Dernière Volonté and more

LVC, Leiden (NL)
May 28th, 2005.
Live: Co.Caspar, Tribe of Circle and Dernière Volonté.
Organisation: La La Land

Due to negligence and lack of time I did not write about the recent performances in Leiden of Dernière Volonté, Tribe of Circle and Co.Caspar yet. Well, it was a good event. Co. Caspar was pure cult, coming on stage wearing something which looked like a mixture of a diving helmet and a gas mask, making sound by blowing through a tube in his mouth. For the rest of the concert he created noises with various self-built mechanical devices and by abusing all parts of a drumkit. The music itself was not always interesting, but it was an entertaining industrial performance to witness. Unfortunately the photos I made were all failures…

I quite like the dark soundscapes of Tribe of Circle, though they may not be very spectacular when performed live. Tribe of Circle was for the occasion assisted by two members of Volksweerbaarheid on drums, which gave the concert some much needed extra dynamics. Not heard by everyone, frontman Jean-Paul Antelmi dedicated the concert to Theo van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn. More political aspects were added through the video images of muslim extremism and shocking holocaust scenes. I did not see them though, because the video was projected on a wall behind me. In general it was a solid show, though the vocals of Jean-Paul could be more forceful. More live elements would also do no harm, but the music was nice to listen to.

Last but not least was Dernière Volonté, just like Tribe of Circle coming from France. I was already wondering where the third Volksweerbaarheid member would be, but Ludo was also employed as a drummer, supporting frontman Geoffrey D. They played together as if they had done so many times before, though they had barely practiced. Again, a pity that only vocals and drums were played live, with all synths coming from cd. Perhaps some extra instruments (like an accordion) in the future? With the songs was nothing wrong, melodic and catchy, so soon many people were moving. Some new material was also played, which seemed to be even more poppy than before, sounding like sensual chansons. An entertaining concert, with Geoffrey as a charismatic performer, practising all positions with the microphone stand.

The announced afterparty was not completely according to plan: guest DJ Albin Julius missed his plane, so it was an improvised team of DJ’s that played an eclectic musical mixture, for a small part of the audience, becausemost people had left soon after the bands.