The Almighty Oracle

non music-related note :

If someone faints next to you, please don’t try to get them back up while they’re still unconscious. Instead, give them some space so they can breathe, call for help and keep an eye on them. When they regain consciousness, have them sit down, give them some water and try to get them out for some fresh air. If they remain unconscious, roll them on their side in recovery position. If you don’t know how to do this, again, ask for help. Thanks for them.

The initial bill for Les Inrocks festival was : La Roux, Florence and the Machine, Passion Pit, Boy Crisis, Lissy Trullie.

The bands that showed up were : Two Door Cinema Club, Lissy Trullie, Florence and the Machine and Passion Pit. So it was disappointing not to see La Roux but apparently she cancelled the whole French tour for health issue so : Get well soon!

Two Door Cinema Club [myspace] were the surprise act as they were called in the day before the show to play in front of a small crowd of people who didn’t know them for the most part. The guys are bouncy and the music is full of energy so it was a good start for the evening.

Lissy Trullie [myspace] came up second and after the high energy opener, it felt a bit calm even though they still play very good pop-rock, they just don’t bounce around for half an hour. I was eager to see LT live for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect since there’s only been an eight song EP out but they clearly had everything under control and were having fun playing for us. The crowd was a bit shy at first but everyone was liking the music. The bass was actually really loud but that gave the whole melodies a good edge since they rely a lot on it. They played one new song that only made the wait till the full release a little harder to bare. A setlist ending with Boy Boy was a non surprise but it was a sweet cherry on a tasty cake.

Then came the time for Florence and the Machine [myspace] to take the stage. Flowers everywhere, a backdrop matching the album cover, bird cages, a harp, keys, percussions and the usual guitar/bass/drums combo were part of the scenery. Flo entered like a fairy here to welcome us to her world and everyone was in awe right from the very first notes of Between Two Lungs.  45 minutes were way too short. At some point, Flo asked everyone to jump. Once, twice, a third time… until the whole audience was in for her crazy plan. It was : “now that you know what to do, you will do it as I say “Go” and don’t stop”. “Go” came, 2000 people jumped as one and that was amazingly fun (and crazy knowing l’Aéronef is on the second floor of a building that may not have been made to undergo such treatment). Each member of the band ended up with a broad smile on their face plus everything was filmed! So watch out for it, whenever it gets released. After showing off she can hold a note for more than 30 seconds (or was it a minute? either way it was impressive) and coming to the conclusion of the show with Rabbit Heart, Flo clearly won the non-yet-existing thealmightyoracle.info Best Performer of The Year award. I’ll definitely see Florence and the Machine live again whenever I get the chance, and you should plan on doing so too.

Passion Pit [myspace] was last and while I didn’t know them that well, they were very good. Their electro-pop combo is very addictive and makes you want to dance around. And we did dance, just as much as we jumped with Florence and the Machine. Good times!

mel :: Nov.10.2009 :: Concert Review, Florence and the Machine, Lissy Trullie, Passion Pit, Two Door Cinema Club :: No Comments »

Back in 2004, Placebo came to Arras for an exclusive gig on the main square. This happened to be the first edition of what is now known as the Main Square Festival. What was a simple opener + headliner event is now a 4 day festival with about 25 artists/bands performing. For its 5th anniversary, the main square of Arras was welcoming Brian Molko and co back as headliner for Day 3.

The bass drum head states : We come in peace.

Placebo was here on support for their new album Battle For The Sun (released June 8.) so they naturally started the gig with songs off it, including the first two singles – Battle For The Sun & For What It’s Worth – but most of the setlist consisted of obvious hits such as Special K, Bitter End, Every You Every Me. There was no real surprise apart from being introduced to the band’s new drummer, Steve Forest who made it look like drumming is a matter of power and hitting as hard as you can. It’s all in the wrists, M. Forest. My highlight was the almost acoustic first part of Meds followed by the explosion of energy when the full band jumps in. On a global note, I found the band distant and not too impressive. Maybe I’m simply over Placebo.

The rest of the day consisted of :

- Expatriate : Australian rock band I knew nothing about but they did a decent job considering they were playing first at 3pm sharp with the sun staring down on them.

- Ghinzu : I remember liking this Belgian band’s second album, Blow. They were pretty good but the fact they had the bass and bass drum so loud you could feel the vibrations throughout the gig was quite damageable to the overall enjoyment.

- Gossip : They were the reason why I got a ticket for the festival and they were GREAT, as expected. They opened with Pop Goes The World, a song off their new album, Music For Men (released June 22) and it was the starting point a one hour of non stop dancing around, jumping and singing along. They played 2012, Men In Love, Love Long Distance [I realized I love that song and it was cute to see Hannah sing along to it], Vertical Rhythm, Jealous Girls, Fire/Sign, Yr Mangled Heart, Listen Up and ended with Standing In The Way Of Control (while Beth was walking through the crowd – and stopping right before reaching me) and the current single, Heavy Cross. There were some short bonuses in between songs with a few lines from What’s Love Got To Do With It and Beth offering us an a cappella rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You. There was also a foot incident; the stage being black and the sun directed right on it, it was as hot as a cooking pan, that resulted in Beth asking for socks to protect her already blistered feet, thanks to Tracy for the very sexy socks.

Overexposed photo but you get the idea.

Gossip gave the best prestation of the day, hands down. Their contagious positive energy, Beth’s charisma, hesitant French and jokes, Hannah’s drumming that’s as pleasant to hear as to watch and the guitar/synth/bass driven by Nathan and the fourth member whose name I can’t recall make for an explosive combination leading to one of the best shows ever. You’ve never been to a concert as long as you haven’t seen Gossip live.

The rest of the day was pale in comparision. Bloc Party was boring, every song sounded the same, apart from the ones with xylophone in them. Props to the drummer, though; he had some pretty fast patterns.

Kaiser Chiefs had the heavy task of being the last band before the headliner but they did a great job. Ricky was running around/juming/climbing the whole time while singing and obviously having a good time and everyone on the Main Square was enjoying it too. The fact he came to the center of the square to actually greet everyone who was all the way in the back was a nice idea. Second best performance of the day.

This man is crazy but he’s a good showman.

So July 4, 2009 was a good concert day but it’s a shame Gossip never gets to play longer than just one short hour as they were everyone’s favourite act. Even the article in the newspaper had three times more lines and qualificatives about Gossip than about Molko and the rest.

mel :: Jul.06.2009 :: Arras, Beth Ditto, Bloc Party, Brace Paine, Concert Review, Expatriate, Ghinzu, Gossip, Hannah Blilie, Kaiser Chiefs, Main Square Festival, Nathan Howdeshell, Placebo :: 1 Comment »

I’ve listened to Emilíana Torrini for some years now [thanks to my dear friend kris and Lifesaver] but never got around to catching her live until last night. There was a snow alert but I drove all the way to Brussels, Belgium anyway and actually found the venue right away (after many years of getting lost looking for the same place) only to drive around for 40 minutes to find a spot where to park my car. By 05:45pm, I was the only crazy person to be waiting in front of the AB in the cold (0°C and some occasional snowflakes). I actually happened to meet Cameron, who plays guitar, bass and other stuff in Emilíana’s band, who asked if I had a ticket for the show (I assume he would’ve granted me a guest list spot if I had answered by the negative), that was pretty nice.

The doors were supposed to open at 6:30 but things never happen as planned so the crowd gathering up front had to wait some extra 30 minutes in the cold, that wasn’t that nice.

I don’t understand people why wait in line up front only to go sit in the back of the venue. I know I don’t like to sit down for a gig, except for acoustic shows, maybe. This time I scored a front row spot which was nice since AB has one of the best sound system, the concert sounds good wherever you stand/sit.

Emilíana Torrini and band entered the stage at 9pm sharp with Fireheads Lifesaver and Heartstopper. As the show kept on, Emilíana kept telling funny stories in between songswhich instantly built a good connection with the audience. There were a couple of times when the band would mess up the songs but they were having such a great time it was fun for everyone.

The setlist was more or less this : Continue Reading »

mel :: Feb.02.2009 :: Concert Review, Emiliana Torrini, Lay Low :: No Comments »

2008 12 05, 5pm : I decided to buy a ticket for the Sarah Bettens show of that same night. The girl at the counter asked me to spell the name but somehow I got used to this by now (I had to spell out Feist back in May – I still can’t understand how someone selling music happens not to even know Feist, oh well).

By 6pm, I was in Lille, in front of the Aéronef, waiting in a line of 6 people, trying not to catch a cold, soon getting some company as members of the street team I know arrive. Of course we scored front row seats. Side note, it was interesting to see l’Aéronef in a seated configuration.

The ticket said the concert was supposed to start at 8pm, which everyone knows is a lie, so Sarah appeared a little after 08:30pm. The concert mainly consists of covers stripped down to pure acoustic bliss : piano and/or guitar + voice.

The setlist was something like that : Continue Reading »

mel :: Dec.15.2008 :: Concert Review, Never Say Goodbye, Sarah Bettens, Tom Kestens :: No Comments »

I don’t like large venues. But the opportunity of seeing Sigur Rós live is too rare to bail out on it only because they play in front of 6000+ people.

Sigur Rós‘ music is unique and even though when you first listen to their albums you may think it will not transcribe well live, it’s the exact opposite. The band stands behind its music : there are no lights directed on the band members for the audience to see the, instead the lights are behind them so that they almost only ever appear as silouhettes. The visual show is also very well planned, with the occasional rain, snow and confetti, light balloons and black and white films projected on the white screen.

A Sigur Rós concert is not like any other, it’s an experience you have to live to understand the true extent of it. You won’t walk out of the venue the same person you were when you walked in. You may think I’m exaggerating here, but ask anyone who’s seen them and they’ll tell you the same thing. This is a special experience that I hope never to forget.

The setlist (approximatively) :

Svefn-g-Englar
Ný Batterí
Fljótavik
Við Spilum Endalaust
Hoppípolla
Með Blóðnasir
Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
Sæglópur
E-bow
Festival
Hafsól
Gobbledigook
—
All Alright
Popplagið

It was a little short but so intense I even forgive them for not playing Glósóli. It’ll be for next time, right?

For A Minor Reflection, a post-rock icelandic band, opened and they were pretty good. They only played 3 songs – which still covered 30 minutes. They reminded me a lot of Explosions In The Sky with their long measures of slightly distorted sound that only grows into bigger distorted sound where the melody somehow gets lost.

Photos (clicking one of the links will lead you to a website that’s still a work in progress) :

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                 Sigur Rós                //       For A Minor Reflection

mel :: Nov.29.2008 :: Concert Review, For A Minor Reflection, Sigur Rós :: No Comments »

Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be a Bad Person? is the title of a song off Kaki King’s latest release, Dreaming Of Revenge but judging from the atmosphere and crowd reactions during her Cologne concert last night the answer may just be a flat no.

Dan Brantigan and Kaki King

The show started on Bone Chaos In The Castle and kept on for about an hour and a half with, in no particular order, Playing With Pink Noise, Jazz ["this was called Jazz. Jazz is dead so this was Jazz"], Life Being What It Is, Sad American ["I wrote this thinking about how it sucks to be an American and now that it sucks even more, I’m glad I’m playing it in the land of the strong Euro"], So Much For So Little, Saving Days In A Frozen Head, Carmine St., Doing The Wrong Thing, Lies, First Brain [with Dan making the oddest sounds with his trumpet] and, of course, Gay Sons Of Lesbian Mothers which is probably my favourite song. There was also a creative section for the “side project” having Kaki first play the beat on a square thing [if anyone knows the name for it, do tell!] Stomp Box then while looping said beat she adds guitar and Dan adds sounds from his electronic trumpet. This results in “crap that gay people dance to” as Kaki said.

It was interesting to see the music being built from scratch for all the songs and Kaki’s amazing talent being so simply displayed. And her in-between songs little funny sentences helps keep the connection with an audience that was attentive to every note. It was nice of her to stand up when she “was too short for the people standing all the way back” and then sorry she had to sit down again because she “only had one strap“.
The night was very enjoyable, the crowd was fantastic and Kaki King put on a captivating show with good little help from Dan Brantigan. If they come close to you, go see them! I drove 3 hours+ to have the opportunity to do so and I don’t regret it at all!

Here’s the video for Gay Sons Of Lesbian Mothers :

And my photos of the night:

On a personal note : A big thank you goes to Jules for playing guide in Cologne and not hating me by the end of day because I don’t talk or can’t make a decision. Also, props to Vicky, trilingual extraodinaire. It was very nice meeting you!

mel :: Sep.22.2008 :: Cologne, Concert Review, Germany, Kaki King, Studio 672 :: 4 Comments »

March 20, 2008. I’m going to remember that date.

05pm: signing session with Gossip! Meeting Brace, Hannah and Beth was sweet. They are very cool and accessible people.

Brace drew the beard on Beth

7:45pm : Pete And The Pirates enter the stage. Their sound is flirting with pop while keeping a rock side. The harmonies kept reminding me of Kings Of Convenience, only with bigger drums. Visit Pete And The Pirates on myspace.

8:30pm : The Blakes and their garage rock set fire to the atmosphere. Brothers Snow and Garnet with drummer Bob played the rock’n'roll attitude card, drinking and smoking, making their sound dirty but still pleasant to hear. Here’s their myspace.

9:20pm : The Kills are in Continue Reading »

mel :: Mar.23.2008 :: Beth Ditto, Brace Paine, Concert Review, Gossip, Hannah Blilie, Pete And The Pirates, The Blakes, The Kills :: No Comments »

The irony of my Tegan and Sara story so far is that I can never get to see them play in France. So after Debaser Stockholm, Sweden in 2003 and Stadtgarten Cologne, Germany in 2007 here I was in L’Orangerie du Botanique Brussels, Belgium (the good thing is, the gigs are getting closer to home).

Northern State took the stage as opener at 08pm sharp (I love bands who can handle punctuality). After a shyly (coldly?) received Mic Tester, Spero, Sprout and Hesta conquired the fully packed venue with Better Already. They played for half an hour, punctuating the show with fun discussions and proving they’re not taking themselves to seriously. I really liked Can I Keep This Pen?, their latest album but they are even more impressive live.

Hesta and Spero of Northern State

9pm : Song Within A Song comes up and the crowd cheers. Tegan and Sara (and the band : Ted, Johnny and Shaun) enter the stage. The first song of the show is Continue Reading »

mel :: Mar.19.2008 :: Concert Review, Northern State, Tegan And Sara :: 3 Comments »

Project Polyfoon (choir) with Sarah & Gert Bettens.

What did you do this Sunday? I went to Church. In Gent, Belgium. For a concert. A polyphonic choir alternating with the Bettens siblings covering songs with the common theme of travelling or moving.

Gert and Sarah Bettens

Passed the surprise that may come from hearing a polyphonic choir live for the first time, the whole hour and a half was very enjoyable. The crowd was very attentive and the emotions were easily building throughout the songs. The acoustic of the Church is interesting, too. The choir proves that the voice is a powerful instrument.

Setlist : Continue Reading »

mel :: Feb.24.2008 :: Concert Review, Gert Bettens, Photos, Polyfoon, Sarah Bettens :: 2 Comments »

Sarah Bettens and I have quite a history of shared live moments and this November 2007 concert marks another very nice time. The fact that the setlist focused on the more upbeat songs helped because I really am not into the slow stuff Sarah released on Shine.

Continue Reading »

mel :: Dec.29.2007 :: Concert Review, K's Choice, Sarah Bettens :: No Comments »