+%THE HEART IS A STONE AND THIS IS A STONE THAT WE THROW)-

Last night I saw both jj and Beach House perform at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, one very dissapointing, the other one great and surprisingly joyful. The singer off jj just stood singing the songs, nothing more. It was as if she was standing in the recording booth. In between she and the guy from the band whispered things to each other while on a big screen behind them video footage of the two were projected. It felt as if I was watching a long video with all the songs strung together going from one track to another. It made it feel as if they were in a hurry and didn't really care much. There was also a third person who decided early on to join them on stage but he just sat down, leaning with his back against the wall, sunglasses on and staring into the crowd. No idea why he was there. It only added to the vagueness of their very weak performance. It's a shame 'cause I really enjoy their music, especially on their full length debut jj No. 2. They could have done so much more with those songs but it seems they just refuse to. So therefore I decided to leave early to get myself a good spot downstairs where Beach House would be playing in the big hall. The Antlers on Tuesday were very heavy when it comes to emotion and I expected Beach House to be the same. A somewhat silent and calm dark performance with tears flowing and parts of me dying throughout the performance. Instead it was the complete opposite. People around me, myself included, were joyfully swaying to the music, one girl arms up high as if she belonged to some kind of cult. Guys in front of me bopping their heads. You could feel the connection. It was as if we threw ourselves a small beach party with the sun slowly going down. It was pure awesomeness. Victoria's voice is wonderful, I could listen to her all day. And her beautiful long hair and red lips. Her hair contantly fell in front of her face making her look like a wild kitten or something pwwrraar :DD I was standing to the right of the stage which meant that Alex, the other half of the duo (even though they brought a third member with them on drums) was standing far away from me, 'cause he was standing at the far left of the stage. His hair looked so cute and I liked the long black shirt he was wearing. I wish I could have had a better look and my damn camera doesn't have a ultra zoom mode so no close-ups :( Better luck next time. But I bet he looked adorable, a bit unshaved and all :P So whereas jj basically sucked, Beach House was great and totally made up for it. Apart from songs from Teen Dream they also did Gila and Heart Of Chambers (that one might be my all-time Beach House favourite) plus they did a new song that sounded very promising. So I can pretty much say Beach House are here to stay. If they come to Lowlands you know where to find me.

I wanted to take more pictures but even though I was standing like row 2 or 3 they felt so far away from me that I thought it wouldn't be any use taking pictures 'cause even with zoom they still seemed far away. But the two I did take don't look that bad. Victoria and Alex don't look THAT small. Next time I know and I'll just be shooting away again