Quite a show, but not my kind of music – from similar things Tangerine Dream is way better when it comes to creating electronic worlds. However, it was a sold-out show – almost 6,000 people cheering, clapping and enjoying the sounds.

Hasn’t been to Spodek in a long while. Everybody hate it, I love it. Brings back memories of really crappy pics I used to take back in the day. Thank God, I think it’s a bit better now…

Broken Betty and the two other bands gave very good performances. Merkabah’s EP can be downloaded for free from last.fm. Nice piece of music but the guys have a long way to go.

The pics were done for Wp.pl

The pics were done for Wp.pl

They were supported by Psyche, an electro synth pop band. For me, quite a different story from what the Ebbs are doing. Ebbs on the other hand gave great, energetic and aggressive performance. I was captivated through the whole show – EBM at it’s best!

On the other hand, the shooting was quite a surprise. I was told that they were the regular “3 songs, no flash” and the venue’s policy is that after the rule you can shoot from behind (nice overall of the stage and so on). So everything was meant to be perfect..not! After just two songs we were taken from the pit, and were told not to shoot outside it. The band’s manager kept his promise by spending the whole show scouting for photographers…and omitting all the people with point-and-shoot cameras. I mean, what’s the point?

And how can you not like such a beauty?

Also be sure to check Kuchomik’s site. Soon, he’ll have some nice pics of the band.

The pics were done for Wp.pl

These are the pics from Samael / Paradise Lost gig in Kraków. Although Samael was the support, their gig was way better than Paradise Lost’s. Who would have thought…

The pics were done for Wp.pl .

…or in short: the best things I saw in 2009. Lot’s of text, links to photos so be prepared! However, if you’re looking for reviews filled with professional comments, enlisting the best chords the guitarist played that day, naming all the genres the band has stepped into during the certain gig – don’t waste your time. This list is just about the sole love for live music. And all the photos and feeling that come with it.

- Faith No More during Heineken Open’er – The gig topped many “the-best-of-gigs” list this year. No wonder, because it was as awesome as this guy’s bootlegs.

- SUNN O))) during Unsound Festival – For the whole show I was wondering if the police were going to arrest every listener for participating in a pagan ritual. But apart from that, it was a performance (I still cannot label this event as a typical gig) that has been stuck with me from the moment the drones went quiet. What’s more, I can’t listen to SUNN O))) anymore as the recordings are nothing, compared to what happened in Kraków.

- Gaba Kulka in Ucho – It was the first of the 5 Gaba shows I’ve seen this year. It was the most intimate, with a great setlist. And the bootlegs from Gaba’s gigs became the soundtracks to many of my train voyages.

- The Ocean in Progresja – This was the second time I saw them. This was the second time my jaw dropped instantly. Without seeing them live in 2008, I don’t think I would get into sludge, doom or post-metal stuff at all.

- Chris Cunningham during Sacrum Profanum Festival – More of a performance but with all my love for Cunningham work and all he did in Kraków it could as well be put on the list. And, to my surprise, way better than Aphex Twin a week later.

- Karl Bartos during Free Form Festival – I missed Kraftwerk last year and it is still one of the things I can’t forgive myself. Karl Bartos concert was a little substitute for that, with all the great Kraftwerk songs and his solo stuff.

- Video Games Live in Torwar – Metal Gear Solid was released in 1998. It took me 11 years to finally listen to one of the greatest video game themes of all time live. But what happened in the end totally blew me away. Definitely a memorable event with very few people at the audience. Shame.

- Big Sexy Noise feat. Lydia Lunch during Globaltica Festival – who said you won’t create the atmosphere of a dim and crowded New York club in a beautiful forest clearing? In addition to this you can say “Fuck you” to Lou Reed.

- Mademoiselle Karen in Alchemia – It was a very special concert. It was a very special day. The songs were simple and beautiful. This may sound really cheesy, but it was like this, it was all about beauty and simplicity.

- The Dillinger Escape Plan during Knock Out Festival – Just one sentence – one day I want to shoot a DEP concert the way a DEP concert should be shot. The energy they have could easily be split and given to 20 other bands and still there would be some left!

- HEALTH during Off Festival – Hypnosis, energy, experimental and one of my favourite photos from the year 2009. And their single “Die Slow” is one of my three favourite singles from 2009.

- Leningrad in Stodoła – Rocked totally, just as they did a year before in Gdynia. For starters – it’s more vulgar and straightforward version of Gogol Bordello. More swearing, more sexy women and much more Russian language used on the stage. And less Madonna involved in the promotion of the band;)

- Fucked Up during Off Festival (plus their solo gig in Kraków) – because there is no such things as boundaries in the world of punk and hardcore. Because you can hug a bear-like man, shout to the mic he’s holding and feel like you’re best mates ever.

- Samael in Klub Studio – I’m not a big fan of their studio work, but supporting Paradise Lost, they proved who the real headliner was and how metal should sound.

- Tides From Nebula in Ucho – Post-rock at it’s best.

- Burst in Progresja – yes, you can mix alternative rock, sludge, metal, melodic vocals (minus the annoying part), metalcore, progressive hardcore and all the other weird sub-genes that music journalists think about all day. And you get such a beauty.

- The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble in Rotunda – like watching a movie with a disturbing soundtrack.

- Orbital during Selector Festival – sometimes you wait for years to hear this one particular song. Finally you have the chance, and realise that the rest of the set is also brilliant.

- Monotinx during Off Festival – I don’t think I have to add something else

- Daniel Lanois during rehearsal on Soundedit Festival – Liked the concert, loved the rehearsal. Both were really similar but the concert just lacked the magic the small rehearsal studio had.

- Gogol Bordello in Rotunda – Energy, energy, energy, gypsy punk, energy, energy and even more gypsy punk.

Other notable mentions include: Skinny Patrini in Hydrozagadka (I was finally convinced that that made a long way from “a-funny-thing-to-see” to a demonic and sexy electro duo), Orange Goblin during Globaltica Festival (stoner rock vs “the-people-who-came-here-to-listen-to-calm-sounds“), Maciej Maleńczuk in Stodoła, James during Coke Live Festival (“Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes, I swear I can see your soul”), Pustki during Fryderyki (played a brilliant set to one of the most boring audiences I’ve ever seen), Fever Ray during Nowa Muzyka (I really don’t the like album but cannot resist the magic of “When I Grow Up” – hearing it live was just one of the most spiritual things in the 2009), Blindead in Ucho, Jason Webley during Globaltica Festival, Franz Ferdinand during Selector Festival, Birdy Nam Nam during Free Form Festival, The National during Off Festival (“You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends, when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights”), Wire during Off Festival, Pivot in Alchemia, Behemoth in Stodoła (if Satan was on Earth he’d buy a ticket for that gig!), Vive La Fete during Free Form Festival, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby in Jazz Club Hipnoza.

And last, but not least – M83 during Heineken Open’er 2009 in Gdynia. The gig of the year. I wrote about it here but have to say it again: it may be the naive, youthful and pop tender beats that were born in Anthony Gonzalez’s head, but at the same time all these elements are very frank. Since the 4th of July, “Sitting” and “Couleurs” have never sounded the same. And I just love the title of their 2008 album – “Saturdays = Youth”. It’s just so much more than meets the eye…

How could something like this top Faith No More or SUNN O))) you ask? I still don’t know…

New year will bring many, many changes and there are more and more plans being made. The only thing I can say right now is a quote from Current 93’s album: “I Have a Special Plan For This World“.

I’m also happy that wherever I go I meet so many wonderful people who just love music. Hope 2010 will be a special year for you all.

Cheers from the M83’s pit!

photo by Ania Margoszczyn

Despite that, I still think that Diana’s photo with her hair floating is a really good one. It’s not a typical concert photo, and is a little bit dreamy, but I like it. One of the very few things I shot this year, and still, after two months, I find it OK.

The photos are dedicated to my mates from the Photomafia who went to the gigs. Unfortunately, without their cameras…

Also, this one is dedicated to you all:

Enjoy the Christmas break, with your families, friends or just alone. I hope you’re all happy and are resting a bit before all the challenges in the 2010!

The pics were done for Wp.pl .

Fear not, because a combination of such exist under the name of Monotonix and is one of the most crazy concert teams I’ve ever seen! Having no idea what they were I was invited by Jarek Szubrycht to catch their gig at Off Festival this year. So me and my mates went and…wait, wait. Is the crowd caring the percussion and then the drummer? Why is the vocalist sticking the microphone up his ass? Why the band is inside the crowd? Why all the security guards have eyes as big as the 5 zł coins?

I was so happy to hear that the band is playing in Poland again. Unfortunately, I had some commitments in Trójmiasto and wasn’t able to attend the show, but Joanna Combik, armed with her 5D camera and her beloved fisheye lens managed not only to take some awesome shots of the band, but also bring a great souvenir from the gig – a bruise around her eye after a close encounter with the vocalist’s shoe! Talk about concert photography being all nice and sweet.

Short glimpse of what this madness is like:

Do I have to recommend it again?:)

However, I expected a full-house and entered the venue with…15 people inside. Thought all the announced crowd from the forums will show after CF98 and The Black Tapes (who were supporting Fucked Up) but there were really few people for such a band. Fucked Up played at Off Festival in August and they put up such a schow, that almost all the people I talked too, put the Canadian team on their Top 5 list. Was is the price of the ticket (which, in my opinion, was decent), the time (Monday) or something else that was not right. I will never know…

The pics were done for Onet.pl and Wp.pl.