Galahad Live at Warsaw Klub Progresja 25th October 2013

Seen a few Prog bands up at the Klub Progresja in Stare Bemowa, Warsaw this year, including Threshold; Enochian Theory; Riverside; Pain of Salvation; Antimatter; Anathema; and, earlier this month, Fish.  Thus, seeing Galahad last night was a nice addition to this list.

About six months ago, I saw that Galahad were playing the Klub Progresja, and thought something like "Galahad?  I know that name but don't know their music, I think they came out of the early/mid-1980s Prog movement that included Marillion; IQ; Twelth Night; Pendragon; Pallas etc., didn't they?' Thus, I checked Galahad out on Youtube, and after listening to 'Empires Never Last' (below), decided to go and see them at the Progresja:

Seeing Galahad at the Klub Progresja last night reinforced my view that they are a slightly quirky but seriously underrated Prog band.  Lots of the tunes (predictably) go on for 10 minutes or so, but they never get dull or boring, as there are often nice changes of tempo.  Who would I compare them to?  Well, in their softer tender moments, they remind me a bit of IQ, while in their harder-edged moments, they may be a lbit like Threshold (who come along the Prog line a little later on than Galahad, of course). 

Besides the obvious, 'Empires Never Last', which was the third or so tune of the set, which other song really stood out for me last night?  Well, that would have to be the encore 'Seize The Day', a really good upbeat tune (with wise advice about doing the things that you need or want to do while you can):

Below the band are taking their fully deserved applause at the Progresja last night:

Also really liked vocalist Stuart Nicholson's turns of irony last night, for example, introducing the last track of the set by saying that it had to be the last as they didn't know any others.  Wonderful stuff but the irony was perhaps a little lost on a foreign audience.

Austra Live at Warsaw Basen 22nd October 2013

Saw Canadian electronica band, Austra, at the Basen in Warsaw last night, which turned out to be another cracking gig.  Seen some really excellent gigs at this place recently, including Coco Rosie and Mum in particular.  Was really impressed with Austra frontwoman, Katie Stelmanis, not only her polyphonic-type voice, but also her impish-type movements and compelling presence on stage.

As expected, the band came on with 'What We Done', the opening (and for me, best) track on their second album, 'Olympia':

Well done to the good person who recorded this from an Austra show in London.  True to form, the barnstorming tune of the night was 'Lose It' (below from a KEXP performance), especially the beautiful change of tone and melody in the middle of this track:

Must say that it was, at first, a bit disappointing to see that the backing singers, the Lightman sisters, who also have great voices, weren't there on stage (either this or my eyes didn't catch them), but, overall, this didn't detract from a great performance.

Especially loved the crescendo-type finale:  two encores, the lights went on and things seemed to have ended, but the crowd as good as demanded the band back on stage for a final number.  Seldom see this full kind of encore routine these days, used to be a kind of norm years ago, so it was great to see it last night.

So which other tracks stood out for me last night?  Well, I first discovered Austra on the KEXP music programme via Youtube about 12-18 months ago while looking for a Low performance there, and became familiar with tracks like 'Spellwork' and 'The Beat and The Pulse' there, so these tunes had a special kind of resonance for me (again the tracks below are from KEXP performances):

Finally, I rounded a very good night off perfectly by going upstairs and taking a few shots of the Austra keyboard equipment while nicely finishing off a pint:

But which track was echoing in my mind at the end of the gig?  Well, I guess that would have to be 'Home' (below, again from the KEXP music programme):

Ornate Streetlamps: An Endearing Symbol of Warsaw

The trio of ornate streetlamps above can be found at Ratusz Arsenał in Warsaw, you can see the tall glass building at Ratusz in the background.  Below, you can see just how wonderful one of the streetlamps looks close-up, really love what a zoom lens can catch:

For me, the streetlamp has become a central symbol or motif of Warsaw, as there are different kinds of ornate streetlamp dotted all around the city.  Of course, they brighten the place up, but, for some reason, it's easy to not give these beautiful objects the attention that they deserve.

Kraków: The Church Where I Saw an Armenian Catholic Mass Many Years Ago

I remember the small church above for having seen an Armenian Catholic Mass there about 14-15 years ago when I lived in Nowy Sącz, and regularly visited Kraków on Sunday and occasionally Saturday.  During a Saturday visit, my friends from the Society of St. Pius X (where I sometimes went to the Old Latin Mass in a flat just round the corner from the Rynek in Kraków) informed me about the Armenian Catholic Mass, and out of curiosity, I had to see it.  The church above lies just across the road from the part of the Kraków Wawel Castle complex in the picture below:

What do I recall about the Armenian Catholic Mass?  Well, I remember being sat amongst a small mainly Armenian congregation, while the Armenian priest, dressed in bright red vestments holding a golden and jewel-looking cross throughout, continually chanted in Armenian with his back to the people in the Traditional Catholic way.  Another endearing memory from the Armenian Catholic Mass is the beautiful stained glass window of Our Lady and the Child Jesus in the picture below:

Yes, it was great to go back in time recently, in August this year to be exact, to get a picture of such a beautiful church window.

Warsaw Basen: Why I Like The Place

Why do I like the Basen in Warsaw?  Well, generally speaking, it's just a wonderfully small and intimate place for catching some avant garde-type/experimental-type bands in Warsaw.  As far as I know, the Basen ('Swimming Pool') started holding gigs last year, and my first trips to the place where to see old American cult-type band, The Residents, and the far more modern American group, The Chromatics, in the first half of this year.  Since then, I've seen quite a few interesting bands and performers at the Basen including Coco Rosie; The Raveonettes; excellent Polish band, Hatifnats (supporting The Raveonettes); Icelandic band, Mum (one of my concerts of the year), and another Icelander, Sin Fang (below supporting Mum).  Should've also seen another Icelander, Soley, at the Basen this year, but just didn't get round to it.

So, when am I off to the Basen next?  Well, on Tuesday 22nd October next week to see Canadian electronica-type band,  Austra:

Was introduced to bands like Austra; Mum; and Soley on the Seattle-based music programme KEXP via Youtube, and now it's great to be able to watch some of what I call the 'KEXP bands' live in Warsaw courtesy of the Basen.  Below, Austra are performing on KEXP:

Can't wait for Austra next week, experimental music with an interesting kind of polyphonic-type flavour.

The Circus Visiting Autumnal Warsaw

Great to see the circus visiting Warsaw in October:  the people are expecting the winter freeze (hopefully, not as long as last year when we had snow for six months), but can still seek refuge through an evening or weekend visit to the circus to see the performing horses, elephants, clowns etc.

To visit the circus, you simply roll up to the ticket office like the one in the circus grounds at lower Wolska (about three tram stops up from Ratusz Arsenał) in the pictures above:

Then, after buying your ticket(s) from the 'kasa' (ticket office), you get some kind of red carpet treatment on the short walk to the big top. 

Just nice to see that this traditional kind of enertainment still exists, and was happy to see another circus up and running near Bemowo Airport on my way up to the Fish concert at Klub Progresja last week.

Youtube Surfing with Lana Del Rey and Within Temptation

Started off my Youtube surfing last Friday by listening to several of my favourite Within Temptation songs such as 'Angels'; 'Faster'; 'Shot in the Dark'; and 'Summertime Sadness' above.  Thus, knowing that 'Summertime Sadness' is a cover of Lana Del Rey, and only knowing the latter vaguely in passing (despite all the hype), I thought that I must have a look at Lana Del Rey, and was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

First, I found myself really liking Ms. Rey's 'Summertime Sadness':

Besides the above, I found that a cluster of her songs, including 'Born To Die'; 'Blue Jeans' and 'Young and Beautiful, just had a kind of old-fashioned 1950s/1960s, cinematic-type feel that I could kind of empathise with:

I know there's some kind of big debate over the quality of her singing live, but, for me, this is not that important, what's really impressive is that she can construct such songs (with such a great nostalgic feel and flavour), they're simply wonderfully empathetic pieces, seemingly digging much deeper into the human condition than a lot of contemporary music.

Finally, my Friday night Youtube sufing took me to a meeting between Sharon Den Adel (of Within Temptation) and Lana Del Rey on Dutch TV:

This is a fascinating short piece of anthropology, as Den Adel pays Del Rey a compliment about her seemingly trying to convey something more than just her music, to which an initially somewhat uncomfortable-looking Del Rey starts to relax a bit more while being caught in the spotlight.

Finally, why was I starting my Friday night Youtube surf with Within Temptation last Friday?  Well, having got a ticket to see the band at Warsaw Torwar in March next year, even at the age of nearly 48, I'm genuinely excited about seeing any great band that I've never seen before.  Also think that Within Temptation are one of the best bands on the planet at the moment.  Really love the video of them playing live at some kind of Main Square Festival below:

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Mural Near Warsaw University Library

This mural devoted to Marie Skłodowska-Curie can be found just before reaching Warsaw University Library when walking down from the Warsaw University campus near the Old Town.  Back in my hometown of Bury, Lancashire, I had learnt at school that Marie Curie was French, so when I first came to Poland in the late 1990s, I was somewhat surprised to find out that Marie Curie Skłodowska was in fact Polish.  Of course, the Poles are quite rightly proud of this fact.

'Tree Lilies' Inside Warsaw University Grounds

When I went for a walk round Warsaw University grounds (the ones near the Old Town) at sundown last Sunday, I got the nice surprise above.  I know next to nothing about plants and flowers, so I haven't got a clue what the white things are, but, for me, they look really great:

Anyway, after looking at the bush/small tree above, I've just decided to call the white things 'tree lilies'.  They were just really eye-catching at sundown.

Fish Live at Warsaw Klub Progresja 9th October 2013

Before last night, the last times I'd seen Fish (Derek Dick) were with Marillion back in 1982 at Manchester Apollo; 1985 at Castle Donington (where I drank too much and fell asleep halfway through the set); and Milton Keynes in 1986. 

Didn't get up to the Klub Progresja till about 8.45 last night, and the Fish gig was already underway, so how much I'd missed I'm not quite sure, maybe anything between 10-40 minutes.  Anyway, when I arrived, Fish and his band were already doing some really mellow stuff such as 'Blind To The Beautiful' from the new album, 'A Feast of Consequences'. 

Besides the above, Fish was discussing how the Serbs had bombed Sarajevo Library to destroy its Islamic literature, and how a black friend had had some kind of trouble in Eastern Poland.  This kind of politically 'correct' diatribe drew a minimalist response from the audience.  However, the audience had far more empathy for Fish's discussion about his grandfather's involvement in the 1st World War at the Battle of the Somme, and his trio of tracks from 'A Feast of Consequences' ('Crucifix Corner'; 'The Gathering'; and 'Thistle Alley' were a fitting tribute to the fallen of the Somme and the 1st World War:

Yeah, 'Crucifix Corner' was my favourite tune of the night (well done to the good person who put the video above from Warrington in May on Youtube).  Indeed, the three 1st World War songs really worked well with the black and white movie backdrop.

So what else can I say about the evening with Fish?  Well, the Marillion snippets:  'He Knows You Know'; 'Fugazi'; 'White Feather' etc. all sounded (inevitably perhaps) a bit dated, while most of his solo stuff, which I'm not that familiar with, sounded great.  Thus, I guess I had a nice evening catching up with Fish.

New Model Army Live at Warsaw Proxima 8th October 2013

Now seen New Model Army four times over the years:  first time at Reading Festival in 1989; second time at Manchester Academy in early or mid-1990s; then a few years ago at Warsaw Stodoła; and last night at Warsaw Proxima.

So how was last night different from the previous times I'd seen New Model Army?  Well, more than anything, the band did far more of their newish stuff than the old favourites last night, and this kind of had a fresh impact.  From the newish stuff, there was a nice balance between hard crunchy (often experimental) tunes and more subtle mellow ones.  As I'm now getting on in age, being nearly 48, I now have a liking for the more subtle mellow tunes so 'March in September' (well done to the good person who videod this at Sheffield below) from the new 'Between Dog and Wolf' album was right up my tree:

Having said this, I also really enjoyed the significantly crunchier title track from the 2009 album 'Today Is a Good Day':

Again, well done to the good person who put the video above from Nottingham Rock City on Youtube.

Thus, the New Model Army set was generally fresh and crisp, but the Proxima, a small student club, is far from the best place to see a concert in Warsaw, thus, there were, at times, a few inevitable problems with the sound, especially down near the front, because of the far from perfect accoustics of the place.

Anyway, as the 90-minute or so set drew nearer to the end, we started to get more of the old classics such as 'No Rest'; 'Stupid Questions'; '51st State'; and the final encore, 'The Green and The Grey'.  Still, it would've been nice if the band had done my two favourite NMA tunes:  'White Coats' and 'Love Songs', but I guess you can't have everything in life, can you?

Still, one nice surprise of the evening was that I bumped into an old workmate, Steve, who I hadn't seen in about 3-4 years, probably since when NMA played Warsaw Stodoła 3-4 years ago. 

Warsaw University Library Roof

So what was it like up on Warsaw University Library Roof, then?  Well, as you can see below, it started looking very interesting as I made my way up the stairs there.

First, I was able to look down on the majestic, grey, Gothic-looking building below:

After this, I managed to get a panoramic shot of the National Football Stadium in the distance (where I'd seen Roger Waters do 'The Wall' a few weeks ago:

But the Library Roof itself was also quite picturesque, as the juxtaposition of red autumnal leaves and glass ceiling below shows:

As it was a beautiful clear day, I was also able to get some decent panoramic shots across the river into the Praga district of Warsaw:

Finally, to put the icing on the cake, I managed to get a kind of 'Magnum Opus' shot up there:

Of course, I wish the happy couple all the best for the future.

Warsaw University Library Gardens

After 10 years living in Warsaw, I finally got round to having a proper look at the incredible Warsaw University building (in the picture above) yesterday afternoon, and I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure.

First off, I checked out the Gardens (above) round the side of the building, and there was more than enough just there to keep my eyes occupied.  However, it was the autumn-coloured leaves growing round some incredible tree-shaped metal frames below that really caught my eye:

For me, the above frames are a simple but well thought out piece of artistic genius, and I simply couldn't take my eyes off the things.

Go-Karting in Warsaw

Went watching my friends from EIP ('Everything Is Possible') go-karting in the Praga district of Warsaw on their Integration Day on Friday.  To get to the go-karting place above, you go over the river Vistula from Gdanski metro station and then veer left to ulica Jagiellonska 82, although the place itself is a bit detached from the main road. 

I have both higher and lower back problems, so there was no way that I was ever going to get into one of the go-karts below:

Still, my friends from EIP had a great time zooming around the racetrack, going back repeatedly for more turns, and getting better each time they did so.

Warsaw in Autumn

Had always wanted to get a few shots of the leaves turning colour in autumnal Warsaw, and, this year round, I finally got round to doing this.  After the dramatic and often beautiful changes in colours, things inevitably wither away, and this is why I much prefer the American word '(the) fall' than the British 'autumn'.  Yes, I love the association of the Adam and Eve 'fall from grace' story and the association of autumn with human mortality.

Also can't help but think of Justin Hayward's canonical 'Forever Autumn' whenever I think of and experience this time of year:

Found this interesting version of Justin Hayward doing 'Forever Autumn' inside Canterbury Cathedral with what appears to be Ian Anderson on flute:

What a magic juxtaposition of song, place and performers.  I absolutely loved visiting the Cathedral when I lived in Canterbury for three or four years at the back end of the 1990s and start of the 2000s, really good times.

Mum Live at Warsaw Basen 2nd October 2013

Had the absolute honour of seeing Icelandic band, Mum, at Warsaw Basen last night.  Like fellow Icelanders Arstidir who I saw at the Klub Progresja in Warsaw earlier this year, this turned out to be something of a beautiful, epiphany-type experience, it was simply that good.

With me, the thing about Mum is that their songs are such beautiful, dreamy, relaxing soundscapes that despite recognising the songs themselves, it's difficult to remember any of the titles (with the exception of 'Green Grass of Tunnel' - from the Latitude Festival below - many thanks to whoever put this on Youtube):

A classic example of this is 'Land Between Solar Systems' (from ATP Iceland below - thanks a lot to whoever put this on Youtube) which, despite having to look for the name of this tune now, I fully expected the band to come on with last night, and they didn't disappoint:

Besides their obvious musical proficiency (love the versatility of the members playing several different instruments), I also love the sense of innocence and goodwill that the band effortlessly evoke from the stage:  all the elfine-type quirky smiles and nicely 'strange' dances, I find all this really refreshing, almost mystical even.  In a nutshell, the band just naturally create a wonderfully subtle but also highly intimate rapport with the audience, and, last night, at one point, had the audience gently whistling like birds for some time.  Yes, sometimes it's just good to feel captivated by the beautiful subtlety of it all, the gentle sense of some kind of transcendence.

Yes, this was one band that was well worthy of a healthy round of applause at the end of the evening.  The band modestly thanked the audience for sharing the evening with them, and I felt it an honour to experience such a subtly beautiful presence.

Another Interesting Streetlight/Streetlamp in Warsaw

A kind of small obscure interest I've acquired over my years in Warsaw is that of taking note of some of the beautiful streetlights/streetlamps in the city.  These streetlamps/streetlights seem to compare favourably with those that I used to see in my native north-west England which seemed to lack a certain aesthetic quality.