The opener was Shilf from Switzerland. I listened to the first song and was 100% convinced that they were American. Then the singer, a brunette with short-cut hair who reminded me of Ryan Adams from the outlooks for some strange reason spoke German. With a tiny Schwyzerdütsch accent. And they continued their slow Americana guitar rock somewhere between Lambchop, Low and the Cowboy Junkies. The smell of a fat joint was intruding my nostrils. The bassist looked like a human version of Michel Houellebecq. And the singer spoke again. This time in her dialect, a very broad one with lots of vowels and "sch's" which made me think she and the band were Austrian. Some hypnotic songs followed. If I had to choose between Fink (from Hamburg) and Shilf I think I would opt for Shilf. At least for two or three songs that night.

Jay Farrar started his set on his own, a one man band with guitar, voice and mouth-harp. Very loud for one person. Like a Vic Chesnutt without the passion. A low-key affair. Don't get me wrong, Jay Farrar has a great voice, but I was happy when Mark Spencer joined him on his lap steel. And he played like a guitar god. Jimi Hendrix's spirit was in the air. They finished the set with a phantastic instrumental encore, I think it was a very extended version of Fish Fingers Norway from Terroir Blues. It sounded like a raga. Intense improvised guitar freakout (fuck I never got my Eleventh Dream Day album). On the liner notes of the album an electric slide sitar is mentioned for one song. That is such a great idea that it doesn't matter that the realization is a little bit disappointing.