Emergenza Finals

Chief Mart's, Couchgrass, Granny's Favouritz, Myein, Inborn, Shortk[u]t, Paraflip, Holy National Victims, Mighty Pussy Lickers, Ophidian, The Fact at the Kulturfabrik (Esch/Alzette) on May 28th, 2003

In fact, Pascal was supposed to write the reviews about the final round of the third Emergenza edition in Luxembourg. But as he wanted to show the Kulturfabrik (especially the bar) to a good friend, he didn't see much from the different gigs and asked me if I could do his work. No problem for me. I just think it will be difficult to write about all bands because some of them were playing more or less the same stuff than in the two previous rounds.

Although the organisers Get Up Music announced that doors would open at 7.30 pm, it only happened nearly half an hour later. The first band of the evening Chief Mart's had to start at 8 pm. They unfortunately had the unthankful job to play at the beginning in front of just a few spectators because it lasted quite long until the more or less 800 people at the Kulturfabrik had entered the venue. Nevertheless I was absolutely impressed by their gig. This instrumental five-piece was showing a musical mixture of Motorpsycho and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Their sound was far more penetrating than it had been the case in the semi-finals. By the way, the dude who was eating bananas on stage during the last round did this time a more serious job: He was ironing the clothes people were throwing on stage.

I was really looking forward to lovely Couchgrass as next band. Unfortunately they didn't have their luckiest day on stage. During the second song, a guitar amplifier didn't work anymore and there were also problems with a guitar which had to be replaced. This lasted quite long and the seven musicians were standing on stage and doing their best to entertain the public which was enjoying this top example for the German TV show 'Pleiten, Pech und Pannen'. Couchgrass succeeded somehow to play several more songs in front of a public which especially was attracted by the bizarre front lady Amandine. Let's hope that the next Couchgrass show will be a less chaotic event.

The scout pop rock folkers Grannys Favouritz were the next band on stage. I can't write any good things about them. The singer has done the impossible thing to lose more weight. She was so thin that you could see her bones when she was standing in a spotlight. I really was afraid that she could fall into a space between two wooden planks on stage. Someone said that their music was the ideal soundtrack for the TV show 'Our little farm'. I didn't pay too much attention to Grannys Favouritz, but I think their music contained more horns and brass instruments than last time.

Fourth band of the evening were Myein. I can't understand the hype about them. The first rows in front of the stage were quite crowded and people were fascinated by the music. I have the problem that I can't discover any melodies in their mixture of funk, rock and noise. Although I have seen them during the three Emergenza rounds, I haven't noticed anything spectacular about Myein's music.

Contrary to Myein, I think that Inborn are a more promising newcomer in Luxembourg. They also like to rock and to make noise, but in a more sophisticated way. Their exotic frontman knows how to get the fans under his spell. Although he's very young, he's not afraid to stand in front of so many spectators. The use of a megaphone or a voice distorter is also a gimmick that fits very well to Inborn's sound. Watching the other musicians, you easily noticed that they liked acting on stage. Two little anecdotes: Inborn have a cool logo on their t-shirts. They were the only band asking that the DisAgreement review should this time be faster online than it was the case for the semi-finals. Well, no computer problems so far.

Short[k]ut did very well during the first rounds and impressed quite a lot of people. So I can't understand why they had to play in front of a nearly half filled venue. The musicians didn't care about that and the DJ started with a rape of Michael Jackson's 'Billy Jean'. After this strange intro, the other musicians jumped on stage where they released a lot of positive energy. What they do is nothing new and Clawfinger did similar stuff already about ten years ago, but who cares? Short[k]ut are one of the few Luxemburgian bands who feel better on larger than on small stages because movement and action are part of their great live shows.

A band that can't convince me very much is Paraflip. They are playing strong guitar dominated rock music with a retro touch. Even if the instrumentation is still ok, the song writing and especially the vocals still have to develop very much. The singer was wearing the same sport jacket as in the two first rounds, but this time, it didn't bring him so much luck. I can't write more about Paraflip as all about them has already been written in the two first DisAgreement Emergenza reviews.

Holy National Victims are another newcomer band that reached to my surprise the final round. About them, I have to say that I get accustomed to their music while listening several times to them. They also play classic rock music with a little retro touch, but instead of using too many noisy parts, they give more importance to the melodies. The Emergenza participation surely was an important step for HNV's development and I think that we will still hear lots of good concerts by these guys wearing funny hats on stage.

The Eldoradio stage announcer was shocked by the last Mighty Pussy Lickers show as two giant cardboard pussies were dancing on stage. Maybe this explains why the Pussy Lickers didn't use any gimmick for their finals concert. From the musical point of view, they offered the fascinated spectators a good mix of classics from the two first rounds: 'Night Of The Vampire', 'Kakadu an ech', 'X-Mas Song', 'Pussy',... show that it is possible to combine metal and comedy in a very subtle way.

Not comedy metal, but classic power metal was played by the last participating band in the finals, Ophidian. Ophidian had a very good night. Although their two first concerts were already very convincing, they were able to top them easily. The sound was awesome, the four musicians felt absolutely secure and didn't have any problems on stage. Frontlady Cassy Wire was always trying with success to involve the audience into the show. She asked people to clap hands or sing with her, and so they did. To me, Ophidian are the metal revelation from Luxembourg. Their CD is very good, but seeing them live is far better.

After the ten bands from Luxembourg had played, a jury had to decide which band would win. During that time, The Fact who got a second place at the Paris Emergenza 2002 played in front of few interested people. I have to admit that I wasn't interested anymore in listening to music after having seen ten bands on stage. To me, Chief Mart's and Ophidian were possible winners because their shows were the most convincing ones. One last remark about the jury which consisted of Roger Hamen, president of Backline, the Luxemburgian music club and four Germans. One of them was the guitar player of Sarah Connor. I didn't know that there were any guitars in her synthie pop and I wonder if such a dude would be able to judge about Luxembourgian music. A guitar player has the same importance to Sarah Connor than an ice fridge to an eskimo.

Here's the list of the winners:

All bands got a bottle of champagne. Chief Mart's received the Tageblatt price and they can profit from their services for a value of 10.000 Euro. D-Fact obtained the Backline award (400 Euro) and will play at the 'Rock um Knuedler'. The Mighty Pussy Lickers had the best bass player and Short[k]ut the best drummer and guitar player.
Then Roger Hamen told the people in a too long speech who had won:
Position 5: The Mighty Pussy Lickers (And they intended to participate in the Emergenza contest in order to get the last place. I wonder if they will be jealous of the Crying Souls).
Position 4: Grannys Favouritz (at least they didn't win anything)
Position 3: Couchgrass (quite a surprise after such an unfortunate gig)
Position 2: Myein (did I already mention the hype?)
Position 1: Inborn (Congratulations! A real newcomer has won the contest)

Inborn will play at the European Emergenza final at the Taubertal in Rothenburg, Germany.

The next Luxemburgish edition of the Emergenza contest will take place in 2005 and I'm now already looking forward to seven funny and entertaining music days.