jeudi 10 Avr 2008, 4h24m
Wed 9 Apr – I Am Kloot: I Am Kloot got off on the wrong foot in Moscow yesterday. Frontman Johnny Bramwell walked in on stage, Guinness in hand, announcing "Prost!" to the crowd (apparently thinking German and Russian aren't that different after all). It was then five past ten - the room was half-empty, and people were still coming in. "We've started too early," conceded Bramwell. Is it too nasty to suspect that it had something to do with a certain Champions' League quarter final involving a team from the Kloots' hometown?
But the crowd was very appreciative. It didn't take much of Bramwell's relatively uninspired banter ("it's fucking great to be in this vibrant city") to earn polite laughs.
Luckily, the band pulled itself immensely together after this false start. We were treated to almost equal portions of material from Natural History, Gods and Monsters, I am Kloot and the most recent I Am Kloot plays the Moolah Rouge. The band tried out some new material on the audience - in particular, Even the Stars got an enthusiastic reception.
The audience was sober - I think I was the only person buying a beer during the concert (it may have been two) - well-behaved and very young (they get younger each year, don't they). They applauded politely between songs and for the most part refrained from chattering during the quieter songs. Bramwell even thanked the audience for "being quiet".
There are many intense and high-quality songs in I Am Kloot's catalogoue, and all my favourites were played last night. We were treated to the melodic bass line of Over My Shoulder, the new, romantic love song Ferris Wheels, and as a penultimate number, the stroke of genius which is "Proof". This was the highlight of the concert, the point at which artists and audience really connected.
By then, unfortunately, it was almost over. But the band came back for no less than four extras, beginning with the quiet, melodic, fingerpicked "Astray" and ending with the seemingly optimistic, but really vitriolic "I believe".
It is almost beyond belief that a three-piece band can have such a tight and saturated sound. Bramwell shares the honor for that achievement with bassist Peter Jobson, who harmonizes well with Bramwell's guitar, often playing several strings at the same time or innovative countermelodies. Andy Hargreaves' drumming is very sensitive and controlled. And John Bramwell's voice is immediately recognizable and really very well-controlled behind its whisky-and-cigarettes exterior.
All in all, a good Wednesday night out that still left me wanting more.
Setlist:
One man brawl
From your favourite sky
Because
Ferris wheels
Twist
Over my shoulder
Someone like you
86 tv's
No Fear of Falling
Fingerprints
Suddenly Strange
The Same Deep Water As Me
Morning Rain
To You
Storm warning
Proof
Life in a day