5 Days Off Festival Amsterdam

Fischerspooner at Paradiso










The lighting console at Melkweg











M.I.A. performing at Melkweg

What great shows! We had tickets to see this 5 Days Off festival at the Paradiso and Melkweg clubs with our good friend Claire, we headed down and got our passes around 9pm, then saw Fischerspooner at the paradiso. Fischerspooner is an electronica-pop group from NYC, who sound a lot like 80s groups we like a lot (OMD, Depeche Mode), but with more of techno edge. They have a new album out called Odyessy.

There are a number of interesting things with the clubs here; first, the people are really happy. Everywhere we stood people were polite and didn't shove (even though it was crowded). Second, for the most part people were very happy to dance to any music playing, so the in-between music was just more opportunity to dance.

The festival is a techno- and multimedia festival, so the break music was excellent. The sound was really good too, very loud but not very "dirty" so our hearing wasn't too damaged (I don't think...). The Paradiso is a large place, a former church, and has one of the best sound and lighting setups we've seen/heard. There was a large projection screen 20 feet above the stage that showed all kinds of weird film and video loops, fractals, and slides. When Fischerspooner came on, the place was filled with fake and real smoke, the lights were fantastic. There were about 30 moving "intelligent" lights (perhaps Suma lights?) that sprayed light patterns all over, as well as these neat neon-like tubes that could change color. Fischerspooner had more "real" instruments than electronic ones, but the sound was fantastic and blended really well. They wore interesting costumes and had great stage presence, as well as fantastically weird projections on the screen above.

After the show we went through Leidesplein (the nearby square), had some curry fries and then went to Melkweg to go see M.I.A., the Sri Lankan born, female hip-hop star who lives in England. The Melkweg was set up with DJs in every room, more multimedia displays from video projectors, and various photo exhibits throughout. The main room was packed with people waiting for M.I.A., we staked out a good spot off to one side.

M.I.A. came on about 1 am, it was very loud but again, terrific sound so it wasn't so bad. They had pumped fog into the room so the lights looked great, and the visual images behind the stage were excellent... silouhettes of fighter planes (M.I.A. grew up in a war zone) and running tigers flashed on the screen behind. It was a fantastic show, well worth waiting for. When we left the club at 3 AM the place was still packed with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

We walked to Leidesplein (square) which was also still very lively and full of people. We hadn't really had any dinner so some late night pancakes sounded like just the thing to do. We went to a place called, appropriately, Pancake Corner. The pancakes were more like crepes, eggy concoctions that you can order with whatever you like... Robby had the "hungarian" pancake with peppers and salami, Lynne had a sweeter one with mandarin oranges, almonds, and honey. The square was still hopping when we left. Just when DO these people go to sleep? We walked Claire back to her hotel after this, then made it to our hotel by 4am! Great night out.

Here are some links:

MIA website

NPR article on MIA

MIA review in Pop Matters

Fischerspooner website

Fischerspooner fan website

Fischerspooner review in Pop matters