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Jazz- und Funk-Legende Herbie Hancock hat gestern Abend im Mainzer Volkspark ein Konzert im Rahmen der "Summer in the City"-Reihe gegeben. Ich war in der glücklichen Lage, ein Ticket für den Open-Air-Gig geschenkt bekommen zu haben. Leider saßen bzw. standen wir ziemlich weit hinten, so dass auf dem Foto nur wenig zu erkennen ist (mehr und bessere Fotos hier von Herrn Eff).

Hancock wurde unterstützt von einer virtuosen Band: Großmeister Vinnie Colaiuta am Schlagzeug, der beninische Lionel Loueke an der Gitarre, die erst 24-jährige Australierin Tal Wilkenfeld am Bass, Greg Phillinganes an den Keyboards und Kristina Train an Geige und Gesang. Eine solche Besetzung bekommt man nicht alle Tage zu sehen und vor allem zu hören. Das musikalische Zusammenspiel klappte perfekt und war selbstverständlich extrem tight. Auch der Sound war wirklich herausragend.

Viele der während des zweistündigen Auftritts gespielten Songs stammten aus Hancocks jüngstem "Imagine Project". Das gleichnamige Album wurde an vielen verschiedenen Orten auf der ganzen Welt mit ebenso unterschiedlichen Musikern aufgenommen und enthält hauptsächlich Coverversionen von Songs wie John Lennons "Imagine" oder Sam Cookes "A Change Is Gonna Come". Bemerkenswert sind die Kollaborationen von afrikanischen Musikern wie Konono N°1 oder Tinariwen mit Seal, Los Lobos oder den irischen Chieftains.

Das ganz besondere Spannungsfeld, das durch diese Zusammenarbeiten geschaffen wurde, lässt sich live natürlich so nicht nachstellen. Zum Teil wurden die jeweiligen Gesangs- oder Instrumentalspuren vom Computer zur Livemusik eingespielt, was meist nicht weiter auffiel, manchmal aber doch einen etwas merkwürdigen Eindruck hinterließ. Insgesamt überzeugten aber die Songs und ihre Interpretationen vollends, und auch einige Herbie-Klassiker wie "Cantaloupe Island" durften nicht fehlen.

So verließen wir in der Abenddämmerung den Volkspark mit dem wohligen Gefühl, ein nahezu perfektes Konzert von einigen der weltbesten Musiker erlebt zu haben. Und Herbie Hancock bewies mit seinen 70 Jahren, dass er immer noch mit innovativen Konzepten vorangehen und spielerisch leicht beeindruckende Musik schaffen kann.

Update: Habe oben einen Link zu einem Fotoalbum bei Facebook eingefügt.

Okay, so I planned to blog daily news and reviews from the Worldwide Festival while in Sète, but I just didn't manage to. Sometimes, you just need to get some sleep; or the beach and the beats lure you out into the sun. Whatever, I'll try to sum everything up nicely in the next few paragraphs - you can read up on Day 1 here.

Friday started with a yummy breakfast and then the sunny beach. We had a jolly good time in the refreshing water while relaxed beats rolled over us into the Mediterranean sea. Later, at the Théâtre de la Mer, Roberto Fonseca kicked it off with his fantastic Havana Cultura band, which was a really, really great performance. At sunset, L'Orchestre Poly-Rhytmo de Cotonou came on stage with their ingenious interpretation of afrobeat, and that's when the dancing started for good. The Théâtre is such a beautiful location, and the bands knew how to take advantage of it. As the end of their performances drew near, a little bit of rain sprinkled over Sète, but it stopped as suddenly as it began. Later, at the lighthouse, Theophilus London and the wild and crazy Gonjasufi & The Gaslamp Killer, well, killed it, big time.

After Gil Scott-Heron had disappointed us on Thursday by not showing up (though he played Montreux - for whatever reason), I found it equally sad to learn that Flying Lotus and Joy Orbison cancelled their respective gigs, too. FlyLo was one of the appearances I longed for the most - and to replace him with Laurent Garnier left me frustrated. Don't get me wrong, he's a great DJ and he rocked the crowed twice this year and also in 2009, but he's just not my cup of tea. Last year's gig didn't touch me, and this time ... well, solid, but I hoped for some cut up quirky beats and all I got was (more or less) four to the floor. Yeah, even if I enjoyed his playing of Song 2 or David Bowie in a certain kind of way: Eurythmics and some of the other 80s stuff was pretty much over the top. I went home after a couple of minutes and missed Sbtrkt feat Sampha. Bummer.

It took a strong cup of coffee on Saturday to forget about the disappointment and focus on what lay before us: Tropical sweetness from Hugo Mendez and the fantastic show of the Ladybugz at the beach. They really, really got me back into the groove. As did the delicious entrecôte I was having before heading towards the Théâtre once again. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble rocked the house from the first note, super tight brass sound from Chicago. We met some of the eight brothers in the hotel later on where they stocked up on their booze supply However, the best was yet to come: Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro featuring the amazing singer Nidia Góngora Bonilla! I've always been and always will be a huge fan of Will Holland's musical ventures, and this one is simply exceptional. Un Canto A Mi Tierra is my personal anthem of this year's Worldwide Festival.

At the Phare du Môle, Kyle Hall held the spirits way up. Hard to believe that he's still so young and yet so talented, but it's true! The dOP, on the other hand, were about the craziest guys at the whole festival. They definitely know how to party, and they're not ones to play games with. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about! Very much later, Josh Wink released me into the pleasantly warm night and a cool hotel room (thanks to the AC).

And Sunday? Sunday is all about the beach, and this time Sunday was also about the World Cup final, of course. But more of that later. Sadly, Kevin Beadle and Ross Allen didn't show up because their no-frills flight was cancelled. But the beach is always the beach: sun, water, music, and lots of happy people. What more can you expect? Lots more! Even if I missed Jeremy Ellis's reportedly excellent set because I had to be back to the hotel for a short while. However, when I stepped out of the hotel again, I could hear a sweet song coming all the way from the beach. I instantly recognized it: 54-46 by Toots And The Maytals. And I knew it could be none other as the mighty Norman Jay on the decks. His selection escorted me all the way back to the party and into happiness.

But wait, what about Holland vs. Spain? Didn't Gilles promise to show us the match on a "big, but not that big" screen. The screen was there, but it remained pitch black. Until Gilles and The BPM managed to start a live stream on Lefto's Macbook and connect the darn thing to the screen. The rest is historia. And the party went on until almost 5 a.m. with Gilles, Norman Jay, and Laurent Garnier back-to-back-ing for hours and spinning loads of heavy classics. While the whole beach went nuts.

This is how the Worldwide Festival 2010 will be remembered. Or this is at least how close I can get to describing it. If you want more, take a look at some pictures I've taken, and check the official videos on YouTube (unfortunately, most of them are blocked at least here in Germany due to the annoying copyright restrictions). If all this sounds good to your ears: Come join the party in 2011!

I just remembered that last year, I blogged about the Worldwide Festival on a daily basis. Almost live from Sète, France. So, after a long nap and some cups of coffee, I'm now reviving this and post a short summary of the first day of the festival.

It all started pretty early on Thursday at the Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain (CRAC) where we got our wristbands and met up with the rest of our people. Currently, there is an interesting exhibition by artist Claude Lévêque there that is called "The Diamond Sea". Many of his works that are inspired by maritime/naval topics, reminded me of the exhibition by Olafur Eliasson I saw in Berlin a couple of weeks ago. Check it out if you have the chance to.

Right in front of the CRAC was a small stage, where we enjoyed the performances by Trilogy (check them out, they're this year's Talent Search winners), Half Seas Over (featuring none other as the mighty Elan Mehler) and the even mightier Dorian Concept (the whitest boy alive *g*). Beautiful hours in the burning hot sun, but worth every minute. Afterwards, we just had to jump into the refreshing water of Sète's harbor. Cooled as down a little

At about 8 pm we arrived at the Phare du Mole, the lighthouse, just to learn that Gil Scott-Heron did not make it to France. Wish him all the best nevertheless! But it was kind of a disappointment. His band played anyhow, but it just wasn't the same. Lefto blessed us with amazing DJ set before the Gil-Scott Heron Band, but Mala, who came on stage afterwards, just isn't my cup of tea. Foreign Beggars are totally crazy guys and must be big in France and/or England, but in Germany, not many people seemed to have heard of them before. So it was Floating Points feat. Fatima who saved the date for me.

I'm sure, Lefto will post one of his hand-crafted videos later on, and I will link to it from here. Right now, we're chilling in our airconditioned hotel room and getting ready for the beach. Today's highlights are so numerous: Sbtrkt, Havana Cultura, Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo de Cotonou, Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi, The Gaslamp Killer and Joy Orbison, amongst others. Worldwide, baby!

Update: As Gilles just twittered, both Flying Lotus and Joy Orbison had to cancel their gigs due to food poisoning Damn it!

Sète ist eine wunderhübsche Kleinstadt an der französischen Mittelmeerküste in der Nähe von Montpellier. Vom Mont St. Clair, auf dem sich viele (wohlhabende) Bürger des Städtchens niedergelassen haben, blinzelt man nach allen Seiten durch sie Sonne aufs Wasser. Anfang Juli wird Sète regelmäßig zum ekstatischen Epizentrum des musikalischen Geschehens rund um Future Beats, Dubstep, Broken Beats, Afrobeat und Soul. Gefeierte Weltstars und talentierte Newcomer teilen sich die Bühne, den Strand oder die Mole unterhalb des Leuchtturms.

Ihr wollt Namen? Kein Problem, hier nur ein kleiner Auszug aus dem Programm: Gil Scott-Heron, Josh Wink, Flying Lotus, Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro, Gonjasufi, Sbtrkt feat. Sampha, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Dorian Concept, Floating Points feat. Fatima, Joy Orbison und natürlich Gilles Peterson. Einen kleinen Video-Teaser mit Bildern vom letzten Jahr gibt's auch:

Ich freue mich, und das spricht ja auch für die Qualität des Worldwide Festival, dass alle meine Leute vom letzten Jahr auch diesmal wieder am Start sind. Außerdem freue ich mich, dass sowohl Frankreich als auch England bei der WM schon draußen sind Das macht die Sache noch entspannter ... Fahren noch andere Leser dieses Blogs nach Sète? Wer Bock auf ein Meetup hat, einfach hier in die Kommentare, mir schreiben über das Kontaktformular oder an matthias ätt numblog de, an @numblog auf Twitter oder connecten auf Facebook. Würde mich sehr freuen!