Recomendar
MontreuxJazz Festival 2007 Day 2: Miles Davis Hall Concert review
Jul 8 2007, 19h40
After a week of rain, Montreux had a nice and sunny Saturday— and to me it was hard to find a better way to end the hot day than inside Montreux Jazz Festival’s cool Miles Davis Hall. I can now say that I prefer the latter to the much bigger Stravinsky auditorium: the acoustics seem better and the ambience is cozier!
The opening act, Herman Düne, was a well oiled touring band that seems to perform concerts as if it was always the first time: the guys look happy and motivated to play and they did have a sense of humor! The band has also a lot of originality in terms of the instruments that they use. From the unconventional drum set arrangement to the wonderful use of the electric yukelele( you’ve got to hear how the guitarist/lead-vocalist uses the bottleneck with it!); they show no complex and assume their individuality.
After an hour of play, came the preparations for the main act: The Good, the Bad and the Queen. I had the chance of being on front row for this concert, and so I stayed there despite the pause. Good choice. I actually appreciated the scene preparation: there were so many people on stage and yet everyone was working efficiently, everything went so fast and the background music was in harmony with the backstage guys.
The first to enter the scene were the string section for the live act (3 violinists and a cellist), they played a very nice interlude that bode well for the concert. Enter Damon Albarn (Blur and Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), and the keyboardist — and the crowd gave a wild applause! I tried to pinch myself; after all, these musicians are monuments to the music scene.
The band was going to play all the song in their only album. There were some odd moments when the music sounded a bit flat, but to me David Albarn carried the band in those moments. He’s got a nice attitude, and if you like the way he sings and plays the piano then you would say that the performance was faultless.
Paul Simonon came in with the big bass sound, he was actually nice to see; he looked like a tango dancer dancing with his bass guitar . Curiously, he almost never used the guitar strap to carry his guitar. He certainly has got a peculiar way of playing bass.
The best songs of the set were “Three Changes” and “The Good, the Bad and the Queen”, the style was lively and I felt that they’ve touched the crowd when they played those songs.
Montreux Jazz Festival - Day 2 - Miles Davis Hall
Herman Düne
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
The opening act, Herman Düne, was a well oiled touring band that seems to perform concerts as if it was always the first time: the guys look happy and motivated to play and they did have a sense of humor! The band has also a lot of originality in terms of the instruments that they use. From the unconventional drum set arrangement to the wonderful use of the electric yukelele( you’ve got to hear how the guitarist/lead-vocalist uses the bottleneck with it!); they show no complex and assume their individuality.
After an hour of play, came the preparations for the main act: The Good, the Bad and the Queen. I had the chance of being on front row for this concert, and so I stayed there despite the pause. Good choice. I actually appreciated the scene preparation: there were so many people on stage and yet everyone was working efficiently, everything went so fast and the background music was in harmony with the backstage guys.
The first to enter the scene were the string section for the live act (3 violinists and a cellist), they played a very nice interlude that bode well for the concert. Enter Damon Albarn (Blur and Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), and the keyboardist — and the crowd gave a wild applause! I tried to pinch myself; after all, these musicians are monuments to the music scene.
The band was going to play all the song in their only album. There were some odd moments when the music sounded a bit flat, but to me David Albarn carried the band in those moments. He’s got a nice attitude, and if you like the way he sings and plays the piano then you would say that the performance was faultless.
Paul Simonon came in with the big bass sound, he was actually nice to see; he looked like a tango dancer dancing with his bass guitar . Curiously, he almost never used the guitar strap to carry his guitar. He certainly has got a peculiar way of playing bass.
The best songs of the set were “Three Changes” and “The Good, the Bad and the Queen”, the style was lively and I felt that they’ve touched the crowd when they played those songs.
Montreux Jazz Festival - Day 2 - Miles Davis Hall
Herman Düne
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
