Music / Reviews
Review: Nils Frahm, Colston Hall
An unassuming, no frills entrance, a quick bow, cupped hands to quietly say “thank you for coming” and a gesture towards his grand piano – one of a multitude of instruments filling the Colston Hall stage – introduced Nils Frahm’s set on the first British date of his Has Lost His Mind tour. He thinks he’s played the city before, “somewhere on the outskirts, in a youth bar where they play darts and drink beer”, revealed in one of a trio of interludes in which the German left his instruments to pick up a microphone and chat to the audience like old friends.
Frahm recently created and curated Piano Day, a celebration of the instrument he knows and loves so well, and absolutely masters. His adoration for the piano was clear from every note he played along with his between song chatter; the crowd were guided through his “mad” stage setup (his own words), with everything from a handmade pipe organ to a piano specially made for him by a friend being utilised. Frahm never had a hand spare, always flitting between pianos, keyboards and electronics to create a set that ebbed and flowed and was never anything short of stunning.
Material from his latest effort Solo, surprise released on Piano Day, and 2013’s Spaces made up the set, and zig-zagged staggeringly from heavy, glitchy electronics to gorgeous solo piano sections in what seemed like seconds, Frahm never sitting still or having a second’s rest.
By the time ‘Says’ closed out the main set, the Colston Hall was unreservedly under Frahm’s spell. In one of his interludes, the composer remarked that if the crowd liked him enough so far, they were welcome to clap until he’d drunk a beer backstage, then he would come back for one more. Said finale came in the form of ‘Toilet Brushes’, with his grand piano being used as a percussive instrument with actual toilet brushes as drumsticks – seemingly the only use for it he hadn’t yet exploited – before a blissful yet chaotic outro was met with a standing ovation and a sea of dropped jaws.
As the tour’s billing suggests, Nils Frahm may have lost his mind, but his invention, passion and wizardry on the piano made sure every mind inside the Colston Hall was simply blown.
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