{"id":1111,"date":"2012-02-04T13:02:34","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T11:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=1111"},"modified":"2012-02-15T14:06:52","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T12:06:52","slug":"all-you-need-is-a-cynical-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=1111","title":{"rendered":"All you need is a Cynical Skin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin James – Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus, Bremen; February 2nd 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just before this tour started it got really cold in Germany (-12 to \u201317 degrees) and I was not looking forward to spending much time waiting in the cold. Then again I figured nobody else might either. I had been counting down to this tour since Christmas, but I didn\u2019t feel any excitement until I was actually on the train and knew I was going there.<\/p>\n

Arrived in Bremen at 5:15 p.m., found the way to the hostel where A. was already waiting. We stayed there until 6:30 p.m, arrived at the venue 15 minutes later. Just two other fans were there already and luckily we could wait inside. More people came, clearly divided into Jim Kroft fans and Martin and James fans. Neither group could really figure out the other.<\/p>\n

We got in, took our spots in front row and looked around a bit worriedly \u2013 there were hardly any people. The stage was decorated with living room lamps and Christmas lights. It looked pretty and created a nice atmosphere. Seems like they\u2019d really love to do a tour of everyone\u2019s living rooms. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

But before we got to enjoy Martin and James we had to listen to Jim Kroft. I had liked many of his songs on youTube and thought it would be fun listening to him, but he didn\u2019t work for me at all. A few of the songs were OK, but mostly I found him boring. He was also screaming into the microphone more often than singing and had no charisma whatsoever. I felt a bit sorry for him even, because A. and I were standing there with our arms crossed, obviously not enjoying his set. I could not help it though, his music just didn\u2019t do anything for me.<\/p>\n

Finally, about 15 minutes after 9:00 p.m. Martin and James walked on stage. A. and others told me the had been extremely nervous the previous day in Hamburg, but this night it was their usual \u201ca bit nervous but mostly OK\u201d behavior. They had brought Lucas, who had already supported them in May last year., to play stand up bass and the piano occasionally. No drummer this time, they took care of that on their own with an additional drum on stage.<\/p>\n

Before Lucas came out, they played a few songs on their own, starting with the tried and tested combination of \u2018She\u2019s light guiding\u2019, and \u2018Turn it up\u2019, only with \u2018Maybe it\u2019s time in the middle\u2019. I felt a smile spreading on my face as soon as they started singing. I didn\u2019t take long for me to fall into the music and I enjoyed singing along. .<\/p>\n

At that point the setlist indicated \u201cHere comes Lucas\u201d. I loved that he was playing stand-up bass instead of the regular electric one. It suited the music well and the one drum gave an additional kick when needed. As usual they were very absorbed in their music, closing their eyes a lot, but they also made some conversation, talking about new songs, Nashville, Scottland\u2019s possible independence and\u00a0 – of course \u2013 Becks beer. At one point James even smiled at us.<\/p>\n

They warmed us up some more with \u2018Wheels\u2019 and \u2018Wrong Directions\u2019 then threw in \u2018One way forward\u2019 as a first song that was new to many people. This was the first highlight to me. The song made me think of the great video A. had made o illustrate and I could not help but be amused. I also finally remembered the lyrics. An amazing version of \u2018You\u2019re my window\u2019 followed right after. They had rearranged it and it became more powerful.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was blind\u2019, \u2018Bad Dream\u2019 and \u2018Live Wires\u2019 followed before they put more new songs in the mix. I liked them all, but could not figure out much of the lyrics. \u2018Cynical Skin\u2019 is really great and I also enjoyed \u2018The Rope\u2019 and \u2018Hard to cry\u2019 a lot. They are all more upbeat, at least music-wise. \u2018Love\u2019s not a fight\u2019 is still beautiful and it still hurts. The last new song was the slower \u2018Life\u2019s a show\u2019 that felt weakest to me, because the music didn\u2019t immediately grab me. I\u2019ll reserve judgement untilI understand the lyrics though.<\/p>\n

They played a good mixture of new and old songs, slow and fast. The main set ended with \u2018Crashing into Love\u2019 and everyone singing along. We had to clap and yell for a bit to make them come back, but then got three more songs: \u2018Somebody\u2019, \u2018With you\u2019 and finally \u2018I have to fall\u2019, with Jim Kroft guesting, but refusing to sing. Again they had \u2018With you\u2019 listed as \u2018Walz\u2019 on the setlist and explained they didn\u2019t remember why they had called it that, asking if we had any suggestions for a name. Some time this tour I need to tell them that the song already has a name. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

With \u2018I have to Fall\u2019 it ended. It was all wonderful and elating. A. and I stayed and had a nice chat with first James and later Martin. We waited until most others were gone, James came over to talk but Martin didn\u2019t, so we ended up back in front of the stage where they were packing their things and got to witness a funny conversation with a rather drunk girl who didn\u2019t speak English but tried to invite them to a pub down the road. We said goodbye to the guys and left.<\/p>\n

First concert down, six to go. Next stop: Cologne.<\/p>\n

Setlist
\n<\/span>She\u2019s light guiding
\nMaybe it\u2019s time
\nTurn it up<\/p>\n

Wheels
\nWrong directions
\nOne way forward
\nYou\u2019re a window
\nI was blind
\nBad Dream
\nLive Wires
\nLove\u2019s not a Fight
\nCynical Skin
\nHard to cry
\nLittle bits of Light
\nLife\u2019s a Show
\nThe Rope
\nAll over the News
\nCrashing into Love<\/p>\n

Encore:<\/em>
\nWaltz
\nSomebody
\nI have to fall<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martin James – Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus, Bremen; February 2nd 2012 Just before this tour started it got really cold in Germany (-12 to \u201317 degrees) and I was not looking forward to spending much time waiting in the cold. Then again … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[132,13,19,17,142,47],"class_list":["post-1111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert","tag-bremen","tag-fan","tag-friends","tag-germany","tag-jim-kroft","tag-martin-and-james"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1186,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions\/1186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}