So here we are, still that Thursday in Bamberg, covered in sweat and sunscreen with my loyal friend the backpack and a wide grin on my face. Right after leaving the Maxplatz I made my way to the Pegasus Stage to get myself into some fantastic rockabilly madness. I want to be honest and say when I first did my obligatory 5 minutes of research I wasn’t sure if I should reach out to them and ask for permission or not. But as soon as I listened to one of their songs there was no more doubt left to stop me.
When I arrived the band was just doing a soundcheck so I sat down and waited for my chance to introduce myself. I do this with smaller bands cause first of all it is polite and it helps me fight this “first photo” fear but it also takes away that awkwardness I feel when running around a stage knowing hundreds of people are going to look at me waving around my camera. So after meeting these really nice three band members Rockin’ Carbonara from Freiburg was announced by the organizers but for some reason, they didn’t stop talking. You know, I totally get it that you want people to know what is going on at your event but you could’ve done that in half the time and without making the audience cheer for 5 minutes straight. It was just a bit annoying. Furthermore, the band had to start 10 minutes late and considering there was a 10pm curfew it was pretty uncool move. (Also if I had known that I could’ve stayed at the Maxplatz longer and might have gotten the CD signed that I bought from that band. So yeah at first I was quite mad). So. let’s jump to when the band actually started playing.
Seeing that contrabass laying on stage already got me pretty excited because as some of you might know, I love bass especially contrabass but instead of picking up an instrument I got myself a camera. As soon as the band entered in their chef jackets I knew this evening was going to be pretty amazing.
I saw a bunch of familiar faces too: Sonja, The photographer I got to know last year and her husband but also that guy I danced with earlier at the Maxplatz. He made me feel a lot less awkward running in front of the stage because we just grooved together.
So let’s talk about the band a bit. I really enjoy this whole Italian cooking concept and it is pretty well executed if you ask me: the name, the outfits, the band members’ aliases and of course the pasta themed contrabass. I loved it. It all played out extremely nicely and it didn’t at all feel forced like with some bands that do such things to catch people’s attention. Even some of their songs were food themed like “Kebop Machine” that is based on “Sexmachine” by James Brown. It worked surprisingly well I have to admit that. The whole set they played was well balanced, it never got boring and that really showed. Hundreds of people were dancing in the street not giving a damn about how stupid they might look (including me of course). That was not only due to the fantastic music but also thanks to Nick Bisognano, the singer and bassist, who knows how to handle such an audience. At this point, I should mention that this concert took place in Upper Frankonia and trust me these people can be quite difficult. Not exactly people that move to music a lot (no offense I live there I am allowed to say that). So chapeau.
Unfortunately, every amazing night ends at some point and as I mentioned before there was a 10pm curfew and I don’t mind that at all. So I had to wait a bit to say goodbye and to be honest I would’ve loved to stay a bit longer and chat with them for a while but I sadly had a train to catch.
So in conclusion: A wonderful day I was able to spend with a lot of kind strangers that once again made me realize how much I love doing this. I honestly don’t mind not making money with all this yet because it is just so much fun and I get to do what I love, meet all these great people and discover so many great and diverse bands I might never had stumbled upon.
Date: 09/08/2018
Location: Gabelmann Bamberg
Band: Rockin’ Carbonara
Lost In The Sounds 