Again I am at the wonderful Baloise Session listening to the amazing Kaleo and in our regions Newcomer Asgeir – Iceland Calling. As soon as I stepped into the venue they showed the old Session of the Kaiser Chiefs. What a show it was, you gotta love them. I really love this concept of showing past concerts especially if they are that good!
First up is Asgeir. I meant to see him at Gurtenfestival but you know how it is at festivals.. So when I read that he will play the Baloise Session I knew I had to go. Let me tell you he didn’t disappoint! Asgeir’s got a beautiful – high pitched at times – voice which is just incredible live. During the first three songs “Hold”, “Fennir Yfir”, “Higher” I was able to take pictures and the songs were very psychedelic and so different to what I expected. I did like it though and the beautiful red lights for “Here comes the wave in” were great. After “Underneath it” one of my highlights came on: “New day” is a beautiful ballade and I listened to it with my eyes closed. Beatrice Stirnimann – the organiser – said at the beginning we should turn on our “Kopfkino” which doesn’t translate literally into English. It means to turn on our imagination and enjoy our own movie in our head.
She was very right. “Head in the Snow” and “Dreaming” were next after which Asgeir said his first words: Thank you! We wouldn’t hear any more words out of him which is a bit of a pity. I would have loved to know more about his songs but I get it – it’s the Scandinavian Coolness…
“In Harmony” is another one of my favourites. Just an absolutely wonderful song to dream to. His incredible voice came out perfectly in this song and made this song another highlight. During the next song “Afterglow” Asgeir brought out the Icelandic fires. It looked amazing! We stayed in the warm regions of the colours and for “I know you know” we were transported into the jungle. For me the instruments created jungle noises and the lighting was in warm colours. This is quite special from a musician born in the cold regions of the world 🙂
“King and Kross” was the first song that came up when I YouTubed him and I quite liked the song. “Unbound” and “Going Home” went by really quickly and I was completely lost in my thoughts until “Stardust” happened. Jesus! The whole earth was shaking from the bass and the lights were supporting it. So people started to go to the dance floor just before the encore and what an encore it was. “Torrent” is the only up-tempo song Asgeir had in his repertoire. This song was my highlight of his set but he had to make way for his fellow countrymen Kaleo.
I knew Kaleo from their hit “Way Down” which is a slow rock ballade so I was utterly surprised when I realised they are basically a rock/ blues/ country band! I love this style and I adored their show! I am so so happy that Baloise Session made this happen. But first things first. Lots of fans were already waiting to hit the dance floor even before the band came on stage. For the first three songs the photographers took up the dance floor but I already noticed a few singing along to “Broken Bones”. Jokull – the lead singer – started to whistle beautifully for “I Can’t Go On Without You”.
When the third song “Save Yourself” started I had to stop photographing because I liked the music so much that I couldn’t focus and didn’t want to anymore. Plus I had some great shots of this beautiful man and his fellow musicians! Yes, you heard me – Jokull is gorgeous! That’s why half of the fans were young women and the other half were older men rocking out. I loved this mix! It made for a great crowd who were dancing, jumping and clapping. David on drums and Daniel on bass made sure of that. They were animating the crowd and Daniel was running around and jumping up and down himself. You could fell that they were enjoying themselves a lot!
I joined the crowd in front of the stage when they played “Alter Ego” and “Pour Sugar on Me”. Rubin Pollock on guitar did an amazing job and Thorleifur normally on keys showed off his harmonica skills in a few songs and that was just incredible to witness. It is such an underrated instrument but it creates an amazing sound. “Automobile” is a country song and I couldn’t stop dancing! “Hot blood” and “No Good” followed just before Kaleo introduced us to their language. The beautiful ballade “Vor i Vaglasogi” was enchanting. Jokulls voice in perfect harmony with David’s accompanied by just a guitar was just pure bliss.
They covered Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang” and wow it was really really good. It’s so special and interesting to me that a band from Iceland is doing so well in this country music genre that they could as well be born and raised in Nashville. Jokull did dress his part at yesterday’s Baloise Session however if you would see him you wouldn’t put him into this genre which makes this band even more appealing. “Back Door” and “Texas” made sure that I would definitely see them again. I also think that quite a few people at that event would go see them again. Us fans made sure that Kaleo knows that we love them and that they have to come back.
You could see that they didn’t expect us to be this good. A few times they said thank you and you were a wonderful crowd tonight and to be honest I have to agree. It was wonderful to be part of this evening. With “Way Down” they finally played their – so far – biggest hit. It sounded completely different live – for me it was even better. You know that I am a fan of live music and usually prefer the live versions over the record one. Way too fast Kaleo went off stage before the encore.
After a little over an hour Kaleo finished their set with “Rock N Roller” and the crowd went mental. Maybe not the people sitting but definitely the people in front of the stage. I have to thank the Baloise Session again for inviting these two artists and for letting me cover such amazing talent from a little island called Iceland.
I am very much looking forward to see Kool and the Gang/Dabu Fantastic and Tim Bendzko/Max Giesinger at this brilliant festival. So keep following me here on WordPress or via my social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Have a look at my past review of Clean Bandit/Goldfrapp.
Have you been at this amazing concert? Please share your opinion in the comments below.
