vivianaball.ro

Review and photos from Amphi festival, day 2, July 25, 2010.

http://darkwave.ro/2010/08/11/amphi-festival-2010-review-day-2/

IN STRICT CONFIDENCE in Prague, Abaton Club, May 8, 2010

Prague is the perfect city: you can visit it on foot (let’s say the steps to the castle on the hill are a little hard to climb, but we aren’t that old yet). So, the old town, the small town, the center, the side streets full of cute little shops, the parks and the bridges can all be visited in 2 days tops, without hopping in and off buses.

Bohemian crystal (traditional souvenir stuff), beer of all sorts, cozy cafes, excellent food served either in elegant little gardens or in pivnice (cellars), cobble stone (sometimes pretty tiring!, but it looks old and genuine), grand castles, painters and craftsmen, stories, myths, legends, fairy tales, museums of all kinds (from a ghost museum to a pleasure toys museum), puppets and puppet theaters, cathedrals, churches, all easy to reach and logically explained on maps – make Prague a wonderful destination.

The reason why I went to Prague in May 2010 was primarily the In Strict Confidence concert @Abaton Club (I have to admit I envy the Czech for their geared club), on May 8 (Dennis Ostermann’s birthday – some of us choose to work even on their b-day:)).

I wore my lenses for the first time and I almost lost one in the middle of a very pleasant conversation! Well, my reaction was natural: Ooops! I’m losing an eye!

I took flash pics, and I am sorry I blinded Antje and Dennis forever, but I couldn’t leave empty handed (here is the gallery). I tried to take pics without the flash and only God and Octa are my witnesses it didn’t work. Here are the pics I took during the Rabia Sorda concert (before ISC). And, of course, a professional photo gallery from Petr Klapper. A very special photo here. I definitely know when this pic was taken, and I thank Petr for that! A sweet memory from Prague, from Abaton Club, from a concert to remember!

Back to Prague: the photos from the ghost museum I visited, the torture museum, places I saw, food I tasted (and, of course, the beer!) are more than any words I may try to use to describe the nicest medieval town I have visited so far. Charles Bridge is amazing: the statues on the sides are quite a sight both from a close or long distance. In my opinion, Prague is the city designed for tourists, and I dare say that for the ones who can walk at least 8 hours every day! Prague has sights that need to be admired from different angles, increasing the impact and the beauty every time you watch a statue, a building or any other detail.

As usual, Depeche Mode were with me! As I entered a shop, a selection of older and newer songs from my favorite band was blasting!

I look forward to this summer’s trip to Germany. We are going to Amphi Festival in Cologne, and hopefully, we will meet many many friends and have lots of fun!

Last night I was kindly invited to go to a wonderful music event: NEGURA BUNGET. I tried to watch a video on youtube before going to this Monday night black metal concert, but it was probably too dark in the room so the video I tried to watch did not catch my attention. Still, I kept in mind the resemblance to some landscapes I took pictures of while traveling in Romania. The video was like a trip in time and space, somehow keeping the Romanian coordinates of nature’s beauty and homeland poetry. I guess I was really curious to go see a band that is dear to my friend, Doru (Kogaionon). He recently interviewed NB and his interview was another reason to go see this Romanian band.

Well, it was a nice surprise. I used to listen to Manowar, Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera and tons of other bands when I was younger. The best definition for what I felt last night is: a literal translation of both my young age feelings and foreign rock music into Romanian was on display last night on Silver Church’s stage, and still so original and Romanian. I felt like head banging again, but as I had classes very early this morning, I stayed away from the temptation. I just enjoyed a wonderful, energetic, deep and 100% Romanian concert, and some of the nicest audiences. The few hundreds of people were very thankful to the artists, and most of them knew the lyrics. On the other hand, I noticed that long hair coming down to your waist is still in fashion and once a rocker always a rocker!

A real photo gallery here. And my photos here.

COVENANT (the band) in Romania

When my colleagues at Viva Music and I decided to invite Covenant to Romania for a gig, we were really excited. We have been listening to the Swedes’ music for quite a few years now, so after enjoying it so much we thought it would be great to share this pleasure with the Romanian audience. Covenant are great on CD, DVD and even greater live.

April 8, 2010 was a special day in my life. Covenant concert in Romania, one of the most energetic shows I have ever witnessed in my life, is a memory I will cherish. I saw 300 people literally transported by the ritual noise for 2 hours, and 2 lovely encores. A few girls who were wearing high heels took their shoes off to dance! Fans from Romania, Germany, Sweden, Bulgaria and Ireland honored us with their presence. The feedback from the press was absolutely fantastic.

Reviews here.

COVENANT (the friends) in Romania

The first member of the band I met was Joakim Montelius and he came across as a nice guy. I have lived enough to read people now. My first impression of Joakim didn’t change in the few days I spent with Covenant. He is a nice guy! I will cherish the laughter and the stories about eating brains at the Monte Carlo restaurant. He told me how much he enjoyed Romania. That makes me proud of being Romanian.

(I knew that the band had already enjoyed their stay in Bucharest (they had visited the Village Museum, the House of People, the old center of Bucharest and the old court, and had had dinner at Caru cu bere before I met them). Robert did a great job showing them around, taking care of every detail and blending spicy stories with Romanian history and culture in the conversation).

The second member of the band I met was Eskil Simonsson. Although he was just himself and not posing, wearing black pants, military boots, scarf, elegant shirt, coat and hat, silver chain hanging out of pocket he made quite an impression on me. He wore only black. His light hair and eyes added to the strong effect. I had the feeling that he was descending, although he was just walking towards us from the hotel lobby, sort of marching down or gliding on hovercraft. The way he stretched out his hand to say hello was the gesture that completed the gentleman’s image. And I swear that I almost felt the silky touch of a French count chemise…

I have seen videos and pics and I have learned tons of things about Covenant, but seeing this person in the flesh made me feel like God and his humble servant at the same time. He conquers your eyes, heart and breath, he takes away your pain and inflicts majestic Scandinavian power and glory in you from the second he lays his eyes on you. He looks straight into your eyes when he speaks, he takes all your attention and then elegantly helps you defocus when he needs you to focus on something else. He concentrates like no other person I have met, and enjoys every piece of our existence in the deepest, purest, highest and most savage way. He lives life violently in perfect silence and utters short messages, mainly subliminal, using body language more than words. If he chooses to use words, they come out as the perfect quote that can be used later by philosophers. If he does not speak, his silence is deafening. He either stirs all your energy or soothes you almost to sleep. I like jokes, and his I will never forget.

I don’t feel like sharing stuff about people I meet unless they work as a wonder. So far I felt like writing about Adara, my Nenicu, my Buni, JB, Olguta, Andreea, Octavian, Robert, Laur, Dennis Ostermann, AndyK, Dani Vorndran, Jim Rosapepe, Sheilah Kast, Stefan Ackermann, John Klipper, Doru Atomei, Andreea Wade, Victor Popescu and others, in this or other order, it does not matter. These people are either my family, closest friends, or they left me bouche bée. And I feel like telling the world that they exist and they should be followed and listened to. To this list I add Eskil Simonsson, a cultivated and educated Swedish citizen (on his FB page he took only one test: The inner nationality quiz: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY? And the answer is posted: You are Swedish) disguised in a Swedish electro music legend. One more thing. As we were visiting the Military Museum and he was looking at the exhibits, he asked me why there was a metal battle ax head in the Paleolithic section. I called the Romanian lady who was in charge. And she took a good look. At the period. At the battle ax. At the period again. And then she said: “It’s from the late Paleolithic…”. Of course there isn’t such a thing.

The last member of Covenant I met was Daniel Myer. He was nice, he had a large smile. I have 2 beautiful memories of him. The first one was his polite refuse to sign the Skyshaper CD’s I had, motivating that he hadn’t been part of the band at the time Skyshaper had been released. So fair. But both Joakim and Eskil said: you were part of the band all the time…in spirit, and with your talent. The second memory is Daniel saying that the Romanian opening act before Covenant – Brazda lui Novac – was brilliant. He was head banging as I told you I saw Dave Gahan in Barcelona doing the same listening to Nitzer Ebb (the opening act for Depeche Mode in 2010). What can be better for an artist than the admiration of another artist with extensive experience? (Daniel fathered around 12 projects, among them Destroid and Haujobb).

I am happy to have met wonderful people from Sweden who took their time in discovering, reading about, documenting and admiring the Romanian culture beforehand, and showed so much respect to Romania. I am happy to have had the chance to make them feel welcome and appreciated. And I am even happier for all the people who had the chance to see an incredible live performance in Club Control, on April 8, from one of my favorite bands from Sweden: COVENANT!