Bevrijdingspop Haarlem 2013: Mister and Mississippi

You can listen to 'Same room, different house' here.

Gorgeous sunshine and not to warm, an ideal combination for a festival day. If we stood up to our ankles in blubber in 2012 (you can read our review here and here), this year there were tear stained eyes from all the dust flying around, attesting to how dry it has been on average in the past weeks.

For me the day started with a show by Mister and Mississippi. That WoNo Magazine is a fan of this new Dutch band is clear to our followers as two reviews have been published so far. For me an important question was, can a band with a sometimes so fleeting and vulnerable sound transpose this to a festival stage and be heard? The answer is yes. Easily even by playing with dynamics in the songs. Mister and Mississippi will never be a super party band, but keeping an audience captured is certainly possible. Like Blaudzun can keep a gig interesting and listeners spellbound, so can Mister and Mississippi.


One of the first things I noticed looking at the stage is how different the line up of the band is compared to the standard format. Two guitarists in the wings and two percussionists in the center. The two percussionists being the two singers of the band. I knew that from previous information of course, but it really does look different on stage. Samgar Lemuël Jacobs is more the drummer (and bass drum pounder) and Maxime Barlag does accents, light percussion and sometimes plays a few notes on a mini keyboard. (At least from the distance I was standing it looked small.) Tom Broshuis plays all these atmospheric guitar notes, weaving carpets of sounds, like U2, Coldplay or Radiohead are so good at, while Danny van Tiggele does everything rhythm, bass, acoustic or electric, completes the vocals and cooks up a storm if needs be. Together the band is able to play from a whisper to a hurricane and back. From only Barlag's vocals, drenched in echo to full out pounding all instruments at the same time.

Again the influence of David Bowie (and 3FM's Giel Beelen) became clear. After Moke two months back in a live show, Mister and Mississippi played Bowie's 'Where are we now' live at this festival. This beautiful song seems to have made an impression on Dutch artists that they not only cover the song in the 3FM studio, but also on stage.

The new single was introduced and it's the right choice. 'Same room, different house' is easy to sing along to, distinguishes itself and has this great twist at the end, setting off everyone on the wrong foot. A hit it is. If all the other new folkies are able to score one, so should Mister and Mississippi.

I already knew that Mister and Mississippi is a good band on record, now I know it is on stage too. This surprised me a little in this setting, I have to admit. Already I'm looking forward to a show in the near future in a smaller setting. That will even be better.

Wo.

You can order Mister and Mississippi here


or here