Art

CVLT Nation Captures
Amplifest 2013 Day One

Published

November 4, 2013

Photos: Nuno Bernardo

October is always a special month if you are interested in good alternative music and interested in seeing artists perform with honesty and a lot of heart… And if you have the possibility of spending a couple of days in the wonderful city that’s Oporto, in Portugal, to attend Amplifest. Since the very first moment is began, Amplifest created a special feeling and by now people seem to understand how special these moments are when music is just the central piece of a big and beautiful painting. The venue? Hard Club, as always. A suitable place for the festival (you probably can’t find anything better for Amplifest in Portugal) with a magnificent view of the Douro river.

The first day couldn’t have started in a better way. The Swiss band Zatokrev opened with their sludge, doing justice to the apocalyptic side that they like to use as a description of their awesome sound. Frédéric Hug, the drummer, was one of the most impressive things of the whole festival. That guy is not even fuckin’ real… Ok he’s real, but we don’t want to admit it because we will look bad in the picture with him. The band was almost perfect, playing their guts out, and the best part is you could see that they were having loads of fun playing together. Incredible!

Downfall of Gaia played next, with a claustrophobic ambience (literally) and without any mercy for themselves or the audience. Presenting their last record, Suffocating In The Swarm Of Cranes, the band wasn’t able to deliver the awesomeness of their tunes because of the rather poor sound quality. Not normal in that venue, but it was really hard to take that sound. Nevertheless, the band gave it everything and you could understand how focused they are on their music.

Then the most “weird” (it’s not weird at all, but people seem to don’t understand them) project was on stage. Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista! Let’s cut the crap and get directly to the point. They gave the best show of the entire festival, hands down. Playing a bunch of new songs, the band was just incredible. It’s impossible to take your eyes, and hears, from whatever is happening in that stage. The music? Imagine a freaky version of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, a compelling Patti Smith vibe and Carla shouting, THE WEST IS THE BEST. Jim Morrison? I’M FUCKING EXCITED!!! It makes all the sense in the world and it’s so real, you can see it in Carla’s eyes and in the way she moves during the entire show. You must see one Evangelista show in your goddamn life if you have the chance. It’s perfection all the way through.

Deafheaven were one of the most anticipated acts of the whole festival, so it was normal to see a packed room to receive the band that’s being flown all over the world because of their second, and really compelling, full-length (but not groundbreaking), Sunbather. It’s impressive to see how much the band changed in just a year. George Clarke, the vocalist, from an introspective frontman has shifted into an authentic stage animal, putting an awed expression on all the faces of the public. That was a plus to the great show put on by the band, which was able to aptly transport their songs from the record to the stage. They’re a really great band, on their way to the top.

The day keeps going with the big surprise (a.k.a. “?”) of the entire festival – the unknown band that would play at the festival. You had to be in the concert to know who they were. You had to be there to know that Catacombe, the Portuguese act, was the big surprise. This collective from Vale de Cambra presented their new work (that will be released soon), showing their melancholy through post-rock. The special guest, Cláudia Andrade, singing the song ‘Lolita’ was a big plus.

To end the day, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. They are being recognized not only because of the great tunes they have written but also because of the shows they play – like opening for the mighty and legendary Black Sabbath. Being one of the bands that present a different kind of retro-rock with their albums, it was really a disappointment to see them reduce their sound live to just another band in an already oversaturated genre. What a shitty experience it was. You have a band that is highly influenced by The Beatles and is able to do what Kurt Cobain dreamed of a long time ago (Sabbath + Beatles), and in the end they just care about the Sabbath side, like hundreds and hundreds of bands? Fuck off! And the sound was not good too. Disappointment all the way through.