Cross Linx Festival 2014 – 6th February 2014 (Amsterdam)

Cross Linx Festival 2014 came to Paradiso and People’s Place in Amsterdam after a resounding success in its first stop in Rotterdam. The festival, which seek to create junction points between classical music and independent music, had on this occasion the Nordic Jose Gonzalez and Olafur Arnalds as big headliners (thus being reflected when the two artists were the chosen ones to share the stage with the Zuid Holland Philharmonic Orchestra), accompanied by artists such as Patrick Wolf or My Brightest Diamond among others.

The festival initial schedule made ​​us miss the first row of artists, where we can highlight the emerging English talent Douglas Dare. However, we could arrive just in time to catch a good seat to enjoy the show that Ólafur Arnalds was going to propose. His music fits like a glove to the incursion of a philharmonic, which amplify the already magnificent string quartet that usually accompanies him live, so arguably, we were faced with a winning bet from the beginning. It was only two months ago that the Icelandic had been precisely in the same room of Paradiso presenting his latest work, but nevertheless he chose to focus again much of his performance in the magnificent Winter For Now I Am, aware not only of its remarkable international success but also the facilities that would allow it for the symphonic adaptation. For over 45 minutes the music mixed with a few and almost perfect lights who plunged us into a kind of bubble in which everyone could enjoy the sounds of violins, flutes and synthesizers individually, but in turn, enhancing assembly. As icing on the cake, in the last three songs he was accompanied by Arnór Dan Arnarson, leader of the Icelandic band Agent Fresco, with whom he recently collaborated and contributed with his wonderful voice nuances that made ​​the experience became almost genius.

The standing ovation that many of the attendance we paid made ​​it impossible to access the crowded small room upstairs where Lavinia Meijer was playing. She is a renowned harpist whose main works are focused on classical music, but a couple of years ago she collaborated with Philip Glass, one of the masters of the New Age, on the award-winning Metamorphosis / The Hours. So we ran swift back to the second floor of the large room to catch a good seat where waiting out the stage of the Swedish Jose Gonzalez, big headlining the festival, as it shows that the room had a higher occupancy than just a hour earlier. Analysing now the concert, we can divide the show into three distinct parts: The first one with Jose Gonzalez alone on stage, then another with his drummer and regular pianist and finally one in which he was accompanied by the Philharmonic, which it was possibly the most expected by the public to observe the final outcome. The first part  was mainly focused on his first LP Veneer and showed us the amazing artist who is able to dazzle with only his voice and a guitar, emphasising without any doubt the interpretation of his big hit Crosses. In the second, which started with an unprecedented theme, reminds us more of his recent time Junip (even also they sang Line of fire from the last album the group), with a greater musical wealth on the background and in which the voice of the Swedish loses its protagonist to blend chorus and drums that were almost imperceptible and made it very easy to listen. The pinnacle moment came with the appearance on the scene of the Zuid Holland Philharmonic, which began spectacularly with the presence of violins and cellos in the version of the Kylie Minogue‘s theme Hand on Your Heart , but nevertheless it was diluted to disappoint in later songs. With the arrival of the singer ‘s greatest hits, such as the magnificent version of Teardrop by Massive Attack, it was noted that not all sounded perfect, like excessive orchestration to do it losing its intimate character, feeling that was endorsed with recognised song Hearthbeats that at times seemed more a matter of classical music in which it was difficult to distinguish the voice of the wonderful song by The Knife. Probably the best moments of the strange union reached with the most intimate songs from the repertoire, as Cycling Trivialities or Broken Arrows, where the passages of bass and flute respectively joined a charm and endowed the songs in a new dimension.

Again was time to move quickly to enjoy one of the most anticipated concerts for this writer of this lines, the one of Patrick Wolf who had recently marvelled us over a year ago at Sala Apolo in Barcelona, and this time he was long waited due to he was going  to sing with the company of a string quartet. Finally, all illusions were dashed to the London artist cancel his performance, in a decision that hurt all who are committed to moving the People’s Place, since as happened before, It made ​us impossible to access later to the small living of Paradiso where was acting My Brightest Diamond, which some just heard from the living room stairs, one floor below the place of performance. In summary, a great festival with special focus on car for details where Olafur Arnalds came out as the big winner and where is mandatory to remark the respect that the audience had to artists and their proposal.. Accustomed to loud concerts and with everyone talking as we usually suffer in Spain, we enjoy a concert that was possible to hear when a plastic glass was falling down or when the door of the room was opened, becoming it such an amazing experience at times as the show itself.