In Rheine, there is the blues association Jazz Blues, which has been organizing blues concerts in the venue for years.
Unfortunately, Hypothalamus closed permanently last December; this had nothing to do with the blues association. Fortunately, what is still going ahead is the Open-Air European Blues Festival Sommer an der Ems. We have been there a few times already for reports and interviews. Robert Grawe from Bluesnote always arranged that perfectly, and after an email, it has been arranged perfectly again this time.
On Saturday, Chris Kramer & The Beatbox ‘n’ Blues will play—several of whose albums have been reviewed in Jazz Blues EU and the reviews are excellent—and Gaelle Buswel will perform just one album, New Day’s in 2017, which also received an excellent review. (See Bluesmagazine for further information and background on the reviews). It is interesting to see these two relatively unknown bands live, and tonight is a great opportunity!
Robert Grawe announced the bands. The evening starts with the three-man formation Chris Kramer & Beatbox ‘n’ Blues.
It is a strange sensation to see a blues band playing without a drummer. Kevin O’Neal plays the beatbox, which means, as he explains later in the performance, that he plays all the drum and percussion parts using his mouth and the beatbox.
He has become German Beatbox Champion twice, and if you close your eyes, you hear (almost) a real drum kit. The hip-hop sound associated with such a beatbox adds an extra touch to the performance.
Chris Kramer himself plays the harmonica fantastically, handles the lead vocals and rhythm guitar with his warm voice, and German Blues Award Winner Sean Athens naturally plays the solo guitar.
Here, traditional blues meets modern beatbox grooves. Never heard it like this before! Unfortunately, there is no setlist here, but the performance from start to finish features brilliant harmonica playing, excellent beatbox parts, and solid guitar riffs with beautiful solos. The songs range from heavy rock, rock and roll, salsa, ballads, and even some gospel vocals and handclapping.
The final song is in German and is strongly reminiscent of the music and voice of German legend Udo Lindenberg. Between songs, Chris tells various anecdotes with a great deal of humor, which goes down well with the audience. A very surprising, excellent, and varied performance. Something totally new, and that is always special.
Next up is Gaelle Buswel. The band has just arrived from Paris for this one gig, but there is no sign of that on stage; an energetic performance follows!
The band consists of five members: Gaelle Buswel on lead vocals and sometimes acoustic guitar, Michaal Benjelloun on guitar, Lea Worms on keys, Steve Belmonte on drums, and JB Petri on bass. In addition to Gaelle’s lead vocals, all of them also provide backing vocals.
There is a setlist, and the performance features thirteen songs, eight of which are from their latest album, Your Journey, and the rest from the upcoming new album.
They start the show with rolling drums and psychedelic keyboard playing, after which the band kicks in. It immediately becomes apparent that Gaelle possesses a powerful, slightly husky voice, and her energetic stage presence stands out.
In Last Day, there is room for delicious riffs, beautiful breaks, and solid guitar solos, as well as backing vocals from the entire band. The harmonies are excellent. A beautiful song. And then it continues with All You Gotta Do, featuring a more pinched guitar sound. 100 Ways To Stay Alive is more poppy, more radio-friendly, and is sung very well by Gaelle, who handles the acoustic guitar here, followed by the ballad A Rose Without A Thorn.
There is a lot of solid guitar work in Perfect Foil, a sensitive song with very emotional, powerful vocals. The frustration bursts out. The sensitive, bluesy Selfish Game features a beautiful, spiritual, psychedelic keyboard intro with a dazzling climax.
25 Hours is a nice long, heavy, groovy song with a keyboard solo and a very energetic Gaelle, who makes a round through the audience. From the upcoming album, they play the heavy rock song Little Star with heavy, angular riffs; it has a quiet middle section and wah-wah guitar with a beautiful, dark sound. After that comes the quiet Perfect Lullaby.
That’s Alright is also from the new album and is a radio-friendly sing-along. The performance concludes with a rocking rendition of So Blue, featuring slide guitar and great piano playing, and the audience sings along with abandon.
Naturally, there is an encore: Soldier Of Love, which is sung beautifully a cappella by all five band members, with a gospel chorus and an enthusiastic audience clapping along.
A surprising ending to a wonderful performance by this French band, which demonstrates that they are a very well-rehearsed band that has been together in this lineup for years.
Bandleader Paddy Boy Zimmerman not only demonstrates his class on guitar but also proves to be an excellent entertainer, much to the delight of the audience.
In addition to his own songs, there are also several well-played covers performed in his own unique style. The introduction to the song Scrambled Eggs is comical, as he was asked to eat his scrambled eggs in his room during hotel breakfast due to his inappropriate clothing!
Bassist Rupi Schwarzberger provided the deep tones in a relaxed manner, and drummer Jan Winstroerd’s absence was excellently covered by Janik Hünsch from Henrik Freischlader’s band.
After a short changeover, Julian Sas took the stage with his band and immediately created fireworks with the title track of the new album, ‘Miles and Memories’. The spark instantly ignites the enthusiastic audience. The band positions itself between blues and hard rock and excels in the protest song ‘Stand Your Ground’ and in a long rendition of ‘Hey Joe’ that they always perform differently. Lars-Erik van Elzakker on drums and Gerben Koolen on bass are two musicians who play exactly in Julian’s musical style.
The approximately one hundred minutes of power rock from a band full of playing joy fly by, leaving only very satisfied faces behind!
