Last weekend started off on the right foot, because I had my tickets for the perfect musical weekend foray. Düsseldorf, Albuquerque, Jönköping and Gothenburg. And again I had to realize that expectations are a funny thing. They rarely come up with what you expect them to.

First of all, I went to see Hauschka for the first time ever. I totally devoured Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka‘s last album “Foreign Landscapes” and was really curious about his prepared piano show. There is just one word for this guy and his music: ace. He was using tape, little tambourine metal jingles, marbles and some other weird stuff I couldn’t identify, to put it on the piano strings. The sounds he created were savvy and magical, I haven’t seen anything like this before. Although he was “just” playing his instrument, watching him add and remove things to change the sound of the piano, felt like watching a scientist inventing something. His idea of making electronic music without using any electronic devices works quite perfect.

“A Hawk And A Hacksaw” from New Mexico were the next band on stage, a duo consisting of accordionist Jeremy Barnes and violinist Heather Trost. For the show they were supported by a trumpet player and percussionist. Their latest album “Cervantine” is a great piece of Eastern European traditional music, leaning towards the Balkan Beats movement, but being more world music and less pop. To be honest, the show was a bit of a disappointment. On the musical side everything was perfect, but the band couldn’t get things going with the audience. A friend of mine said : “I’ll pretend they’re just in bad mood and give them a second chance.” Alright then, let’s do it.

Sunday was Sweden day. I went to see “José Gonzalez and the Gothenburg String Theory“, which was an awesome show. But the real surprise was the support act called “Loney Dear“. Loney Dear is the Jönköping based singer songwriter Emil Svanängen. Anyone who ever went to a gig (I guess most of you did) know how hard it is to capture the audience when you’re just the opener. But Loney Dear did it, and not only with his wonderful music, but also by being a totally likeable guy. His attempts of making the audience sing had real comedic potential, I felt like being in an audition for a catholic church choir. The sing-alongs were, let’s say artistically demanding, but he refused to give up: “Come on people, you’re from the Bach country!” That hit home.

José Gonzalez performed his songs together with the Gothenburg String Theory. All songs had been newly arranged and all versions including “Crosses”, “Cycling Trivialities” or “Teardrop” blew me away. And when he came back on stage for his encore and played “Heartbeats”, people eventually went crazy (I wonder how many of them knew that Heartbeats is actually a cover version?) My personal favourite though was the conductor “Nackt”. I haven’t been to many classical concerts before, but this guy was not just conducting. This was like watching a Jane Fonda Aerobic video…admirable passionate. I guess he must have had an oxygen tent backstage.

Tags: A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Cervantine, Crosses, Cycling Trivialities, Emil Svanängen, Foreign Landscapes, Göteburg String Theory, Hauschka, Heartbeats, Heather Trost, Jeremy Barnes, Jose Gonzalez, Kampnagel Hamburg, Loney Dear, Nackt, Teardrop, Volker Bertelmann