Eurosonic
More than 110 bands from all over Europe playing in one city in twenty different venues during just two days; that is Eurosonic.
It's a showcase festival that ables you to see the most interesting bands from Iceland to Italy and from rock to pop and hiphop.
I raced around the city on my bike to see several bands, but will only review the most outstanding of the night: Gåte.
Gåte
According to the Eurosonic-programbooklet, Gåte makes folkrock and that's not a style I would normally go for. An online friend
from Norway told me to check them out, so I did and I was blown away. Gåte are Gjermund (bass), Gunnhild (vocals), Kenneth
(drums), Magnus (guitar) and Sveinung (violin, keyboard). It's very difficult to describe the band. I don't know what
other folkrock bands sound like, so I can't compare them with anything, if they can be compared with other bands at all.
The guitar and violin mixed together gives the music a Muse-like edge, the guitarist even looks a bit like the singer from Muse.
The fact that I don't speak Norwegian didn't prevent me from enjoying this performance. The music they make is haunting at times,
especially combined with Gunnhild's singing and the dark theater they played in, and eventhough I have no idea what
she was singing about, it made me choke up.
Little girl with a big mouth
I have a deep respect for Gunnhild, who is only 19 years old, but has an amazing presence on stage. A small girl, wearing a simple
black dress, with big hair and on bare feet, but what a voice! When she told the audience that they had been lookin forward to the
gig for a long time I was surprised at how soft her speaking-voice is. She has a lot of power when she sings!
In fact, entire band has a great presence. They play tight, there is a lot of interaction between the members and there is
a lot going on on stage. This is not a band that stands around and plays their instruments. Each of them seems lost in what they
do and their bodies move to the rythm as if they are under a spell. They obviously love what they are doing and they are very
good at it.
Verdict: Go see them! You will be blown away by the amount of talent on stage!
Imre
Listen to the live show (43 minutes) from Eurosonic here, scroll down to Gåte and click on the speaker.