Concert: Martin and James | Magnet Club, Berlin - 17th Oct 2013


Main Act: Martin and James
Tour: Life's A Show Tour (with band)
Support Act: Jim Kroft (with Ben Barritt)
Date: 17th October 2013
Venue: Magnet Club, Berlin
hits rating: 10000000/10
___________________________________________________

Hey guys,
wow. 

 I returned home from a two day trip from Berlin to interview the band Elias (online soon) and see Martin and James in concert. 

Of course I took pictures and even filmed (yay me!) so I'm going to share all of this amazing stuff with you.
I would just like to apologize for the horrible pictures. It was quite dark and the smoke machines didn't help in that point. Maybe a professional photographer could've taken better pictures, I just couldn't. Sorry.

Support act Jim Kroft started perfectly in time, as usual, and already gained full attention after the first few notes. Supported by Ben Barritt on guitar all nine songs played were acoustics.
Before most tracks Jim told the stories behind the songs and what message they were supposed to share. 
What really stood out to me was the stripped down version of 'The Jailer', a quite rocky track normally, which now relied on harmonies and soft guitar pickings.


The energy Jim and Ben put into each song really showed that all songs performed were written for a reason, better said written because of a reason.
 'I Hope You Know', a track for all the lunatics out there, 'Typical Day', a new song, tells Jim's story of arriving in Berlin and trying to start a life there, 'Through My Weakness' sending out the message of hope and faith.

The charming Mr Kroft seems to really enjoy 'Hefeweizen', at least there hasn't been a show I haven't heard him talk about it with a passion. ;)



Martin and James got everyones attention with opener 'Bloom' a piano based ballad. Light guitar strums and the intense vocals set the scene perfectly.

Continuing with 'Where I Belong' the guys and the crowd quickly warmed up and got into a party mood.

I'm pretty sure the room was on fire when they played 'Crashing Into Love', an upbeat and optimistic track with catchy vocals the crowd basically shouted back at the guys on stage.
It seemed like everyone was going to burst soon.

And for 'Matilda' the crowd turned into one big choir again. Everyone repeated the 'Oh Matilda' part countless times! And everyone loved it!


Highlight of the show was when they turned of the mics and play unplugged.
(Little insider note: the sound system broke down the night of the first gig so that day they had to play unplugged.)
Because everyone in the audience loved it they decided to play 'You're A Window' unplugged.

Their beautiful band (which they mostly pay for their looks, like Martin said) was absolutely smashing it! 
Stuart - keys
Jürgen - drums
Marc - bass
Chapeau, you guys!


To sum it up: Martin and James did perfect. The mix of old as well as new songs and b-sides kept the show interesting and the listeners drawn to the variety.
The band was absolutely brilliant but it was also wonderful to have Martin and James play songs acoustic like the usually would when it's just the two of them.

The energy as well as the talent these two guys have seems to be neverending.
And that's good because we never want them to stop!



Here are some polaroids we've taken after the show. 
That was good fun!
(I looooved the surprise effect, haha!)




  Here's a video of all my favourite moments. I really hope you enjoy!



Links:
Martin and James: website | facebook | twitter | youtube
Jim Kroft: website | facebook | twitter | vimeo
Ben Barritt: facebook | twitter | vimeo


Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! : )


0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Let me know what you think! :)