Saturday 15 September 2012

Into The Great Wide Open 2012 Day 2: In Island Mode



After a short but good night of sleep I wake up early to a beautiful sunrise. This promises to be a gorgeous day. A bit more sleep until the sun is too hot to stay in the tent. Time to get up and get some coffee to start the day. Let's find some music as well.



Janne Schra
Some years ago she impressed with Room Eleven. A few years later she decided to go solo. Her voice is great and clear. It is combining beautifully with the light pop/jazz songs and the string arrangements. Ben Caplan joins in to sing a song with her and it turns into an entertaining morning for the crowd, who are mostly sitting down and are enjoying the sun.

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Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn
On our bike we swiftly ride to the lighthouse stage where Adrian Younge is playing his dark soul. The composer producer has a great band behind him. Cool looking musicians who are totally into it. Traces of Ennio Morricone combine with honest 70s soul. Especially when Loren Oden is singing with his impressive voice, you can hear echoes of Marvin Gaye. It's clear why they call it "dark soul" themselves, since it's more heavy and sounds really deep. Young himself is playing keyboards and saxophone and is hardly in the spotlights. This band is taking the crowd by storm and is reaching great heights today on this stage that is competing with the forest stage for most beautiful festival stage. If Tarantino is looking for music for his next movie score, he doesn't have to look any further.

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Howlin Rain
Back on the main field we find this band and their 70s style rock sweating themselves through their set. It's a mix of Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Black Crowes. This may not be really original but they sound good. Of course this means lengthy guitar and organ solos. Singer Ethan Miller is crying out from time to time, but it doesn't seem enough to get the crowd fired up. To me the band sounds good and it's nice to hear some roaring guitars and solid drums rock. But it's obvious that this crowd is more into the more mellow bands that play here. And they get one, since Alt-J are up next. But this is not my cup of tea and we decide to discover some of the festival's delicacies.

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Balthazar
To me this Belgian band is one of the most interesting ones on the bill. Their first album Applause was a nice surprise a few years ago. On stage this young band also showed their big potential. Now they are releasing their follow up album Rats next month. It is clear the band is making progress. They are playing tight and everything is running smooth. Their hooky songs are enchanting the crowd. They play a few songs that sound promising for the new album. And of course they end their set with the great 'Blood Like Wine'. Together we all sing "raise your glass to the nighttime and the ways". Ans so we do. This band is going to be one of Belgium's big front runners in a few years.



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Woodkid
French composer Yoann Lemoine combines dark electronic music with visuals. His theatrical show has two percussionists at either side of the stage playing synchronous. An annoying bright light is shining into the crowd. The heavy bombastic music combines nicely with the spacy visuals. At this time of the night it works quite well. Due to the repetitive and staccato elements in the music, the songs do sound a bit alike though. It's music that I wouldn't play at home and sounds more like a soundtrack to a scifi movie.

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Today we went completely into the relaxed island mode that makes this festival so special. Smiling faces everywhere, cold beers and did I mention they have great food here? It's a few days in paradise on this great island. Time to celebrate!

More Pictures

Into The Great Wide Open 2012 Day 1
Into The Great Wide Open 2012 Day 3

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