely at home in front of the crowd.
Protocol Shift followed, bringing the heavier edge that had earned them their place in the final. After surviving the storm-soaked third qualifying round, they arrived with plenty of momentum, and the crowd down the front certainly wasn't interested in standing around quietly. The mosh pit was back in business, bodies were bouncing, people were dancing and the whole place had that increasingly dangerous feeling of a gig where nobody is particularly interested in behaving themselves.
Then came Moscow, the Round Two winners, and by this point Hard Rock Cafe Valencia was properly rocking. Their hard-rock indie sound had already made an impression during their qualifying performance, and the final gave them the chance to crank everything up another notch.
The brilliant thing about the whole night was the crowd. Every band arrived with a serious army of supporters, but this wasn't three groups of people standing in separate corners glaring at each other. Friends, fans, musicians and curious punters all piled into the room, cheering, dancing, singing, shouting and getting behind the performances. The atmosphere had the kind of communal energy that makes live music work in the first place.
And then came the voting..... If the previous rounds had taught us anything, it was that Hard Rock Rising Valencia doesn't do comfortable results. Round Two was incredibly tight. Round Three went right down to the wire. The final followed exactly the same pattern, with the voting exceptionally close and every supporter suddenly becoming a campaign manager with a mobile phone. When the numbers were finally counted, Moscow had done it.
The reaction was fantastic! Pure elation from the Moscow camp, followed by congratulations and genuine camaraderie between all three finalists. That's probably one of the nicest things about the whole Hard Rock Rising experience in Valencia: the competitive edge is real, but so is the feeling that these bands are part of the same local music community. After three rounds of fighting for votes, the finalists could still celebrate the fact that they'd shared the stage and made the whole thing considerably more interesting.
And Moscow now have some serious rewards to go with the victory. Their Valencia Hard Rock Rising prize includes €500 cash from Hard Rock Cafe Valencia, an exclusive gig at Hard Rock Cafe Valencia, a professional photoshoot with rock photographer Rhyan Paul, plus an exclusive profile, interview and review in The Music Mole Magazine. They also progress to the next stage of the wider Hard Rock Rising competition.
A massive thank you to Vittorio Dugarte and the team at Hard Rock Cafe Valencia for bringing The Music Mole Magazine into Hard Rock Rising and for Vittorio's continued support of the Valencia music scene. Giving local artists a proper stage, putting an audience directly into the decision-making process and creating an environment where emerging bands can actually be seen, heard and photographed is exactly the sort of thing that keeps a music scene moving.
Four nights, nine acts, countless beers, a storm, a mosh pit, a mountain of supporters and some seriously close voting later, Hard Rock Rising Valencia has its winner: Moscow.
Congratulations to Moscow — and huge respect to Sita Rizzi and Protocol Shift for making the final such a fucking good night. Valencia's bands brought the music. The supporters brought the madness. Hard Rock provided the stage. Moscow took the crown!
Words and photos: Rhyan Paul
Comments