Maribel, I Was A King @ Hove Festival.
Tromøya, Norway 24th June 2009
The last day, also the warmest of the festival, was a day spent in the shadows of the final headliners. All around the festival area there was a latent buzz of anticipation for 90s heroes Faith No More and The Prodigy, and with the shows delivered at the end of the night, the anticipation was more than justified. There were also a few Norwegian acts participating in the closing of Hove Festival 2009, and among them we attended a slightly off-set Maribel and a somewhat charming I Was A King. But the fantastic parts were definitely supplied by Faith No More and The Prodigy, rocking and raving out into the early dawn.
Too little dusk makes it a yawn
Dreamy shoegaze and 30 degrees in the sun isn’t necessarily a bad combination, but it turned out to be showkiller for Oslo-act Maribel. Fresh off the release of their debut Aesthetics, the band never really seems to catch the little group of people that decided to defy Father Sun and Mother Dust to see them open Amfiscenen on Hove’s last day of ‘09.
Never really getting things going, the already thin crowd soon grew thinner under the scorching sun, and people were sooner falling asleep in the stands than rocking out in front of the stage. Sad to say, the transition from a dark bar to a outdoor stage seems too big for Maribel. Too bad that Hove doesn’t sport a club concept, which would probably have suited them better.
Past tense key word for young fossils
Rocking out a surprisingly full Teltscene, I Was A King is still not a band that’s gonna invent the wheel, or even revitalize their genre. But with a few tracks that send your thoughts back to early 90s indierock and a wig-sporting, J Mascis-look-a-like Emil Nikolaisen on guest guitar, they manage to at least push that wheel in the right direction.
Vocalist Frode Strømstad’s stage presence, a wealth of lush, yet crooked guitars pouring out from the speakers and a crowd that seems appreciative to be taken back to a time where feedback was more important than riffs, IWAK is able to pull off the most memorable Norwegian show of the day. Even though you sometimes during the concert find yourself wishing you were actually at a Dinosaur Jr.-show, that has more to do with the dinos than the former royalty.
Words: Vandad Darakhshanfar
Photos: Åse Bredeli Røyset
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