de-Affaire - Day 7 (also known as when it all ended)

de-Affaire is a free outdoor festival in Nijmegen spanning seven evenings (+ 2 afternoons)
 

It is always kind of sad when you leave the park and you glance one last time over the carnivalesque scene. The stands, all the people, the lights, and in the background the Ferris wheel. And you leave behind the people who you don’t know but have seen seven evenings straight enjoying the same stuff (or at least seeing the same stuff) as you have. And you know it is going to take another year for all this to come back again. At least de-Affaire makes this last day a good one so you can at least go out on kind of a high.

The first band I briefly see are Blackie and the Ooh Oohs from Belgium. They try their hand at atmospheric music with some vocal acrobatics, which though definitely impressive, don’t always sound as good as probably they would’ve liked. The first set I witness in full is About Group, which is fronted by Alexis Taylor. Taylor is especially known for his group Hot Chip, but this isn’t Hot Chip. At all. So they who had expected that, yeah, too bad. These lads, though, they do give a masterclass in musicianship. I mean, with all due respect for some of the bands this week, but one can easily spot the difference in sheer musical ability. And I don’t care if other bands had more onlookers, but when these guys start jamming, that is truly excellent. They read each other so well, and they know when to add a layer, or when to start doing something different with their instrument to keep it fresh and exciting. Especially the second jam, kickstarted by Coxon’s bass, was excellent. Then Hayward on drums took over the rhythm, and then Coxon came back with a guitar riff. Over all of this the other members are completing the picture by adding sounds on top of it. That was excellent. Now, some songs are a tad on the dull side of the spectrum, but what shines through at all times is the mastery of their instruments.

The festival succeeded in following up the About Group with another band (man) that knows his instrument inside-out. Volker Bertlemann, also known as Hauschka, takes place behind his grand piano, and he churns out sounds that sound like everything but a piano. By cleverly making use of all kinds of equipment and by deviously placing things inside the piano at exactly the right spots he can get so many different sounds out per song it is unbelievable. Don’t think this is experimental classical music though, for it is easy on the ear and very accessible, and at all times surprising. Not as surprising as one woman asking Volker to marry her, to which the man behind Hauschka sheepishly thanks her and counters, But well, you know…. I’m guessing he doesn’t get that one very often. But in order to get those sounds out of that piano, and to then construct with those sounds songs; that requires a lot of craftsmanship.

Retro Stefson, an eight piece from Iceland, may still have to spend some time practicing before they achieve the level of expertise of the men above. But comparing them is unfair, for Retro Stefson are young with a capital Y. They try to have a bit of fun and to get the audience into it as well, and in that they certainly succeed. The people in front of the stage (and also those who are well away from it) take part in the shenanigans of the band with little dances and so forth. Also, who thinks that with eight people you can make nothing but noise, Retro Stefson creates some songs that sound silky smooth. Which is an accomplishment in itself. Is every song an example of great musicianship and are they all complex and original tunes, no, not really. They seem to just pick a genre and take the essential sounds of that genre and make a fun song out of it. Judging by the audience in front of them, that comes across very well.

Mount Kimbie is not the band people were expecting them to be, judging from the crowd (and how they are announced). Where Mount Kimbie excels in intricately woven songs using dubstep ideas, I think people were expecting a full fledged dubstep party. So the response of the audience was rather tepid. This was not helped by Mount Kimbie themselves, who take a long time in between songs to get going again. That, plus they seem rather oblivious to the crowd in front of them, and they seem rather estranged from it all. So even if they never had the crowd to begin with, they also didn’t do much to create a flow to get them in it. Which isn’t too say that there weren’t some good beat compositions in there.

Probably what the crowd was expecting was something like Gesaffelstein. This Frenchman takes place behind the decks and churns out as many beats as he does cigarettes. All in black and looking fucking classy, like one of those bastards you see in the movies, fag hanging from his lips, hair perfectly groomed; he is one mean looking dude. His beats are deep, hard, and the audience (which by this time has ballooned to gigantic proportions) is eating it up like cake. To the techno side of the spectrum, Gesaffelstein sure can get out a beat that can get a whole crowd going. Is it very versatile? No, perhaps not. I can understand that if this is not your thing it might sound like too much of the same. But to finish seven evenings of music, perhaps this is the kind of release one can take and one would like.

So, there it is, it is over. Hopefully I can be there next year, because as free festivals go, this still takes the crown. Despite you rather have  a sense they made some cost cutting moves, to still be able to put on a festival with so much good music like this, that’s something special. And hopefully I’ll see all the same people again next year. Because if there ever is an indication of how appreciated a festival is, it is by seeing the same people for all seven days, with for most of them it being a returning year. To get people out of their house, despite the weather (some rain, some cold, and surely I have caught the latter), seven days straight, for yet another year. That’s something, and both the organization and the people themselves can be proud of that.