Category: positive thoughts

Support

Posted on

Given my history with attending a-ha concerts in Norway (or rather not attending a-ha concerts in Norway), each time something pops up in my email regarding the Bergen gig, I get slightly panicky. There has been much time, effort, money and emotion invested in our upcoming trip. Plans must not go astray. And, to be honest, there’s no reason why they should.

Here is one of those missives, via a-ha.com and their Facebook page. But it’s news news, rather than bad news.

The first support act for the evening – I say “first”, because there will be more:

We will make a proper party in Bergen. We are working to put in place an international “mystery” entertainers that people have heard about.

Anyway, the first support act for the evening has been announced. And he are dePresno.

No. Me neither.

depresno

Apparently, he is/was a finalist in a Norwegian singing show, which seems akin to Idols or The Voice. It’s called Urørt which means “Untouched”. He looks like a cross between Ed Sheeran and Thom Yorke here, although there’s also elements of Alfred E. Neuman from MAD magazine and a hint of Ron Weasley in other photos. Right, I’m all out of ginger comparisons now.
And while the music coming out of those shows might not be quite my cup of tea, there’s obviously talent there.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/229715260″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Ugh. Bit R&B, ne?

Says dePresno, via Google Translate:

Both me and the band is insanely excited and very honored to have the opportunity to warm up for A-ha! It will be an amazing experience. I’m looking forward to people ocean and A-ha concert! It gets insanely fat!

People oceans and the prospect of certifiable obesity are two of the main reasons I wanted to go into the music business, so I’m right with him there.

A couple of points here. Norwegian for support act is “varmer-opp”. This pleases me.

Also, no-one goes to concerts to just see the support act. Believe me, it won’t be the end of my world if he’s a bit shit. That said, please note my comments on Chris de Burgh last weekend. Live music is live music. It’s an experience, no matter whether it’s your cup of tea or not. I will enjoy that experience.

And what comes immediately after…

Faded Restrung

Posted on

This is the big EDM hit of the moment, penned by Northampton-born, Bergen-based music producer Alan Walker.
If you feel the need (and I did), you can venture onto Soundcloud and explore literally several different remixes of this tune – try this one and this one, for example.

This Restrung version is acoustic with piano and pizzicato strings blooming into that soaring, catchy melody.

That breathy vocal is courtesy of Norwegian folk/pop chick Iselin Sondheim, whose pseudo-Celtic 2013 single The Wizard Of Us has a video which showcases wild Norway in the same way that Tove Lo showcased wild Sweden here.

I mentioned back then that female vocalists wandering through woods in Scandinavia seems like a very good way of showing off your country. I stand by that assertion.

First Football

Posted on

My boy played his first game of football for his school today. A bit of a rite of passage moment.

25937386314_3fedf0cdf9_c

Let the record show that the match was away at St George’s Grammar School in Mowbray.
Playing into the wind in the first half, his side were 5-1 up at the break and finished the game 10-3 winners. Alex played left back and, although he didn’t have much to do, nailed each one of the five important tackles he had to make and didn’t put a foot wrong.

Let the record also show that I’m a very proud father.

Gripen video

Posted on

Wow. Just… wow.

You’ll need HD and full screen – the bigger the better – for this.
It’s going on my large Smart TV as soon as I get home this evening.

This comes from SAAB, the Swedish Air Force and production company Blue Sky, and apparently, it’s a big step forward in aeronautical video.

If you want to make a video like this, you’ll need a custom-designed gyro-stabilisation system, a 6k (nice number) Red Dragon digital cinema camera and a $40,000 Canon camera lens.
Oh, and a Saab JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter at $60,000,000.

But that’s pocket change to make something this spectacular.

Ten thoughts upon attending a Chris de Burgh concert

Posted on

A jumble of thoughts, in no particular order (hence my use of the word “jumble”), after watching the Chris de Burgh concert yesterday evening at Grand West in Cape Town (see also: yesterday’s post).

1. Aren’t there a lot of old people in Cape Town?

2. Three hours (with a 20 minute interval) is a fairly impressive performance. Older performers can do this because a) they have more songs to play and b) they are consummate professionals. Elton John did this too, but CdB was less flamboyant (what? really?!?) and more approachable, more humble. A perfect example of this was his performance of The Lady In Red – wandering around the arena, hugging, kissing or shaking hands with random members of the audience. It was cheese deluxe, but exactly what the audience expected and wanted.

3. Telling us in song after song that we are ruining the world with war is all very well, but you haven’t actually giving us any alternative, except “don’t do war”. Chris, sometimes a stern open letter is simply not enough.

4. Telling us in song after song that we are ruining the world with pollution is all very well, but your career is basically flying around the planet on jumbo jets and selling millions of plastic discs. Glass houses, ne?

DSC_0010

5. AWKWARD MOMENT ALERT when he sang this bit of Light A Fire:

Let us march the road up the rocky hill tonight,
Under cover of the darkness,
We will slip behind the lines,
And we will take the men who have stolen our land,
For the years of domination,
Hit them right between the eyes,
And light a fire!

*tumbleweed*

6. And while we’re on about lyrics, Don’t Pay The Ferryman. WTF?

Don’t pay the ferryman
Don’t even fix a price
Don’t pay the ferryman
Until he gets you to the other side

What sort of advice is that? It’s a rubbish sort of advice, that’s what it is.
That’s no basis for doing business. Can you imagine if I tried to board BA58 at CTIA this evening suggesting that I would give British Airways an unspecified amount of money only upon our arrival at Heathrow?
I have to be honest, I don’t think I’d make it onboard.
Can you imagine Chris trying to take a taxi in Cape Town? Can you imagine him lying in Wynberg Main Road with a badly swollen eye? I think we can all imagine it.
So is this really how Chris operates? And he gets away with it?
What happened to trust? What happened to contracts?
No, Chris man. You’re out of touch and you’re going to cause unnecessary conflict, disruption and delay with this sort of foolishness.

7. Everyone there was really old.

8. This is the first gig I’ve ever been to where there was an interruption after four songs for a member of the audience to give the performer a red rose and a box of Titleist golf balls.

9. He did Nkandla jokes (the audience roared).
He did a willy joke (the audience tittered).
He repeatedly did rugby jokes (the audience laughed) (the first time).

10. The lady behind us said she had claustrophobia, “but was ok if she sat between people she knows”.
I’m pretty sure that claustrophobia doesn’t work that way, but I was prevented from pointing this out to her by Mrs 6000.

Look, all in all, it was a good night. I knew three songs of his (plus the cover of Toto’s Africa) and people watching filled any downtime. I said yesterday that there’s always a place for live music, and to see a live performance of a famous song by the guy that wrote it, sung it and made it famous is never a problem.
(And, because I’ll likely come looking at some point in the future, the guitarist was called Neil Taylor.)