Deichbrand Festival 21st July 2018

We are now only 12 dates away from the end of the summer festival campaign, and then it's on to the final section of promotional duties for E6. Everything is so sharp right now. The way they're playing the music, as well as the way they're able to intuitively bounce off one another onstage. I also believe that they've learned how to prepare a crowd before they even get out in front of them, because their choice of intro music is sublime. Gimme, gimme, gimme (a man after midnight) by Abba has been proven in laboratory tests to put folks into a good mood on contact. You can't argue with science.

The audience here were very receptive, and some of those cats were possessed by the spirit of crazy dancing. Some of the crowd shots revealed some serious shapes being thrown and in all kinds of directions. This isn't a criticism, because as I've stated before I absolutely cannot dance. I can move in time with music but more often than not it veers into "Oh lordy, he's having some kind of medical episode", so I leave the boogie to people better qualified than I. Well done to all of you who were there and decided to get down. My admiration is yours. 

The sound was hit and miss for this set, being mixed in a way that quite often meant we got to hear certain components much, much more than others. Intrusively so. If you listen to Formaldehyde,  Blood and  Hallelujah for example, you can hear Tom's guitar right out in front of everything but King Leetch is way, way down and buried underneath it all. The volume is such that it sounds like little bursts of thunder being dropped during Blood, which is great. There are other times, however, when the guitars are just too damn loud, like during Darkness at the Door. This isn't a knock on the band, by the way, who were as energetic and up for this as they always are. 

Loud guitars aren't always a bad thing,  though. I was thrilled to welcome back the feedback when the music came back in after the hand-claps section of that Hallelujah. I always think it fits so perfectly with its slightly scuzzy nature, and it's always a great companion to Justin's "riff of doom". The volume also fits in really nicely during No Harm when Mr Lockey is working the drumstick, and the "We've all been changed" refrain of Smokers, where the way he bends the strings made me instantly think of the end of the song Unreadable Communication by Curve. That hypnotic use of noise. I'm sure it isn't a reference point but there's certainly a similarity there.

Maccum's Setlist

Mr Smith has really taken to exploring the space around the performance area lately. I'm reliably informed by "our people" in attendance that at the Werchter Classic show recently he used the full walkway that extended out from the stage. Here, he jumps down to the apron area directly in front of where they're playing and very nearly takes out a camera man during Darkness in the process, something that causes a chuckle as he continues on. Given that man's battles with gravity in the past, I would have thought that the sensible option would have been to coat the entire perimeter in bubble-wrap, just in case the unthinkable happened again. It would prevent any disasters but I acknowledge it would also impair his movement. But really, what's more important at a rock 'n' roll show than caution, sobriety and robustly sensible health and safety policies? Who's with me?

(sound of chirping crickets and tumbleweeds)

Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

Enjoy the music ;)

Video - stream it here 


MP3s
Cold (with intro) - download here
Hallelujah (So Low) - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Blood - download here
Darkness at the Door - download here
Formaldehyde - download here
Munich - download here
Nothingness - download here
Violence - download here
No Harm - download here
Sugar - download here
Racing Rats - download here
Smokers - download here
Papillon - download here
Magazine - download here

All in a Zip - download here

brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x