9 jul.2 minuten om te lezen

Fotoverslag | Gent Jazz 2024 – 8 Juli

Jamie Cullum @ Gent Jazz 2024

Gent Jazz is one of those festivals I look forward to attend, and now photograph as well, of the whole year. One more time, the organiser Greenhouse Talent created a summer vibe at the Bijlokesite that, despite the lack of the sun on this year’s edition, still made it a summery and cosy vibe.

From my side, after a lot of delays and a not so pleasant ride with the train to get to Gent, I finally managed to go to the festival. This year with a change on the orientation of the main stage, making it more difficult for the garden viewers to see the stage from their seats.

The first artist of the day, and opening the main stage, was Emily King, alone on stage with just her guitar and her enchanting soft voice, singing some of her R&B inspired tunes, making the first crowd gathered in the tent to sing and dance. Although I missed the opportunity to take pictures of her, I’m sure that the great lighting and her welcoming presence would’ve made some great shots. The next artist on that same stage was Stef Kamil Carlens, usually a one man band surrounded by flowers and rabbits, but this time coming with a full band, including the beautiful voice of Nel Ponsaers, that you may remember from the pictures I took of her other band, The Golden Glows. Here, this groovy band delivered a more fun and dynamic performance that was a contrasted with the stripped down and harmonious performance of the Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Gabriel Ríos, showing clear signs of exhaustion, swollen left eye, as he very well tried to explain in English and Dutch. He wasn’t alone on stage, although that intimate and yet powerful performance created a great impact on the audience. Closing the night was Jamie Cullum and a great band that put together a colorful show, displaying more slow songs mixed with more dynamic and rocky sounds that made all the audience dance and even jump around at Cullum’s request.

Gent Jazz has, as usual, two stages, the main one, and a garden stage, with no photo pit, where the audience can just sit on the grass or on any chairs to lay back and relax in a more familiar environment. The artists line-up on the garden stage were Edmund November, playing some of their tunes floating between some psychedelic folk with more melancholic pop, followed by Unfinished business, playing two sets in that same stage, delivered in two different time slots, and ending the night with The Great Belgian Songbook..