Despite this event officially being a 'festival', I was only genuinely interested in seeing St. Vincent and so I decided to make that the title of this post.
I had been waiting for an opportunity to see 25 year-old Annie Clark in concert ever since a friend of mine saw her support and play with Sufjan Stevens a little over a year ago. I obtained her only release (an EP consisting of 2 original tracks and a cover of Nico's "These Days") through means of which I am not proud, but fell in love with it regardless, wishing there would be more to come. After a couple more tracks were 'released' through myspace, the good news finally came; Annie would be releasing her debut LP in July '07. It didn't take long for me to love the tracks I hadn't heard and the album earned the title of 'Best album of 2007', way ahead of the rest of its competition. Two shows were announced a week apart, and finally it looked like I would get a chance to see her, when I injured my foot, making it impossible for me to make the journey to the first of the two dates. I was devastated and after a torturous week of not knowing whether my foot would get better, it became clear that I would be able to make it. The time had finally come...
...but there were still a number of bands that stood in the way of that glorious moment. Boy ler were the first band of the night, playing on the small stage. Their sound was quite generic, reminiscent of 80s progressive rock, and although their sense of melody was mildly impressive, I couldn't help hating the singer/guitarist for destroying the songs with his low, mumbly voice, over-ambitious guitar solos and lack of ability to dance. I left after 2 songs because I felt that they weren't professional enough to put on a show worth watching.
[Rating: 1/5]
Windmill were the next 'band', playing in the big hall, a beautiful room with balcony seats and floor space, with wonderful acoustics. The duo were extremely friendly and calm, talking to the audience ("I just want to sit down and chat to you all"), making up a song on the spot about what they did earlier in the day (seeing a picture of a man with a dog on his lap) and executing the songs with ease. The only problem was that they were very limited with what they could do and the songs ended up sounding roughly the same - a quiet verse section with piano and vocals, followed by a louder chorus section in which the drums came in, and then various bridge sections with a mix of the two. I'd listened to Windmill's album 'Puddle City Racing Lights' once before but it hadn't been very memorable aside from the whiny vocals of Matt Dillon - something which I hadn't enjoyed so much. Therefore, I can't compare the music from the album and the live show but I can say that my opinion didn't change on the vocals.
[Rating: 2.5/5]
Wouter van Veldhoven & Mark Versteegen were starting their show in the small hall and I got there just in time for the beginning. They were sat in front of the stage with a big machine, which had the potential to be exciting but I still hadn't figured out what it was doing, even after the countless number of wires plugged in by Wouter. The 'ambience' (for it couldn't be called music) was dull and failed to get to the point, even within the 10 minutes that I was there.
[Rating: 0.5/5]
Lusine was interesting but repetitive and a bit anticlimactic. I got the chance to sit behind him and observe how he created his music, but again was unable to understand how it worked. He was able to create beautiful soundscapes, thickening them out by adding layer after layer, and then stripping it down again after he'd had his fun, before flawlessly moving onto his next 'piece'. The transitions were perfect. Unfortunately, as he was right before St. Vincent, I wasn't able to enjoy the music as much as I might have another time.
[Rating: 1.5/5]
Finally, it was almost time for Annie. My foot had started to ache quite badly during Lusine's set but I managed to forget all of that as soon as I saw Annie come out onto the stage to check her setup. I decided to move to the right side of the stage in order to avoid Annie's massive fringe blocking my view of her face and the show started quite soon afterwards. They began playing a long intro, which eventually found its way into the beginning of 'Jesus Saves, I Spend'. A couple of other tracks would feature long intros like this one throughout the set. Playing as a four-piece, they weren't able to recreate the music on the record exactly and so were forced to rely heavily on samples in some sections - this
being one of them. The drummer triggered most, if not all of them on a series of pads mounted where the toms usually are (probably to save money/effort carrying them on tour because he played his tom sounds on the pads), playing the bass part at the same time in one of the songs (Landmines?). The songs were played really well and it was great to be able to watch Annie from so close up, really appreciating what a talented guitarist and composer she is. Her voice was fantastic aside from a few cracks here and there but unfortunately, the sound people at the venue managed to turn both her guitar amp and her 'second' mic down, making it hard to hear the beautiful sounds coming out of her fingers/mouth. We got to hear a beautiful solo rendition of 'What Me Worry', which was most probably the highlight of the night, along with the gorgeous 'Human Racing'. An alternate version of 'Your Lips Are Red' was also played, which I enjoyed more than the original because it was especially violent. The only real criticism I can make is that all the members looked exhausted, which is understandable, as they had played 156 shows and had been on the road for over 200 days in 2007, but it leaves me wondering... could it have been even better? I guess we'll see next time...
[Rating: 4.5/5]
Set list:
1. Jesus Saves, I Spend
2. Human Racing
3. Marry Me
4. Now, Now
5. All My Stars Aligned
6. What Me Worry
7. Landmines
8. Your Lips Are Red
9. Paris Is Burning
Sunday, December 09, 2007
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