Een Anticon special in de Melkweg met Sole als hoofdact. Pedestrian en Telephone Jim Jesus waren ook van de partij (Tekst: Engels).
Sun is shining, the weather is warm, girls are looking better than ever and Loverboys are at work in this little country of ours. So why not head over to Amsterdam and check out some abstract Anticon acts to make the day complete?
It’s Saturday, which means that most of our OV-cards are as useful as the guilder in a downtown Amsterdam café, so I decided to take the car and head to the country’s capital… Big mistake. I knew that parking was expensive in Amsterdam, but at 3,40 Euro per hour I could only grind my teeth and hope that my visit would be short.
I arrived a bit early at the venue (since I had to interview Sole), but apparently the Anticon CEO himself had not arrived yet because of a ‘wielklem-problem’. Not only do they charge an extreme amount of money for parking, but the brilliant Amsterdam parking agents never stop seeking for ways to screw the drivers. Bravo!
Waiting for Sole to finish his meal, I entered the venue to check out the first act: Telephone Jim Jesus. Having seen him perform in Arnhem not too long ago, I kind of knew what to expect. Once again, TJJ hit us with strange, moody kind of ambiance-tracks that would go well with a couple of beers. Unfortunately, the beer in the Melkweg is of lower quality than the cheapest beer in Kazakhstan, so I had to listen to TJJ while drinking a Coke. It wasn’t bad, but seeing an almost empty Melkweg not really getting into the mood was a bit of a disappointment. TJJ explained to us how he smashed his sampler into pieces in Germany because it wasn’t working properly, so most of his tracks would be improvised a bit. My listening was cut in half since Sole was done eating and the promoter took me backstage to conduct the interview.
Sitting in the backgarden of the Melkweg, I had an interesting interview with Sole who stated that living in Spain has helped his writing and ‘Live from Rome’ has been received very differently in Europe than in America. The video-interview will soon be online on HIJS so keep your eyes and butts open.
Going back into the venue, it was time for Pedestrian to hit the stage. I had never seen him perform so I didn’t know what to expect. Pedestrian released his album ‘Unindian Songs’ a while ago, so it could be interesting to see what kind of performance he had in store for us. The P-man took the stage and stood behind a counter, preaching to the public about death and the new Pope Ratzinger. He talked about the three discoballs on the roof of the Melkweg (in a sort of rapping/preaching style) while Telephone Jim Jesus worked the beats. It was strange, but worthwhile to see. Again, the presence of only fourty people or so didn’t help much and it was hard to get into the vibe.
Now it was time for the headliner to bless the venue, and Sole stormed the stage with his trio consisting of his laptop, drummer and guitarist. Hitting it off with ‘Cheap Entertainment’, the show started off in a fast pace to be followed by ‘Self Inflicted Wounds’. For a second there I thought that Sole was going to go through his ‘Live from Rome’ album track by track, but that was not the case. The inclusion of the drummer and guitarist gave a nice atmosphere to the show, although the soundlevels were messed up at times. Sole definitely knows how to work the mic (as you can hear from his intonation), but sometimes the mix of the drums / guitar / laptop and mic was not handled well by the soundman. Don’t get me wrong, it was fine most of the time but it could get a bit much at points. Sole went on performing his set, which consisted of more ‘Live from Rome’ tracks such as ‘Sin Carne’ and ‘Theme’ (which was executed with brilliance, using the guitar). Sole also messed with an incredibly drunk guy that was shouting and bumping into people in the crowd. The set ended with the loud track ‘Salt on Everything’ from the album ‘Selling Live Water’, which left the heads happy and ready to go home as the clock neared midnight.
Walking out of the venue, I was not looking forward to the parkingbill that was awaiting me. I mean, what can I do, HIJS is not a sponsored site and therefore we have to pay for our own transportation. Paying the whopping 16 Euro, I got into the car and headed home. Grrrr, next time I’ll go by bike…
Fixtures:
Hoogtepunt: ‘Salt on Everything’
Dieptepunt: low turnout
Bier: 2 euro
WC: I urinated looking at a poster of Sage Francis!
Fotograferen: yep
Geluid: could / should be better
Bezoekers: about 40 people
Damage: 11 Euro + membership
Cijfer: 7
