Quick catch-up review: Dirty Beaches here and there

I have reviewed Dirty Beaches three times over this past year and it's getting boring, for me and for you.

He is amazing every time, I am transfixed and in love every time. I hope he will become the superstar he deserves to be one day!

So there is not much to say about the Teenitus performance by Dirty Beaches, other than that the new material was even better in the darkness of Festsaal than it was in the bright day at London's ATP.

However, while I was at it, I did want to tell you a little about Teenitus Festival since J. and I are big supporters but never gave you a review, even though we both attended, on separate days: I love festivals that are held across several venues of one city. Camden Crawl, Popkomm, ZXZW are just a few examples of such fantastic events. The folks of Teenitus and Festsaal were attempting something similar, with holding the three day event at Festsaal, Monarch, and West Germany. The timing was difficult as spring is so very busy in Berlin and there was competition from high attendency gigs on all nights. But the eclectic mix still worked and we loved walking between the three venues, catching up with friends inbetween. I feel Berlin needs more festivals like this original from Erfurt.

Not that much later, the performing arts festival Foreign Affairs was staged by the folks of Berliner Festspiele. It showcases a lot of theatre, naturally, and some other performing arts. Dirty Beaches was booked to perform for free for two nights, bringing friends with him. We headed over to Haus der Berliner Festspiele on the second night. This was not a regular Dirty Beaches show but a more experimental affair. The intensity of his freeflow guitar performance was enhanced by the atypical audience, which consisted of a theatre crowd that had stumbled into this gig at the bar. People were quite clearly impressed and transfixed and mesmerised. It was intense and amazing to witness how the audience got drawn into this wonderfully stretched solo guitar performance.

Since then, summer has come and will be gone soon and it all seems so long ago. But I tell you the truth when I say that I get shivers down my spine when I think back to those two events. Shivers.

Both pictures of Dirty Beaches were taken by Joel Schalit and we are grateful for this! Check out his excellent online magazine Souciant.com, where you will find more pictures, writings and sound projects by Joel and his collaborators.