Whether the music this week at Kunstrasen has been hot must remain a matter of taste. There’s no disputing that the weather has been hot though. Tuesday’s visit by UK Indie-Pop band London Grammar was no exception. If would have been nice if mighty oaks were around the stage to provide shade – as it was, the Berlin based trio named Mighty Oaks were onstage as support act. Some 5000 people, with procentually more women than I’ve seen at a concert for some time, were there to hear the music.
On such a sunny evening, Mighty Oaks singer Ian Hooper was lucky enough to be able to blend image and sun protection into one with his Stetson hat. Claudio Donzelli and Craig Saunders flanked him as the trio took us through much of their new acoustic-folk release ‘High Times’. Despite Hooper being the only true-blue American in the band they still radiated an authentic Pacific North West vibe. This would have been a great show for The Harmonie. Not that they didn’t go down well at Kunstrasen but that extra touch of intimacy with the band was missing. They did get loud applause though and I will be checking them out musically – especially Hooper, who is also releasing solo material outside of the immediate Mighty Oaks sound.
Given the heat, Mighty Oaks were a perfect band to have as support. Music to chill out to rather than dance energetically. Gentle acoustic guitar with minimal backing. Warm keyboard from Claudio Donzelli and the lightest of bass guitar touches courtesy of Brit Craig Sanders (in addition Hooper had the drum duties also covered with a bass kick-drum) . All delivered with pin-point vocal harmonies. A delight to hear.
For a moment I thought we were under attack. My Nikon had barely focussed on Hannah Reid’s face when a drone whizzed through my viewfinder. First thought was actually “Wow, the mosquitos are big down here by the Rhine!”. But no, a drone it was, and it continued to circle the stage for the entire set by London Grammar, delivering some interesting video to the backdrop but also getting a bit annoying like a fly you want to swat but can’t.
Perfect Tone – Hannah Reid of London Grammar
London Grammar have been around musically since 2009 when the band members met at Nottingham University and discovered a mutual enjoyment of Indie-Folk music. Success has meant support slots for Coldplay and, this year, also for Lana Del Rey. London Grammar’s own shows have been unpredictable at times but tonight they seem quickly at ease and singer Hannah Reid even takes off her sunglasses later in the set which I had the impression were a security layer between her and audience early on – battles with stage-fright are well documented so it was good to see how quickly at ease the green and pleasant Kunstrasen location seemed to put the lady. Important too, since her emotional contralto vocals are very much the cornerstone of London Grammar’s sound. That’s not to say that Dan Rothman’s guitar and Dominic ‘Dot’ Major’s keys and percussion don’t have a roll to play – but they are basically the sound carpet on which Hannah Reid’s vocals float, and float is my best description of her ethereal vocal style.
Thanks to changes in the Kunstrasen acoustics the sound quality was excellent (louder too) than in the past. The atmosphere though seemed somewhat subdued. Possibly down to the heat – Reid manages to get the audience front of stage clapping along to 2021’s ‘How Does it Feel’ though when Major and Rothman kick the rhythm into it after the opening verse.
My favourite of the evening was the irreverent ‘Fakest Bitch’ with it’s lyric pointed fiercely at the ‘friend’ who snatches her own friends boyfriend away: “Don’t turn to me with the driest tears. ‘cause you’re the fakest, fakest bitch” . It was endearing to hear Reid admit she could never remember all the words to ‘Darling are you gonna leave me’. It’s such an old song! As proof she was making an extra effort she held up a napkin with the words written on it. On the subject of written words – I have tried but failed to decipher what was written on Hannah Reid’s inner left arm. Was it lyrics in biro? London Grammar fans out there, please let me know!
An enjoyable evening then with temperate music that fitted the temperate weather. Like so many shows here, particularly the early ones at Kunstrasen, it was far too light to appreciate the video and lighting. It didn’t help that the band’s set of 16 songs was over in 75 minutes either which had us heading for home well before 10 pm. Neither the curfew time or length of the set is under Kunstrasen’s control of course. Hopefully London Grammar will come back to this area again soon where the venue is darker and the set longer. I would like to have recommended buying a cd from the band as I suspect they possibly shine better in the studio, except that, as with Billy Idol a few days ago, there was no music available – only t shirts and tote bags. Has Spotify finally ground musicians into submission, or is it now too expensive to bring cd’s into the Country?
