Devendra Banhart plays in Malmö

From the first moment I heard the music on my computer I loved it. The driving guitar and compelling voice was unmistakably genuine and brilliant. I had no idea what it was but it sounded like some forgotten recordings made by an old black woman in another decade. The truth was not quite as intriguing – it turned out that the music came from a young bloke beginning to get hyped. The music has been called freaky folk, a term Banhart dislikes and wants to replace with new new age. Both terms are unpleasant but it is definitely more folk than new age. Anyway, Banhart was the artist I was looking forward to see the most at this summers Accelerator The Big One in Malmö.



The Accelerator festivals are a relief for the minority of us that likes festivals for the opportunity to see loads of bands but aren’t that interested of smoking pot in tents and drinking warm beer in mud. Instead of dead drunk Danish men in D.A.D t-shirts (Roskilde) or dead drunk Slipknot teens in ditches (Hultsfred) you get civilised environment and cosy atmosphere. Accelerator also always books a lot of good bands, often just before their break through, which makes you overlook their boastful statement that you can’t be interested in music and not come to their festival.



Live Banhart sounds quite different from the recordings. Instead of just himself and his guitar he brings his band called Hairy Fairy consisting of two additional guitarists, bass player and drummer. He also plays plenty of new songs and sings a lot of them in Spanish. Devendra and the band is a lot more hippie-like than you would expect from just listening to the recordings.



From the screams when Devendra enters the packed tent I suspect there are both girls and boys in love with him – and the bearded and long haired hippie is both handsome and charismatic. The comparison that has been made between Banhart and Nick Drake is valid to some degree in his recorded material, but not at all here. While Drake was practically too shy to play live, Banhart is certainly comfortable and extrovert on stage. The show starts off in a quiet way though, with the band sitting down on chairs playing gentle songs with Devendra singing in Spanish. After a while they abandon the chairs for louder and livelier songs.



The band is allowed to play a pretty big role which is sometimes successful, like when they perform song by one of the guitarists, a hammering hypnotic chant. Other times it’s tiresome, it is clearly Devendra that is the big talent. With the make up and the masks the concert has some similarities to the tour Bob Dylan – who Banhart admires – made in 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue. (That tour and Devendra also has Indian gurus in common. The tour was named after one and Devendra is named by one.)



The hippie stuff they are into is risky. Big beards, bare foots and Indian bindhis are easy to get an overdose from. They manage to pull it off though. The somewhat irritating style has no chance to overshadow what is brilliant: the music, Devendra’s high vibrato and the show as a whole. Devendra has the audience in his hand, alternating between tender a capella and violent outbursts down in front of the stage. It is spontaneous and at times chaotic. In the last part of the show a guy comes on stage to run around, hit on the cymbals and carry Devendra on his shoulders. It is not for a second boring and the high expectations I had is definitely fulfilled. It is the best gig I have been to in a long time.



That thing about his style is a bit of a shame though – it can get in the way of the music. If you are allergic to new age and too much hippie vibes my advice is: never mind the image – listen to the songs.

Erik Sandberg

Publicerad: 2005-08-24



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