CAR12, a Portuguese sort of music-vaudeville type thing. They put on a sort of play and use all these normal items like pans, dust brooms, crutches, bicycle, wooden barrels, etc.. lots of things that they then make music while putting on their show. Pretty clever and sometimes fun. A very strange and different thing but for sure Art, not rock. It was fun..
Bipolar Bows (BE/FR), are a cello and violin duo. Lotte and XXX are very talented classically trained musicians but ones that have learned step outside of the strict training and take the music thru a trip of European cultures and countries with a mix of folk styles, experimental and classical from Balkans, Bulgaria, and Europe to create some very cool music. Some original, classical pieces with their own interpretations and traditional music. I really enjoyed it a lot, especially the first 45m or so… Sadly, the sound level was so low that if some breathed or sneezed across the auditorium, you heard the louder than the music. A crime really.. it is ok to be louder than the person breathing next to you.. It was even worse for the solo piano next.
David Meyers, the extraordinaire piano player who used to play in the genesis tribute band, The Magical Box, played an hr of solo Genesis songs. Incredible piano player and lots of notes.. Wow.. he told some funny stories as well. Incredible player…
Le Grand Sbam, WOW.. what can I say.. 22 people on stage. 20 musicians, a conductor and guy with a wolf mask who rapped, spoken word, actiing, etc.. This was quite extraordinary. Think classical music, MAGMA like chants, vocals, Frank zappa weirdness and a lot of fun.. Never seen or heard anything quite like it… Fantastic…
Day 2
We arrived on time as I really was excited to see Markus Reuter Truce. I have 2 of the 3 CDs (Thanks Leonardo) and really like a lot of his other projects, especially Sun Trance, a masterpiece. Anyway, it started more or less on time and still very low volume over all but great sound and I love the way Markus makes these loops that he then plays over while the drums and fretless bass keep it all grounded. Gives Markus a lot of space to take the music anywhere he wants, He can play insanely fast stuff with this 8 string guitar and his touch technique but mostly he is doing just extrordinary things with the instrument and just blew me away. Sadly, the drummer had two very loud cymbals and when he decided to smash those, do to the low volume in the concert hall, all you heard was a lot of fucking noise and all the guitar disappeared. Really sucked. I spoke to the sound guy and he said nothing he could do (except turn the over all volume up, which he did not) as he had turned off the overhead mics, the floor tom under the crash, the snare mic) and it was still flooding the room and destroying the sound.. Pity.. Sort of ruined the concert for me.
Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns was up next, a Norwegian trio. She had played here 2 years ago with a different band is a big fave of the organiser (they love bands from Norway). The Hammond B3 player, Ståle Storløkken (and analog synths) I had seen in Elephant 9 before and he has played with Terry Terje Rypdall. Ole Mofjell (drums) was the best drummer so far in the festival. Just awesome. A very dynamic and dramatic concert that started very slowly, with the focus on the Hammond. Hedvig hardly played anything the first 10mins. She sure looked great though in this amazing sparkly outfit… She would get her chance to shine later… It was mostly a very laid back and spacey set but it got pretty heavy and dramatic at least 2x in the hour. Quite impressive in the end…
Peter Hammill, needs no introduction. Tall, thin and all dressed in white, he started off the concert with 25mins or so of solo piano and singing. I did not know any of the songs. He still have a very strong singing voice for 78 years old but could not sing in key, was very flat but still out and passionate. This piano playing was also lacking in finesse but lots of attack and far from perfect but here was about the whole passion of the song and not about being in key or playing perfect. He then switched to acoustic guitar and it was more or less similar but a nice change from the grand piano. Again, he plays well but far from really great acoustic playing. it was a powerful performance of what I guess was mostly his solo material. My friend Adam, had to leave though, he thought he was just so dreadful. Interesting to see how different people see it. He got a standing ovation for his passionate performance…… despite its musical flaws..
Arve Henriksen (Norway), is an experimental trumpeter.. I had not idea what to expect. He sat in almost total darkness with this midi keyboards, laptop, three trumpets, and 3 different microphones, one which he spoke or sung into, the other two with different kinds of effects in the line of the mic and he could play towards one of in the middle to get the sort of effect he wanted and then he recorded loops of this stuff and created these soundscapes. Sadly it was also all so fucking low in volume that I heard more of the lady behind me blowing her nose and coughing than the fucking concert. Just a crime that the volume is like 70db and anyone in the 300 room hall who moves, scratches his head, coughs is louder than the music. Very distracting..
Anyway, he later was joined by a woman playing a strange like pipe organ meets harmonium type instrument. The stage was so dark you could hardly see anything.. They played a bit and then a woman with an extraordinary voice (I heard her more from the stage then the PA and was 3rd from the back row (at least it seemed that way). Her voice was like magic. Amazing… Then a guy came out and played a sort hurdy gurdy like instrument that is bowed with strings and keys on it but had no crank. The music became like middle age, medieval music. Very cool performance but the low volume really sucks and is very distracting as you are constantly hear people talking across the room or making small noises in their seats that is louder than the concert. It was so dark on the stage I could not get any decent pictures.. Sorry..
Meer, also from Norway, were a symphonic pop prog band. Two violins, keys, guitar, bass, drums and lead female vocals. Everyone but the drummer did some singing. Songs were mostly 3-5mins pop format with sappy make you want to cry ballad violins, not many keyboard or guitar solos at all but impressive playing and it was mostly about the vocals in Eurovision style (someone said to me)….. I think people liked it but it was not for me. We left before the show was over. I was very tired and still have 30mins to drive home after midnight.. Great day…
Day 3
We left a bit late so only arrived just before Dominic Sanderson (UK), a prog act from England. 5 piece- sax/flute, guitar, keys, bass and drums. Mostly instrumental music heavily inspired by King Crimson (71-75 era). Long complicated songs but over all too much sax for me. He played nearly all the time, even over the guitar sections and solos. Did not leave much space for the keys (too low in the mix) or anything else. Impressive players and I enjoyed it a lot….
Soft Machine, what can you say?? I never thought I would see them. All the original members are dead by guitarist John Etheridge, who has played with the band since the 70s on and off, keeps it going with high quality players. They just released their new CD, Thirteen, but forgot the merch to bring to the festival. They started the show with like 4 songs from the new album and then they played stuff even going back to the first US single, Joy of a Toy (1968), which featured the bass player. A mix of cool tracks from the 70s and they got an encore and played Backwards from Soft Machine III. One of the highlights of the festival for sure..
Now we had to hurry to the small church for the medieval music show with some of the artists from the festival that played with Arve Hendriksen yesterday. Friman-Vincens-Ambrosini Trio. This started at 1815 and ran almost an hr. It was free to the public so when we got there pretty fast most of the church was already filled with locals but we got a see in the 5th from the back row on the right. Low volume as you expect in a church but people were mostly quiet and respectful. The woman singing, she was extraordinary. Mind blowing voice. Incredible. The music was very nice with this strange wind pipe organ and hurdy gurdy like instrument and female voice. She got people in the church to sing a one point. Arve played as well the last 15-20ms and pretty much dominated the sound. Very cool though. I really enjoyed it.
We only 40mins to get something to eat before Tangerine Dream, so a quick pizza and we got in like 2mins before they started. Phew.. Wow… they were LOUD.. 10db louder than any band.. Way louder.. Cool visuals and intense music at times. I was a bit disappointed that they relied on the computer prerecorded stuff so much in the beginning and less at the end. They played a lot of live synths over the top of this stuff but you get the feel like if their computer died, they could cancel the show even though they had 6 synths on the stage… It was hit and miss,. Some was great and some was like techno light with too modern sounding drum samples…… the best parts where the solos on the mini moog…. I had not seen them since 1988 and this was totally different. They have a tiny foot in the past but mostly little to do with what came before in many ways.
Awesome festival.. Here is a link to a lot of short videos that my friend Santtu made. Enjoy.. See you next year. Would be great to play here with Øresund Space Collective..
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