Archive for ‘smog’

10 results.

Snow Patrol’s Fallen Empire Show by Mark Setjo

by jess on June 18, 2012 at 9:09 am
Posted In: smog

Snow Patrol’s Fallen Empire show
by Mark

Ever since I heard songs off the “Final straw” album, this band from Northern Ireland has been on my musical radar. The follow up to “Final straw” (“Eyes open”) has my favorite Snow Patrol track, which happens to be a collaboration with the great Marta Wainwright: “Set fire to the third bar”. I saw them play a music festival, but the show somehow didn’t grab me and I was disappointed.
Fastforward several years, after the release of their latest album “Fallen Empires”. I had another opportunity to see Snow Patrol live and I decided to give them another chance. A friend of mine graciously got tickets, and at the venue it turned out they weren’t arena tickets, but seats. We had seats way up, which for me had one big advantage: nobody blocked my view.
From the moment the band walked up the stage to start playing, it was obvious singer Gary Lightbody was enjoying himself and wanted the audience to have a great time, too. For this tour they had an impressive (laser) light show and huge screens for animations. Snow Patrol kicked off with a song off their latest album, which immediately set the mood for the rest of the evening: upbeat.
Most of the songs off Fallen Empires were performed, and I noticed just one off “Final straw” (“Run”).
Several songs into the set, Gary’s guitar equipment was malfunctioning. While the guitar tech tried to solve the problem, Gary decided to continue the show by playing a song, that doesn’t require him to play the guitar. Anyway, the problem was eventually fixed. Yay!
I liked that he was in a talkative mood, and was reaching out to connect with the audience in some way.
Ram’s Pocket Radio opened for Snow Patrol in Europe, and their bass player (her name’s escaped me – sorry about that) also graced the stage as a backing singer, and sang Martha Wainwright’s part in “Set fire to the third bar”. Speaking of Wainwright, she recently recorded a new album.
A spectacular light show and visuals projected onto huge canvasses kept the audience captured. That, and the fact that at times Gary was sharing some funny stories between songs.
(You can find their setlist here.)

Unlike the first time I saw the band, I enjoyed their show: they are so much more than “Chasing cars”! If you haven’t given their music a listen, I suggest you will.

[ No Comments ]

K’s Choice by Mark

by jess on April 2, 2012 at 12:00 am
Posted In: smog

K’s Choice: Little Echoes (album and tour)

by Mark

 

For those who have never heard of K’s Choice, allow me to introduce them to you. For those familiar with their 90s hit “Not an addict” and sort of lost track, let me re-introduce them to you. K’s Choice is a Flemish band, with siblings Sarah and Gert Bettens at the core. In case you were wondering, despite a hiatus, both singer Sarah and brother Gert (guitarist) continued making music.

In the past they’ve opened for Alanis Morissette and Indigo Girls among others, and toured with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair caravan. K’s Choice has released six albums, excluding the 2001 live album (simply called “Live”) and a Best Of compilation (10: 1993-2003), with “Little Echoes” being the most recent one. That album can be best described as an unplugged remake of a collection of songs off their album before this last one (“Echo Mountain”), with a few covers and a couple of new songs. If you love harmonies, then you should definitely give “Little Echoes” a listen.

A stripped down version of the band (Sarah, Gert, and keyboard player Reinout Swinnen) is currently touring western Europe, and I attended their January 27th concert. It was all about harmonies – more prominent than on the album. Combine those with Sarah’s husky voice, and it’s guaranteed to give you goosebumps.

Granted, some people say the songs’ lyrics tend to be very simplistic, and cheesy at times, but it’s part of their charm.  And you know what? Sometimes beauty lies in simplicity.

Speaking of charm, the Bettens siblings are very approachable; even after all these years in the music business they take time out to personally say hello to their fans, sign autographs, and pose with them. I love that they interact with their fans (during show as well) and acknowledge them, too. I’ll never forget that afternoon in Berlin, Germany (years ago) where a friend and I got the chance to see Sarah and her band (this tour was to promote her first solo album “Scream”) sound check and have a little meet and greet. I’m a shy guy with a soft spot for Sarah, so imagine when I finally got the courage to step up to say hello to her. Later, my friend and I managed to get second row spots, and when Sarah spotted me she looked me straight in the eye and nodded. It took a moment for me to realize she had spotted me, and nodded to acknowledge it. I think I peed myself a little then.

Anyhow, I digress. K’s Choice is not just hugely popular in parts of western Europe; they also have a huge following in Israel. If you haven’t checked out their music, go to their website: www.kschoice.be – or better yet: search the internet for (live) video clips. You’ll notice the band knows how to rock out, too. Sarah likes to interact with the audience (she’s come along way: she used to be very shy, and sing with her eyes closed and not moving around on stage). If you get the chance to see them live: go! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

└ Tags: , , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Gotye’s got it.

by jess on March 26, 2012 at 12:00 am
Posted In: smog

Gotye’s got it.

by Mark

 

Gotye’s currently over taking the airwaves all over the world, or so it seems. “Somebody that I used to know” is catchy in a different way, and once that song has lodged itself into your brain chances are it’s going to be hard to remove it. He managed to snag the #1 spot in several countries on this side of the Atlantic, and when I got word he was coming over for some concerts in 2012, I jumped at the chance to get tickets to one of his shows.

The first I ever heard of him was about half a decade ago through an uptempo song entitled “Learnalilgivinanlovin”. It channels a Motown-like vibe, and is unlike the other songs on the album.

His latest album (Making Mirrors) was proving to be quite a hit outside his home country Australia, and Wally de Backer aka Gotye (pronounced the same way as “Gaulthier”, the French designer) decided to put a band together to start touring. Gotye played three shows in three different cities in The Netherlands, and all were sold out.

 

A young British lady called Gabrielle Aplin opened the show: all of a sudden there she stood in the left corner of the stage with her guitar. Besides her own material, she played a cover, too (Lana Del Rey’s “Video games) accompanying herself on the piano. Halfway through the song she got a terrible coughing fit, and I felt sorry for her. You don’t want that to happen to any singer, right? She apologized and told the audience she was “a bit ill”. Musically, it wasn’t completely my cup of tea, but I sure give her an A for performing while being sick.

 

Gotye kicked off the February 17th show with “Eyes wide open”, and played almost all the songs off his last album.

I’m a bit of a music nerd, so – in case you’re interested – I got that evening’s setlist:

 

Eyes wide open

The only way

Easy way out

Smoke and mirrors

State of the art

Thanks for your time

Don’t worry, we’ll be watching you

Somebody that I used to know

Save me

Heart’s a mess

Bronte

 

In your light

I feel better

Learnalilgivinanlovin

 

The one song that gave me goosebumps was “Bronte”. Gotye announced it as a “quiet song”, and after some hushing sounds from some audience members to make people stop talking, it was quiet in the venue. A huge white screen in the background was showing a beautifully animated clip to accompany the song. Those of you who have the album with the DVD have seen it. If you haven’t, look it up on YouTube, and you won’t be disappointed. Really. Enjoy.

[ No Comments ]

….:::Borked News Bulletin:::….

by jess on February 2, 2012 at 10:10 am
Posted In: smog

Borksketeers!

 

It’s Jess here, your beleaguered borkness. I’m going to be moving soon, and I’m going to need your support of borkedplanet more than ever! I won’t be able to keep up on Facebook and Twitter like I try to usually do. I am going to be quite busy, as I’m not just moving down the street, but completely to the other side of the state! What I need from you is your ongoing support in sharing borkedplanet. I won’t be able to respond to emails, texts, direct messages, mentions, or be able doing much retweeting or reposting. It doesn’t mean I’m not checking in and seeing whats going on with all of you fine folks, I’ll just be too busy to be doing a lot of interacting. I have drawn up a buffer for next few weeks, so there will still be daily fumes for your visual enjoyment. I also have an article to share with you by the talented R. Mark Setjo! So keep loitering on borkedplanet! Thanks everyone. :)

[ 6 Comments ]