After Mars Red Sky, Glowsun and Dead Meadow, Bordelais heavy & psyche promoter MAKE IT SABBATHY brought us the sublime, the magnificent SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT, for the bluesiest and highest night we’ve ever experienced in Bordeaux. With the German foursome and a brilliant local support act (DÄTCHA MANDALA), the Make It Sabbathy crowd was definitely over the moon…
For the last Make It Sabbathy session of the year, the finest heavy act was summoned. Needless to introduce you to SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT, inasmuch as their live reputation speaks for them. It was their first time ever in Bordeaux, but the recent release of their beautiful record “Waiting For The Flood” (reviewed here) clearly rekindled the flame for the band among the community here. We were waiting for their venue like a revelation, something that could comfort us in the idea that this cruel world is not THAT screwed. We needed them to help us escape for one hour or so. In the end, we had more than that…
DÄTCHA MANDALA (Facebook)
9 PM. At first glance, the night was about to start slowly but surely, as people were arriving little by little. However, when the young trio blasted off their first riffs, hectic supporters instantaneously took over the front row (seriously, the dudes were singing along all the songs!). Quickly, the energy spread into the whole venue, making people nod in approval in front of the band’s virtuoso riffage…
We actually got slapped in the face when the band started to play Sabbath’s fucking classic “War Pigs”. Yeeeeeesssss, finally! Finally, a band plays some Sabbath at Make It Sabbathy. This was a successful shout out, as the crowd jubilated, throwing the devil horns and crying during the guitar breaks. FUCK YEAH, BABY. “War Pigs” happened to be the firestarter for whom hadn’t cut loose yet… until then. Dätcha Mandala managed to deliver the perfect mix of 70’s heavy rock and stoner impetus. It was by far their coolest performance this year, and a good remedy against the striking cold!
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT (Facebook – website)
After this grand opening, the Make It Sabbathy crowd felt more than ready. As an aside, I was happy to see many different kinds of people attending – which is pretty rare in Bordeaux – : from the “average guy” to the stonehead in search of psyche trips, to the all-in-black metalhead. This simple fact proves that this night was a success. From atop their imposing bearings, the four Berliners entered the stage and opened with “For The Lost Souls”. At first, the crowd remained completely mesmerized, in awe in front of our majestic bluesmen. Faces looked enlightened by Christian Peters solos, ears were wagging thanks to Richard Behrens’ über smooth bass… Quickly enough, people in the pit let themselves go with Samsara’s sonic curls: some were keeping their eyes closed all along the way, while others were performing ceremonial gestures with their arms (as if they were cherishing the band) and the rest was doing that constant back and forth movement (some kind of headbanging for the stoneheads)… While the front rows turned into breakers, the rest of the audience was quietly contemplating the show, although they didn’t need to be asked twice when it came to applauding and whistling between the songs.
Yeah, the atmosphere was incredible, way friendlier than the two first Make It Sabbathy nights were. The Samsara dudes – who usually act quite placidly on stage – even grabbed the mic a couple of times to thank us, each speech inducing a warm response from the crowd… Tonight, Make It Sabbathy was all about love. At some point, Peters informed us with a smile: “we ate too much boeuf, so we might play a little bit slower than usual”, a statement that was largely approved. Three songs from the new album were offered to us on a plate: “Shringara”, “Waiting for The Flood” and “Don’t Belong”. In the middle of those gems, Samsara’s classics “Into The Black”, “Center Of The Sun”… We couldn’t get a better setlist for their first gig here. The guys then reached the end of their set, and left the stage, all sweaty and exhausted, under the Bootleg’s ovation. A few minutes later, they came back for an unexpected encore, then left the stage again with huge satisfied smiles on their faces… One short minute later, they were back AGAIN – and for the last time, this time – on stage to deliver “Singata Mystic Queen” and its beautiful sitar intro. Let me just say that I’ve only seen Samsara at festivals, so this was my first time seeing them using a Moog live, which creates a very unique and enthralling feeling over their heavy jams.
One can say this third Make It Sabbathy night at Le Bootleg was the apex of them all, in terms of crowd and surprises. It was a perfect ending for these three months of gigs. A cool handful of bands will soon about to be announced for the 2014 lineup, and I really hope the people will show up as enthusiastic as they were tonight. A beautiful movement is initiating in Bordeaux…
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Last modified: 11 February 2015
