Live 2022-08-06 - Festival Maritim -- Saturday
(This "text" is more about the experience at the Festival Maritim than what would be written normally. All written without taking notes after a performance and all basically from memory)
Early in the morning on a Saturday I went to the farmers market in Vegesack in order to buy vegetables for the forthcoming week. Since I had slept a little bit too long, I returned to Vegesack later on in order to get my weekly infusion of coffee. At that time some of the bands would also sing at various locations throughout the precinct and it was there that I had a chance to witness on how Tripple wrapped the local population around their Scottish fingers and encouraged them to a sing-along; of course I immediately hastened my pace and sneaked away behind them. Be it at a Dream Theater or a Rush concert, I would always sing along, but to do this in a precinct and to folk music is out of the question. To say it with Pink Floyd: Run Like Hell.
On my way back to the ferry I stumbled over the Polish band Aqua Marina, but I did not question them about the non-performance on prior (Friday) evening. In fact, I merely passed them by and left them to their preparation of singing in the precinct and bringing joy to the local population.
17:00 -- LocTup Together
An elderly couple or two elderly persons were the first band that I would properly listen to on this day. Pretty basic stuff. I only stayed for a couple of songs. If you are into somewhat narrative and minimalist shanty folk stuff, then they could be of interest, but with most of the listeners being a bit older, I also felt somewhat out of place and moved on to somewhere else. They talked about the Polish band Za Horyzontem and recommended them for their music and their stage act. Since their next performance would be scheduled quite soon(ish), I made up my mind to give them a try.
Interlude ...
I went off to a shopping mall to buy myself something to drink ...
and on the way I listened to a couple of songs of the performance by Armstrong`s Patent. Shanty stuff. Period. It just does not always work for me. They were good ... at times it feels like, as if you only need to hear one track, in order to have heard them all.
... Interlude
18:30 -- Za Horyzontem
Yeah ... no. It is difficult to write about some bands, especially when not more than a few track were listened to. They appear to be a funny and very energetic band. Two female vocalists delivered lyrics in either English or Polish, which was quite good to listen to. The violin player was good as well and it was nice to see the interplay of these three musicians. A bass and an acoustic guitar added some additional sound and volume, while the drummer did his best to get stretch my patience. Mr. Nit-picky is at it again, but the predictable way in which the drum patterns revealed themselves made it a bit difficult for me to enjoy it. Accentuated hitting of the snare drum is a nice thing, but an ever and ever more predictable approach made it slightly tiring. They appeared to be a jolly good bunch, but it did not work for me at this point ... sorry. They are by no means bad, it was just the wrong time and location for me. Maybe I should have had one or two beers. Hell knows. Hell always knows.
19:00 -- Unicorn
As can be seen from the time between this band and the one prior to it, it had been a rather short lived attendance by me. Looking back it had been the right decision. Unicorn, a slightly unoriginal band name, were much more in line with what I like and enjoy at that day. Along with Tortilla Flat they had been one of two bands that really made me enjoy this festival. A pleasure to watch, an unbelievably charming performance and some really nice tunes.
I sat down, had a beer and enjoyed the performance. Folk and shanty lyrics were on the menu. A violin player, a guitar player and an accordion/double bass player -- as he later told be, he is able to play both instruments at the same time with his accordion; one hand for each -- plus a singer occupied the stage. What had been written about the vocalist of Les Souillés de fond de cale is true in this regard as well, if you have a someone with charisma and a experience to guide the audience through the performance, then such a band will easily garner attention. To have a good voice and vocal range and the ability to use it does not hurt as well.
Somewhat in the tradition of English folk in terms of the atmosphere, time flew and the mixture of instrumental and vocal driven parts were really really enjoyable. Sadly the time slots are generally a bit too short and it would have been nice to listen to them a bit more. Fireflies would have been nice. Fireflies filling their air with their mysterious otherworldly gloom.
I bought their latest album afterwards, but I do not think that it will be able to live up to their live performance.
20:00 -- Aqua Marina
As someone from the coast I am somewhat of a thick head and I do not give up that easily, which means that after the splendid Unicorn performance, I headed towards the supposed place where the "elusive" band from Poland was supposed to make an appearance.
... and there they were.
No word about the previous day ... water under the bridge or down the Weser ... anyway.
Five voices, choral elements and some short nice songs. They appear to have a certain idea on how to express their kind of music. They increase in voices and complexity the longer the track takes and create an atmosphere by this. Considering that they are able to sing and have good voices, it should have been an easy task to leave a positive impression. But they did not. Maybe it has been the splendid previous performance of Unicorn or the memory from the previous day, it simply did not "click" so to speak. They may be good, but I am not in the position to write about this properly.
I left after a couple of songs and headed back home rather early, but had a lovely chat with one of the band members of Unicorn on the ferry that I needed to take in order to cross the river Weser and in order to get home.