Humming I was on my way home. My ears were clanging and ringing like crazy. Oh, that was no good idea. I felt almost deaf. How often I wanted to get adjusted earplugs, so they’d nicely deaden the sound – of course I still haven’t. And with the free ear plugs I only mainly could hear bass and drums that evening. So they had to go. Not clever, no. And what I want to say with it? Ear protection at concerts is incredibly important, the sound in the front wasn’t that great, but super loud, and maybe I might stand in the back at next Kensington concert. Then again…
Kensington are on tour with their newest work “Control” and stopped at Dynamo Zurich. My first visit at Dynamo. Its location is super – only about 10mins walking from the main station. The concert location reminds me of Kiff in Aarau. You first have to climb several floors to get into the big hall. A bit further down there’s also a small one. To reach front row was super easy.
“Fatherson” opened up for the Dutch on that evening. They are an indie rockband from Scotland, what 
you could clearly hear from the front guys’ accent, I had a littlte trouble to understand. During the first song I mainly only could hear bass as well as drums. As it became better with the second song though, I stayed where I was. Fatherson, originally a trio – Ross Leighton (voc, guitare), Marc Strain (bass) and Greg Walkinshaw (drums) – are a four piece on tour with an additional guitarist. With their support show they started the same time their own tour on this evening. With them their 2nd album “Open Book”. A very energetic performance, esp. the drummer was totally like a duck to water. I like their music, esp. after I’ve listened to them on spotify too. The album is for sure on my “to buy” list. Only the audience first didn’t seem too motivated. “It’s Wednesday?!” my friend said. Umm, so what? 😉
At home, in the Netherlands, the Utrech band Kensington quickly sold within few days 54’000 tickets for 5 concerts at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam (about the same size as Hallenstadion Zurich), where they’ll play in November. Here in Switzerland they are steadily working on their success.
They started their intro and one after the other entered stage. Hymn-like the first tunes of “Regret” were blaring from the speakers, followed by their earworm “Do I ever”. Catchy, energetic and a lot more melodic than the first track. Whilst drummer Niles’ shirt was already gone with the second title, sitting there with nacked torso behind the drums, front guy Eloi was sweating in a thick hoodie and hat. At least at the beginning the four of them weren’t very talkactive, seemed reluctant and concentrated.
One song followed the other. The sound of the indie rockband striking and powerful, partly quite pompous. You got quickly lost in the pop-rock sounds. They didn’t ignore their audience though. The concert visitors were soon asked to sing along, if they weren’t doing so yet. Screaming along as loudly as possible, dancing and jumping. They congratulated to one of the fans in the front for his birthday and Casper grapped his banner later to show off – “Best birthday ever”. He also promised to the woman next to me, that he had noticed her autograph wish and was gladly going to fullfill it after the concert. Grinning, that he was (in the middle of the concert) just a little busy at this very moment. For the group picture they let the audience climb on each others shoulders.
Kensington rocked the Dynamo mainly with tracks from their last two albums, the actual one “Control” as well as “Rivals”. Therby of course the wonderful ballade “Sorry” couldn’t be missed, Casper sat down behind the keyboard for. And before they came to an end, Eloi let the location become a light of sea during “Little Light”. That must be their “Disclaimer”, my friend mentioned related to the Yokko song. Kensington went wild with it towards the end and after the last 3 songs as an encore, they quickly left the stage accompaigned by thonderous applause.
As mentioned, the sound was at least in the front not ideal, but otherwise it was another great concert and we had a lot of fun. And now I am counting the days to the Ziggo Dome concert. Yes, I absolutely want to experience the difference between Switzerland and their home. Like I did with Kodaline. 274 days to go!
Anyone of you going to Amsterdam too?
All infos and concert dates of Kensington you can find on www.kensingtonband.com.
Infos about Fatherson on www.fathersonband.co.uk
concert videos you can find in my youtube playlist: Kensington
