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Emergenza Festival goes Acoustic 2013

Finally I was back in town, so a nice acoustic gig in a nicely small club (Underground Köln) was just the right thing to attend: a nicely mixed audience that just wanted to enjoy the evening with good music and relax. It took a while until the club got more crowded, but the longer the event lasted, the fuller and also the warmer and more oxygen-lacking it became – but at the same time the mood improved from minute to minute.
More photos of this event can be found here: www.facebook.com/carinaullmannphotography


The evening started with TOM UND JENNY, who presented their German lyrics to the audience. The band is recording their second album at the moment (their first record was covering animal stories) and therefore did not only play old, but also new pieces of their repertoire. I am pretty sure that they sound much better in an electronic set-up, since with this appearance I was partially missing the expressiveness, as well as it seemed to me that the vocals weren´t always that stable so that higher parts sounded quite forced.


It continued with RESIDENCE NONAME, who really convinced me – you clearly weren´t able to see or hear anything of the fact that this band was just founded half a year ago. A really talented band which is already now positively in a routine on stage and who sounded really good with their English lyrics, presented with strong and powerful vocals, so that they really scored with the audience. Diversity in the vocals, combined with acoustic guitars, a bass, a Cajon and a keyboard – everything went hand in hand, and I think that also the rest of the audience perceived it that way.


With someone who could be called an old hand when it comes to Emergenza, it commenced:
EDUARDO & VERSTÄRKUNG entered the stage and they brought quite a few own fans along. The band was also accepted pretty well by the rest of the audience and created a really pleasant atmosphere with their music, even though for myself, the vocals were a bit dull and monotonous after a while, it was lacking diversity.


JOEL NEY was next in line and really captivated most of the audience with his presence and his vocals, which were soulful and very strong. The songs were versatile and were just perfect for dreaming away reality, which was only partially destroyed by those people in the audience who thought that such peaceful music was the right time for chatting along. Overall it´s been, nevertheless, a performance that was really awesome and made one wonder why Joel isn´t more famous already.


With amusing songs, HERR NORCHT then made the audience not only grin and laugh, but also made them think with his German lyrics. The audience was happily participating in singing-games, you could see that people had fun – happy, laughing and grinning faces everywhere. This is what you could call a successful gig appearance!


The first special guest of the evening then entered the stage: SOFI DE LA TORRE from Las Palmas presented her songs with an incredibly striking and powerful voice which you surely cannot find often. So convincing and professional voice- and performance-wise, yet in between her songs she seemed so quiet, which all just made her very humane. A performance that at least will stick to my mind, because everything just was fitting together!


Vocal-wise not as strong were then BLUE INK, whose singer was struggling a bit with the high key notes, so that those didn´t sound really natural anymore. The audience seemed to be quite reserved and contained, which only seemed to change when the band played a cover song quite at the end of their set.


MAX UND PIERRE then were the second last band of the evening and they knew how to convince – and that not only due to the really awesome guitar playing by one of the band members who additionally also played bass with his feet at the same time. The audience was fascinated and everyone wanted to see this once-in-a-lifetime stunt. But, as mentioned, this was not the only reason why they rocked: they showed a lot of facets, presented themselves as versatile with their song choices and also their lyrics, which were underlined by strong and soulful vocals, and made the audience go nuts.


Another special guest then marked the end of the evening: BLACKOUT PROBLEMS. Their acoustic set (well, not fully acoustic, to be honest) rocked and pushed the audience for a last time. A really promising „goodbye“ with this band, who I will surely not have watched for the last time!

Then followed the prize awarding ceremony – yes, there were awards, even though the bands really didn´t focus on that but just enjoyed their time on stage.

Conclusion
Overall it´s been an event that was a nice antipol to the stressful everyday routine. An enjoyable audience and a relaxed atmosphere, in which it was all about enjoying the music, no matter with whom, where or how.

Carina Ullmann

carina@stalker-magazine.rocks - reports, reviews, photos - - - Favorite genres? - - - From classical music to metal - it all depends on the band and my mood ;) - - - Favorite bands? - - - ...it would be a too long list to write them all down... - - - Other interests? - - - Photography, travelling, culture, reading, writing