Poniedziałek 18 Lip 2011, 10:07
Same as in previous years in 2011 Positivus was up to uneasy task of finding delicate balance between acts that will attract mass crowds, indie/alternative fans and own sympathy towards acoustic/folk/low-fi. And I have to admit that this was the first time they really managed to get this approach to work. I was surprised to find myself making tough choices between sets on different stages much more often comparing to previous years.
There're enough raving comments about Hurts and Mark Ronson performances at Positivus on twitter and facebook - definitely not my favorites, but, well, that's the price you have to pay to get attendance figures. At least first ones were easy to replace with brilliant Tunng set on another stage (one of the highlights of this year's festival for me), which as expected was closed by catchy Bullets. Another "hidden gem" of the first day was "me-acoustic guitar-and-pedals" Yoav - well, not really hidden as he was performing on a main stage. This time Yoav had one more instrument on stage - bottle of vodka, his "vodka breaks" were warmly welcomed by the crowd and weren't big enough to affect performance. Editors were headlining the first day. Their set was very professional and equally boring. Only when they got to play Munich and other bigger songs the crowd started to respond - but we had to wait until some 40+ min into their set for that. Still it was OK way to close the first day.
Day 2 was a day of tough choices - Alcoholic Faith Mission or King Charles, James or Beach House, Glasser or whatever that was on main stage at that time. First choice was resolved towards Danes but they didn't sound as convincing as on record - probably couldn't get over too passive crowd. I guess same reason kept Chapel Club from sounding anywhere near energizing, another "mis-selection" from my side. And as much as I wanted to see Beach House, I just couldn't resist pure awesomeness of James live performance. Sometimes Positivus crowd surprises me a big deal. Previous such occasion was singing of Closer chorus some 5-6 times after the band already finished a song (local live show goers know that singalong is not among best skills of music fans in Latvia - not enough people know the lyrics well enough). This time it was classical "sit down" act during Sit down. As Tim Booth said and later tweeted:
Latvians spontaneously sat down in mud - 1st time in 12 years.Anyway, old love never dies - I was jumping and yelling to Sometimes, Laid, Destiny Calling, Say Something etc. After James show I had to make difficult decision to stay for RÖYKSOPP or call it a day and head home for a cup of hot tea and some cognac - and Norwegians have lost this battle (sorry guys).
Among other Day 2 sets catches were OK Go who were ,err, OK and one of the local favorites Satellites LV showed they can handle performing on main stage with no issues.
See you next year Positivus, and please keep this "healthy" approach to lineup (well, if you can get some big names cheap no one will blame you, but usually you don't, do you?)