080708 and 080710 – Montreux Jazz Festival

FIJI / SANTOGOLD / MADNESS / DAS POP / THE KILLS / THE GOSSIP

I have had the good fortune to have been invited to day 5 and 7 of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Miles Davis Hall, to see 6 bands play. Of course being there one gets the itch to go see Al Jarreau, Alicia Keys, Babyshambles, Camille, Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, Gilberto Gil, Gnarls Barkley, Herbie Hancock, Interpol, Joan Baez, Joao Bosco, Joe Jackson, K. D. Lang, Katie Melua, Leeny Kravitz, Leonard Cohen, Melody Gardot, Milton Nascimento and Trio Jobim, N.E.R.D., Patty Austin, Paul Simon, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, Sheryl Crow, Sylford Walker, The Racounteurs, Tower of Power, Travis, Yael Naim and many more… all who played there this year.

The Kills plays at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival, Miles Davis Hall.

But it is something of an elite festival. Just to get to it’s idyllic location isn’t a peace of cake. Finding a place to stay is probably not only difficult but expensive and tickets are always sold out within an hour of being released. What’s more, for some acts 100 tickets are sold at a time, on location, months before, so just to get tickets you need to be in Montreux, or have a buddy there who is willing to stand in line for hours. Which is o.k. actually in my book. It is an opportunity for the locals to bring who they want to hear play for them in their own private festival. That’s cool, and it’s cool that they are so into culture to the point of putting plenty of their money there 42 years in a row.

Here’s the difference between Montreux and say, Roskilde. Both are great festivals. In Roskilde you pay 300 USD to get in and see all the acts you want, all week. But you have to accept that there may be 60,000 people waiting to see some of the same artist you want to see. But that’s great, it’s those 60,000 paying visitors who make it possible to bring such acts. At Montreux you have to pretty much pay for each act you want to see. So if I go see The Kills, I’m one of 1000 people in the hall and can basically 5 minutes before the start of the show walk right up to the stage and place myself within 2 meters of the artist, so it’s a much more private and exclusive show. After the show you can go down to Henry’s and find Gnarls Barkley sitting at the pub. Prince who played there last year, after his show at the Stravinsky Auditorium showed up at the Jazz Cafe (an open stage) and played an hour and a half for an unpaying, overjoyed audience. Joan Baez this year picked up some street musicians from Kenya she saw playing on her way to the hotel the day of her show and invited them to close her concert, where the stage security was removed and anyone who wanted was invited to go up on stage and join her dancing to inspirational Kenyan percussion. But you have to pay for those luxuries, or in my case, you have to have friends who will pay for those luxuries for you.

Now, the music. I was basically unfamiliar with all of the acts I saw. But that is what I love about Festivals, discovering tons of things you’ve never heard of, getting inspired anew.
Fiji is a disco glam rock trio from Switzerland which uses drum/bass/keyboard tracks on stage which their wonderful singer Simone sings to. It sounded very house to me, more then 70’s disco or 80’s which they make a lot of reference to. I guess because of the sounds and quality of the production. The glam bit was very apparent in the clothing and make-up, which looked very funny on the bassist, but suited Simone wonderfully, who throughout the show took off more and more glittering layers, which the audience reacted to very enthusiastically. They had a mannequin on stage that reminded me very much of Doris, the mannequin I had for the last 3 years. But they unfortunately didn’t really make much use of her in the show. The music was good and Simone’s energy was wonderful.

Fiji plays at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival, Miles Davis Hall.

 

Santogold was a very interesting act. New Wave, Dub, Pshycobility, whatever that adds up to. Basically Dub beats to Rockabily type Brooklinized singing. The concert started with a DJ mixing beats and tunes which was fantastic. That is the kind of organic musicality I love in live performance. But then when Santogold came on it lost that dynamism as she sang to prerecorded tracks. The coolest bit of the show was her two background singers who stood in their dark glasses totally expressionless, except for moments of ecstatic dancing, where they gave 100%. Her attitude and the beats got the crowd dancing and enjoying the cool party atmosphere.

One of Santogold's cool background singers and her DJ.

Madness were the best band of the first night. It’s basically a bunch of (10, I counted) older men dressed in business attire playing great ska, rock, cabaret music. The singer has a very unique voice, though his range is not so amazing, he uses it well. Go to their MySpace and listen to Baggy Trousers and NW5 to get an idea of their music, athough if your from my generation you’ve probably come across them with the 80’s hit “Our house, in the middle of the street…” The song I actually most enjoyed during the show was a song where the singer doesn’t sing at all, but just shouts the line “One Step Beyond” (also on their myspace) from time to time. The crowd loved it and yelled along like mad. I guess it is just their total unexpected craziness and the fact that they are very tight band that makes it all work so well. A great band to see live. I’m not sure I would go out and by a CD, although it could be great music to have for one of Pedram’s wild parties.

Madness plays at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival, Miles Davis Hall.

Night 2…

Das Pop to begin with, has a great band name. I love it. They are from Belgium where I stopped over on my way here and had some wonderful chocolate. Mmm… In any case they are a great Pop/Indie band. Great tunes, simple music, great energy. Very tight, lots of innocent attitude, a youthful spirit and chaos that inspires. They had the drummer right on the edge of the stage with his set turned 45 degrees, so that he was as present as the other 4 band memebers. Great idea. The singer ran back and forth from a keyboard which added a nice dynamic to what otherwise can become a simple soundscape of drums/bass/guitar.
 

The Kills was the best band of the second night. This raw bluesy punk duo are really a sight to see. The concept reminds me of the White Stripes with a simple blues foundation and a greatly varied punk sound scape of songs built over that. But this band distinguishes themselves because their approach and charisma is much more raw and erotic. The tension Alison creates as she comes out in her leopard jacket and struts in circles is very animalistic and VERY attractive I must say. She’s in your face sexual as good rock n’ roll tends to be. Loved Jamie’s hat too, totally Clockwork Orange. The songs are strong but possibly a bit to distorted as by the end, everything blends into a soup of memory, sounding a bit too alike. Great energy, incredible presence, they had me captivated the entire show. Go to their MySpace and check out Last Day of Magic and Love is a Deserter.

I didn’t know if you could bring a camera to the show, so the first night we took pictures on Xavier’s pocket camera. At the entrance was a very clear sign forbidding 35 mm camera’s so the second night I ventured to try their security check and got by them for all three shows. Specially got good pictures of this show so I’ll post a few.
   
  

The Gossip was also very good. Great music to dance to. Beth, the singer reminds me of a blend of Mama Cass and Janis Joplin, an increadible honor, both women with huge voices and incredible presence. Her voice is not of that caliber yet, but getting there. The whole band are excellent musicians and have great attitude. On their festival description they write: “We started a band ’cause we were bored. Our mission is to make you dance, and if you’re not gonna dance, just stay at home and listen to the oldies station.” I very much like bands with a woman at the drums, I find it very sexy, very powerful, very rock n’ roll. Their best stuff is not on their Myspace though, so check out Eyes Open on Youtube or this live version which feels so 60’s, or Jealous Girl. This concert was very popular, so we decided to enjoy it from farther back and I was dancing away as most everyone else.

From a bit farther back Gossip plays at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival, Miles Davis Hall.

Thanks X for this wonderful experience!

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