Still being bothered by the exam a bit, plus actually not spending a lot of time by the computer these days. I took my time to finally write down questions for some long planned interviews and write some non-blog life depending reports, so all these bits and pieces really took away the time to commit to the blog. Yet, here is one more gig review from my July/August trip, the After Fluff Matinee show.
This won't be an actual review however, since by this time I really managed to charge my batteries as far as shows go, if you know what I mean, and drained all my energy so I was quite tired at the time. Since my travel companions wanted to go to this show, I just took the time to hang out and pay less attention to the show, especially since I am not the biggest fan of the lineup (prior to the show, at least). So in any case, this is more just a brief comment about the show and less a review, writing just to mark the show as visited and provide you with a short read.
The gig was held on Monday, 25 July 2011, in "007" club in Prague. The club is located a bit out of the center of the city, so it was a longish walk there and back for my friends and me, yet it is quite cool that the venue is kinda secluded. "007" is a rather small venue, but with just enough space for everyone to feel comfortable. It is a basement like construction, since it is located underground, with a very nicely designed interior. Passing by the wardrobe, the extremely small stageless stage is located to the right with a rather limited space for the crowd, but again enough for everyone to fit inside, and on the left there is a bar, a lot of places to sit and a bands distro section. One other great thing not actually connected to the venue itself, but nice nevertheless, is a lawn located just outside of the entrance where everyone was laying around, hanging out and just having a good time.
Most of the time during the gig I just circulated with my endless tour companion between the gig space below and the lawn outside, eating some delicious pizza from the bar, drinking and talking. We actually did go inside to see each of the bands, but my focus on music was not in abundance. On top of me generally being tired, I haven't listened to these bands before, except for "Beyond Pink", so the much needed concentration was not present a lot. In any case, the first band that managed to grab my attention a fair bit is definitely "Unveil", who had an excellent performance. The four piece hardcore from Switzerland took me by surprise with their wild aggressive set and they were the first band that night that I watched entirely. Quite an enjoyment to witness live, since not only are their tunes very strong and striking, but watching their energy on stage is a real view to behold. Some time after them, it was time for "Beyond Pink". I failed to see them at Fluff Fest, since I was eager to grab a good spot for "Swing Kids" at the time and luckily I knew that I will be seeing them on this show, so it was not a problem. Of course, I say "luckily" since their show was extremely interesting. The girl quintet provided a very dynamic, fast and crazy performance which in the end actually featured a cover of a song by Beyonce. Quite an amazing cover I might add! There was a lot of dancing on both the side of the audience and the band and it seemed that the atmosphere and excitement was just building up throughout the entire day, the pinnacle of everything being the "Unrestrained" performance. This was the last show of their final European tour, so everything went completely nuts once they took the stage. I was absolutely carried away by the entire atmosphere, from all the rapid movement through the venue while "Unrestrained" played to the amazing performance by the band and the sheer amount of passion and energy radiating from the stage. Usually I don't listen to this type of hardcore, but these guys managed to blow me away completely. Unbelievably emotional set with the venue being fully packed while they were up. Their songs had short pauses which Ryan filled with talking with the crowd and sharing some of the thoughts of "Unrestrained" and this created an even more intimate atmosphere. I was really touched by the whole set somehow and enjoyed every second of it, in the end just going to Ryan after the show and shaking his hand and just saying praises about his band. The funny thing was that the day after this gig my friends and I went to a picnic where a lot of people from Fluff fest came, Ryan being there as well and me not realizing it was him haha.
All in all, it was an interesting day, had a lot of fun and these few bands really sparked a lot of enjoyment. Really glad I saw "Unrestrained", definitely a band worth the note. The dudes from "Tigersuit" zine, with whom I actually traveled with a lot, did an interview with them and "Beyond Pink", so keep your eyes open for that!
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