nikki's noorderslag diary

I have no idea what bands I will go and see yet, but I am hoping to get some tip offs and what’s hot when I arrive. I saw Calvin Harris and the Hooisers listed to play, but I feel I should discover some international bands instead. I also saw that the Reverend and the Makers are playing, but since they are on such heavy rotation on XFM with their new track, I feel I’ve had enough of them to last me lifetime. Anyway, I’ve got my schedule, loads of business cards and boundless enthusiasm so I am ready to go!

Thursday 10th Jan

It’s 7am and time to get up as I have a long day of travelling ahead of me. After some last minute emails I’m out the door and driving to Gatwick. Yes I know I should be thinking of my carbon footprint and taking the train, but you can’t deny there is nothing better than door to door travel without lugging your case on the tube and train when you are half asleep. I arrived at the airport ahead of time and was awarded boarding group A when I checked in for my Easyjet flight, which has to be the first time ever! The flight was on time and smooth besides the obligatory group of rowdy drunken English blokes ready for a weekend with the lads getting wasted. Touching down at 3:30pm local time I had plenty of time to get the train to Gronigen, which was a relief as I have only been on a train to Amsterdam before and wanted to make sure I got the right one. When the train arrived, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed as it wasn’t one of the cool yellow double deckers. Oh well, you can’t have it all. As the train pulled away from the platform I started to feel exited, as I was only 2 ½ hours away….Noorderslag here I come!

On arrival at the station I followed the detailed directions and was at the Oosterpoort conference venue in no time. It was now 7pm and I had been travelling for 9 hours. I picked up my badge and another heavy bag of goodies to add the case and bag I was already carrying and headed to the hotel. I was staying at the Hampshire Plaza hotel which was to the South of city and converted from an old telecom company building with a huge triangular glass front. After grabbing a quick bite to eat I began to wade through all the goodies in the bag in my room. I put the Electrofy your life CD in my laptop and enjoyed the beats while I was unpacking.

After looking though the Eurosonic Schedule of bands playing, I noticed that there were 3 bands with the name blood in their name. There was Bloodgroup, Blood Red Shoes and The Bloody Honkies. The Bloodgroup from Iceland took my eye, so I headed into town to the Het Parliament, which was a small and intimate venue with big, funky chandeliers. The band were a five piece electronic act headed up by Lilja on vocals. I wasn’t sure what to make of them as they kicked off with their first song, but their rhythms and beats soon had my toes tapping and my head nodding. My favourite track in their set was Hips again. They had a lot of energy and it’s a shame they didn’t have a bigger stage to work with as it didn’t seem to do them justice.

Next it was onto the Huize Mass venue which turned out to be like a tardis as it looked so small from the outside. A poppy Swedish girl group called Those Dancing Days were on in the bar when we arrived. Then it was UK group the Hoosiers turn to wow the crowds in the bigger room at the back. I like their new album and was intrigued to see if they could cut it live. I was more than impressed and there were the best band I had seen all night. A tight sound and the lead singer had real charisma and boy can he sing. Yes even all the high bits all note perfect. I also liked his banter inbetween songs. 10/10.

Next stop was Vera where I checked out the live radio broadcast by Dutch Radio station 3FM and Norwegian rock band The Grand. Headed back to the hotel about 2am as I thought I should pace myself on the first night.

Friday 11th Jan

I got the shuttle bus from the hotel to the conference centre and got to see some of the city in daylight, although the rain didn’t do it justice. The conference venue was much bigger than I was expecting with many different seminar rooms and lots of people everywhere. The first panel I attended was a keynote speech by Carl Leighton Pope.

His upbeat speech discussed issues such as how touring used to sell records and now it has reversed as records are used to sell a tour. He also noted how the domestic music market had grown and that emerging markets were no longer emerging with greater regeneration and investment. He finished by saying that labels run by managers and artists are the future and that those who embrace change will be successful.

The next panel of interest was Conference Call: Long Live Live with Carl Leighton Pope, John McIIdowie/Barfly, Maarten Steinkamp/Sony BMG, Eric van Eerdenburg/Lowlands Festival and music lawyer Hans Bousie. They discussed everything from ticket sales to artist development, the 360 model and the lack of good managers. The general consensus was that manager collectives would be the model of the future as they can look at all artist revenue streams and there were lots of laughs along the way, mostly at Harvey Goldsmiths expense. It was also suggested that a variable price ticket model e.g Easyjet could work with die hard fans being able to buy tickets first at a cheaper rate and those that leave it till the last minute to decide pay more.

Now that my head was buzzing with information and banging with a natsy headache I thought it was time to grab a quick bite to eat and get ready for another night of non stop band action.

Groningen is a picturesque town and the centre is only a ten minute walk from the Oosterpoort. There are lots of nice restaurants to choose from, but we chose Henrys which had a gastro pub type feel and had an amazing value 3 course meal for €21.50! Bargain!

All fuelled up and ready to go, I first check out The Bloody Beetroots at the Simplon. They are an electro punk band from Italy who were recruited by Alex Gohper and Etienne de Crecy as official remixers. Their sound reminded of Dark Funk only tougher with guitars.

Then I rushed to the Muziek School where Pete and the Pirates were playing in association with BBC Radio 1, who were recording their set for Huw Stephens show. I’d never heard of them before but they are a 5 piece band from Reading in the UK and play guitar led indie/rock. My favourite track in their set was ‘My Understanding’.

I also wanted to check out The Future Heads as I like their new track, but had missed them so went back to the hotel.

Saturday 12th:

Understandably it was a bit thin on the ground for breakfast at the hotel today and I am surprised I made the 10am deadline myself. Nothing a greasy fry up can’t fix though.

The first panel I checked out was the interview with Ed Bicknall. This was a light hearted way to kick off the final day as he told lots of funny stories from his career. He was a larger than life character who did impressions of all the people he talked about, revealed his nicknames for artists such as Cliff Richard and Sting and gave his thoughts on the industry today. It was interesting that he had the opposite view to Carl Leighton Pope on the 360 model with Ed not trusting record labels as they don’t know enough about all areas of the business and have a high turnover of staff. He also said that the number of people who want to make music and consume music is growing and asked if greed will kill the live music industry like it did the record industry?

Next up was Ed Bicknall interviewing Leon Ramakers who is one of the founders of Mojo Concerts in the Netherlands.

Leon revealed that when he started out he never thought he could be rich from doing this, but now feels it is to much about the business, and thinks you also have to follow your instinct. It was also noted that there is a growing trend of people and corporate organisations paying for acts to perform for birthday’s parties etc. They also said you can’t predict the future – as who would have thought of Google, myspace and utube a few years ago?

After that I decided to check out the Original Festival Concepts panel with c/p Pop, De Parade, Summer Darkness and Exit festival represented. It was thought that there are too many festivals and they won’t all be able to be sustained in the future and being different is important to make events stand out in a crowded market place. The festivals were also interested in attracting international visitors and their uniqueness helps them achieve that, with the Exit Festival, attracting 10,000 festival goers from the UK in 2007.

For dinner I was invited out with the Noorderslag crew, as I know them from going to the Amsterdam Dance Event which they also organise. The are a great bunch of people who are passionate about music and put on amazing ans well organised events.

After dinner I headed to the Oosterpoort which had been transformed from the conference centre that is was by day, into a multi stage venue showcasing all the best Dutch bands. First I headed to see the Dave Gilmour Gils who play a deep blend of electro and prog rock. Their music had me jumping around and I was now ready for the night ahead.

Next I ventured to the Buma Cultuur stage where Pete Philly & Perquisite was playing. I am not a big fan of Urban music but I loved his mix of hip hop, jazz samba and classical music. On stage he performed with a full band consisting of an electronic cello, double bass and drums and it was really different to anything I’d seen before.

Then I saw the end of a set by Voicst who sounded more like the UK indie bands I am used to listening to. They had an upbeat sound and I loved their song Everyday.

I bumped into a friend from Germany and he wanted to check out the Claw Boys Claw, so I hung out with him to for a while. He told me they were an old band who had reformed and they were obviously popular as they room was jam packed. They opened with a Jethro Tull song and I thought the band was great, but wasn’t impressed with the lead singer’s voice or his choice of checked shirt.

After squeezing my out of the room, I walked through the venue I heard some Jazz funk music that caught my attention. It was an artist called Alain Clark and it was nice to hear that sound as I am a big fan of the James Taylor Quartet.

There were so many different styles of music and artists under one roof and next I came across Agua de Annique, who was on stage with 3 male band members dressed as airline pilots. Well all girls love a man in uniform…. Her music was mainly rock ballads, which isn’t really my thing, but she had a big crowd watching her.

The night was flying by and it was great that you could wonder from room discovering new bands and sounds. I ended up back at the Buma Cultuur stage where a band called Moke were playing. They had a UK Britpop sound and the band members were smartly dressed in black with Paul Weller haircuts. This may not be a coincidence, as I am told that Paul Weller was so impressed with their tunes he asked them to support him.

For the evening finale I was told by the organisers told me I could not miss C-Mon and Kypski. They are a 4 piece breakbeat outfit consisting of keyboards, guitar, drums and scratch DJ. Their sound includes elements of hip hip, electro, pop and rock and I really enjoyed watching them as they were fun and had lots of energy.

As they finished their last song it was 3am and the end of the live acts, but not the end of the night. As the general public left the building I was told I should stay for the afterparty and who was I to refuse? The 3FM dj’s were spinning the tunes and I felt right at home which tunes by the Wombats and Franz Ferdinand booming out of the soundsystem.

Before I knew it, it was 5am and I thought I’d better make a move to get a few hours beauty sleep. I’d had a great time and will definitely come next year and bring some friends as I know they’d enjoy seeing all the bands too. I hope I can get up later so I don’t miss my train back to Schiphol.