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Rosenhof, Osnabrück, Germany
14th March 2010
Livingston, Takida

I want spring to start NOW. It can't be we still have to bear with grey clouds and rain can it? But weather forecasts say it will be getting warmer soon. Well, yesterday it was still cold and rainy when we hit the road to Osnabrück for the show of LIVINGSTON and TAKIDA. What we didn't know at the time; we'd be experiencing a big surprise!


Takida

One might not guess that from the band's name, but TAKIDA actually come from Sweden and started in 1999. The first demo already followed in 2000 and a plethora of demo releases would be coming out in the following years as well. The real breakthrough in Sweden though came with the song 'Losing' and the accompanying album 'Make You Breathe' in 2006, and would be expanded to other territories with every of the following albums they since have released. 'Bury the Lies' is the newest one in that string, released in October 2009. TAKIDA is Robert (vocals), Tomas (guitar), Fredrik (bass), Mattias (guitar) and Kristoffer (drums). http://www.takidamusic.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/takidamusic



Music & Performance
That surprise was TAKIDA from Sweden, who didn't waste time after entering the stage and introduced themselves with an a-cappella introduction, followed by a rock outbreak and the rigid creatures on stage getting into action. Most of all that was singer Robert! He was attracting everyone's attention by going with the flow of the music, which infected other people to follow him suit. You think that's it already, huh? Not at all! The guy blasted us away with his unbelievable voice which is full of gritty rock appeal, but also of soul and pure emotion. Afterwards, he found the time to introduce the band with the words "We're TAKIDA and within the next 5 minutes or so, we'll try to make you fall in love with us."



I think he wasn't aware they did that already with the opener, followed up now by the blistering 'Losing', again seeing him and the band scouring the stage. Even before the third song 'Handlake Village' hit our ears, there's been a little, may we say interlude with the ABBA song 'Thank you for the Music', raising some laughs in the audience and with the band. A nice thank you to get from the main act! Well, where was I? Right, 'Handlake Village' bringing Robert's capabilities as vocalist to full advantage. Same thing with the ballad 'Curly Sue', having an incredibly touching chorus! A voice like that, vibrating that well with ballads and upbeat rock tracks like the following 'Evil Eye' is very rare and a gift for the one who can call it their own.



After a much too short set of 9 songs, the band said goodbye to a riled up audience, and for the time being to the tour life as it was their last show supporting LIVINGSTON. Robert was being very sentimental about that occasionally and showed it with comments between the songs. Well, what can I say? It's been a surprising blast and I'm sincerely asking myself why the hell I've not discovered them earlier.

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.9 / 10




Livingston

The story of this band started a few years back in South Africa, where two of the future band members meet at a concert and come to see they're vibrating on the same frequency. Eventually, their way would lead them to England and there the line-up would continue to gain contours. Following a series of recording sessions at legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, Manta Ray Records signed the band. With a string of support shows for renowned German bands they began to cultivate a following in Germany as well. After releasing some EPs and singles, the debut album 'Sign Language' was released in October 2009. LIVINGSTON is Beukes Willemse (vocals, keyboard), Jakob Nebel (guitar, percussion, backing vocals), Chris van Niekerk (guitar, backing vocals), Phil Magee (bass) and Paolo Serafini (drums, backing vocals). http://www.livingstonmusic.co.uk/ / http://www.myspace.com/livingstonlondon



Music & Performance
Another question we were dealing with during the longer rebuilding break was if the main act could be able to top this performance. We'd be seeing it eventually. At the beginning there was the march in of each band member, accompanied by loud cheers especially from the front row. Also I think that Chris must've been a little baffled when seeing the red bra, hanging down from the microphone stand in front of him before starting to laugh. I didn't even notice how that thing got there anyway. Then, the opener 'Go' started building up with Beukes' bell-like voice in the centre of things! The audience was ready to follow them right away and first chants could be heard. The following '6x4' raised equal reactions and I could swear that before the song started I've heard some lines of a song that was vaguely familiar to me.



That song turned out to be 'Broken', coming up a while later, which I've heard on the radio before but couldn't connect to any band this far, quite a placid song that had all the ladies standing with their gazes drifting far off. A special part of the concert was when the song 'Pride & Joy' was announced, having been released on a special acoustic release and being a heartfelt little gem by the way. Presented with the smallest circle of band members on stage, the song reached for your heart and grabbed it right through the skin. Another one was 'Hold', going in a markedly acoustic direction as well and bringing forth the different influences of the multi-cultural line-up, most prominently with the vivid percussion play. For that matter they would even go one better with the song 'Vula', sung in the Zulu language, one of 11 official languages spoken in Beukes' and Chris' native South Africa.



You didn't need to understand a word that's been sung as the expression and the way of singing, just like the instrumentation spoke the message for everyone's mind to understand. The peak inarguably was the drum performance. Picture all 5 band members playing on various drums and what impressive wall of sound can be generated with that. A visibly good temper of the band and lots of interaction with their audience made sure a familiar atmosphere was created that lasted all through the gig. It would also be one reason for them being called back on stage after the actually last song's been played to provide the audience with another 3 tracks of which the slow 'Draw the Line' was the last one. To answer my self-posed question from the beginning now: They're a great live band and deserve all credit for what they're doing, but TAKIDA definitely won the race with us this evening.



Setlist
01. Go
02. 6x4
03. Silence
04. Once Again
05. Devil Man
06. Disease
07. Broken
----Acoustic----
08. Pride and Joy
09. Hold On
10. Vula
------------------
11. Come for Me
12. Down 2
13. Man Overboard
---
14. Dream and Drown
15. So Long, Farewell
16. Draw the Line

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10



All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
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