Erykah Badu, 30/06/08, Brixton Academy, London

We had to wait for hours, but it was definitely worth it! At the beginning we were so far at the back, that I didn't believe that it is really her. I really got even more short-sited after those six months of work. Moved a little to the front behind a tall guy, where nobody dared to stand. That was better. But no pictures, at least not from me. But I found a set on flickr. They aren't that bad, but ISO 1600 shows if you look at the bigger versions. Ouch. But you did a good job man! Don't be afraid!


Originally uploaded by PaulJay

Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich, 06/12/06, Konzerthaus, Vienna

Sometimes I am a really bad listener. Yesterday I was at the Konzerthaus enjoying a great female pianist and a passionate violinist. After minutes my thoughts were drifting. I pondered about everything which I was not able to in the last days. I even considered things, which made me slap myself (but not for real, just virtual).



Though I was not as attentive as I wished, I did recognize the great abilities of the performers. Gidon Kremer was somehow crawling into his violin. During specific Béla Bartók passages you were barely able to see the instrument. I guess one can only be a good musician, when she/he is moving with the music (and I am hardly ever moving when I play the piano). Martha Argerich gave her first concert at the age of 8. When she was 14 her parents decided to move to Vienna so she could get the
best education. As she played the Kinderszenen from Robert Schumann you were able to see her passion. One woman behind me was totally going "Bravo" during the applause.
The Béla Bartók pieces were challenging for both, the musicians and the audience (mostly above their forties). Few people left after the Kinderszenen. And about a quarter of the listeners did not hear the three encores, which were nice and fluffy like snow flakes dancing. I have to admit that I did not like the Bartók pieces that much either. As I learned all kinds of stuff concerning music from 5^th to 8^th grade, I was always searching for repeating patterns which were hard to find. At school the teacher shows you the stuff and you have the score in front of you.
The architecture of the Konzerthaus is also nice to look at. I guess it is Jugendstil. Let me know if that is wrong.

The programme:
Robert Schumann
        Sonate Nr. 2 d-moll op. 121 für Violine und Klavier (1851)
Béla Bartók
        Sonate für Violine solo Sz 117 (1944)
                ***
Robert Schumann
        Kinderszenen op. 15 (1838)
Béla Bartók
        Sonate Nr. 1 Sz 75 für Violine und Klavier (1921)

Razorlight, 22/11/06, Arena, Vienna

First of all I want to thank Chris (link to his current band project Chris and the other Girls) for giving me his tickets for the Razorlight concert yesterday. He won them from Xbox, which presented the concert. You could only get tickets if you won them. At the entrance a woman said 1.000 tickets had been spread out, but 1.500 people were there. First I wanted to go there with Theresa, sadly she suddenly felt sick and couldn't come, so I asked Dominik. The layout and design of the tickets were simply gorgeous. Those were the days when tickets for concerts looked like that (I didn't go to concerts then – too young). It even had an imprinting. The event was at the Arena and it wasn't as Xbox-green as I suspected. We managed to get a photo from the setlist and spread it around a bit.

The concert was really nice and fast. One song followed the other (change of the guitars). The song In the City and singer Johnny Borrell getting rid of his t-shirt were definitely the maxima of the evening.
Other songs I enjoyed:
Golden Touch
Can't stop
America (lyrics beneath)
Somewhere else (part of the encore)
I even consider buying a CD. Guess it will be difficult to find the one, which includes all the I-like-songs.

I light a cigarette
'Cause I can't get no sleep
There's nothing on the TV nothing on the radio
That means that much to me
There's nothing on the TV nothing on the radio
That I can believe in



All my life
Watching America
All my life
There's panic in America
Oh Oh Oh, Oh
There's trouble in America
Oh Oh Oh, Oh
There's panic in America
Oh Oh Oh, Oh

One note on another matter: Today I started my review of the year 2006, which will also include a list of things that happend (too) often and stuff like that.