Max Richter Documentary screening in Amsterdam
On the theme of sleeping concerts, a friend of mine just shared with me that Max Richter has been performing his album “Sleep'“ live in marathon 8-hour concerts, from midnight to 8am all over the prestigious concert halls of the world, and also having performed outdoor as well. The audience gets to lie down in beds, invited to be awake or drift in and out of sleep while him and his musicians slave over the notes (120 pages of piano score) for 8 long hours!
Apparently he already performed in The Concertgebouw earlier in July 2019 in Amsterdam which must have been absolutely brilliant. In November, he returns to Amsterdam, not on the stage but on the big screen with his documentary ‘Sleep’, directed by Natalie Johns during the IDFA: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. The documentary takes viewers on a journey of how the piece came about, how it transformed to a live performance and a closer look into his private life with his wife Yulia Mahr.
On the night of the premiere, Max will also be present for an interview, along with the direction and his wife after the screening.
Dates and tickets:
Thursday 21st November from 18:45 - 20:59 at Tuschinski (premiere with interview) - Tickets
Friday 22nd November from 13:30 - 15:29 at Munt - Tickets
Saturday 23rd November from 11:00 - 12:44 at Kriterion - Tickets
Monday 25th November from 18:30 - 20:12 at Tuschinski (Press & Industry Screening: Max Richter’s Sleep)
Thursday 28th November from 11:45 - 13:29 at Tuschinski - Tickets
Saturday 30th November from 19:15 - 20:59 at Eye Cinema - Tickets
More information and tickets: https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/df96a60b-cba4-4c80-95d4-5b04812a54a3/max-richters-sleep
Image from Max Richter’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxrichtermusic/status/992675828386467845
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GIG REVIEW: Tash Sultana at AFAS Live
It’s not the first time Tash has toured The Netherlands. She already toured last year at a smaller venue but I missed out. This year though, I got lucky, because my friend Liloe Rix bought me a ticket for my birthday!
A friend from Melbourne told me about Tash Sultana a couple years ago, and she showed me the live bedroom recording of Jungle on YouTube. I still remember that we were paying for our brunch at a café (one of the Beany Greens) in London and I was impressed immediately!
It’s not the first time Tash has toured The Netherlands. She already toured last year at a smaller venue but I missed out. This year though, I got lucky, because my friend Liloe Rix bought me a ticket for my birthday!
Pierce Brothers were the support act. They were like the extraverted younger cousins of Xavier Rudd and John Butler with didgeridoo, stomp box, open tuning and a hint of Walk Off The Earth with the two hands/one fretboard coordination. SO much energy! And audience participation.. it’s hard to be a support act, but they definitely proved themselves a solid musical duo capable of warming up the crowd for Tash Sultana.
But we were there for Tash. A one-woman show with acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, trumpet, pan flute (which she said was the best 50 cents she had every spent in Thailand), synths, drum pads, loops, effects pedals and more equipment I wish I could get a closer glimpse of! My favourite was her octaver though, I really want to know which one she used, because it sounded so subby on her voice and guitar.
The audience was really chill. She remarked that it was great that her audience was made up of all types, not just one gender, race or age. I noticed a lot of young people. generally more girls than boys, many girl couples, and a very international crowd which was why I saw many girls who were on the shorter side. Usually at a concert full of Dutch people I’m trying to see through armpits. Tash herself has a bit of a hippy vibe, with an Indian pattern blanket covering her synths, playing barefoot, salt-rock light holders and incense that for a while was strong, until all I could smell was weed. I have no idea where that was coming from!
She set out her ‘rules’ very quickly after her opening song. They were: 1. If you’re homophobic, get the fuck out of here. 2. If you’re racist, get the fuck out of here. 3. If you’re transphobic, get the fuck out of here.
There was a lot of live looping and improvising, and a lot of smiles from her! Tash was having so much fun on stage! The crowd was incredibly quiet and respectful (at least where I was standing), which is very rare for Dutch crowds, who are usually hands full of beer, loud and aggressive. Having said that, Tash said that the Dutch audience was so ‘polite’, and she said she hadn’t had a bra thrown at her yet, or in South America there were people trying to get into her hotel room at 4am.. wtf.
She played for a total of 2 hours without much of a break. She performed tracks from her latest Flow State album, which has more synths than her previous stuff which is guitar-based.
It was easy to get in a trance while listening to the songs. At some point I got lost in which song I was listening to, and some of them blurred into one another, indeed like a flow state. When she performed Jungle, the song on YouTube that has now 21M views, I saw a lot of phones starting to record, which I hadn’t seen too many phones previously. This crowd was really chill, like I said. And at a certain point, when there was the break of the song, I looked around, and I saw a lot of people smiling, some closing their eyes, but simultaneously smiling and enjoying the same moment altogether. It was such a magical moment.
Tash said she would be playing at Ziggo Dome next year, which is an even bigger stadium. That’s so great for her! Just a girl, once busking on Bourke street in Melbourne, to filling up stadiums around the world.. what an inspiration.
More about Tash Sultana:
Official Website: http://www.tashsultana.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tashsultanamusic/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6zVFRTB0Y1whWyH7ZNmywf
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GIG REVIEW: JAIN at Melkweg, Amsterdam
JAIN had such a groove, and she was just alone with her laptop. I'm always a big fan of independent singers who combine loop stations or technology to enhance their show. The fact is though, this girl makes the music herself and it's so obvious! I loved the show. I took my best Dutchy Viv and we grooved along all night. JAIN has a real innocence about her, (well she's just 25), but she has lived in different countries all over the world for example Dubai, Congo, Peru and you can hear these influences in her beatsy and touch of world-music flair. Her music is up-beat and fun, but rhythmic and clever. She combines her voice with layering and electronic programming sounds which is a modern-day twist. She reminds me a bit of a younger Camille, or at least a pea who comes from a similar pod. And she is so incredibly sweet and loves to involve the audience to help her with her looping. She was even giggling at some point because of the audience member who she recorded for the loop.
All in all, great first show for JAIN and can't wait to see how she progresses as an artist.
Check out more JAIN:
Official website: http://www.jain-music.com/en/
Check out this live version below of JAIN performing "Makeba" - Victoires de la musique 2017
GIG REVIEW: Tegan and Sara at Paradiso, Amsterdam
It has been 7 years since I last saw Tegan and Sara in concert. It's amazing to see the identical twins from Canada are still going strong internationally after so many albums. It was not a sold out concert, but the crowd was full of girls and a few tall guys at the front who were big fans.
Tegan was the main one of the two, the main talker, the one who played guitar, the main songwriter but all of my friends who came along all agreed that Sara was the cuter one and because she's more introverted. Both seem incredibly down to earth and entertained the crowd with stories and engaged with members of the audience who recently had heartbreaks.
They played their new songs (my favourite one is called 'Boyfriend') and my old faves such as Walking With A Ghost, Back In Your Head, Alligator and Closer.
All in all it was a cute concert. Wouldn't die to see them again during this tour, but maybe in 7 years again! Thank you to my special Bianca for taking me along! <3
