DARK BOMBASTIC EVENING: ... A Story. A Real Story!
Bucharest, 12th of December 2009
The Special Evenings of 2008 have tried to frame an identity specific to some less than common music styles in Romania.
Over-optimistically looked at, this Musical Scene had enjoyed 5 distinctive events, different as music but also as possible fans. Unfortunately, the audiences present were not enough in order to allow a positive outlook towards this theoretic niche.
In the end, we decided to experiment once again, by bringing back a few bands in 2009 as well, in order to see if anything will change or if we will have to step down.
The first experiment, in September, has turned out as neat as the other ones, our curiosity when pondering on a Special Evening that would feature a ‘crowd’ of bands…
If we are to talk about the number of attendees, we can say that the approximate 550 fans have given the signals of a rather satisfactory vision… The problem is that out of all of these people, only around 400 were from Romania, the event being very attractive to the approximate 130 foreigners, used to the music played by their favourite artists. However, an advantage was also that besides the usual friends of the Special Evenings (whom we THANK from all our heart for participating once again), we have seen new people as well, people who wanted to congratulate us for finding in our event something they didn’t expect.
Nothing much to say about the bands... Every one of them did their job as best as they could, some enjoying a perfect sound, others perhaps less than that, but all happy about the show they had. It is pretty difficult to have a perfect sound for 7 different bands, especially since the audience didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes in between acts… Interesting enough how the bands enjoyed an incredible feedback from the fans, TRIARII, ROME or ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO being called back onto the stage for a few encores, while SPIRITUAL FRONT, through Simone, more Rock’N’Roll than ever, has once again enchanted an audience exhausted by so many hours of standing, of the agglomeration within the venue but also by the, at times, limited visibility, the tiny ones having to suffer due to some of the taller ones present in the crowd. The eternal ‘Slave’ has transformed once again into a launch ramp for some 25 fans that got up on the stage, waving to their shier friends who remained in the first row, all in the applause of the audience. There were also torches, flames, incense (only on the sides, as the background screen wasn’t suitable for the images prepared by the bands)… also girls that have done different things on stage, but masked by an arm chair that was rather on the large side… too large to satisfy the curiosity of the ones sitting in the first rows… Tomas sang with Christian both in TriORE but also on “4 Roses For Rome”, Simone went on stage with Tomas for some “Satyriasis” material, Axel sang with both, Achim too, alternating percussions with trumpet, Fredrik held his own with his percussions, again on both projects, Rose Marie’s voice was rather fragile, in order not to destroy the conceptual harmony of ORE, Kim, using his guitar, took us for a ride into a very eclectic virtual world, the frozen image of Christian together with his percussionists, Axel and Volker created a cold martial atmosphere, with a German feel to it, with messages relating to the Roman Legions, Rossanos keyboard together with Giorgio’s Country guitar framed that Mediterranean atmosphere, out held by Andrea’s exceptional drums but also by the energy filled bass belonging to Amorosi; Jeromes voice resonated sensitively with Nikos’s violin but also with Patrick’s guitar… and when a string broke from Nikos’s guitar, Giorgio went to rescue…
One can say that the night of 12th of December was a Bombastic night! Or maybe not… but it was definitely a Special one… at least for all those present, at The Silver Church! Especially since the Christmas tree was decorated so nicely... and around noon it even snowed a bit, announcing an early musical Christmas…
The venue was perfect for something like this, with acoustics that doesn’t necessarily excel, but when the number of people grows, then everything seems to harmonise correctly, with elegant lights and chandeliers, or better said, stylish ones… perhaps misunderstood by some due to the mix of influences, but accepted by the great majority, as this isn’t a club that is available for only one sort of audience; bartenders that moved pretty good, drinks not necessarily on the less expensive side but not to high on prices either, the cocktails seemingly being the number one attraction.
It was a Special Evening where the communicating was made through a number of languages, over a dozen, you could hear it in every corner of the place, dialogues in German, Russian, Finish or Croatian, English being still the driver used by the majority... And some Romanian too, not as much, something that made us believe that all the people present within the venue have socialised quickly and comfortably.
I have seen all sorts of clothing, from Goth to Metal wear, alongside normal looks, perhaps too usual, have seen ties and leather suits, latex, chains, piercing, expressive make-up, different pin ups, military outfits… probably pretty much everything that can scare a ‘normal’ person, here mentioning that particular sort of individual who categorises everything that is different as being ‘off the hook’/unbalanced.
There was more merchandising than ever (in Romania), at least from the point of view of the availability and range of products… Including here a limited number of t-shirts with Dark Bombastic Evening!
A civilised night, without whistling, cursing or pushing... a place where a significant number of people (too soon to call them ‘a community’) have enjoyed the opportunity of drinking a glass of something with others around them but also with the participating bands.
Looked at it from a different point of view, it was a 7 hours long physical challenge, with no delays or major schedule changes, with an After Party that went on until 5am, when the two Dutch DJs have brought the night to an end and concluded a unique Special Evening.
We hope to learn from the mistakes we have made, we also hope not to torment the fans with 7 hours long musical marathons, we hope to make things better, friendlier… this… should anything exist in the future, somehow, somewhere…
Many thanks to all those who have promoted us, to those who attended and to those who appreciated the organisers will of doing something of quality for a frail Musical Scene in Romania, where the Metal Heads are too ‘tough’, the old Goths and Punks are too ‘true’ and the Pop fans are too ‘optimistic’ or too ‘cheerful’ for this sort of music...
And so… a successful event! This is the epilogue. Or this is how it is supposed to be, considering that a line-up like this one is unique to us and there is little to no changes of repeating itself too soon!
Happy Holidays! Happy New Years!
Kogaionon & DonisArt Team
15th of December 2009
