Allgemein, Concerts

Angus and Julia Stone brought a whole lotta love from down under

A few weeks ago I wrote about their newest album Snow in my New Music category. So I was quite curious how Angus and Julia Stone sounded live and lucky for me Just Because made it happen. I was quite afraid that I wouldn’t like Julia’s voice since it’s quite mellow and usually I don’t like that kind of voice. Little did I know that I’d be a fan by the end of the night.
Isaac Gracie
Isaac Gracie opened the night. He has a special voice and it was nice listening to him. However it seemed like he didn’t click with the audience even though he seemed super nice. Maybe it was just because the venue was too big for him.
Finally just after 9pm the siblings took the stage and I immediately was super impressed. They had a huge LED screen in the back where beautiful pictures were shown. In front of that screen Angus and Julia Stone had a totem which had LED lights included too. A smoke machine run wild with a lot of smoke coming off the stage. All of this created a mysterious atmosphere.
Angus and Julia Stone
The two were accompanied by four other musicians coming together from all over the world. They started with “Baudelaire”  and “Make it out alive”. Then they directed a few words towards the crowd and I could see that they loved to be here and enjoyed being on stage. Next we heard “Cellar door” and “Heart beats”. By then I was in love with them. The artists created a beautiful atmosphere with their music, their stage and spreading the love all around Zurich.


The new song “Chateau” came on and I loved it! It is such a beautiful song and live it was even better. The voice of Angus is much stronger and deeper live and Julias is just incredibly beautiful. My worries that I wouldn’t like her voice were blown away in an instant. I enjoyed every song 🙂
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Julia then said that she loved writing love songs which the next song “Wherever you are” is. In “Bloodhound” Angus took the lead with his raspy voice and I adored it. Their harmonies were incredible and you could sense that the two of them know each other since they were kids. All guitar lovers were made happy too with the wonderful guitars (including a banjo) Angus and the other musicians played.

“Private Lawns”,”Who do you think” and “Nothing Else” were the songs before the big big hit “Big Jet Plane”. Everyone seemed to know the it and sang along. Julia asked the audience to get out ours phones and light it up. This created and incredible sight to a beautiful song. They seemed to enjoy it as much as we do. Being at concerts as often as I am I mostly enjoy the concerts where the artist loves to be there too. So this was definitely one! For the next song “For You” Julia explained the story behind it. She was dating a guy for 8 years when they broke up. She realised later that she was still in love with him so she wrote this song on guitar hero (How adorable! :-)) and sent it to him in an e-mail.

If I talk real slowly
If I try real hard
To make my point dear,
That you have my heart

It took him weeks to write back but eventually he did. It said “Cool song!” and attached was a random song he wrote which was a mix of metal and hip hop. My heart flew out to her.


The duo introduced the next song “My House” by saying:

We are in your house and you are kinda in our house

So this is what the next song is about. Such a lovely song and we had to help them sing the chorus which created a unifying atmosphere full of love. For the title track “Snow” they brought out the big guns. In the middle of the song it literally started snowing and it wouldn’t stop. What a wonderful idea! This seemed like the last song to me but they only disappeared for the encore and came back to sing 3 more songs. “A Heartbreak” and “Uptown” of their own songs. But they finished with a shanty called “Stonecutters” since they grew up with sailing parents and grand parents. I love those kinds of songs and it was the perfect end to a wonderful evening.
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If you can make sure to check out Angus and Julia Stone live. Click here to check out their  tour dates!
Were you at the concert in Zurich or in Geneva? Let me know how you liked Angus and Julia Stone in the comments below.
 

Allgemein, Concerts

Katie Melua @ Live at Sunset 20.07.17

This is the 2nd concert of the festival series Live at Sunset which I am attending. It’s been already 2 weeks since I’ve seen Naturally 7 and Mary J. Blige there. Thanks to a good deal we were able to afford a 2nd concert.  Katie Melua hasn’t been very active lately and this is one of only 5 concerts this year.
To be honest with you I was very sceptical about this concert since I really don’t like her song “9 million bicycles”. I’ve realised now it’s because if I hear that song just once a day it will be stuck in my head forever!
For the 3rd song “Crawling Up A Hill” I decided to sit down and listen to the song with my eyes closed. I think it was a great idea so I could listen to her voice without any distraction. I did this because Seven asked us to do this at his set at the Gurtenfestival and I really enjoyed it so I had to try it with her too.

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Katie explaining stories

Before every song she would explain the story behind it and this is something I really enjoy. So her concert consists of 21 little stories told by a silky voice. Katie Melua is one hell of a songwriter who turns a story into a song. She stood there with her guitar with 4 other awesome musicians and turned this into a wonderful quiet concert. (I was really glad since I had a massive headache that day)
After the “Plane Song” it started to rain or should I say pour down! So Katie said “Ohh has it started to rain? Should we wait until you put your ponchos on?” I loved that! We went to sit in the back because I wasn’t particularly keen on getting soaked since I’m battleing a cold anyway. As soon as I sat down I got a text by a friend telling me that Chester Bennington committed suicide and I didn’t know why but I suddenly felt really sad and Katie’s next few slow song increased that feeling.

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Katie Melua with a beautiful sky

Luckily she decided to cover Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” and this lifted my spirit. I love this song and Katie Melua should be doing more up-tempo songs. It really suits her. I think this was my favourite song of the night. Then there was a little break so people could use the restrooms and stock up on drinks.
“Thank you Stars” is a wonderful song and my favourite of the 2nd part of the show.

Some call it faith, some call it love
Some call it guidance from above
You are the reason we found ours
So thank you stars

Aren’t these beautiful lyrics?
After “Perfect World” she sang her hit song “Nine Million Bicycles” and the audience “Ahh’d” and “Ohh’d” and I thought please don’t be singing this song 🙂 And of course this song stuck in my head all night!

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Me and my guitar

For the two encore songs she stood alone on stage just with her guitar and her beautiful voice. She covered Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds are forever” and sang “I Cried For You”. A very slow and quiet finish but it suited her and the whole concert. I enjoyed the concert but I don’t think I would see her again. She is a cute girl but I don’t particularly fancy her music even if I loved a few songs of her.
P.S: Have a look at the title of the set list. THE greatest set list ever!! Isn’t this too funny? 🙂

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Katie Melua set list

 
How did you like the concert? Please let me know in the comments below!