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Vetiver | Devendra Banhart, Hard Club, Porto, 15.02.2020

Vetiver - Andy Cabic & Jeremy Harris © Telma Mota

words Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota

8:40 pm. A long eclectic crowd fills the venue, slowly meandering towards the entrance. A beatific tranquility is breathe, here and there shattered by the laughter of reunions and complicities. It is 9pm, the first chords on the stage accelerate the steps. Full house.

The only member of the Vetiver on stage, Andy Cabic's voice and acoustic guitar open the concert with an auspicious version of Bobby Charles’ I Must Be in a Good Place Now, accompanied by the guitar of Jeremy Harris, a member of Devendra Banhart’s band.

The tone continued to sweeten the air with songs like Wanted, Never Asked or Rolling Sea, underlining folk affiliation, or Swaying, acoustically approaching melodic, sweet pop-rock. With the duet of acoustic and electric guitars reinforced with more members from Devendra Banhart's band - Josh Adams (drums) and Noah Georgeson (bass) -, the second part of the lineup became more full-bodied, without losing its smooth register, lulling the bodies with a an early morning Everyday or the sliding drone  of You May Be Blue, until it ends in Current Carry, carrying us in a rock to an island of white sands.

Intermission. Harold Budd and Clive Wright's The Bells line up the audience’s chakras.

10 pm. Devendra Banhart, returning to Porto (2013), takes the stage accompanied by the same musicians who acted in Vetiver mode, with the exception of guitarist Nicole Lawrence. In sympathetic levitation, the New Weird America guru started the concert with much applauded Is This Nice?, from his lastest and tenth album Ma.

Unraveling a seductive spirituality over the twenty-one played songs and revisiting previous albums, such as with Theme For a Taiwanese Woman In Lime Green (Ape In Pink Marble, 2016), Seahorse (Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, 2007) or Santa Maria da Feira (Cripple Crow, 2005), Devendra Banhart shared his enormous creative versatility in a folk register colored by notes of tropicalism, jazz and psychedelia harmoniously merged, supported by a group of competent musicians, with emphasis on virtuoso Josh Adams who offered us a remarkable drum solo.

It is hard not to resist to Devendra Banhart’s captivating presence, frequently interacting with the audience, as in the initial moment when he shared his experience in Serralves, a pretext to invite the museum director, Philippe Vergne, reciting a short poem by Yoko Ono on stage. The concert continued somewhere between Caracas, Houston and Kathmandu, immersed in the universal themes of love, death and life to the delight of the audience rendered in reverential silence.

With Abre las Manos a sequence of solo themes and requests from the audience, like The Body Breaks, started. Fig in Leather resumed the presence of the collective of musicians in a funky tone always reinforced by a proportionate and humorous theatrical expressiveness by Devendra. Seahorse emerged as one of the best moments of the concert, irreproachable in itself, opening up to moments of jazz improvisation and involving psychedelic perfume. And the curtain fell with Carmensita, the last of the three encore songs, ending a concert that will have left Devendra Banhart's fans - and himself - with a fulled soul, had it not been one of the most extensive of his tour.

Devendra Banhart - Devendra Banhart & Noah Georgeson © Telma Mota

 

texto Neno Costa; fotos: Telma Mota

20h40. Uma longa multidão eclética enche o local, serpenteando lentamente para a entrada. Respira-se uma tranquilidade beatífica, aqui e ali estilhaçada pelo gargalhar de reencontros e cumplicidades. São 21h, os primeiros acordes no palco aceleram os passos. Casa cheia.

Único elemento dos Vetiver em palco, a voz e a guitarra acústica de Andy Cabic inauguram o concerto com uma auspiciosa versão de Bobby Charles I Must Be in a Good Place Now, acompanhado pela guitarra de Jeremy Harris, elemento integrante da banda de Devendra Banhart. A toada continuou adocicando o ar com temas como Wanted, Never Asked ou Rolling Sea, sublinhando a filiação folk, ou Swaying, aproximando-se acusticamente a um pop-rock melódico e doce. 

Com o dueto de guitarras acústica e elétrica reforçado com mais elementos da banda de Devendra Banhart - Josh Adams (bateria) e Noah Georgeson (baixo) -, a  segunda parte do alinhamento ficou mais encorpada, sem perder o registo suave, ninando os corpos com um matinal Everyday ou o drone deslizante You May Be Blue até desembocar em Current Carry , a transportar-nos em embalo para uma ilha qualquer de areias brancas.

Intervalo. The Bells, de Harold Budd e Clive Wright alinham chacras da audiência.

22h. Devendra Banhart, de regresso ao Porto (2013), sobe ao palco acompanhado pelos mesmos músicos que atuaram em modo Vetiver, exceção feita à guitarrista Nicole Lawrence. Em levitação simpática, o guru da New Weird America abriu o concerto com um muito aplaudido Is This Nice?, do seu último e décimo álbum Ma. 

Desfiando uma espiritualidade sedutora ao longo dos vinte e um temas interpretados e revisitando álbuns anteriores, como Theme For a Taiwanese Woman In Lime Green (Ape In Pink Marble, 2016), Seahorse (Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, 2007) ou Santa Maria da Feira (Cripple Crow, 2005), Devendra Banhart partilhou a sua enorme versatilidade criativa num registo folk tintado por notas de tropicalismo, jazz e psicadelismo harmoniosamente fundidos, amparado por um naipe de músicos competentes, com destaque para um virtuoso Josh Adams que nos brindou com um solo notável de bateria.

 É difícil não resistir à presença cativante de Devendra Banhart, em frequente interação com a audiência, como foi o momento inicial em que partilhou a sua experiência em Serralves, pretexto para convidar o diretor do museu, Philippe Vergne, a declamar um curto poema de Yoko Ono em palco. E o concerto prosseguiu algures entre Caracas, Houston e Katmandu, mergulhando nos temas universais do amor, da morte e da vida para gáudio da audiência rendida num silêncio reverencial. 

Com Abre las Manos abriu-se uma sequência de temas a solo e aos pedidos da assistência, como The Body Breaks. Fig in Leather retomou a presença do coletivo de músicos num registo funky sempre reforçado por uma expressividade teatral proporcionada e bem-humorada de Devendra. Seahorse emergiu como um dos melhores momentos do concerto, de si irrepreensível, abrindo-se a momentos de improvisação jazzística e perfume psicadélico envolventes. E o pano caiu com Carmensita, último dos três temas do encore, encerrando um concerto que terá deixado os fãs de Devendra Banhart – e o próprio – de alma cheia, ou não tivesse sido um dos mais extensos da sua digressão.

Devendra Banhart - Devendra Banhart & Nicole Lawrence © Telma Mota

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Ride, Hard Club, Porto, 11.02.2020.

Ride © Telma Mota

words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota.

RIDE returned to Porto for an expected performance at the Hard Club. More than promoting their latest album - This Is Not a Safe Place - the Oxford band decided for a kind of sampling concert, introducing themselves live to an audience that would have adopted them since the first incarnation, in the first half of the 90s. Someone, who will not have been present at Primavera Sound 2015, shouted: “I've been waiting for you 30 years, man”, to which a nice Mark Gardener (voice/guitar) replied “I hope it's worth it”.

And the trip was worth it. Starting with Jump Jet to dye the air with contagious energy, opening a sound journey through a career that survived an eighteen-year break and resumed in 2014 with the same line-up.

In the room echoed songs like Leave All Behind (Going Blank Again, 1992), Lannoy Point (Weather Diaries, 2017) or Dreams Burn Down (Nowhere, 1990), performed without blemish and exuding freshness, underlining the melodic shoegaze paternity and simultaneously promising more interesting paths, as in the case of the theme Fifteen Minutes, from their latest album, interpreted by the voice of Andy Bell, in what would have been the best moment of a concert that, having not filled the house, filled the heart.

Ride © Telma Mota

texto: Neno Costa; fotos: Telma Mota

Os RIDE regressaram ao Porto para uma esperada atuação no Hard Club. Mais do que promover o seu último trabalho - This Is Not a Safe Place – a banda de Oxford optou por uma espécie de concerto de degustação, dando-se a conhecer ao vivo para uma plateia que tê-los-ia adotado desde a primeira encarnação, na primeira metade dos anos 90. Alguém, que não terá estado presente no Primavera Sound de 2015, gritou: “I’ve been waiting for you 30 years, man”, ao que um Mark Gardener (voz/guitarra) simpático respondeu “I hope it’s worth it”.

E valeu a pena a viagem, começando com Jump Jet a tingir o ar com uma energia contagiante, inaugurando um percurso sonoro por uma carreira que sobreviveu a uma paragem de dezoito anos, retomada em 2014 com a mesma formação.

Na sala ecoaram temas como Leave All Behind (Going Blank Again, 1992), Lannoy Point (Weather Diaries, 2017) ou Dreams Burn Down (Nowhere, 1990), interpretadas sem mácula e transpirando frescura, sublinhando a paternidade shoegaze melódica e simultaneamente prometendo caminhos mais interessantes, como no caso do tema Fifteen Minutes, do seu último trabalho, interpretado pela voz de Andy Bell, naquele que terá sido o melhor momento de um concerto que, não tendo enchido a casa, encheu as medidas.

Ride © Telma Mota

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