Last Saturday 12th July we returned to Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam after our first visit on last London Calling, to enjoy this time with live show of one of the bands who best reviews has received in recent years for its successful merger of electronic beats with a majestic and unique voice, Austra.
The opening act of the night were the Dutch bands Tears & Marble and Cheaters, which showed that Netherlands people don’t enjoy only EDM… First band, Tears & Marble, were a pleasantly surprise due to a gently but directly sound reminiscent at times to Portishead, in other cases to The XX or even Best Coasts, noting especially a beautiful version of “What is Love” by Haddaway . Furthermore, Cheaters gig showed greater instrumental wealth, but to our misfortune became often a mixture of meaningless sounds where the voice of singer, which at times was always in the same monotonous tone, did not help too much..
Thus came the turn of the Canadians Austra, who return to the Dutch capital after their last show in Bitterzoet just one year ago, on one of the first concerts where they presented their new album Olympia, which was no impediment to the room were closer to no tickets available. The first part of the concert, which began with some of the songs from their latest album, was a little lackluster at preventing excessive volume deserves distinction as the impressive voice of their leader Katie Stelmanis or baked soundscapes of synthesizers. However, a small break caused by a problem with one of the laptops at the beginning of a song, marked a positive turning point in the concert and let us enjoy excellent renditions of “The Choke” and “The Villain“, two of the more successful songs from their first album.
Already with the audience in their pocket, the band seemed to catch the general enthusiasm, and the with the apparent loss of shame of their singer (who even joked on a few occasions with the crowd), reach the best moments of the concert with almost perfect interpretation of their three most recognized songs “Habitat“, “Lose it” and “Beat and the Pulse“, especially emphasizing the latter one thanks to the impressive drum beat and voices in the chorus introduced by Postepski Maya. There would still be time for an encore, in which we were surprised by a peculiar version of “Nothing compares 2 U” from Sidnead O’Connor which was a perfect end to a show that had it not been for the excessive volume prevailing in the room, would have been closer to perfection.
