Eric van Rees: <<Dit anyone visit this performance? I was planning to
go, but didn't make it on time. Any review? Was Renaldo there?>>
hi, I saw this show, as well as several of the previous cobra
performances in amsterdam. I am always surprised by the ability of
Nathan (N. Fuhr: organizer, promter, leader of Collision Palace) to
gather fresh musicians for his cobra performances. Either there are many
many good players around here or none wants to play cobra for a second
time (joke Nathan!). The feeling that I got from this performance was
rather different from previous ones (as far as I remember). The most
enjoyable new element was the death metal frantic parts, with the whole
ensemble at full speed. The other parts that I really liked, and were
also new sounds for me in relation to cobra, were the morrocan trance
pieces (at least that's what it sounded to me) with pipes and
percussion. The ensemble playing this time was very coherent, maybe due
to the fact that part of the ensemble was a band in itself (suspicious
white powder). Most of the music was really grooving. Maybe a bit too
much for my taste. Some friends that had followed me without knowing
what to expect, all liked it a lot. However, to my opinion, the players
didn't take that much of an aggressive initiative to drive the game by
themselves, an opportunity given to them by the rules.
Lee Ranaldo was not there for the performance of his piece "All
Work and No Play" which I don't remember well enough to describe.
I don't know whether it is in the intention of the organizer to utterly
form a stable ensemble or core of players for the performances of cobra
or other modern music. In that case, the mastering of the rules would
lead to increased ease with the rules and lead to more complex games; on
the other hand it could reduce the freshness and enthusiasm. I think
that the effort is mature and involves a more complex language each
time, also as Nathan Fuhr masters the game and the ways of interacting
with his players. As the performances of Collision Palace are becoming
more regular, my expectations to hear more and more great music from
them are growing!
manolis
