3.5.09

Last Night’s Gig: Holy F%$# at Mariaberg in Rorschach, CH

I’m going to commit some outright thievery here and use the blog title common on CBC Radio 3 when hosts review concerts they attend. I think it’s a great title, so I plan on using it here when I go to see bands.

This was my first concert in Switzerland and it has been quite a while (since I consider live music to be an important past time of mine) since my last show. The one thing I have noticed is that a) it’s going to be a bit more expensive to see bands that I like here as they tend to only be the big stars that tour through Zurich and b) I think I took the concert scene in Ottawa for granted, especially when it came to acts I really enjoyed. They might be few and far between here.

I’ve had this show on my radar since the end of March, but it wasn’t until the last second that I was able to convince anyone to come along. The concert was in Rorschach which is close to 2 hours from Zurich by train. A nice small town on the shore of Lake Constance. No idea why they were playing here as their only stop in Switzerland though.

I had been introduced to the band from CBC R3 and really enjoy their live creation of electronic music and have heard great things about their live show. The opening act was It Hugs Back from Kent, UK. They were decent although the acoustics in the venue (which based on the architecture used to be an old church?) prevented me from making out any words. Decent tunes though. Holy F%$# didn’t go on until just after 11, but they played a great 1.5 hour set with little banter (not sure if that is more common in Europe because of language differences) and lots of energy. The sheer number of different keyboards and crazy instruments they have to create the sounds astounded me. The crowd was on the small side probably about 100, but were loud, appreciative and dancing like mad. After finishing the set with Lovely Allen, they were cheered back with some sort of chant which Brian then recorded and included in the next song. Sick improvisation. Wished I could have had time to give greeting from a fellow Canadian/Nova Scotian, but they finished up with just enough time to make it to the train station for the ride back.

A logistically tough 2.5 hour trek back with three train switches and requiring night tickets and waking up just in time to alight in the Zurich HB. Then a lengthy 40 minute drag back to my place. Walked in the door just before 4 AM. Yikes.

All in all, a great show and I look forward to the next Canadian act coming through or at least close to Zurich.

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