As a warm-up for the Spring edition of London Calling 2014, that was held on 9th and 10th of May at the Paradiso Amsterdam room, the organization opted for a two-day mini festival in the new Tolhuistuin hall in Amsterdam Noord with the British Klaxons as big claim.
Wednesday 07th of Mayo
Responsible for opening the evening was British Sivu. For business reasons, we could only arrived to the last two songs of his concert, but to our joy, we enjoyed an acoustic show in the hall a few hours later, where we find the that the young James Page is one of the singers to carry on from the islands beyond its spectacular video for "Better Man than I" . With a fondness towards falsetto that brings him closer to Gotye or Thom Yorke, however their lyrics are full of references to religion and the meaning of life, showing a deep and committed singer from we eagerly await their first LP. On stage would take over later East India Youth, project which is under his compatriot William Doyle and who has reaped great reviews with his first album Total Strife Forever. Unfortunately for us, the sound problems that accompanied him for most of the performance marred a concert in which however we could enjoy its small strokes close to or Ambient or Synth electronics, leaving us speechless with this little gem that is "Hinterland".
Just fifteen minutes later, the room was almost full to welcome the stars of the night, the British Klaxons, who came to the Dutch capital a month before it goes on sale the anticipated third album Love Frequency . Start a concert at the bell ring of "Atlantis to Interzone " mark to clear the pace of rave- festive that the concert , and if in just over 50 minutes we can listened "Golden Shanks" , "It's Not Over Yet" or "Echoes" all suspicions were confirmed.. We still have time to listen to a couple of songs from their new album , where highlighted the great hit "There is no other time", which showed that despite mini crises that lurk the group with their label, they are one of the most powerful and thunderous bands today live. The first day of the festival would end with the enigmatic Young and Sick, project under which the Dutchman living in New York Nick Van Hofwegen (author of covers for Foster & The People or Maroon5) has recently published a first LP titled namesake. Musically he left us an obvious distaste, perhaps due to excessive instruments that populated his songs, masking at times the voices and choirs and remembering a possibly too watered down version of Of Montreal or a version a bit guitar powerfull of Belle & Sebastian.
Thursday 08th of Mayo
The second day began with the pleasant surprise of Canadians Seoul, who showed a live dream-pop clear and seamless . With a strong presence of synthesizers reminiscent of Best Coast, the Montreal group presented their new song White Morning and left us yearning for more while we wait for the release of their debut album. As in a 180 º turn, the next group to occupy the stage were the American Death Vessel, who came to the Dutch capital with their new album Island Intervals under his arm after nearly six years without releasing new material. With the distinctive voice of their leader Joel Thibodeau taked up a cause and accompanied by a magnificent band that revealed the presence of a double bass and oukelele, the show was less to more and maybe ended at the time of greater connection with the public after a somewhat hesitant start. The highlight came at the moment when the choirs were more vocal presence and complemented the sharp and penetrating voice of their singer, achieving an almost perfect sound.
The third dish of the night had prepared a new twist, this time caused by the Scots Casual Sex, which featured undoubtedly the most energetic concert of the festival. Their style combines the most danceable parts of their countrymen Franz Ferdinand with the sobriety and elegance of the best Velvet Underground and ran like a lit fuse between an audience eager for more dance beats, helped by its charismatic leader Sam Smith. As the concert progressed and the first few rows would not stop jumping, the concert was to teach even grow new shades near Orange Juice and The Clash thanks to powerful distortion guitars and a strong drum beat, showing us that Cassual Sex are one of the bands to follow closely in the near future. The edition of this festival came to a close with a concert by Glass Animals, one of the British bands that more has been talk in recent months, in favor for the criticism of the islands as the new Alt -J. From the beginning of the concert we can be seen that the comparisons were obvious, although the band led by Dave Bayley moves easier to pop rhythms closest to radio hits or even touches of R&B , which in no way a criticism since the live sound proposed grabs you from the first moment. However, we must also recognize that by the time the group experimented with their more electronic side (with touches of Animal Collective) as in "Gooey" and "Psylla" songs is when they shown their greatest potential.
So, excellent edition of London Calling Tolhuistuin that following the philosophy of his older brother and who has allowed us to enjoy renowned bands like Klaxons or groups to discover the likes Sex Cassual, all under the enclave of a new gorgeous room that offers the best performance in terms of sound quality and equipment.
