2007-04-02

Yesterday was an excellent day. Football, music and the company of good friends

At noon I drove with a couple of good friends (David and Kasper and the latter's two 4 and 6 years old Lyngby supporters) to Ølstykke to watch the 1. division season opener between Lyngby and Ølstykke. The weather was great, and the match was attended by a lot of supporters, particularly of the blue and white Lyngby sort.

The game itself was nothing spectacular, but the atmosphere was great and Lyngby won, as they should, although just by one goal. As the closest pursuers from SønderjyskE only got a draw against Frem, that was a pretty decent result.

Home again, relax for 15 minutes, and then a walk with Louise and Sophia to Bente and Erik, who were to look after Sophia for the evening. And then a train and a metro to Frederiksberg, where we had a dinner appointment with good old Jakob Linaa and friend.

At 20 it was time for the great musical experience of the year (of several years, even) - Loreena McKennitt live in Falkoner. Loreena is often compared to Enya, but her lyrics are much deeper, and she is a much more original and better musician than Enya. As a journalist once put it, she is less eager to please. The audience was a very mixed crowd, from pensioners to punkers, but then, she has fans in all layers of society, although her style of music isn't exactly what could be called "broad" or popular. One way to describe it is as a sort of new age, deeply rooted in traditional Celtic music and mythologi.

This evening, Loreena was accompanied by 9 excellent musicians, on such diverse instruments as electric guitar, hurdy gury, drums, greek lute, lyra, oud, violin, cello, celtic bouzouki, etc. (some of them played more than one). The violinist, Hugh Marsh, deserves particular praise, but they were rather good, all of them.

The concert was made up of a number of Loreena's classics (She Walked Through The Fair, Marco Polo, Highwayman, The Bonny Swans, Dante's Prayer, Santiago, Lady of Shalott, etc.) and of six numbers from her latest album An Ancient Muse. The latter is more inspired by middle-eastern music, than her earlier albums, but as Jakob put it, she had borrowed some of the rhytms and instruments of the region, without using the half-tones which usually makes middle eastern music so annoying (to me, at least). The result was a score of excellent songs. The sound and acoustics was good, with the exception of the drums which sounded sort of metallic during the first few songs. This was quickly fixed, however.

She "only" gave three extras - we could easily have sit through 20 more. All in all a great show. Loreena McKennit IS an amazing musician and singer.

At 23:15 we picked up Sophia from her grandparents' and around twelve we got into bed. The end of an excellent day.