Princess Chelsea in Cologne
On the 9th of October I went to Princess Chelsea’s concert in Cologne. That was my first week in Germany, and I was very happy to know that Chelsea gives a concert so close to me (it was only one hour from Aachen by a local train). She was one of my two favourite composers for already four years, but I never was at her concert; in fact, I didn’t visit any concert for several years and never photographed a concert before. It turned out a bit difficult, because of many people on the stage and around; my friend in Moscow told me to never cut people, and I found it impossible then; also the equipment was often covering faces, and there was too much of light and darkness. The largest problem, however, could be that I really enjoyed the concert: I knew all songs with words and I felt so happy to be there that I danced from the beginning till the end (last time it was about eight years ago). Princess Chelsea’s genre is often named with a very unusual word “baroque pop”, however, with several guitars and drums I heard pure familiar rock there (one of Chelsea’s favourite bands is Judas Priest, which explains a lot). I felt the drums really good through the speaker very close to me. I won’t delve much into the music here, because instagram doesn’t allow long posts (it didn't help there, but you also get a bonus photo here). I took few photographs and was very unsure about them on the place (I wanted to take them, because the group already travelled for a long time, but made no posts on social media, so I wanted to share with them at least some photos I could make); but my camera was as usually superb, and I really loved some of results when I saw them. I knew only Chelsea, but since that was a collective, I also took photos of other group members (unfortunately, without @jonathanbree666). It took me quite some time to understand and appreciate these photos. Sometimes I love simple forms like triangles and lines, and it really speaks with Chelsea’s simple melodies adorned with strings of shiny beads; sometimes I love cold and warm colours, like major and minor tones in her chords and lyrics; sometimes it is just black and white, which I never heard in her rich music, but some of very softly falling light reminds me of her voice. On one photo there is such concentration, that I saw hands running along the keyboard. I prefer natural colours, but I had to slightly adjust shadows on the first photograph (for my first portrait session in April I could only fix the frame), and it immediately reminded me of Chelsea’s own graphical style (very popular on the internet), so I left it; but in other places I was True to my own philosophy. I believe that art should show people slightly better, but they are beautiful as they are. I like how different emotions are reflected on different people’s faces here. Despite the sound being the hardest (I visited two other Princess Chelsea’s concerts since then), at that concert Chelsea is the most pensive and thoughtful. We talked after the event, and she is not such a concert-giver: she really prefers writing new music. It is really beautiful to see how people do the work they can do best; to see their skilful hands and instruments; and sometimes I just stop seeing people, but instead pure ideas, and they become gods, and ugly scribblings on the wall, that I long hesitated to remove, become magic inscriptions. Jasmine wrote on her instagram once: “For me, I often get anxious, especially when put in front of ppl to perform… I really have to sink into the song I’m sharing and be super present and anchored in it.”
After that concert I wrote a poem to Chelsea with lines:
I saw her in a gloomy fume,
Through which cut beams of coloured light,
And like rising under a tune
Grotesque flowers blossomed the night.
On the last photo from left to right (with links for instagram-lovers):
Joshua Worthington-Church @balaxygear, guitar,
David Harris @sulfate_band, drums,
Jasmine Balmer @being.hermusic, shaker,
Joe Kaptein @joekaptein, keys,
Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent @votelucky, guitar,
and Chelsea Nikkel @wonderfulprincesschelsea, princess.
#princesschelsea
