Best gigs of 2009

In no particular order, what I saw, what brought my attention, what was fun to shoot and made me cry. What made me to buy the band’s CD or just Youtube their stuff for the whole day. What stuck to my skull and will be there even after this year’s concert season will finish…

…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.

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Monotonix @ Cogitatur, Katowice – 18 XII 2009

What you get when you cross 3 Israelites, a moustache and some heavy, Black Sabbath-inspired riffs? Nothing?

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?:)

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Off Festival @ Mysłowice – 6/7/8/9/ VIII 2009

(Disclamer: Dear People Who Take Care Of Our Roads And Trains – we live in a country of 40 million, with blooming economy and culture, with more and more tourists comming each year. And it took me about 9 hours to get from one side of the country to another, and it will take me more to get back to Gdynia, because all neat train connections were..cancelled. What the funk is that?)

Thanks to Utek, we started our journey on Wednesday, drove almost through the whole country and ended up in Tychy, a nice town near Mysłowice, where Off is taking place.

Before the first day shows we hanged out with Hennessy Williams, a bootleger from Warsaw, who’s preparing loads and loads of boots from this years Off (be sure to check the list on his site!). We saw three shows (great performance by Paristetris and The Complainer & The Complainers!), talked with Jarek Szubrycht (we’re both so excited that Sun 0))) are playing during Unsound Festival!) and headed back home. A short prelude before a veeery long weekend full of space rock, electronic monsters and experiments from music magicians from all around the globe. Cheers!

And if you are interested in buying any of the photos for a publication, please contact us. More photos can be seen on Onet.pl.

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