Hard to be a blogger, easy to be you!Mood: Tired
Songs: Moldy Peaches(Lucky Number Nine, Anyone Else But You)/Adam Green (Hard to be a girl)/ Tom Vek (Phones Remix of Ain't Saying My Goodbye's)/ Strokes (Hawaii Aloha)
South
Adam Green
The Strokes
Amsterdam 11-07-2006
South (influences Coldplay, Talking Heads, Radiohead)
This British band is already around for more than 6 years, some of their songs appeared on the O.C. But if you're a warm-up to the strokes so many years later, you could guess that your carreer is at a dead end, especially if your lead-singer is looking like Chris Martin before Coldplay unleashed Yellow to the world. He also told us that Syd Barret died in his sleep last night. I think that is the thing I'm going to remember from their set, because they played nine songs were they're were only two really worth, listing again.
South-Paint the SilenceAdam Green (influences Jacques Brel, Nat King Cole, Moldy Peaches (he was in it!)
Did you know that Adam Green's grandmother was a fiancé of Franz Kafka? Did you know I still miss the Moldy Peaches? Perhaps you do. But we surely have to remember that is that he always give cabaret-styled preformances. He's always balancing between Beck and Frank Sinatra, but than a very good looking Sinatra. He's got his bag full of hits. "Jessica [Simpson]" is one of the most sneering ballads I know and Emily is a rythm changing swinging song, but his last song, "Baby's Going to be Alright" was right on the spot and he even made the biggest strokes fans dance. But then again if you got a boogey-master as Adam Green, you just have to move your body.
Adam Green Jessica SimpsonThe Strokes (Velvet Underground, Television, (see First Impression Of Earth) Guns'n'Roses)
You can't argue with the fact, that only a few bands can be responsable for making a soundtrack to your life. I can still remember the day I first hold the Modern Age EP in my hands. I know what "Someday" means to me, I know where I was and what I was doing when I first saw the video of "Last Night", (thank ... they played both of these songs live). The Strokes are band who opened the eyes for many fans and cleared the path for everyone from the Hives to Bloc Party over The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys.
Their first album struck the planet like a bomb, for their second one they did Ramones-Style (same genre of songs, same sound of songs), but it was alright. And then... And then... came the somewhat disapointing third one. Few good songs, but overal just not enough. They tried to hard to be different, but got a bit lost while making it.
Anyway I still was about as excited as a little kid going to Disney UNIVERSE World thing. But before they started a few things struck me, which can be balled in the quote "not since the nazi's, did a system got us look all the same". The dress-code was converse-allstar, jeans (little crack in them couldn't do you no harm), t-shirt straight from H&M (striped!) or funny logo or old band t-shirt(think Joy Division or Stooges) and shared a common sense of I'mcoolerthanthou, I loved it.
Anyway the strokes dropped a bomb in the Heineken Hall when they started off with "Juicebox". I was really flying from one side to the other, so I could see that Nikolai was growing a little beard. Next up was Modern Age which only made the crowd more in a weird extase.
The Strokes tried to keep this rythm up during the most part of their 58 minute set, where in Julian smiled and tried something else than his very famous where are my contact-lenses look, Nick Valensi was skinnier than ever and Albert Jr. Hammond who just nodded with his big afro in his always sharp suits. It was a great set, where their small flaws became part of perfection. Only one song really bugged me, "You can ask me Anything", when Nick Valensi played piano and Julian tried to do it Pogues-style. It is just not working. They ended this part with Reptilia where Nick Valensi missed a few notes and looked a bit scared to Albert who just smiled back. I knew this couldn't be the end of the set, because since the "infamous" $2 bill concert, every strokes fan they have to finish with Take it or Leave it.
After this sizzling set they came back with New York City Cops, Hawaii Aloha (B-side to Juicebox) and Take it or Leave It.
Conclusion: I was very sceptical about the new songs, but they sounded good live, but their still miles away from songs like "Last Night" or "The End Has No End". I still love you dear strokes and I think I will always do that.
The Strokes Trying Your LuckDour Festival
only the good stuff!
Eagle*seagull needs a rematch, they sounded alright but their set bored me a bit.
Miss John Soda (see An Pierlé, Division of Laura Lee)
These German cool cats are band formed by members of The Notwist and Couch. They're on the Morr label (coolio see Styrofoam and Mùm). They make lovely pop-songs with a catch to it and where the first band of the day (already seen Hitch and E*S) to catch my attention. I only vaguely knew their hit
Number One , wich is song (technically) made around the number 3 (verses, riffs's and etc.) but in a 4/4 standard. I liked their set also because they also were the first band who could get the more than their 4 fans on their feet. Due you have to bear in mind that the dour crowd is by far the worst crowd you could play to in the afternoon on a festival.
Les Georges Leningrads (influences DNA and all other obscure bands from the early eighties )
They are like the YYY's meets Spanish wrestlers meets German Porn. Never knew what that sounded or looked like well really just go to one of their shows. They first caught my attention when I got a Post-Punk compilation from Rough Trade, but forgot them for a while, just to pick them up again when I saw they were labelmates of the Unicorns (later more). I fairly enjoyed the concert where they were flirting on the border of Kitsch and art (see that first one has a capital and latter don't).
Supadoopa was their best live track and made a Marrissa (O.C.) lookalike/ press photographer dance so hard that she bounced against all other members of the press. YAY for that, for them and for ghosts and ghouls.
Islands (sounds like the UNICORNS ha!)
Nick Neil Diamonds was in a little band called the Unicorns, he lost Alden Penner, his old school buddy, to soundtrack-writing and he lost his J'aime Tombeur on the road. But he got help from his all multicultural band and his songs are made with a little help some people from Arcade Fire. Which struck me because sometimes when I was watching I had the vision that they looked like a poor man's Arcade Fire. Irony of course because the Arcade Fire used to open for the Unicorns (now Islands) and got their moves from them. Anyway, that is a pointless discussion. I don't really know how much I should like the show, I heard a couple of new songs and the "hits" Ruff Gem, Snowman and Don't Call Me Withney, Bobby. When he finally got to Swans (his last song) the band got it together and made an alright set out of it. I think I have to see them again live to make final call on this one, because I'm having a feeling it could flip both ways now.
Rough Gem Total Conclusion:
Festivals aren't my thing anymore, I'm also lacking a good amount of sleep which make me a groggy. Anyway thank you D.V. for the picture and S.M. for other support.
Over And Out
R.W.
