CHET FAKER – Photo by Lisa Frieling
Fan or not fan – that’s the question. Well, not the essential one. But it can affect they way you experience a gig. NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION tried out the experiment. We sent to people to last week’s Cologne show of buzzing shootingstar CHET FAKER. One was a fan, one was not – fascinated were both. Read their experiences right here.
I. FAN
When you’re going to a concert after having bought the album, you normaly expect that the artist will play the songs as they are recorded.
Having that in mind, it was quite a big surprise as CHET FAKER entered the stage of the sold- out Gloria in Cologne and performed every single track in a new way. Sometimes it has been a bit of a challenge to recognize the songs at the beginning – but if you’re familiar with FAKER‘s music, you always knew which song he was performing at the moment.
Some tracks have even been better as their origin, for example the live-version of his first cover hit No Diggity which faded fluently into his acclaimed feature with FLUME – Drop The Game-, or his encore, an acoustic version of Talk Is Cheap , the first single taken from his debut record Built On Glass.
Astonishing was also that the friendly, beardy singer has been alone on stage with his huge sampler and a little keyboard . The sounds he used got recorded in advance – but he did that on his very own, as he underlined various times.
But still, he did many things live on stage : he did live-vocals (very perfectly by the way), reinterpreted all the tracks and sampled a song even once live, with the risk, that it could be a ‘fuck up’ (as he said himself), but of course he didn’t fuck it up.
During the whole concert, the audience seemed to be hypnotized by FAKER‘s performance – magnetized and gleaming views, restrained moves and slightly pulled-up mouth corners as far as the eye can see.
But what else could you expect after releasing such a brilliant record as Built On Glass?
II. No Fan
It’s always an interesting experience to visit a gig of an artist you barely know. There are no expectations of what you will get, no real excitement to see this particular person in real life. You are also prepared to not recognize one of the songs the musician will play, because you only heard them once the day before the concert.
In case of CHET FAKER it was exactly like this. I knew he is an Australian songwriter who produces his own stuff. Some electronic tunes with soul influences. I listened through Built On Glass, his first album, and Thinking In Textures, the earlier released EP. It sounded quite interesting, so I decided to accompany a friend.
From the beginning it was clear that this man is not much about show, but really about his music. The four silver walls behind him, which were lightened up in different colours through the whole performance weren’t that much of an eye-catcher, neither was CHET FAKER himself: With a black shirt and casual pants he jumped on stage really quickly and after a short introduction the music begun.
There was constantly a chilling atmosphere while the musician put out his tunes. His vocals were impressive and authentic to the core, completely in each song’s lyrics and theme. Still, it wasn’t about watching him playing the keyboard or pushing buttons on his console. It was about closing your eyes and loosing yourself in his music and words.
And I guess that is the main goal in FAKER‘s artistry: Smashing out tracks which carry you away into a place where you have to think about life and other stuff nobody wants to deal with.
The only breaks in this dreamy, electro-tuned world were his short, but very honest and friendly conversations with the audience. The man seemed really happy about the interest in his work and was very grateful he got the chance to play in Cologne.
His fans were definitely grateful for his one hour show, although we are all pretty sure that a few more tracks wouldn’t bother anyone. Not to forget he’s just at the beginning of his career and will probably put out some more stuff in future. So let’s be thankful for a chilling night full of soulish electronic music and a very down to earth musician, who might be soon the next big thing in modern music.
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