Roadburn Festival 2011 - Day 1

R  o  a  d  b  u  r  n    2 0 1 1

DAY ONE

images and thoughts by Stefan Raduta
for Day 2 click here
for Day 3 click here

             Man, I had to live it to believe it…a few weeks later and back at being displaced in New York City, welcomed by a spring that almost seems too beautiful to be true, I'm forced to embrace work and bills - things are returning to normal. But now that it’s gone and I’m across an ocean, I’m still pinching my skin.

             My first Roadburn experience has pretty much left me speechless, so much so that a week later while being in Oslo for the Inferno festival, I was still waking up every day asking myself if what took place in Tilburg really happened or it was yet another stupid dream. More than an utopia come true, the line-up for this year in particular was defying both reality and common sense.

 
            Reading about it or seeing photos doesn’t cut it, one has to be there to understand what a miracle it is that something as magnificent as Roadburn even exists. I really don’t know where to begin, or how to thank Walter and his team for creating something like this. The unbelievable vast array of artists and styles, of views and approaches to music, from the avant-garde to the bizarre, from the almighty drone to Swans to  “the folk dude in the skinny jeans who kicked everyone’s ass”… it’s hard to imagine it could all happen under one banner. Because if you think about it as an ensemble, the line-up makes no sense (Grave Miasma and Wovenhand??), and then if you really think about it, it makes all the sense in the world: in fact, it’s frickin’ brilliant!

 

             Roadburn has got to be the ultimate Mecca for the true music lover who sees art as the only true expression of honesty to oneself and the Universe, and knows no boundaries of form and shape nor can be tainted by skin color or faith, lies or deception. None of that stuff matters when you search for something beyond what the eye can see or the finger can touch, and this is why the festival as a concept is brilliant, because it’s the embodiment of a simple and great realization: that we - the metal community - are all one and we’re not different from each other. In fact we’re all the same and share the same core values, we may have just found different ways of expression that we’re most comfortable with. 

              All in motion at this great crossroad of everything uncorrupted,  Roadburn is for the rabid music lover who’s always in search for a challenge, constantly seeking something new and unique to explore and pour his/her soul into. If the only journey that matters is the one within and you love good music, this is the ship to jump on. Or, it's a great time to spend with friends, get high four days in a row and see some awesome shit that you wouldn't see anywhere else. 

             Whether you were there for Wardruna or Grave Miasma, Aluk Todolo or Circle, Wovenhand or Sunn O))), or you just came to see the almighty Swans annihilate everyone with a sardonic smile and while waiting for them you discovered ten great bands you never knew existed, you got what you expected: honesty. At Roadburn you can wear the most blasphemic t-shirt and go see White Hills or Mamiffer, and it’s perfectly fine because you don’t have to hide your roots and the artists have nothing to prove to anyone. They themselves are there for the experience and as soon as they’re off the stage they’re no different than you. There’s no room for egos or attitudes, everyone is just there, sharing who they are with the rest of the world – that’s what this festival is about: an unpretentious exchange of sound and emotion between the artist and the listener, in the most relaxing atmosphere possible.

 
             

              In a world where we’re surrounded by commercialism and everything is driven by money and image, where non-valor is constantly shoved down your throat and the bar keeps being raised for you and subliminal messages tell you what you need and want, when it comes to music Roadburn seems to be the oasis where all that bullshit can’t penetrate because everyone’s eyes is open  everyone is a free spirit, everyone is a friend. Whethere you come from Greece or Sweden and no matter if you’re in your twenties and you worship Watain or you’re in your fifties and you came to see Count Raven (who were really awesome btw!), everyone has the same young heart and the joint gets passed in all directions – all you have to do is ask. It’s really remarkable, yet it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone…have you never asked yourself how strange, how bizarre is it that metal heads as a whole are friendlier than everyone else? Considering what the music deals with, the anger, angst, all this never-ending obsession with the dark and affiliation with the occult, you’d expect (us all) to be anything but friendly and cordial, but in fact it’s the exact opposite. And especially in Tilburg, where the magic leaf is at home and the venues are surrounded by beautiful open cafés and great Belgian beer, the best in everyone comes out. The friendly vibe and camaraderie I found in Tilburg is quite unprecedented, and I‘ve rarely felt more fortunate in my life than to being then and there.

             Highlights of the festival? Too many to mention…what wasn’t a highlight? Every single day was incredible, the first one in fact was just surreal. From The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble’s eerie performance to Year Of No Light’s earth shattering set, to the fun and entertaining Ghost, to a wonderful and ambitious Winterfylleth, everything was a highlight, and that’s just the beginning…I will also never forget when on the second day on my way down from Grave Miasma I made my way in to catch The Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, which came out of nowhere and knocked my socks off. Also saw an euphoric Michael Gira as high on life as he could be, dancing and cheering by the stage like a teenager, yelling “Louder!!” every 5 minutes. I couldn’t believe it, it was so awesome. Michael Gira, who created one of the most surreal acts ever, right there in the middle of us,having a great time, throwing fists in the air etc. Splendid!

DAY ONE

            I had been dying to see The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble since I first their self titled LP not too long ago. My expectations were exceeded, the band is beyond great live: very trippy music, spatial, a combination of dark ambient with neo-classical, total class. Originally formed as a project to record soundtracks for silent movies, to me they sound like a chiller Kayo Dot, some Godspeed You! Black Emperor influences mixed with a relaxed trip-hop, very nuanced,  so soft and beautifully layered! From fans of Arms and Sleepers and Massive Attack to Portishead, people would dig this band for sure. Can’t wait to see them again for sure, first band I saw and one of my personal highlights, such an inspired addition…

               Ghost was next and I was very curious to have my first encounter with this intriguing outfit - so much hype around them, it’s unbelievable…they came out of nowhere and they’re on every magazine cover. As expected the Midi Theater was packed, and they proved to be very entertaining and fun. Awesome costumes, great stage presence from the vocalist and a very catchy Black Sabbath worship with a twist. Are they over hyped? Perhaps, I don’t know. OK they totally are, but I really enjoyed the show, and for what it is, it's great. I'm actually excited to see them here in New York City very soon with Sabbath Assembly.

 

              Yet again another set I couldn’t afford to see in its entirety because UK black metal sensation Winterfylleth were playing during the same time. That's really the only problem with this festival, you just can't see everything you want to, it's humanly impossible. I really wish they could add one more day and spread things around a little more, it's almost not fair to miss bands you really want to see for bands you really really want to see, heh. Anyway, Winterfylleth is just as solid live as it is in studio, full of grit and conviction, they delivered a flawless performance that went straight to the gut.  Come to think of it, I was really impressed. Can’t wait to see them again, hopefully over here on a tour with Ireland's Altar Of Plagues and/or Fen…dreaming again of course.

 
 

 
            On the way from Ghost to Winterfylleth I stopped for a brief moment to see Alcest. It’s incredible how popular they got in such short notice (or maybe it was long overdue?), I just don’t seem to get away from this band, by now I’ve seen them four times in as many countries: Started with Bucharest last year (their first live gig ever with Agalloch), later in NYC,  Tilburg and Oslo was following shortly. Knowing the latter would be right around corner I decided to just stay for two songs, mainly because Alcest I think deserves a more intimate setting, and 013 seemed just too big for them. They did gather a very large crowd and performed very well, as expected. Rather sad to see Fursi is not in the band anymore…busy with Les Discrets I guess?

Wovenhand - the moment where everything changed.
 

 

I'm gonna dance this town to ruins
Stood close hell fire barbed wire
Come on boy
Come up with somethin'
Or go home go home with nothin'

            I guess you could say I have a thing for Wovenhand, I'm sort of really into the music this man is making.  Without a doubt the most intense/emotional point of the festival for me (and so many others undoutebly) was seeing David Eugene Edwards  on the stage of 013.

            His visceral performance pretty much gave everyone goose bums. It felt like he took an entire venue by storm fire and whip, with nothing more than a wooden banjo and his posture. Feathers in his hair, an Indian choker on his neck and with a beautiful Cherokee horsetail ornament hanging from the microphone, he did just what he said in our interview: he threw his Indian rug on the floor and just played his heart out. Fearless, invoking spirits, whilespeaking in tongues, chanting in a Cherokee dialect, dancing and provoking the crowd, asking them to “bring it!!”,  David was a spectacle on his own, at times he made your skin crawl but it was nevertheless surreal, equally uplifting and intimidating…

Sinking singing hands
Mercy mercy
Your darkened face
Well known to her
It’s a low low low indivisible man
To be myself again
Please get inside
Quiet in the mind of the people
Nothing new here
Under the sun
Away with me away with me
They run

Just look across and see
My weary stone of knee

Back to dust
As we have been told
Clinging to the sky
Like smoke
And it is so
bone of my bone
one desert shy
down singing fetter drowning

This fear is only the beginning
All for the loving hand
Yes I smile and I agree
It is a good night to shiver
A good tounge might make it right
All Ive said above a whisper

There is a sorrow to be desired
To be sorrows desire

What they say is true
It is a dirty blue
This color around you
Your curled up warm
In your own little corner of Sodom
Did you agree to believe
This fall has no bottom

There is a sorrow to be desired
To be sorrows desire

All we move by the book of numbers
Im held together by string
Ii hear not the voices of others
The bells of Leuven ring
Fear not the faces of brothers
Ive come apart it seems

I see not the faces are covered
Im in your amber ring

             You can’t put stuff like this into words, it’s impossible. He has this habit of chanting lyrics from other songs in between the ones he’s actually playing that night, so somewhere in between Elktooth and Your Russia he stops and he offers very dramatically the lyrics from Singing Grass - The beast, he plays his heart, he does deceive the heart. False fires, false fires in the mind of men. I thought I was going to have a heart attack right then and there in the photo pit. I knew what he was talking about and I was still numb, I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt for those who didn’t know of Wovenhand or 16 Horsepower till that day. I’m also not ashamed to admit there were moments when I had tears my eyes through the performance because while I knew this would turn Roadburn upside-down, I did not expect him to be so intense and provoking, so defying, so pumped up, so in it!!  He even knocked the microphone off at one moment…  many thought he was angry but that couldn’t be further from the truth...I know for a fact that this is what he wanted, to spread this message to the one community that can really understand him wholly. I was absolutely persuaded that  this was not just another show for him.

             

                 JJ Coczan shared his thoughts right after the show in on his blog: "A little bit ago, I watched Wovenhand lay waste to both the crowd and every other band I’ve seen today. Seriously. Heaviest Roadburn set so far was Wovenhand. David Eugene Edwards put more passion into the song “Your Russia” than I’ve put into anything in my entire life. I was embarrassed to be alive watching it. He did this kind of combination Native American war whoop and tough guy posturing thing, and at several intervals told the audience – the main room of 013 – to “bring it.” Honestly, I think most people were afraid to. The folk dude in the skinnyjeans kicked everyone’s ass. Go figure."

                 Yup.

                

              Does it make sense now that bands like Marduk, Primordial and so many others praise this devout Christian man’s work? Of course it does. He’s scarier and more intimidating than most black metal acts you listen to today – because he’s for real, it’s no joke pal. And the honesty of his music goes straight to the heart like a thunderbolt; you have no power over it. Not later than a week I was seeing Urgehal in Oslo in a packed John Dee and seriously, didn't even come close. Yes, Urgehal. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm getting older or been through life a little - I will always love Emperor and Dissection for as long as I live - but when you see something that moves you so much, whether it's Dead Can Dance or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, your scale of expectations changes drastically. 
 
              On a personal note, I was sad Pascal wasn’t with him on stage that night, that 1976 Thunderbird would have surely made a big difference, but still even without his old friend DEE still made quite an impression. I vote to have them on stage again next year, it’s such a spectacle to witness. To those who liked what they saw and heard, I recommend them to catch Wovenhand on tours because they play in much smaller settings, and the music gets far more intense when you’re physically closer to the band – they can get so loud!
                
               After the show I had to gather myself for a few minutes and then ran to the building where the merch was being sold, because I was curious - the little merch Wovenhand brought sold out like hot bread in a matter of minutes. I knew it would happen, I just knew it…

Hidden inside him
Music in the dark
This conquering kindness
To all in his quiver
Burdened hard
On the road
By law all are wounded
That you may know
You may know one another

She looks for me in picture
Oh my brothers keeper
In picture worn smooth
From hand to hand
A quiet unlearning oh I had forgotten
To control the tongue
I do now remember

Do not all step to the end of dreams
Down piano wire
They will leave the lips
Of everyone's desire

In the cold cold comfort
Of winter on winter
Swinging mood
Swinging mood
Quick round every turn
Within your frame
My sister
They are endless three
Yet in the mirror of the knife
I see only me

I must miss you
Under the ashen sky
And out from among them
You and you
Those who spin as glass
On this iron ship
Into their own hands cast
Oh it is this sad news
That has traveled so fast

All these tears
Gather together
Down your cheek
Your neck and feathers
All these tears

Letter by letter
They must be found
While still day
As dead men do
Do not find their way
Beneath the cedars
The cedars of Lebanon they

All these tears

Feather fell a voice
A calling answer there
To the hearing soul
The soul in the hollow square

           
              Pentagram followed and it was everything it should have been, and more. So much fun! Bobby Liebling, the uncrowned godfather of doom - a man that should have been bigger than Ozzy Osbourne, a living proof that people can fuck up but ultimately genius is recognized and miracles can happen - offered a killer performance. The crowd ate it up, excellent performance. Congratulations to them and especially to Sean Pelletier who believed in Bobby, standing by his side to finally see the man prevail. Ace!

               Having seen Pentagram not too long ago in Brooklyn and knowing I was going to see them again in Norway less than a week later, I left before the set ended so I could catch Circle.

                  Man, if you missed their performance you missed one of the best shows at Roadburn, I kid you not! Whatever happened that  night at Midi Theater left me numb with disbelief. Guilty, I never listened to a single song of their discography but the band came highly recommended so I purposely stayed away from their albums (so many!!) just so I could witness it alive for the first time. Such an exceptional, exceptional performance, captivating in every way, equally original and fascinating. Not only that this band is unreal live, but they have a ton of records out, and if you consider that in 2007 alone they released three studio albums and three live albums, a 7" and three album re-issues, well, you get the idea. I'll also add that vocalist/keyboardist/percussionist Mika Rättö is seriously one of the most bizarre and intriguing stage performers I’ve ever seen, a one man circus without a doubt. See them at any cost!

             Wardruna was the last act I was keen on seeing for the day,  and surely one of my must see from beginning to end concerts. Last year I saw them open the Inferno festival in Oslo with a very special performance at the Viking ship Museum. The first ever concert to be held inside the museum at night, for everyone present it was a very, very powerful experience. Quite a moving image seeing them sing next to old Viking ships, the atmosphere they created felt like a portal to another dimension, so real you could almost touch it.

              Inside the Midi Theater at Roadburn they were just fantastic and really wowed everyone. They are seriously an experience that can leave you speechless, and it was obvious many were seeing them live for the first time. The venue was packed and the crowd seemed to be in a total different world, there was so much joy in people’s eyes. Wardruna is a very uplifting and beautifully sad thing to experience in flesh, very introspective, calming and comforting…it feels more like a journey in time than anything else. They were without a doubt the most esoteric addition to this year’s bill I’d say, and the closest thing you could experience to a band like Dead Can Dance for example. Exceptional, another group you should not miss.

               Day two shortly, if there's any interest.