Let the last day of the four-day Le Guess Who? festival commence, and how better to start a Sunday than with Owen Pallett? The heartbroken Owen, apparently, and a lonesome lad on stage as well, as the lonely sweet thing has been temporarily abandoned by his drummer, as he’s having a little baby (congratulations!). Don’t worry Owen, the audience lets him know that it’s going to be sad along with you, and the violinist acknowledges that by playing what he feels is the saddest song he can possibly play to wrap it all up: ‘The Passions’ from his latest album In Conflict.

The set starts out pretty heavy on older material though, and later we come to understand the reason why, as apparently his latest songs are more reliant on his drummer companion. Who is absent. And thus are these songs. Not all of them though, as he manages to squeeze in ‘Song for Five & Six’ for example. It makes for an admittedly unexpected set, but Owen reassures us by saying that it’s at least in some ways special as his heartache is a good thing for the concert. At least the concert seems to be good for him, as he on occasion seems to smile as he hits the right note at exactly the right time, and some of the violin solos do seem to have a little bit of extra oomph in them.

So no drummer, okay, but there’s plenty of Owen to go around. Owen playing the synth, Owen singing, Owen strumming the violin, Owen tapping the violin, Owen playing the violin: it’s all on loop and it’s all going on at exactly the same time. The man plays something, pushes the right buttons on his pedal, and he starts playing something else whilst what he just did is going on loop underneath the live action. And so he builds intricate webs of Owen, and the man is quality, so that’s not a bad thing at all. All the songs are oh so very clever, though if there’s one criticism, it is that in the early part of the set some of the narratives are hard to follow as his vocals aren’t cutting through all the instrumental looping as clearly as needed for actual understanding. Later on his lovely voice can be heard a bit more cleanly, and so we can also follow the stories next to enjoying his musical craftsmanship, which is a win-win if there ever was one.

Mdou Moctar is from Africa, Niger to be more precise, though the band does not play typical African sounds. Actually, he plays the guitar, and pretty brilliantly at that. The trio have got a nifty blues rock ’n roll thing going in, with the rhythm guitar and the drums putting down a tight and catchy canvas on top of which the lead guitarist is going to play some rock ‘n roll with a whole lotta soul. And let there be no mistaken, the guys can play. It sounds really tight, and the guitar playing is fast and furious and definitely of quality. The singing is still in a language that probably no one in the audience can understand (which always makes me slightly tense, because what if they’re scolding like mothersomethings or whatever? Has anyone checked up on that? Should there be a parental guidance warning here?), but nothing gets lost in translation as far as the playing goes.

Yes, there is a language barrier in the sense that where other musicians happily engage in some chitter-chatter with the audience, these three guys mutter a quick “thank you” or “merci” and then it’s just one slow wait until they’ve got the settings right on the guitar. When they play, though, they’re making up for time. When the last song begins, the audience nearly explodes, as it’s so fast & catchy that people just have a hard time not moving to the drums and guitar combo. Which is no small feat, as anyone who has ever played a “hostile” crowd will tell you, with hostile in the sense that most people will not know any of your songs. Africa is represented with vigour.

Tune-Yards certainly approves of that. Frontwoman Garbus wants to thank the festival for putting on so many sounds of the world. Sounds that no doubt also inspired her, for her sound is deliciously eclectic, and at times sounds more African than that of Mdou Moctar who played the same stage just moments before. There’s a lot going on out there, with the bass, multiple percussion elements, and of course the background singers who are living it up back there like there’s no tomorrow. Add to that the colourful attire of all of them, the face paint, extra decorations, and it all provides just this huge amount of positive energy that cannot be contained.

Not that it’s all cheery-go-lucky, as some of the songs do have one or two things they want to mention. “We come from a land of slaves / Let’s go Red Skins. Let’s go Braves!”, she shouts out during the by FIFA 15 selected song ‘Waterfountain’, which definitely is one of the “easier” ones musically with all the rhythmic percussion that track has going on. In another song she says that someone gave her a “bloodsoaked dollar”, though, she mentions as an aside, “it’s okay, it still works in the store”. Biting her tongue she is not. Truth be told, everyone gathered would be massively disappointed if she would. She has always been a strong presence on stage, but now with the extra band members and all the extra theatre going on the band just feels as a force to be reckoned with. Don’t be fooled by the fact that they’re all playing everything up though, everyone on stage adds something to the songs in terms of different layers and sounds as well, which makes the show not only entertaining to watch, but also giving those craving complex music their money’s worth.

St. Vincent, blimey, she’s really become a DAME, hasn’t she? She just owns it up, having really crafted her character carefully for this tour. She’s like the android from the future, singing and telling stories about the human experience from a relatively alienated point of view. But like Bowie’s alien, this lady stardust can rock and roll like no other. The guitars are piercing, the synths are blowing it all up, and amongst all of that her voice is pitch perfect and asks us how we can be so casually cruel. Next to all of the rock and roll she also adds a dash of pop and a smither of performance art, all culminating in the must-see show doing the rounds this year.

That trifecta of pop songs that she starts with is just about the strongest thing currently going around. In ‘Rattlesnake’ she hilariously mimes running whilst staying in total control of her voice, in ‘Digital Witness’ she’s got some choreographed moves going on with her synth player, and on ‘Casually Cruel’ she says the most heartbreaking things on top of the most upbeat guitar riff she could possibly think of. It is a magnificent start, and one that simply gets stronger and stronger every time I see them live. In between the songs she tells us some weird and wonderful tales about things we have in common with each other, doing this in such a way that it kind of reminds me of the artist Miranda July. She has truly become an all-round entertainer and artiste, and it will almost be a sad day when she retires this tour to go forward to a following album.

Two concerts and two 1-day festivals in a week, including a stay at a friend’s place and at a hotel. Loads of acts to watch, loads of energy to expend, and loads of fun to be had. If all goes right...

National media pick up on the fact that Morrissey (playing in Tivoli, Utrecht) has ordained that no meat will be eaten in his vincinity. Said media especially seem to be concerned about the professional musicians that will be playing classical music in the same venue. How will anyone survive not eating meat for a day? Especially those who play Liszt.

In the comments section (note to self: never, ever read comment sections on these things) people are outraged. How dare a musician to tell a venue beforehand that it has to be a meatless venue for one day (they could have said no, if they wanted to...)! Guess at the core is the fact that we don’t like to be told what to do. Whatever the subject is. Probably says more about “our” God-like complex than Morrissey’s tbh (especially since loads of these commenting people all have the Divine and moral right at their side, so it seems). Though anyone who at age 55+ takes off his shirt and casually tosses it semi-naked into the audience might somewhere along the line have been inclined to develop one.

About 0.1% of those who complained about the singer’s demands were at the concert, btw. Which begs the question, why were all others giving a ----.

Morrissey’s voice has no age on it at all. The videos of animals being slaughtered get old pretty quickly though. My friend took off her glasses from her face and meat off her menu. So good day for Morrissey I suppose, despite his band’s best efforts to drown him out. When they don’t do that, like on the ol’ classic ‘Asleep’, concert is at its best.

St. Vincent is showing off her skills as the robotic hypnotic. Corny choreographs mix with rock and roll, theatrical dramatics with sexual innuendos, and all of that is connected together by Miranda July-esque short monologues about awkward conversations. And yes, some of those stories definitely qualify for that. Some are hilarious though. All need a bit more practice.

In the new Doornroosje venue (coat room still free. Best gesture ever) she starts with the pop, starting by hilariously miming the verb “running” on ‘Rattlesnake’ and ending the trifecta with ‘Digital Witness’ and ‘Cruel’. It seems like the focus of the rest of the show is on the rocking, the rolling, and the having fun with the crowd and her bandmates s. The latter who, iron faced, do all the corny Supremes-meet-android moves along with her. Her voice is awesome, her songs are intellectual, and the whole performance is jaw dropping.

The new Catch festival is in the new Tivoli building. About four rooms are in play... if you can unlock them! (It’s a game, honey!) It’s an Escher-esque maze out there, with loads of staircases always seeming to lead you to somewhere else. The room called Cloud Nine, by the way, is quite the ascension, and like going to Heaven indeed takes a lifetime. With that said, because everything is so wide apart, it never feels crowded, convoluted, or congested.

Nils Frahm has set up about fourteen-and-a-half synthesizers. In the encore he plays two of the three at the same time, reconstructing the battle-of-the-Ducks in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? single-handedly. He piles on layer after layer of rhythmic piano playing, the songs so expertedly crafted you just have to admire them. His piano playing; his hands move just so incredibly fast. If he types that way, when I am genius, famous, and 70, must remember to ask him to ghostwrite for me. If he’s available, of course.

Kindness puts the fun in funk. Anytime the singer tells an anecdote about what his band was up to last night (they apparently hijacked a jam session at a local cafe) you know it is about dancing and having fun. Especially if that anecdote turns into a rendition of some old dancefloor classic or another (memory is hazy, but might have been Womack & Womack’s ‘Teardrops’, or some Whitney tune with “dancefloor” in it.); just so amazingly fun. Obviously loads of Kindness’ tracks make it onto the setlist as well, both old and new. It ends with about a ten minute Chicago House tribute, which has the band dancing as hard (if not harder) than the audience.

Years & Years, pre-show, stand on stage, and it reminds me of the famous Picasso tableau Band-Doesn’t-Know-How-To-Fix-Technical-Issue, painted around 1904 in his famous Blue period. Ten minutes too late the band starts, and certainly many youngsters have gathered to catch a glimps of the charismatic Olly Alexander, who also happens to have quite a voice. Break out potential is certainly there, with some lovely singles like ‘Real’ and ‘Desire’. Live ‘Take Shelter’ actually disappoints, being my favorite in recording, and though undoubtedly inches away from stardom, there is some youth to be detected in the performance. So the existential question is, do you kill off your own youth for a mature sound and a full feature in next month’s Hit Parade?

Youth is also on display at the London Calling Festival in Paradiso. The Mispers have some nice hooks, and the two guitarists (one acoustic, one electric) throw in some nice riffs. The vocals no one can actually hear, which is too bad, as a couple of songs definitely show some promise. More than Fever the Ghost does. The singer comes on in a sort of beekeeper outfit, which is splendid! Except, you can’t hear him and it looks ridicilous. The band keeps throwing out so.much.noise. that it becomes hard to find the actual song in there. The sound cleans up as the gig goes on though, reaching its peak after the show has ended.

Josef Salvat reminds me of the New Girl episode where Smith pretends he is one of the Mitt Romney sons. Salvat is the singing one, and he sure has the vocal skills. The songs are pretty decent too, though the ones with just him and the piano do drag the whole thing down a tad. His moves does make my mind wander about a visibly big schism between electro performers and the kids at the Catch festival and the more indie rock-ish audience and bands at London Calling. The electro kids & artists can motherblimey dance! And the others give it a valiant effort. It’s White Men Can Dance vs. White Men Look Awkward As They Attempt to Dance. Subcultures eh, gotta love ‘m.

Spoon though. Blimey, Spoon. They’re just the blueprint for any American indie-rock band, they know how to do it right. Sure, the start of the performance is marred by technical issues. Britt Daniel asks if we can hear him. That is tech code for turn-up-the-bleeping-sound. When they arrive at the middle part and come up with the trio of ‘Summon You’, ‘Turn My Camera On’, and ‘Inside Out’ you are reminded what a good band sounds like.

A concert by them is like playing a collectible card game and buying a booster pack. I got some awesome doubles, but also loads of cards I didn’t have yet! Still missing some in my collection, though hopefully one day I’m gonna catch them all! Oh yeah, and Paradiso, buy an airconditioning system for Heaven’s sake! After all the gigs in the new venues in Nijmegen and Utrecht, being in Paradiso makes me all hot and bothered, and not in the Disco kind of way! Fainting was never so enticing an option.