Gig review: Went, Petethepiratesquid, Radio Burroughs gig

The fact that I am writing this show review is inspired by quite a few things. First of all, I was and still am very euphoric about it, since this is the second screamo gig in my lifetime. Yep it’s true. The first one was held almost a year ago, last November, the hosting of the amazing and well known French "Daitro". Sadly that concert never had a review, basically because I was completely blown away by the whole event and I wasn't quite into writing much at that time. But that is another story. This one is about Pete, Radio and Serbian Went. And yes, my mind was blown away again. Yet I found it quite stupid if I didn’t write this little text, since the small life pulses of screamo within my country should be marked in every way possible.

Secondly, why I am writing this review, I feel that "Petethepiratesquid" deserves to see how much of a great show they put on for us and also I feel it is my duty to do so and say sorry to Pete. Simply because, a long time I have thought that Pete is a quite boring and mediocre screamo act. Whoever knew me a bit better, knew that the only screamo I didn’t love were two bands, Pete and "Birds are Spies, They Report to the Trees". But today I feel embarrassed for both statements. I came to realize that you can’t judge with a clear mind a music act heard only once, which may have happened in a wrong moment, in a moment when my ears would more enjoy some sludge tunes or something else. So with this review I really want to say sorry to Pete for my bad thoughts of you boys and girls, you are quite an interesting and pleasurable band.

The concert took place yesterday evening, namely July 20^th 2009, in a well known Belgrade venue, "Living Room" in the Student Cultural Center. The show was due to start in 9 pm, but was a “bit” late so it kicked off around 10 pm. Seriously, the little delay was the only bad thing about the whole event. The beginning of the gig was marked with the beautiful "Went", Serbian alternative/indie/postrock act. They are a kind of revelation for me, since I personally never heard about them before the announcement for this event. An amazing mix of gentle melodies with a soothing voice and an aggressive outburst of rending guitar riffs, "Went" stunned me for a good half an hour of brilliant tunes. Their music really gives you a “floating” kind of feeling, in my mind the music created a view of a peaceful ocean landscape. This may sound too typical, but you have to see and experience this live and see what I mean. Luckily the "Went" dudes promised to give me some of their material for the blog as soon as they finish recording, so hopefully you boys and girls will find their tunes in the upload section. They are a perfect example of what I love about the music scene in Serbia, where a lot of hidden musical gems can be found. I will surely try and keep my eye on these young lads and their work.

Next up, "Petethepiratesquid". What can I say, except “wow!”? A lot of people, me included, enjoy more when the bands they like are both musically and visually pleasurable. And this band is the epitome of cuteness. Yes, I said it, cuteness. Looking at the stage and seeing Björn going nuts with the drum kit, Felix dressed up fancy with a tie, black shirt and pants, coupled up with crazy dancing, Jana jumping around and standing on her toes as she sings and talks and Ulli standing and playing bass while looking at the crowd and smiling, the whole scene makes you want to go up on stage and give them a group hug. And the fact that they wrote the songlist on a back of an old show poster and put it on the floor on the middle of the stage, made the scene even cuter. As far as the music part goes, the same amount of enjoyment was included. I really enjoy their music at home, but their live performance is on such a higher level. Gentle and elegant parts of a song where Jana talks, followed by an intense explosion of the whole band, fast paced parts really make your chest pound faster and faster. “Strangers with candy”, “Sharpshooter”, “Sure it was fun while it lasted”, “All the way from your bed to the door”, “All girl freak show”, “Mixed motives and social dilemma” and a bunch of other songs (which I can’t remember from the overall excitement) rang through the venue. They were very happy with the reactions of the crowd during the whole show, Felix even gave a compliment saying “You crazy Serbs”, and at the end we didn’t let them go so easily with screaming, clapping and whistling, so we got a bonus song. Yaaay!

Last, but not least, Pete’s good friend "Radio Burroughs". Everything I said about Pete’s performance could be copy-pasted here for Radio. Damn cute band with a bunch of friendly faces on stage always smiling and hopping around. Beautiful, fast paced, but graceful and tender songs with amazing girl vocals, made me speechless after the end of the show. You in fact have a wish to dance and sing nonstop while they play, so I gladly sang quietly whilst some of my favorite songs were played, like “Knit a Hole”, “Let’s Fill These Boxes”, “Just Like We Break Down” and “We Press Buttons”. However, sadly I left my “dancing shoes” in my pocket, since the crowd wasn’t really into dancing. But the crowd was going wild after every song with cheers and claps, so again we got a bonus song at the end.

So in the end, what can I say? Last night show was one of the best for this year, amazing mix of bands, nice people, beautiful atmosphere and after the show my wish to see all these bands again. And a new T-shirt bought at the small distro section, yaaaaaaay! I hope both "Petethepiratesquid" and "Radio Burroughs" had fun as much as the crowd did and that they come here once again in the future. Thank you for an wonderful show.

This show review has been written prior to the opening of this blog and was actually first posted on "Skream Your Lungs Out" blog.