First day of Berlin Festival is OVER!
I'm pretty wrecked after it, in a good way. This was my only festival this summer and it was a good time. i set off this morning with my bag packed full of festival necessities: sun lotion, full batteries in my camera and rice cakes. Arriving early at the festival grounds we heard the rock'n'roll Humanzi getting it on at the main stage. They were the first band of the day, and playing to less than 10 people. ha ha! The er, less than huge crowd didn't stop them from ripping it up though, they were one of my favourite bands of the day.
The first time i saw them was when they played a special set for the Voices From A Room programme. (This bit of tv on RTE 1 is a gem: live performances taking place in a small church in beautiful Co. Kerry.) The night Humanzi play they are introduced by the inimitable John Kelly like this: "Sometimes I despair about young people. Alot of them want to sit in their bedrooms and strum acoustic guitars - don't even think about plugging them in. But every so often you get your faith restored. Here's a noisy bunch: HUMANZI."
They are indeed noisy. Their lyrical content is quite bleak, the second last song of their set with a song about the apocalypse, for example. I wouldn't really recommend** watching that archived show, the band were a million times deadlier today. Deadly = Dub speak for REALLY F-ING GOOD! Lead singer Shaun Mulrooney is looking a damn sight healthier for one, and also quite easy on the eyes, maybe its the haircut or the tight jeans, the slimmer waist or perhaps less booze and fags, more band practise. ?? Well done anyway Shaun. Swoon, thud. Their next gig is on a night called Kill All Hippies in 333 Club. If you're in London on August 8th, i definitely recommend going to see them.
My 2nd favourites of the day were Hot Club de Paris!
YAY! THIS! BAND! IS! AMAZINGLY! FUN! AND! GREAT! Inside, on the Moshi Moshi stage, they beckoned the crowd closer to the stage and opened their set by standing together all three in a row, hands clasped behind their backs, eyes to the heavens, thus serenading us with a little song about themselves. They were so delightfully happy and cheeky - its hard not to fall in deep smit with a band doing sweet harmonies, beatboxing, singing witty lyrics and rocking out all at the same time. Do check out the live dates listed on their myspace page. Their live show is NOT TO BE MISSED!!!!!!!!! It was a nice moment when their bass player snapped a string, the bass player from Kubichek (who was in the crowd enjoying the show) ran off and got his to hand up onstage for a lend. Nice.
The festival setting was slightly surreal as part of the grounds, around the corner from the main stage, were sectioned into a sort of petting zoo. In between bands, we visited the pigs, goats, deer, hamsters and peacock. Amazing!
Klaxons. They have the best t-shirts. They have done a cover of
while looking surly and wearing their grannies fleurescent cardigans. They were totally out of tune for "Gravity's Rainbow" which was kind of funny and disconcerting, they were all singing together out of tune like one key higher or something. The keyboardist had programmed one of his keys to play the word "WICKEDDDD" whenever he pressed it. THEY ARE SO GREAT.
Sorry i'm such a girl and have decorated this post with nothing but sweaty boys.
Humanzi, Kill All Hippies Gig Flyer - pass it on
Hot Club de Paris
Berlin Festival
Klaxons.net
Other Voices, RTE
Kubicheck
Moshi Moshi Records
Nice bedtime story
**I would however recommend watching this. Amy and Torque from Stars shine a light on why Canada's music scene has been blossoming in recent years, plus nice live performance bits and more talking. Other artist's performances you can check out there are Duke Special, Bell X1, Jose Gonzalez, Jape, Rufus Wainright, Mark Lanegan, The Thrills....
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