Summer Darkness - Utrecht 2007 (Day 1)

Summer Darkness, Utrecht, The Netherlands
9th of August 2007
Day 1:  Front 242, Implant, Diskonnekted

Just like the past five years August in Utrecht means: Summer Darkness. Each year they have provided a great line-up. In contrary to last year there was more room for metal and guitars this year. This contributed to the variety of the line-up. Besides headliners such as Front 242 and And One there was also My Dying Bride as one of the headliners. The market grew this year because it was organised by Castlefest. There were some new stands, with more original clothing and accessories. But that was all in the weekend. This Thursday was meant for just three bands: Diskonnekted, Implant and Front 242.

 

Diskonnekted (by RG)

Diskonnekted had the honour of being the opening act of the fifth Summer Darkness festival. My first impression was that someone should get these guys connected. But as always, you can never judge a band by your first impression. With their simple lyrics and very danceable beats they gave a great performance. It was the right band to start this evening, get the energy flowing and people dancing. The vocals were not always audible but then again, after hearing the same line a couple of times I’d get the message. Such as: “religion kills, religion lies”. The stage was a little empty with just these two men on stage. It was quite dark on stage as well, but that did fit the music. This is a band to keep your eye out for.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 7 (6,5)

Implant (by RG)

It is great to see live electric drums on stage. Not just a computer sound with a steady beat but actual hand-hit beats. The two men of Implant were each on one side of the stage. Not the most exciting placement but the middle of the stage was moving constantly. At least… the projected images were and that brought the stage to live. There was so much to see on that screen and I can hardly tell what it was; numbers, a mouth, dancing people and many indescribable things. The front-light used by this band was black light and that did light the band members but kept the stage dark as well, smart move. Implant had the honour of recording a song (The Creature) with Jean-Luc de Meyer of Front 242. Since they were playing tonight he came on stage to sing it with them. This was of course a great way to get everybody ready for the final performance which was Front 242.

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7 (6,7)

Front 242 (by MH)

Front 242 was awesome. This Belgium band started 25 years ago, but showed us at Summer Darkness that they still have it. They played a lot of old songs like ‘Headhunter’ and ‘Commando’. The electronic beats combined with the vocals from Jean-luc de Meyer and Richard Jonckheere was the perfect combination and got the crowd all riled up.
 The band used a projection screen as backdrop, on which during their performance movies were constantly shown. I was standing on the balcony, where the light technician stood and saw probably the coolest thing of the show. The clips shown on the projection screen were sampled live by somebody from the Front 242 crew. He did this very good and followed the beat of the music with his samples.



There wasn’t much I didn’t like about the show. The lightshow wasn’t great but that was more then compensated by the projections at the back of the stage. The vocals could have been a little louder. The only real downside to the performance was that they stopped half an hour early then the program said. I was a bit disappointed cause it was such a great show and didn’t want it to end, especially not half an hour early.
They played songs from about all their albums and this showed how diverse their music is. They more then proved once again   why they are the founding fathers of the EBM music genre. The band was for me the highlight of the weekend and when I looked at the public I was assured I wasn’t the only one that felt this way.

01. Funkada
02. Body To Body
03. Religion
04. Welcome To Paradise
05. Commando
06. First in First out
07. Crapage
08. Melt
09. Until Death
10. Moldavia
11. 7 Rain
12. Loud
13. Together
14. Happiness
15. Take One
16. In Rhythmus Bleiben
17. Headhunter

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18. Rot
19. Punish

Rating
Music: 9
Performance 8
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 8 (7,7)

Review of day 4

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