Linkin Park in Arnhem

 

I went to the Linkin Park concert in Arnhem, last Thursday. Together with my son, Mart. A great concert and a valuable father-son moment.

Einstein on the Beach, Dortmund

Yesterday my son Mart and I went to Dortmund (Germany) to see the Opera "Einstein on the Beach" by Philip Glass.
My favourite composer and my all-time favourite piece of music.
This was an exceptionally good performance. I saw the same opera in Amsterdam a few years ago, in original the 1978 and even the original perfomers. And that was really 1978.
This was contemporary, abstract, with computer steered visual displays (the background images pulsate, move and change with the actual performed music, so each concert is different).
It was 3 1/2 hours non-stop repetitive music. I would go again tomorrow if Dortmund wasn't a full 2 hour drive away. 
Above picture is mine, at the start of the concert, the bottom one from the site of the Operahouse Dortmund.

Jake's song

I sometimes make music.
My Grandson, Jake, now 15 months old, was brabbeling away, and I used that soundbite to compose this song. Made with MusicMaker and Beatbox, I played most instruments myself.

Groenemeyer again

 
Herbert Groenemeyer, the popular German artist and songwriter, gave a stadium concert in Cologne.
We went there last Wednesday night. The Lanxess arena was sold out, and an enthousiastic crowd sang along on the top of their voices, along with his songs. Another fantastic show. I think it's the fifth time we attended to his performances, but so far we never had a let down.

Glass Horus

My new glass fusion project: Horus.
I posted it on facebook, and Jane Pereira Siebert (from Cape Town, South Africa) commented: "Wonderful shapes! How were you inspired to create this design?".
I must say that was a difficult question. 
I wanted to start on a new glass object, and started out with sketching a table with a vase on it. I drew it with pencil on the back side of an envelope. You can see the original envelope on below picture.
Don't ask me how it evolved into this bird like object, but I think it has to do with the fact that I had visited an opera about a Egyptian Pharaoh the night before, Akhnaten (in Antwerpen, together with my kids, Rianne and Mart). I guess the image of Horus, the Egyptian god with the falcon head subconsciously played a role when arriving at this image.
But here is the funny part: I didn't make the connection that evening, the composition just looked like it was supposed to be. I realized the connection to the opera only a few days later.

Akhnaten

On my birthday, yesterday, I treated myself and my son Mart and daughter Rianne to a modern opera: Akhnaten, by composer Philip Glass. It was performed yesterday evening in Antwerpen.
Absolutely superb (the pictures are not mine, these were found on the internet by Annemie Augustijns).
The music of Aknathen (together with Einstein on the beach) has always been my favourite piece of music.

The opera was about the life of Aknathen, a Egyptian Pharaoh, who arguably "invented" the monotheism.
At least he was the first to accept the idea of a common God, called Aten, instead of the previous worshipping of countless lesser gods, stars, moons and suns.

Capice

Now for something completely different.
Here is a composition I once composed, maybe 10 years ago.
Made the song up myself, played all instruments with help of electronic synthesisers and found samples.
The voices you'll hear are from the GTA game, one of the very first versions.

Simple Minds

The Simple Minds played live in the Palladium, Köln (Cologne) yesterday evening. A fantastic performance!
We were standing close to the platform, to be able to totally undergo the music. And make a few pictures, like this one.

30 seconds to Mars

Yesterday evening my wife Gertie, my daughter Rianne and I went to a concert of the rockband "30 seconds to Mars", In Cologne.
A memorable concert.
It's a pity they started very late, there was almost an hour waiting between the support act "you me at six" (not half bad for a warming up band) and the concert itself. But the performance made it all worth while. Jared Leto is a very charismatic performer. And musician. And songwriter. And actor. And director. A multi-talent.

Einstein on the beach

Yesterday evening I visited the Opera "Einstein on the beach", music by Philp Glass, direction Robert Wilson.

It's an opera taking 4 1/2 hours without breaks, performed in the Muziektheater in Amsterdam.

It's all about slow moving scenes, ballet, texts, visuals and patterns of the "actors" and stage, with repetitive somewhat minimal music in the hypnotizing Philip Glass style.
Sometimes you would sit through 20 minutes of looking at a simple light beam moving from one side to the other.

Back in 1979 I lived in Amsterdam, the piece was on the radio one evening, and I was thunderstruck. It was my first encounter with modern "classic" music, and it has been my favourite music piece of all times since.
But that was the music, the theater performance I only knew by reputation.

I have waited 35 years for this, and it even surpassed my expectations.
Even my son, not really into that kind of music, could not keep his eyes from the scene, and sat though the opera without even taking a break.

I am still enthralled.

Pinkpop 2012

Yesterday we went to Pinkpop, which is one of the largest popfestivals in Europe, just a few kilometers from my house. The event takes three days, and featured bands like Linkin Park, the Cure and Bruce Springsteen (among others).

We only went on Monday (together with 61.000 other visitors) for Herbert Grönemeyer, the Specials and the Boss. We had the best weather imaginable, sunny all day, even hot at times. It stayed warm until we went home at 11 at night (I have had my share of rainy Pinkpop a few years ago).

Above sketch shows the performance of Serena Pryne (I had never heard of before).
I find it very hard to draw at festivals or stadium concerts, you are always too far from the performer, and if you are close enough, it's too crowded to draw (believe me, I tried). Besides, you never seem to get the dynamic of the performance. 

I made this drawing at home, by memory, it was an easy scene to memorize. A nice exercise by the way, I checked with photographs and I think I caught it well.

This panoramic view was drawn and painted while relaxing during the performance of Mumford and sons. We sat on an elevated terrace, overlooking the public in front of the main stage. I little later I dozed off in the warm late afternoon. Beer to blame.

Also two pictures I took during the show of Bruce Springsteen and the performance of Herbert Grönemeyer. Both were unbelievable fantastic.
And so were the acts of Seasick Steve (with his self built guitars), the Specials (music from my youth) and James Morrisson ( a bit soft for a festival like this, but very well perfomed).

Night of the Proms

Yesterday evening my wife, a friend and I went to Antwerp, to the yearly Night of the Proms. A combination of classical and popmusic. This year -among others- featuring the diva's (4 soprano's) Angie Stone (real old fashioned soul), Mike Hucknall (leadsinger of Simply Red) and the highlight of the evening: Seal. He knew how to play the public.
Gisteravond Night of the Proms in Antwerpen. Met dit jaar: de Diva's Angie Stone, Mike Hucknall en vooral... Seal. Geweldig.

Grönemeyer in Köln

Das Herbert Grönemeyer konzert im Rhein Energie Stadion in Köln. Es war wieder Grossartig, die Deutsche Zuschauer lasten sich gerne durch ihm verführen. Dieser Skizze habe ich vor Anfang der Show gemacht, die Farben später am Abend.
Last monday evening (it looks like a century ago) we visited the Herbert Grönemeyer concert in the stadium in Cologne. A fantastic performance, like always. Most of you readers won´t know, but Herbert is the biggest German musician of popular music; his concerttour sells out dozens of stadiums in Germany, and attracts half a million enthousiastic fans. And a few Dutch.

Tibbets

Hiroshima by refarch
Sometimes I make music, I made this a few years ago. I composed the piece and played all the instruments myself, using a keyboard, electronic synthesizers (VSTI), drum sequencers, looped samples and sofware programs like Music Maker and Acid. For the background voice I used vocoder software (turns written text into voice; I can't sing). The narrative is a real sample of the voice of the pilot Paul Tibbets, who flew Enola Gay.
Soms maak ik muziek, dit stuk heb ik helemaal zelf gecomponeerd en ingespeeld, m.b.v. keyboard, mijn laptop en synthesizer software.

Canto Ostinato

I went to a lay-down pianoconcert in Heerlen, yesterday evening. You were allowed to take a mat with you, and lay down on the stage to enjoy the music. Most visitors did, but I decided to stay on the balcony. The music (contemporary classical) was of the Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt,  arguably his best piece: Canto Ostinato, It was performed by Sandra en Jeroen van Veen. They played the short version (1,5 hour); the long version is 4 pianos and takes 4 hours without a break.
Unfortunately it was too dark to draw, as you can see most of the lines are quite shaky.
Ligconcert in het theater van Heerlen, een uitvoering van Canto Ostinato van Simeon ten Holt.

Leenderheide

While driving to Amsterdam, to the Simple Minds concert, we got caught in a hailstorm near Leenderheide. It was 16.55, Gertie was driving. I made a quick scribble, and made the drawing at home, by memory. Hagelstorm onderweg naar het Simple Minds concert, bij Leenderheide.

Simple minds

Last night in HMH Amsterdam, we went to a concert of the Simple minds. Although we had a great time, we have heard them perform better in the past. For some time, especially when they played unknown stuff,  it felt like we were missing the click with the audience. Lightshow and sound was terrific though.

Also playing OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). 80's music, and it should have been left in that era. Gisterenavond Simple Minds en OMD in Amsterdam. Goed concert, maar we misten het contact met het publiek een beetje. En OMD is over de houdbaarheidsdatum.

Light

Tried to capture the light, fireworks and sound of the Green Day concert. Impressie van het licht, geluid en vuurwerk van het Green Day concert.

More Green Day

More pictures of the Green Day concert in Cologne, last monday.

Green Day in Köln

The post-punkband "Green Day" in concert in Köln (Cologne).
I went there together with Mart and Rianne (my son and daughter). Probably the best rock concert I ever saw, better than the punkbands of my youth anyway. The energy of these guys. Incredible.
Gisteravond: concert van de post-punkband Green Day. Geweldig concert. Wat energie hebben die mannen!