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: