Warming-up act by Priscilla da Costa and her band „Velvet“
Write twice about the same artist within just some weeks? Yes, but it ain’t the same story. After his great concert at the Liquid Bar in Stadtgrund, singer-composer Kid Colling has presented the new CD “In the devil’s court” of his band “Kid Colling Cartel” within the walls of the Escher Kulturfabrik. It was not without some nostalgia that yours truly entered the premises on this beautiful Friday evening, having spent many hours here in another century. Memories of music, art and long lost loves came back to mind as the sky darkened. But now, it was time to join the party inside: the warm-up act was delivered by the singer Priscilla da Costa and her group “Velvet”. Spacy organ sounds and a psychedelic guitar made it a reverence to the Seventies and Eighties.
Then it was time for the star of the evening. Kid Colling was in great shape and so were his musicians. Compared to the recent concert in the intimate atmosphere of a blues bar, this was something completely different, even though one or two of the songs were the same: beside the light show and the high decibel level, the style of the band gave far more the impression of rock’n’roll than of classic blues. Some arrangements even crossed the thin edge to mainstream pop. All this was presented by very professional musicians, the Cartel counting, besides Colling, the bass guitarist David Franco, Vincent Charrue at the keyboard and the drummer Florian Pons.
Singer-composer Kid Colling
After the first music pieces, the band hat the audience on their side: musical precision, good rhythms and a really engaging and powerful singing performance of Kid Colling made it a great evening. Just one aspect disappointed your humble servant: the all-male composition was only attenuated by the presence of the afore-mentioned Priscilla da Costa and Sitta Foehr. The two ladies were doomed to backing vocals and hip shaking, and it was only when they were granted a contribution of their own that their great singing potential became obvious. Nowadays, a balanced participation of musicians of the different sexes still does not seem to be a normality. These reflexions put aside, the Cartel delivered a great concert. Beside catchy songs as “Tired of your behaviour”, especially the more melancholy songs like “I ain’t welcome anymore” or “How blue can you get” left a lasting impression.
Leaving the concert hall, the moon was almost full, and the sky had reached a midnight blue.