All good things must come to an end. Even Way Out West 2015. But first, the smoke and ruins from a rainy Saturday night.
PATTI SMITH
6/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Photo: Annika Berglund
Patti Smith played her debutalbum Horses from first song Gloria til end song Elegie and took us thru the 40-year old record with power and hunger. Patti was on fire on stage! To hear this great rebel do a wild Free Money with that intensity was something else. ”Jesus died for somebody sins – but not mine” she sang and took us all to school. Patti reminded us to think of our late friends we still carry in our hearts, to think of them long and hard and by that keeping them around. For a while it felt as if we were millions of people watching. And the lovesong, Because The Night. Well thats another story.
FIRST AID KIT
6/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl
The grand finale came with the rolling thunder of a Gothenburg rain. The sky opened up and the sisters Johanna och Klara Söderberg took over. We went togheter on a roadtrip over the Americana-land First Aid Kit have made their own. Everytime I see them I’m bewildered over the power in their voices, the easiness of something so hard. Maybe this wasn´t the greatest ever ending of Way Out West – but it was beautiful and caring. It closed with the song Emmylou and the enormous crowd sang their hearts out over the darkness of dear, old Slottsskogen.
SLOWGOLD
Photo: Magnus Säfström
6/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Slowgold with the super talented Amanda Werne , had a late spot at Pustervik. At 1.30 she and her band members entered the dark room. The darkness in the room blended well with the emotional songs that echoed out into a not too crowded floor. The way she plays the guitar is just so damn good, I could listen to those solo parts for the entire night. It was beautiful and gripping in every second and tune. Massive and touching, the emotional sound of a great voice got to me. To all of us. I want more of Slowgold. Gold.
And so it continues… The Friday experience was covered in sunrays and beautiful gut-wrenching tear-making soul-surfing music all over town.
STURGILL SIMPSON
7/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl
Kentuckyman Sturgill Simpson knocked us down and out! The early bird gig at 13.00 inside the tent of Linné was nothing but legendary. He strolls on stage and gets going. The hard-knit band with Miles Miller on the smallest drum set ever seen, bassman Kevin Black, guitarman Laur Joamets and pianoman Jeff Crow sets pace. It’s groovy country music, so great tears fill my eyes again and again. The feeling in Sturgills voice, that 70-country-twang, turned into excellence. Every song got a jam session and when they end with Listening To The Rain (Osborne Brothers) emotions run high. Sturgill Simpson, we love you.
EMMYLOU HARRIS & RODNEY CROWELL
5/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell have camped together for decades in the country and folk business. They kind of made it. On stage everything isboileddownto the ground.What remainsisthe backbone, the foundation modern day songwriters firmly stands on. Emmylouis still themost beautifulandcoolest cat in the house– andto hearTownesVanZandtswonderfulPancho& Leftylive on stagein the middle ofSlottsskogen, Gothenburga hot summer day feels likea true blessing. Thanks!
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
Photo: Olle Kirchmeier
7/7 Kentuckyseven’s
When Florence Welch enters the stage, it all comes together. Before she even opens her mouth, you know that this is going to be THE gig of WOW 2015. Welch is a force of nature. Something wild and untamed and packed with love for everyone and everything. The set list is magnificent, and the concert doesn’t have one shred of time that isn’t filled with love. This is by far the best concert by Florence + The Machine I have ever witnessed. I am so lucky to have seen it. I am blessed. I am in love.
PINS
6/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl
The punkband from darling Manchester rocks the socks of Pustervik way into the darkness of night. They tell us straight away: we got 30 minutes to play – no time to mess around. When the third song, the great Young Girls, hits us like a Joy Division-fist we’re hooked for life. It’s in your face, dirty & dark, sweaty & sweet, a homerun all around Järntorget. It’s the red light district exposed. They take us to the Northern Quarter of Manchester, to Canal Street and the hollow bars. The band is nowaydays (two albums in) on Bella Union and for sure got greatness ahead.
NATALIE PRASS
Photo: Magnus Säfström
4/7 Kentuckyseven’s
Stay Out West holds some great concerts. Natalie Prass went on stage @ Pustervik at 11. Her voice is impeccable, and in Bird of Prey it really shows what an great artist she is. The variety in the gig gets a bit confusing, and sometimes a bit hard to concentrate and to keep up the interest. But when she gets that electric guitar back up again and lets her hair hang down and gives us My Baby Don’t Understand Me, she is brilliant.
“If you gonna sing a song about drinkin’ wine you might as well drink some wine”, 73-year old Seasick Steve says, gulping from the bottle and grinning his bearded wry smile. He takes a stroll down to the crowd, shaking hands with the front row people. Then, the blues starts rolling in and man it’s down low heavy, dirty, groovy! It’s time to shake, shiver and roll. Man, he is good! Together with a crazy drummer from Åmål, Sweden, and his self-made guitars, the feet stompin’ show owns the afternoon. He invites a girl upon stage for Walkin Man – beautiful and warm. Self Sufficient Man is hip as a snake tail in Desert City. Let’s keep on keepin’ on!
Annika Norlin
5/7
”The sound of a hug”
Photo: Annika Berglund
Annika Norlin aka Hello Saferide aka Säkert! got the tent of Linné all by herself on Saturday night. Well, not all by herself cause the circus room was totally packed with people who wanted to share her blue magic. Norlin has written some of the sadest songs I ever heard, and her presence both on record and on stage is plain beautiful to witness. Too bad the sound is scrubby and very low tuned, but the warm feeling takes over. It’s the sound of a hug. Thanks for the lyrics on the big screen on stage, I loved it, and too invite the audience to sit with her on stage – brilliant!
Robyn & Röyksopp
7/7
”A real star!”
Photo: Olle Kirchmeier
This is as good as it gets. Robyn has gone from great to the greatest. In my book, Robyn could be the only real superstar in Sweden right now. The way she performs, takes the stage, owns the audience. It is perfection in its core. The mix between swedish greatness and norwegian awesomeness, with Röyksopp and the outstanding Susanne Sundfør, just melts into a boiling pot of joy! We, the amazed audience, had no other way out than to dance this last act out, way out west.
Lemmy Kilmister has had a rough ride. You can tell by looking at the man. He gets upon stage with local boy Mikkey Dee on drums and guitar-man Phil Campbell in a BK Häcken-shirt (give the guy a GAIS-shirt for crying out loud!) and the gig is on. We get Killed By Death and Ace Of Spades and Lemmy sings his weary tunes and raffles the bass guitar. The trio knows what to do, they have been on this highway forever, and deliver the goods. No more, no less.
The National
4/7
”Very lukewarm”
Photo: Annika Berglund
The National never takes off this night in Slottsskogen. They got stuck at the mellow point and can´t crack us down. It´s all very lukewarm. Singer Matt Berninger got his deep beautiful voice but the band isn’t delivering headliner-goods. Songs I Need My Girl and Fake Empire hits us hard, but we want more. More emotions! I want a night to remember, but The National wont give. When Berninger gets into the crowd in the end with the world longest cord it’s absolutely lovely, but too little and too late.
Queens of the Stone Age
7/7
”Pure dynamite”
Photo: Olle Kirchmeier
QOTSA are amazingly powerful tonite. What a bumper tornado ride! Josh Homme is a monster on stage; one second a rock’n’roll god and the other a disco queen. They start of with hits as No One Knows and follows up with Go With The Flow and If I Had A Tail and Monsters In The Parasol and I Sat By The Ocean and The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret and I can go on and on and on. Jack White, Deer Tick, Foo Fighters and other great bands take their dig at classic rock. This night is all of the above, pure dynamite!
Yesterday nite we dragged our souls down to Pustervik and the magical world of Woody West. The almighty double header of Israel Nash and Midlake was up for grabs.
750 people (sold out) joined in for a great show, one to remember. Mr Nash started out with his buddy Eric Swanson on pedal steel. The bearded voice of the Texas man reflects greatness of Neil Young and John Fogerty and the setting was beautiful. Bone-chillin stuff, distinct, heartwarming and very present.
Moments later Midlake turned their psychorock-volume up. Singer Eric Pulido have turned out a perfect front man for the gang of fuzzy vividness. The audience played a great part and the love from the band to the city of Gothenburg is for real. The flute orchestra marched on and yes, Roscoe is still the perfect song.
Israel Nash came upon stage for a wonderful Fearless together with the band, Friday complete. Check out Israel’s song Rexanimarum from his 2013-album ’Israel Nash’s Rain Plans’, out on Loose Records – and have a great weekend.
One week has past since Iceland Airwaves finished and after getting
our feet back on solid ground and trying to compose ourselves it’s
time to summerize Airwaves’11. When doing so we’ll highlight those
moments which didn’t make it in earlier reviews and picking some K7
highlights and low-water marks.
Beach House
Reykjavík Art Museum
These guys tried to be secretive and mysterious to the point where
they lost contact with their audience. With smoke enough to choke the
front row and lack of light made the band almost impossible to see for
the better part of the set. It’s like Beach House doesn’t want to
really make the most out of the gig. And it sounds just like on
record, it’s just to perfect… almost like on record. The entire
point of seeing a band live is lost. Well except the fact that I now
get to say ”I saw Beach House on Iceland”.
Not worth it though. Maybe these guys need a break from touring? I
don’t know. Maybe I’m just spoiled after a cavalcade of great live
performances.
Of Monsters and Men
Nasa
This young group is said to be the next big thing out of Iceland with
their folky approach on pop but I’m not so easily convinced. When an
entire set is spent waiting for that one last song you’re still a
one-trick pony. Admittedly OMAM do that trick very well and puts that
silly smile on your face but in order to be the next big thing you
need more than just that one song.
Cute, but have some growing to do.
Lockerbie
Harpa
Lockerbie looks like they’re barely of legal drinking age but that
doesn’t matter when you make pop music that good. When compared to Of
Monsters and Men above I for one believe that these guys are more
likely to be the next big thing. If you absolutely need put that
rather absurd title on any up and coming band.
The audience was small to begin with put grew as the set progressed. I
was worried about how these guys were gonna be live after seeing a
youtube video that scared me off but during the week I heard friends
raving about their brilliance live (they of course played their fair
share of off venue gigs). As many other Icelandic band they manage to
combine regular pop music with elements from their own string section
and that just makes me wonder… what’s up with the music education on
Iceland? How do these kids manage to compose string arrangements? K7
loves them to bits either way.
Austra
Reykjavík Art Museum
Pretty music, one-sided live performance. The singer danced the same
steps over and over, never standing still. Maybe Austra isn’t the best
live act ever, but I can tell that her whimsical manner is real and
that she really can’t be still. This is just to much fun. And it is,
and it should be. K7 let’s Austra do her thing while getting in line
for… a special someone.
John Grant
Harpa
Yes, that special someone is John Grant. K7 had the pleasure of
running into him again at the airport when arriving to Iceland. We
talked about touring, the magic of Iceland, him working with Swedish
producer Kleerup (”we’re both control freaks”) and how to get on a
crowded bus with 345 other tired and grumpy passengers shoveling and
muttering swearwords in Icelandic.
When he did his off venue gig at KEX there was a line outside with
enthusiasts trying to get in. K7 was in that line, in the heavy rain
and cold winds. Packed like penguins we tried to keep warm but to no
avail. The warmth came from two open windows from where John’s warm
and soothing voice spilled out.
The main gig at Harpa left everyone in the venue with goose-bumbs and
a lump in their throat. He started with walking up to the mic and
telling everyone about his upbringing, him being gay and the
difficulties that he faced as a consequence. His voice seems to
tremble and we kind of understand. Not really, but almost.
He gets all of the more well known songs out of the way early on which
leaves room for a more personal connection with the audience.
John declares his love for Iceland and we declare out love for John.
It works both ways, there’s even a dialog between him and the crowd
during the set. K7 smiles stupidly at this.
There’s so much to say and John is a K7 sweetheart for a reason. We
thank him for his warmth and honesty.
With John Grant Kentuckyseven rounded up Airwaves’11 in the best way
possible. Coming home to Sweden was a stark reminder of reality. With
the magic of music though we will survive this winter as well.
There is no way to say this in a nice way. Suuns is the sound of sex.
Okay, not really. But the feeling of that one frustration, holding back or giving in. It doesn’t matter. This is dark and somewhat twisted. This is Canadian gold and dirt at the same time.
Unfortunately the crowd seems hungover since Honningbarna and Suuns never really get the response that they quite deserve. This is music that has the capability to change you at the very core if you let it.
If you let it in.
Live these four guys are even more aggressive and harsher than on record and it suits them terribly well. The way the singer hunches up to the mic almost curled up and with a dark frown on this face, you can almost feel the disgust. I don’t know exactly how the rest of the crowd reacted to their live show but I wasn’t prepared for this.
Though I am glad that I actually got to experience it.
Suuns is an experience.
When the band lets lose Pie IX it’s like they sneakily opened the door to something dark and haunting. You feel it in your gut, in your bones. Suuns have you in their grasp and the entire audience is put under a spell, following the baseline and the repetitive mantra like it was a ritual of a big cult. Apart from Pie IX it’s Up Past the Nursery that really stands out during the set.
Having said that, they never reached that peak that I was looking for – that’s frustration for you. They are sharp but there seems to be something missing and it’s difficult to narrow down exactly what. It might be that the guitars are a bit loud and the singing a bit low so that the balance is lost.
These youngsters are surely up and coming. And mad. You could not believe how mad Norwegian teens can be.
When the show was about to start the entire band made a point of entering the stage through the audience. Pushing and shoving as if to start their own chaos and mess. And it worked, the crowded venue soon turned rowdy in just the right way.
K7 are aware that Honningbarna, meaning Honey children, might very well be out of the comfort zone for regular K7 readers and their ears but these guys have something relevant to say. Not only that, but they manage to say it an convincing, captivating and enthusing way – and with a cello. Come on, how can this not be anything short of fantastic?
Honningbarna kept up the high energy performance and didn’t hold back on anything. When the singer picked up his cello and started playing like a mad man the strings on the bow were soon flying across the stage.
It wasn’t very long ago since these guys won a prize in Norway for the best up and coming band and I’m not surprised even in the slightest.
Some of the songs are classics within the punk genre, such as Fri Palestina, ”Free Palestine”, but that’s not the point. These guys are more than just copy cats of their priors. When the singer stands there in a tidy blue sweater with a clean shirt and tie underneath and sing about the ungrateful children of the bourgeois it’s not a coincidence.
With said high energy, excellent execution and relevant material Honningbarna is a 6/7. I can’t help it. They’re just that good. The Kentuckyseven is reserved for their future, they’re not done yet.
This band has earlier specialized on music that could be described as chamber pop. Having a minor orchestra helps but their music combined classical elements and pop in a superb way that made them stand out.
During their gig at the Art Museum though they played new material that moved away from that heavenly mixture.
My heart ached for a bit and I nearly put on a frown but when the crowd seemed to love it at least a little stone was lifted of my chest.
Hjaltalín manage to put on a great stage show and the dynamic within the band functions perfectly. The voices of the two singers melt together so nicely but there should be more room for the female voice.
A resource like that should never be kept back.
The band seemed to have moved on though, and they have developed for sure but there is still that unique and odd twist that set them apart that finally drives the audience crazy. When they play the hit songs Suitcase Man and Feels Like Sugar the show is brought to another dimension and we can’t help but to wonder were they hid all that magic up until that moment.
Maybe I haven’t been able to take their new material to heart yet but I am slightly worried that it doesn’t meet the same standards as their debut album. Which is always the risk when you have an debut album that strong, unique and captivating.
Kentuckyseven is looking forward to seeing where the future takes Hjaltalín. Or where Hjaltalín takes the future.
With the help of Feels Like Sugar this is a 5/7 but was dangerously close a 4 to begin with.
Sindri Már Sigfusson is the singer of Seabear and the voice and mind behind Sin Fang since a while back. Alongside his newly put together super-band he played in a tent in a backyard behind a restaurant. Quite an odd place for a gig and kind of tricky to locate. Despite that the place was filled to the brim with eager listeners trying to get a glimpse of Sindri.
The show started late so early birds could catch Sindri in the audience before the show with his toddler on his hip. It’s at that point that I realize that this is what Airwaves is all about. People flying in from all across the world to a rainy city and watch Icelanders play in their backyard. And it is truly nothing short of amazing.
Sindri’s super-band consists of friends from various Icelandic bands and one of them have homemade guitar pedals made out of tuna cans.
Tuna cans. Airwaves is about making the most out of scarce resources and boy do we appreciate it.
With three mics in front of Sindri he manages to recreate that same peculiar sound-scape that he caught on his last album. This could be one of those gigs where a guy just stands there with his guitar and sings a few sweet tunes but this is more than that. Somehow.
The wind was blowing through the tent and the combined heat of the audience couldn’t keep out the cold. On top of that Sindri’s guitar almost died on him during the second to last song. After a minute or two of nervous fiddling, pleading along the lines ”please guitar, don’t die, I’ve been so good to you” the show could continue.
When Sindri and his super-band play the last song they go out strong and it is clear that both the audience and the band tries to make the most of this small off venue gig as the full scale gig later that night is scheduled at the same time as Beach House.
Despite the make shift tent, the cold, the guitar almost dying, the delay and the short time that they played it was this something extraordinary. Sindri is one of those musicians that manages to create magic so easily, right before our eyes and we have no idea how it happened. But we are spellbound.
