DRIESSG

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Curious what we did the last month?

Well let us see:

Work, journey to Morocco, Haldern Pop, work….

Stop. HALDERN.

What can I say. This is the best festival in germany. Or europe. Or the world. :-)

The 29th edition of the festival was fully loaded with must see bands, newcomers and old loves. And this year it did not only “pop” it did rock.

Starting on Thursday 9th of August: I wanted to see: Willis Earl Beal, Jamie N Commons and of course Charles Bradley.

What I saw was: Emanuel & The Fear and The War On Drugs whilst queuing for the concerts in the Spiegeltent. And then right before entrance: let’s say my belly had some other imaginations for me. :-)

I enjoyed listening to Emanuel and also enjoyed TWOD. And my friends told me that Charles Bradley was just awesome. No surprise…

Friday 10th of August:

After a long night with some nice neighbours listening to Böhse Onkelz at highest possible volume I got up and tried to change into a human being again.

After coffee and a good swim in the lake the program began.

EFFI, White Rabbits, Dan Mangan, Ben Howard, Two Door Cinema Club, Jaga Jazzist.

Hear for yourself here:

ROCKPALAST

Other bands to mention: Zulu Winter, Daughter, Wendy McNeill, Oberhofer.

Exit Friday, tired.

Enter Saturday, wide awake.

Bowerbirds, Team Me, Grant Lee Buffalo, Boy & Bear, The Maccabees, The Afghan Whigs, Wilco

Other bands to mention: Arthur Beatrice, Alt-J;

Again:

Hear for yourself here:

ROCKPALAST

Sunday: tired but happy.

This years Haldern was a perfect festival. Nice people, very good bands, nice weather. Everything just like it’s meant to be. The post-haldern-blues is still here. But… SEE YOU NEXT YEAR.

DIX-SEPT

I am a Jack Johnson fan for a very long time. I was very into his music when his first album was hardly available in Germany. This was back in spring 2003.

That same year the second album “on and on” came out. But it was not before “in between dreams” in 2005 he had his big break through worldwide. And when suddenly everyone knew about him and his guitar, that even the Berlin metro news would talk about him, something about his magic was gone. Don’t take me wrong: I still think he makes great music but something from the fascination is gone. “Gone going” just like Mr. Johnson sang. Of course the first albums are much better than the later ones. The first fans always know better, believe me!

I wondered if it was something about the age. The older you get, the more you become an adult, the more you lose of the fascination for things and the magic for them as well. I listened to great music in the previous years but not much touched me again in the same way.

Until now (of course!)! And this person actually reminds me a bit of Jack Johnson: he is from an island and is a surfer. His island is surrounded by cold waters and gets through long cold and wet winters, nevertheless his music has all the Hawaiian heat Jack was able to create with his simple hymns.

The mystery man is called Ben Howard. He is from Devon, UK and enjoys the company of his guitar too. However he has a more sophisticated recording with violin and background vocals.

I am probably not a fan from the first hours in that situation. Maybe it’s because I am getting older and I am not spending enough time listening to music in such depth as I used to do. Maybe Ben made me over think this all tonight and reminded me that some passions should not be left along the way.

I hope that the following appetisers will also give you this warm positive and energetic feeling in your chest just like in mine. If spring is taking time to arrive, my spring just arrived in my heart through my little earplugs and I imagine myself running between flower fields and dancing to the sunset!

That’s enough of cheesiness for today!
Peace!