When I arrived at the "Komma" in Esslingen for the "
Smooth Acoustic Festival" around 6pm, there weren't many people in (that would change later). First act I saw was
Anna Paulin + Jan (who helped playing her songs and sang a few of his own), was quite nice to listen to. Next act in the smaller room was on immediately after they'd finished. (Organisation was good! Schedule was kept on time.) Smaller room was seated, very comfy!
Aleyna, a 16 year old girl who writes her own songs (and plays them on an electric piano - at an "acoustic" festival, cheating a bit, eh?) - to my surprise the songs had some depth and sounded good. A real talent.
Next act on the big stage was "Mojo Moon" from Sweden. They had amps and electric instruments (erm, cheating again, eh?), they looked and sounded a bit like
ZZ Top light! Very bluesy, including covers of "Folsom Prison Blues" and the theme tune of "True Blood".
Then it was back on a seat for the set of local singer-songwriter "Sibbi" (real acoustic). Nothing spectacular, but nice to listen to.
Paul James Berry was next in the bigger room. At first, he was strolling the stage like a tiger in a cage! Seemed in a morose mood, asking the audience if playing
one song would be enough (not a good way to win over an audience, in my humble etc)! When he finally started the first song, he exploded into a "shut the f**k up" mid-song (some people chatted loudly in the back of the room - maybe the bar staff?)... I wished he'd focussed on those who were standing close to the stage and really
listening! After that it got much better though, he concentrated on playing his songs. For one (or 2) he switched on a fuzz/distortion effect for his guitar (cheating eh?
) which made it sound quite "punkrocking" (I overheard some people talk about "rock'n'roll attitude").
https://youtu.be/gXC1ZYxFokMAfter he said "good night" and disappeared, I went to the small room, got a seat and listened to "Sleepwalker's Station", one guy with a mandoline (real acoustic). He often talked about "we", because it is a project with other people at times. Not bad. When he asked the audience if they knew Ennio Morricone, hardly anyone seemed to say "yeah" (quite shocking). He had a song "inspired" by his music (and by meeting him, which he said was a little disappointing due to his "expectations" how he should be). A local act called "Bea Bacher" had a guest spot singing one song with him (I missed her own performance).
After that, it was "Naked Hazelbeard" on the big stage. A local band. They sounded quite exactly like you'd expect from a local rock/pop band playing "unplugged". They weren't bad, but it bored me after the more "intimate" songs I'd heard before. When they covered "Hit the road Jack", I left and drove home!
