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This year’s EBM Fest was cursed by catastrophe. For an event
entangled in so many problems—primarily the lack of Rotersand, which
caused other issues like demands for refunds—it was a decent affair for a
spoiled suburbanite, his camera, his notebook, his rave-deprived awe of lasers
and a lingering nostalgia for CIUT’s EBM radio program. It did not look
like Jennifer Parkin of Ayria fame had a bad time, either, nor did some former
regulars of the Vatikan Café or a sampling of that pleasant bevy of
dancers one often finds at the Savage Garden. The crowd was an interesting
cross-section of alternative scene supporters that could make you wonder who
else would have shown up if things had worked out.
That’s an idle
“if”, though, especially if you ask the many people who believe that
the Fest should have been cancelled and/or refunds given because Rotersand
couldn’t be there. I’ve seen a smidgeon of that frustration on one
forum in particular. I believe people who know this experience are best left to
represent themselves as they would be more knowledgeable about how it
feels—I encourage them to write about it passionately. This review is
intended to be about what did happen more than what could or should have
happened.
The bottom line for beleaguered planner Sophia was not
necessarily who arrived, but how many and for how long. The price,
post-discount, was twenty dollars; in return, you could expect the three
remaining live acts, who managed to drag the Fest out of the ashes for a few
entertaining hours, and DJ sets from Lazarus, EBM and last minute replacement
Herr Stefan Herwig. Judging by the attendance for the duration of the live sets
(as well as the DJ sets sandwiched in between), some people were willing to pay
that price to see the bands, but many of them left the room a few minutes after
DISMANTLED left the stage.
The crowd was as slow to arrive as it was
quick to leave. MDM opened their set to a tough reception, but finished with
some applause; people trickled in slowly as the band played, eventually pooling
in sufficient number to summon more energy. It was the sort of attendance that
is always great for ten o’clock, but never guarantees that it will get
much bigger.
Fractured came out with a raucous pounding sound that
brought many people to their feet; some energy did conduct itself through the
DJ set from the previous act, but they generated plenty of it on their own. I
vaguely recalled bands with sitars from the previous EBM Fest I had attended
and wondered if the planners were trying for a different feel this time. Then
again, some of the bands from the previous Fest were plenty loud. A slight
influx of people continued, but by the end of the set, the attendance had
reached its climax.
The DJ sets sometimes bled into the band sets so
well that I could only tell the next band was up when the people standing there
looked different than the ones who were there before, and were holding
instruments rather than packing things up. No emcee asked anybody to direct
their attention to DISMANTLED; no need. This may be one reason why the energy
that materialized from the middle of MDM’s set and built up each live act
seemed to have been conducted so well. This band was going for something
slightly different than its predecessors, and did it well enough to keep people
there through at least one encore. With Rotersand unavailable, it hurt nobody
for this set to be stretched a little.
It’s tough to say for sure
that the end of their set was the culmination of the Fest’s energy, but
maybe it was after all. The majority of a crowd you might not expect before
midnight had enough by eleven-thirty, and they bled out the door to who knows
where else. I lingered for a bit, sorry that Krischan had to oversee a quickly
emptying room due to circumstances beyond his control, but not as long as
some.
Review by
Dylan Madeley for the October 28th 2007 EBMfest.
Posted November 23 2007 by Dem. |
