Basix
April 8th 2008 - Lievekamp, Oss
Basix, the well-known a cappella group from Denmark, visited the Netherlands this week. After seeing them in November last year, during a vocal festival in Apeldoorn, we really wanted to see their complete show, so we drove to Oss to see it.
Basix starts their show with The right way, a feel-good song and a perfect start of tonight. There are some big fans in the theater and there is some screaming when the six men appear on stage. The applause is big and almost resembles the extreme enthusiasm I experienced during their short performance in November. "Are you feeling all right?" yells Toke? "Yeah!!" answers the audience loud. "Are you ready?" "Yeah!!" and the show continues with All shook up.
Then Peter tells us we will hear cover songs tonight and we will also hear some brand new stuff of their own. During the next song, he wants to see us dance. He wants to see our hips moving, but because that's a bit hard while sitting on a chair, he made a chair choreography for us. He turns his back to the audience, pretends to be sitting in a chair and shows us what to do. "Follow me, I'm you!" "Are you doing it?" he asks, because he can't see if we're copying his swinging hips movement. During It will take me all life most people are carefully swinging in their chairs, some even stand up to dance.
Peter gives us a reason why a cappella is so nice, and it's exactly true what he says. They often sing songs that we all know, but they put it in a totally different light. Knowing me, knowing you is a good example for that. Basix sings in four different languages tonight. A lot of songs are in English, there are some Latin words in one of the songs, the third language is a secret and the fourth language is Danish. The next song is in Danish and the song title means Give me some more time, and it's sung by Anders. It's a calm song and because I don't understand anything of it, my mind quickly wanders off...
Toke quickly tells us, the third language is Turkish. Niels is going to sing Turkish and according to Toke he doesn't have a clue what he's singing. Niels strongly objects by shaking his head. Simarik is a great song, although I can't understand any of it. It's a powerful song and it drives the audience to clap and cheer. Out of nowhere, there suddenly is the beautiful Purple Rain. The arrangement is beautiful and the audience listens quietly before rewarding Basix with a huge applause. Next, Niels wants to talk to us. He tells us about love. "If the virus of love strikes you, there's no cure. Let's just hope it's a chronic disease." Niels wrote a song about it, with a very funny song text, Infected with you. The song is sung by Peter and I really like it. It's different from the other songs sung thus far, it adds some lightness and humor to the show. The final song before the break is a message for all the men here, says John. He sings Treat her like a lady and it's already one of my favorite songs on their album. Great to hear live!
After the break, Basix sings another song from their album which is on my favorites list. Star People has a very smooth choreography, which is just like most choreos tonight: all spick and span. After that we sing along with Englishman in New York. After Christian has sung the first verse and John the second verse, we all join in with the "Oooho, I'm an alien.." I like the unexpected twist in this song.
According to Anders, the difference between Danish and Dutch is not so hard. He thinks we could read a Danish newspaper and understand a lot of it. In the meantime they all sit down on chairs, but Peter has no chair and is standing lost on stage. Probably nobody is listening to Anders, talking about Danish and Dutch, but the audience is looking at Toke, who disappears backstage and finds a chair for Peter. Peter is really happy and many people have to laugh. Anders doesn't see any of it and suddenly he realizes we're not laughing because of his story. Distracted he looks around, searching for the reason of the laughter. Christoffer quickly explains to him what just happened and says: "Just start over with the newspaper thing." Of course, Anders doesn't start over, he's just going to sing the second Danish song of tonight, called (in English) in 1000 years. I like it more than the first Danish song, but I'm pretty sure I'm not able to read a Danish newspaper.
Peter tells us about meeting new people. "You look at their appearance. You look at their clothes, their hair, you want to know what job they have. But when you become friends, it doesn't matter anymore. I have a lot of very fat friends, for instance." The other five singers quickly shake heads and point to each other. "I wrote the next song and it's about all the things I'd like other people to say to me." It won't matter to me, sung by Peter, has a very sweet text and I like it a lot. Afterwards Peter is distracted and can't remember which song's next. He walks to the front to take a quick look at the setlist which is lying on the ground. "What now?" he murmurs, but before he can take a look, one of the others says "Peter, sit!" and Peter quickly turns to his chair. Nothing else matters is sung unplugged by John, Chris and Anders. Three voices without microphones. It's beautiful! Vulnerable, peaceful, fragile, breathtaking.
There's another song, written and sung by Peter. "A couple of years ago, I was lying in my bed,
and I asked myself a question: When are you really, really happy? It's not an easy question, is
it?" There's no reaction. "Is it??" he asks again, and now the audience responses. "Some people
might say, I'd be really happy if I finish my education, yes, then I'll be happy! Or if the kids
move out, then I'll be happy! But I realized, the last time I felt really, really happy, was during
an afternoon in the park with friends. Living and loving it is about this feeling and it
also sounds happy and fun.
Toke brings the evening to an end. "Thank you so much for having us here. We don't want to go, but unfortunately it's time for the last song." It's another Turkish song, sung by Niels. Hepsi Senin Mi? swings and Niels leaves the stage and dances through the audience. There are two extra songs. First Australian spring, this song made Basix famous in Denmark in 2001. I love the intro. Again, this arrangement is worth mentioning. The final song is Angels and then the show is over.
Conclusion: Basix has beautiful voices and great arrangements. I love hearing and seeing them live. The variety in songs is big and can therefore be loved by many different kind of people. I'm still searching for something "typically Basix" though. Nevertheless, this group is worth seeing and hearing so much. I'm already looking forward to their next visit in the Netherlands!