slumbercat:
Heineken sucks- sorry to say it, but it's pain in ass, big queues for everything - don't compare ti to glastonbury, reading, roskilde, hultsfred, "illegal festivals" etc etc - this is totally commercial. It all comes down to if you care SO much about famous artists to hear them live... honestly for me, I'd prefer to listen at home and go to non-commercial events......
I agree: it sucks. There is no atmosphere at all. When I read that Massive Attack performs there and I have to go to this ****** event again (last year I went to see Bjork) I was really pissed off. When I realized some more artist I find interesting are going to perform there too, I was even more pissed off. Nevertheless, I'm a live-music addict, so I sacrificed myself and went there.
On the first day, little interesting things happened. I heard some two songs by The Editors and went away - maybe I'd enjoy it if I hadn't known Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees or Bauhaus. It looked as if the guys took up some elements that post-punk musicians created in late 70s, early 80s and smoothed it all up so that they're not to challenging to the listener. AFAIC - it's better to listen to Ian Curtis & Co. The best thing that day for me was Devotchka - I loved their atmosphere and performance skills. The singer was brilliant and the instrumentation was much more interesting than all the bands taken together (except CocoRosie): accordion, violin, fingered double-bass, and the coolest of all - sousaphone!
Roisin Murphy's performance was very good and 100% professional but it's just not my cup of tea. Too pop.
On the second day, I saw some Maria Peszek - which I found very good, and then got to the "first row" to see CocoRosie. They were, as I expected, great. The beat-box solo was reeeaaaalllyyyy impressing, the parts sung with an opera voice, too. Unfortunately some idiots are in charge of sound-engineering during this festival in general, so when there were any low-frequency tones in the music, they deafened all the rest of the music.
Then, I waited for Sex Pistols for an hour, leaning on the railing. And it was a really stupid idea. When the concert started, I was being constantly smashed up. But as long as I could cling to the railing, it was bearable. Painful but bearable. Later the movement of the crowd placed me somewhere more in the back and it was a nightmare: I'm very short (158 cm), so I was surrounded by people much taller then me; I was afraid someone would hit me on my head with his elbow or I'd get kicked on my head by someone just floating above me. And, what was the worst - I had nothing to breathe among those tall guys. I felt I was going to faint. After one of the songs I shouted to some guys in front of me to let me get to the front, which they reluctantly did, and I asked a security guy to take me out. He lifted me over the railing I paraded just in front of Johnny Rotten half-dead, and finally, I left the tent. I got myself some water and returned to the back of the tent at "God Save The Queen" to yell "no fuutuure!!!". In the back it was not so bad. I've got no broken ribs and limbs and no serious bruises, which is quite a surprise. So: that is how it was inside the tent :) And, as far as the concert is concerned: it was surprisingly good. Johnny had a great contact with the audience and a lot of self-irony. I expected to see a few granddads making fools of themselves but I saw a descent rock concert instead. Not that I much appreciate such music... - I went there because of Sex Pistols' cultural impact and to had a laugh.
Then, I saw Erykah Badu and I just fell in love with her! She sang all her goddamn difficult parts in a way, that made it seem to be as natural as speech for her. No single false sound, and even she did some mind-blowing quarter tones. Everything was elaborate and sophisticated but performed with a great lightness. Numerous changes of dynamics, rhythm and unexpected syncopation must have been rehearsed a lot - but all the musicians seemed to do it just like that, casually. The only thing that spoiled that concert was the fact, that wherever I went, I smelt weed. As if the music wasn't enough!
On the third day I saw Goldfrapp - quite a descent one - and my main point: Massive Attack. Of course - there was too much bass. In the beginning I was in the front but moved back not to get deaf because of that goddamn bass. But all the rest was great. The selection of the songs was to my taste: mostly those atmospheric, dark ones and a lot from my favourite Mezzanine. And I was really happy to see such a big crowd listening and enjoying such 'difficult' and 'undancable' music. The band's sound was much more rock and guitar-based than in the studio recordings but it's quite OK in live performances.
I was planning to see Chemical Brothers but before it, I went to the World Stage to see what's up at Żywiołak's and I stayed there until the end. Żywiołak was as usual great, I had a lot of jumping and dancing and shouting Leśmian's poems. No electronics can drive me to such an euphoria as a good piece of Pagan folk-something. Then, I returned to the Main Stage but found that electronic music + visualizations is not something for me. I prefer to see musicians playing instruments on stage. I'd rather play Chamical Brothers at home - with a reasonable level of bass. Instead of standing in front of the stage, I went to the 'cinema' to watch Metropolis.
To sum up: there were a few concerts worth seeing and worth standing that stupid festival. During three days even I didn't get to know anyone. Everything was commercial as hell and people seemed to have come not to have some fun but to show off. Hearing people's conversations on the campsite or in the queues made me sick. But it was worth it, anyway. And I think it is really a shame that, having such a budget, the organizer did not hire professional sound-engineers - holy shit: nobody who graduated sound-engineering would let the bass guitar dominate over the vocal! Last year, on Bjork, the bass put the scaffoldings surrounding the stage into resonance and the scaffolding, shaking, made the sounds that were heard through the music. WTF is that supposed to be?
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