Milky Chance scores high with fans at Festivent

Clemens Rehbein (Milky Chance) performs at Festivent, Parc Champigny, Lévis, Québec, Wednesday 2 August, 2017. Photo credit: Claude Cayouette.

Review by Nathalie Peron

Lévis (Québec) August 2^nd, 2017, Festivent, scène Loto-Québec – For the first stop in the North-American portion of their 2017-2018 Blossom Tour, the band Milky Chance appeared on the main stage at Festivent, to the great delight of their – barely contained – Québec fans. They had previously scored big in the 2015 edition of the Festival d’été.

The venue, Parc Champigny, had quickly filled up, even up to minutes before the show; the audience drawn to the stage in anticipation. The band’s arrival on stage was greeted by an enthusiastic – and very vocal – audience that jumped and danced to the rhythm of the electro-folk-pop sound, skillfully provided by Clemens Rehbein’s harsh yet laid-back voice and reggae-sounding guitar, and DJ Philipp Dausch’s mixboard talent. And let us not overlook Antonio Greger’s stunning and masterful use of the harmonica.

Promoting their latest album Blossom, released in March 2017, Milky Chance started off with their new material, including the already-known title track Blossom.

The audience would have to wait until the sixth song to hear Flashed Junk Mind, a piece from the first album Sadnecessary, and even longer than that for more; the band leaving songs from the first album to the second half of the show. By that time, the audience was enthralled and was easily prompted to accompany the band in filling the vocals to Cocoon and unleashed their cell phones for the ballad Loveland, apparently a first for the band.

Left to the encore performance, Stolen Dance (preceded by a long intro for more suspense) and Sweet Sun were the definite high points of the evening.

Musically, the show was on par. Visually, though, the band gave off an impression of youth or shyness; the lighting was inadequate, to say the least. Throughout the whole show, bar some little exceptions, the band could hardly be seen. Even the camera guy filming for projection on the screens, for the benefit of those further from the stage, was left with only dark faces.

Hearing them live is cool, but Milky Chance would greatly profit from letting their fans actually see them.

In preparation for the main event, Matt Holubowski had the arduous task of confronting a mostly indifferent crowd that was there to dance while the singer-songwriter had a rather mellow and melodic brand of music to offer, inviting the audience to fly instead.

Despite these hiccups, the La Voix finalist gave a strong performance with touching moments, notably La mer/mon père and L’imposteur.
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