GIG REVIEW: Henrik Schwarz and Metropole Orkest | TivoliVredenburg
I heard about Henrik Schwarz performing with Metropole Orkest a couple of years ago because they were the opening act for ADE 2016 (Amsterdam Dance Event) but back then I didn't manage to see them. Finally, together with a small gang of girls, I went on a little road trip to Utrecht. First stop: frites inside the very nice and new Hoog Catharijne mall!
I was very curious to see how the orchestra would combine with Henrik Schwarz's techno music. There were some very interesting parts of the show: the cello solos! They were lovely, and played by Annie Tangberg who was unfortunately sitting at the back so she was nowhere to be seen from where I was sitting. Another interesting element was the use of a Dutch city bike as an extra percussion. The percussionist turned the wheel and his brushes rattled against the spokes.
In terms of combining orchestral and techno, it was not the case, until closer to the end of the show, where you could hear some beats that got the crowd moving in their seats. The first half of the concert was mostly orchestral, and it was a wonder what Henrik was actually doing on the stage. Even if he was the composer of the whole set, it was not clear what his role was in a lot of the songs. Was he a live mixer for the orchestra or playing something? It was a pity that there were not more electronic elements, even though I don't think it was the point. I had listened to Henrik's 2015 album "instruments" and it was exactly what we were watching live i.e. his compositions without his traditional electronic elements. However, he somehow lost himself by not being the star of the show..
Anyway, still a very inspiring and fitting concert in my journey to combine the cello and electronic music myself!
GIG REVIEW: Clean Bandit at TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
Earlier in the year one of my best friends Vivian sent me a message to check out the song Rather Be by UK band Clean Bandit. I remember listening to it for the first time when I was in a hotel room in Germany. I was alone and tired but the song immediately resonated with me and it put me in such a good mood. I really liked the mix of strings with electronic beats and bright vocals. Immediately I checked for concert dates in Amsterdam because I know it would have been cool concert to go to with Viv. But unfortunately when they were going to be touring Amsterdam, Viv was going on a trip through Japan.
In August I saw that Clean Bandit were touring The Netherlands again and I did not hesitate to buy two tickets, one for myself and one for Viv. I bought it 3 months before the concert and it was hard for me not to tell Viv, because I knew she would be really excited. The concert was just a couple days after her birthday so I told her to "save the date" for a birthday surprise.
The day finally came and I asked Viv to meet me at the station after work. When we met I told her to buy a train ticket to Utrecht and she was so excited! I just laughed because she had no idea what it was but she was still excited. When we got out of the train and sat down at the station to eat something, I brought out the 'pre-event' gift, which was a Clean Bandit poster that I took when I was in Stockholm. When she opened it, she just stared at me in disbelief because she knew that we would be going to the concert. It was such a cool feeling to make someone to close to me this happy.
It was our first time in the TivoliVredenburg and it was a rather new venue walking distance from the Utrecht Central Station. The venue itself was big with many floors and halls; very clean but very confusing. All the other concerts in the same venue were signposted and people were lining up wherever in hope they were in the right line.
The support singer Sumera totally blew us away. We actually hadn't done any research about her, but the moment she started singing, it was with so much power without holding back, I could just feel her passion. The acoustics were great in the TivoliVredenburg and every single lyric she sung was crystal clear.
Soon enough Clean Bandit came on stage and the first thing I became mesmerised by was the electric cello that Grace Chatto was playing. It's from the brand Ned Steinberger and it was fixed to a stand so she could stand up playing and it also gave her the freedom to dance around and play other instruments (like her drum pad). I was inspired!
The two singers were so different but side by side with the violinist and cellist together they were just as energetic and positive as each other. It was so nice to see that the band wasn't focused on one lead singer, but all members had equal weighting in the band and they played and moved as one unit. The songs got us all dancing. The crowd was rather young, full of cute girl couples, girls with their dads, groups of students and just very friendly and happy people. When Rather Be came on Viv and I went crazy! This was our jam. It was such a great show and I was so glad to have seen them live with someone who means so much to me. xx