Monday 30 November 2009

<&MR. WATSON AND THE WOODEN ARMS+'

I only just got back from seeing Patrick Watson and I can tell that it was really good! Great light show, good quality sound, nice audience. I have to admit that I haven't listened to Patrick that much even though I've known him for quite a while. It's just that I never reached the point of really loving his songs. But lately as I've been listening to him a bit more, because I knew I was going to see him, I've come to notice how much I like the layeredness of his sound. The musicians playing on the album add so much to the overall sound of the songs, I think it's really one of Patrick Watson's strengths. So it was nice to see he brought a pretty big group of people with him and it quickly became clear that especially the drummer is a true professional. Very energetic, he almost stole the show. Patrick's voice sounded lovely, very soothing and calm. The light show was comparable to that during Mew's concert a couple of weeks ago or to that of Final Fantasy. Lots of variation. They went a bit too far with the smoke, though, with the result that it got pretty warm and much warmer than I'm used to when going to a gig. Perhaps that was also due to the fact that I wasn't standing all too near to the stage. When I arrived it was already pretty crowded. I hoped that after Thus:Owls, the support act, people would move more closely towards the stage, but that didn't happen. So I tried to take pictures but had a hard time taking the pictures I wanted which was a bit of a shame. Still, some turned out pretty okay, although at the Mew gig I did a way better job. Near the end Patrick did a very special thing, but I won't go further into that here as I know some people reading this will be seeing him in the near future. So I'm not going to spoil the surprise :) I had heard before that Patrick was really good live, so I knew I could expect a high quality concert and that was exactly what I got. He played one of my favourite songs, Beijing very early on. Of course he did The Great Escape which I believe is his most well known song. Other than most artists Patrick actually told which song he was going to play before playing them which was good for me 'cause I'm not all too familiar with all of them. Some other songs that they played are Big Bird In A Small Cage, Where The Wild Things Are, Fireweed (at least, I think I remember him playing it, I could be wrong! :)), The Storm, Man Under The Sea and two brand new tunes. He played some more but right now I can't really remember those other songs. On Friday I'll be seeing Julian Casablancas. I'll make sure I'm standing front row. I'm so excited, it's gonna be great!

So here are some pictures. Not that great, but better than nothing at all!









I tried and tried! Better luck next time ;-)

"_A TOTAL OF 27*)

I didn't see that many films compared to many of my fellow audience award volunteers, but I still saw quite a lot, including the audience award winner of this year The Cove!

Friday Nov. 20:

I Don't Want To Live This Life
We Live In Public

Sunday Nov. 22:

The Snowman

Monday Nov. 23:

Aida, Palestine
Israel Ltd.
Yes, Miss Commander!
To Shoot An Elephant

Tuesday Nov. 24:
The Shock Doctrine
Dreamland

Wednesday Nov. 25:
The Farm: 10 Down
Sister Wife
Beauty Refugee
13, 14, 15
Anybody There...?
The Cove
Space Tourists

Thursday Nov. 26:

Welcome To North Korea!
Suspect And In Custody
Where The Sun Doesn't Rush
White Poverty - In The New South Africa
Earth Keepers

Friday Nov. 27:
Mugabe And The White African

Saturday Nov. 28:
Vision
Insulo De La Rozoj - Freedom Is Frightening
Food, Inc.
Oil City Confidential

Sunday Nov. 29:

The Kids Grow Up

Note, however, that some of these films are shorts and a couple of them I've seen but because it was so late in the evening the images just rushed over me and I didn't get much of it. Didn't really pay much attention, though I did not fall asleep! :)

My favourite out of the bunch is The Cove, although The Kids Grow Up comes pretty close to beating it, and maybe it already kind of did. The Kids Grow Up was simply extraordinary and I felt a strong connection with it. I loved it from beginning to end. So perhaps that one is my real personal favourite. Others that were really good are Mugabe And The White African, The Snowman and To Shoot An Elephant. I also liked We Live In Public and I Don't Want To Live This Life. Food, Inc. was nice but dragged on a bit too long, I expected way more of it. Beauty Refugee was a very personal story, very nice and funny. Yes, Miss Commander! was very entertaining. I expected to fall asleep during Oil City Confidential 'cause I was so tired and it was pretty late in the evening, but I didn't. It's about the band Dr. Feelgood. I might have heard about them before, but I'm not sure. Definitely had never listened to them. The music and Wilko Johnson's personality kept me up. I've added Wilko to my list of idols! :) I also liked The Farm: 10 Down and Space Tourists featured many beautiful images. One of the few documentaries with some great cinematography! Anybody There...? was the only film I did not see completely, but those minutes I did see were really good and very enjoyable. The worst out of the group was Insulo De La Rozoj - Freedom Is Frightening, SNOOZEFEST...

So that makes a total of 27. Like I said compared to other visitors of the festival that's NOTHING :-)

Will be seeing Patrick Watson in a couple of hours...

=&PATRICK WATSON TONIGHT*%

Take Away Show #97 _ Patrick Watson (full version) from vincent moon / temporary areas on Vimeo.

I'm tired of being alone

I didn't get the chance to see Two Door Cinema Club and Golden Silvers the other night because I was working at the IDFA. Right now I'm a bit dying for a gig so I've decided to see Patrick Watson tonight. I'm just goinna spend that money :-D
It will be a kind of warm-up for Julian Casablancas who will be here on Friday!!!

So many gigs are coming up, some expensive, some not that much. There's already Spoon, Phoenix + Two Door Cinema Club as support (!!!!), The xx (second time), Japandroids (are playing same night as The xx :((, might sell my The xx ticket!) and Vampire Weekend (although I've seen them at Lowlands and they're expensive to see!)
Gonna be another busy year...

So tonight Patrick Watson and in some minutes taking pictures I guess, walking round the city. I bought a Lomolito with a blue flash. They're 15 euros and are throw away cameras, so you can only use them once, but I really wanted one. So there.

It's always good to look at pictures for inspiration after you've just woken up. Here are some by photographer Antonella Arismendi














More here
I don't like all of her pictures, but some of them are quite nice like the ones I've posted above

And to mix things up, 'cause there's a world beyond fashion photography out there ready to be explored. I've just picked out some photographers at random...

Stewart Simons









Yann Orhan




















Adam Jeppesen







Pictures found here
Whenever you look for some inspiration there's a good chance you'll find it on that site