Live reviews

Berlin 2003-07-04

Kesselhaus SKIF Festival, Berlin, Germany
Review by Killer83Z

I went to Berlin to see John at the SKIF Festival (Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival). The first part was open air and it rained. There were a lot of other russian bands, one or two were really cool, with tuba and trombone and a free jazz feel. The website said that John would play 23.15 - 00.00, but fortunately, the programme there said he would play till 1.15.

We went inside, into the "Kesselhaus" and saw 2 other bands before 22:45 the stage was being prepared for John. Cameras were strictly forbidden during the gig and taken away by the security. Who was that nice guy that tuned the guitars and gave John the different guitars during the gig? John waited till 23:30 and the crowd was already excited. The usual looks to the mixer guy about the microphone were outnumbered by an angry, repeated pointing at the keyboard during Lament. I thought he gave me an odd look when I sang Over Her Head along. Maybe I shouldn't have listened to those bootleg recordings that much. Quite strange that someone sings along to a new, unreleased song, ain't it?

There were two old fashioned grandmas in the audience who would go totally wild when Do Not Go Gentle was played. Those are old and loyal fans! I loved to see Things performed live, and the last part, starting with Model Beirut Recital, John played with a Gibson e-guitar and he totally rocked. The second guitar player played really great during that. It lasted till ca. 1.00 and John returned said thanks to berlin and played one final encore being Heartbreak Hotel with the entire band.

Being my first John cale show ever, it was an unforgettable night, although I really missed a second encore solo John.

© 1999- Hans Werksman