On Stage: Pond @ Melkweg

Australian psych rock bands Pond and Tame Impala have been intertwined ever since Pond was founded as a spin off. They first shared many members including Tame Impala's mastermind Kevin Parker, but later it was hard to combine the two. Pond evolves mostly around Nick Allbrook though who in the end left Tame Impala to concentrate on Pond and other projects. This year saw the light of a new studio album Tasmania and a live album Sessions due next week. Best of all, they are visiting the Melkweg.

Pond at Melkweg Amsterdam, October 29 2019

In the ten years the band has been around, they have consistently released albums that slowly evolved from psychedelic rock to a more pop oriented sound. It is one of those bands that is exploring new directions while at the same time are staying true to their roots. All those directions are showing tonight, with Allbrook as the charismatic front man and centre point.

Heavy rock songs with psychedelic jams are following more disco oriented songs, but always there's this incredible groove and hook in every song. It makes their music perfect for dancing and the energetic Allbrook leading the pack with some flexible moves. He is the radiant centre piece of this band, moving around stage with a big smile on his face.

The whole band is clearly in a good mood and are enjoying the show a lot. Combined with a balanced out set with many hits like 'Sweep Me Off My Feet', 'Paint Me Silver' and 'Giant Tortoise' they are giving the eager fans what they want. Live this tight band sounds amazing with a dynamic sound and a loose style of playing. The group ends in style with 'Man It Feels Like Space Again'. It sure does and it feels wonderful!

All Pictures



Official Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

Setlist:
01. Hand Mouth Dancer
02. Sweep Me Off My Feet
03. Fire in the Water
04. Tasmania
05. Don't Look at the Sun or You'll Go Blind
06. The Boys Are Killing Me
07. Burnt Out Star
08. Aloneaflameaflower
09. Paint Me Silver
10. Zen Automaton
11. Daisy
12. The Weather
Encore:
13. Medicine Hat
14. Giant Tortoise
15. Man It Feels Like Space Again


Read more!

London Calling #2 2019

The times the London Calling festival was only all about new British bands is long gone. The bands are not only strictly from Britain now and the music is more diverse than ever. It was mostly indie about ten years ago when we visited the festival at Paradiso frequently. But after a few editions with mostly mediocre bands we stopped going for a while. Now post-rock, garage rock, punk, shoegaze and new wave bands are coming to this festival and things are interesting again.

London Calling at Paradiso Amsterdam, October 25 + 26 2019

It's also part of the Indiestad pass selection, which makes it almost a no brainer to go and try to cherry-pick the best bands. That isn't always as easy as it sounds, since trying to make it into the overcrowded small hall is always extremely difficult so we decide to stay downstairs in the main hall and watch the bands there.

Friday October 25

RVG

Once started as Romy Vager Group, Australian band RVG draw inspiration from 80s bands like The Smiths, The Go-Betweens and The Soft Boys. Singer Romy Vager sings her lyrics with incredible power and heart, while at the same time playing catchy and clear guitar lines in the greatest The Smiths fashion. It truly is a great introduction to this band, who really are able to impress me.



Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

Night Moves

Also drawing inspiration from the 80s, all the way to their looks, but from a different perspective are Night Moves. They are drawn to the soft rock side of that era with poppy songs and warm synths. However this is not the most interesting part of the 80s and the sugar coated songs aren't really interesting. There isn't a lot of variation and after a while singer John Pelant's shriek voice is starting to get on my nerves.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify

The Murder Capital

Time to get things going again with Dublin post-punk group The Murder Capital, who had quite a year. Their name is buzzing around in the music scene also because of their intense live shows, as I got to witness myself a few months back. The band starts out with a couple of slow songs to build up the atmosphere. While they patiently build up the tempo the boys are all over the stage swinging their guitars around. Singer James McGovern walks around stage, working the crowd, delivering his dark vocals with great power. This is an angry band who have a lot to tell about what's bothering them and know how to draw attention. Of course it is it a lot of show, but at the same time these alpha males here on stage mean business. Their post-punk songs are dark, heavy and intense, clearly influenced by other post-punk bands from the Dublin area but also from their famous fellow Dubliners U2. By the end of their set, the Irish group has turned the whole floor into a wild pit and you'd wish they could keep going for a lot longer.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

Squid

I am really looking forward to Squid who were so good at the Into The Great Wide Open festival. This band is rising quickly and for a good reason. Their songs are very clever with Talking Heads and LCD Soundsystem references, where they know how to keep things interesting. Tonight they are bothered with a lot of sound problems, that don't really get fixed throughout their set. It doesn't get the band down, but their songs lose some detail because of that, which is exactly what makes them so good. Despite all of that, the band once again proves to be one of the most interesting new bands on the rise this year. The combination of groovy songs with incredible hooks and the somewhat hysterical vocals of Ollie Judge are spot on. It's hard to resist a song like 'The Cleaner' and I can't wait to see them again soon.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

Heavy Lungs

We finally can make it upstairs where we don't want to miss Heavy Lungs who have already kicked off their wild show. Like fellow Bristol citizens IDLES this is a wild punk band. Their music is even more intense, in the same style as METZ. The band's delivery is part of this as well, with wild singer Danny Nedelko leading the pack. The band keeps knocking you over with heavy punk songs in a ferocious way until you simply have to surrender and join the pit. If that is not enough, Nedelko jumps off stage to drag in the last doubters.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

After this explosive show I call it a night. This has been an incredible London Calling night, maybe one of the best in a long time.

Saturday October 26

After yesterday the line-up for today maybe looks a bit bleak. Although today has The Twilight Sad on the bill, which in itself is already a good reason to swing by Paradiso.

Orville Peck

I walk in during Orville Peck's show and wasn't quite ready for a cowboy band. Singer Peck, described as "a masked gay crooner", is dressed in a western style Mexican themed glitter suit. He is wearing a kind of "Lone Ranger" mask with a veil. Like Peck everyone else in the band is wearing a cowboy hat. There is at least one hard core fan in front of the stage, as he wears a cowboy hat as well. Peck sounds like The King singing country songs, which in itself isn't that weird and could be interesting. His voice is pretty good and the band clearly can play. But this is definitely not my cup of tea and it sounds more like The King had a drink and a valium too many. The fan at the front loves it though and throws his hat onto the stage at the end of the set. I'd tip my hat to him if I wore one.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

The Twilight Sad

Every edition London Calling will have a band that has been around for a while and don't qualify as a new promising band. This time The Twilight Sad are the ones to play this spot, who played the festival ten years ago as well. The Scottish band has been around for over fifteen years and released its fifth album in January. I was expecting it to be full but that is not the case. But you can see many people came down to see this band though. They won't be disappointed as the band plays an inspired show. Singer James Graham sings with plenty of heart and emotion, together with a lot of theatre but never over the top. The band takes its time building up the dark songs, that have a lot of depth and detail. There are noise and krautrock elements in their music, which has great melodies and hooks as well. The band proves this tonight with a convincing show that pleases most of us here.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

YAK

Like yesterday I'm going out with a bang tonight, this time with YAK. I saw this band earlier this year in the summer at the Loose Ends festival and liked their raw psychedelic garage rock sound a lot. Tonight the trio convince me even more with a lively and hot rock show. It reminds me of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion now and then. The songs are heavy with pounding drum grooves and fuzzed out guitars. Singer Oli Burslem works up a sweat and the youngsters at the front are willing and eager to dance. It is a fitting end to a very good London Calling weekend.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

All Pictures

Read more!

On Stage: Navarone @ Paradiso

I'm starting to lose count of how many times I've seen Navarone play live. Slowly I have seen the Dutch rock band grow and progress into the solid group they are now, playing tonight in the main hall of Paradiso. It looks quite full, all the way up to the upper balconies and may have been sold out, or at least close to it. Making it to the main hall of this venue is quite a big thing in this country and something to be proud of, especially when you fill it up completely. It's also a place where I always enjoy going, so I cannot miss this opportunity to see Navarone play here.

Navarone at Paradiso Amsterdam, October 22 2019

Of course it is always fun to see this band play, who will always deliver and are guaranteed to give this crowd a good time. This club tour, called Mixing It Up, they will make it special. After reaching the finals of The Voice Of Holland TV music competition and doing a string of covers for the Veronica radio station, there will be some covers on the setlist and they have plenty of surprises up their sleeves.

The band has a few special guests and friends lined up, people they met during the competition and musicians they like to play with: The Rolling Stones' 'Gimme Shelter' with Patricia van Haastrecht is a tribute to the version The Stones played during their legendary show on this same spot in 1995. Dennis van Aarssen, winner of the competition, joins the band for 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. Saxophone player Robert Van Asseldonk is adding his skills for Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street' and Sanne de Winter joins them for Otis Redding's 'Respect'.

There a couple of other covers, but although Navarone is a great band and plays all of them good enough, not all of them are working equally well. Queen's 'Somebody to Love' doesn't really click. Their 'The Show Must Go On', although started too fast, sounds better, but it really all comes together in Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' that simply is right up their alley. Another highlight is the beautiful version of Eddie Vedder's 'Hard Sun' where singer Merijn van Haren gets help from their good friend Robin Borneman.

You kind of hear this in their own songs as well, where the more heavy songs are their best ones. The more poppy ones that are slowly finding their way onto their later albums are maybe more radio friendly, but are not the band at its best. It may not have been a conscious choice to shift their sound in that direction, one that can move them into the mainstream and reach a bigger crowd. That of course is very tempting and could be the difference between failure and success as a band.

But it could also mean they will move too far away from what makes them so good: honest rock songs with a heavy twist, played tightly with a lot of heart and that get the best out of van Haren's incredible voice. Heavy rockers like 'Cerberus' and 'The Red Queen Effect' show the band on top of their game. Songs like that are why I got into this band and started following them. These heavy songs are also the best parts of their shows and prove that they don't need all these covers to please a crowd or put up a good show.



All Pictures

Official Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify

Setlist:
01. Perfect Design
02. The Strong Survive
03. Showtime
04. The Red Queen Effect
05. Cerberus
06. Somebody To Love (Queen cover)
07. Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones cover) (with Patricia van Haastrecht)
08. Leave
09. Surrender
10. You'll Never Walk Alone (Gerry & the Pacemakers cover)
11. Hotel California (Eagles cover)
12. December
13. Hard Sun (Eddie Vedder cover) (with Robin Borneman)
14. Another Way
15. Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty cover) (with Robert Van Asseldonk)
16. Respect (Otis Redding cover) (with Sanne de WInter & Robert Van Asseldonk)
17. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
18. Free Together (with Robert Van Asseldonk)
Encore:
19. The Show Must Go On (Queen cover)
20. Wander
21. Lonely Nights (with Robert Van Asseldonk)


Read more!