Kashmir to warm you up
The listeners welcomed the Kashmir from Denmark with much rejoicing. The crowds had found their way from the sunny afternoon to YleX tent well before the show even started. Moody, melodic rock was apparently in demand.
Kashmir’s guitar-oriented saturnine rock continues on paths already trodden by The Cure and The Smiths, albeit the music is cleaner. Songs about unhappy love and the general melancholia and the etherealness might not be at its best on a clear summer day. One could even say that the volume and the bright lights created excruciating circumstances in the tent in comparison to the fresh air outside. The band was unaffected, and at least in the front rows the atmosphere was intense.
Kashmir sounds like quality stuff. It just doesn’t work for me. If you like the genre, the gig was adequate at the very least. I have to admit that near the end some of that Kashmir magic must have rubbed off on me. At any rate, they attracted a lot of people.
As an interesting side note I have to mention that the drum set (and thus the drummer) was located on the side of the stage, not back in the middle as is the usual custom. I also wondered if the band members had spent way too much time together, since they all looked alike and dressed alike. I’m sure it is unintentional. The fault might be in the eye of the beholder, as it is usually in the eear of the listener.
Text: Terhi Lilja
Pic: Jukka-Pekka Flander
Translation: Jari Rytkönen