Of Ventspils: Melo M

So we saw a bunch of fun stuff in Ventspils at their town fair. But the funnest was maybe the Melo M concert. They are three Latvian cello players, who do all-cello covers of your favorite pop hits, while wearing airline pilot outfits. It's maybe a little over-the-top on the irony for our day and age, but they put on a goofy fun show. Highlights included Dick Dale's Miserlou:



... and some other ones that we recorded snippets of but didn't get up on YouTube yet. I can't say there's anything uniquely Latvian about the combo of kitsch/whimsy/high art/low art/etc. But this particular mix of those elements is uniquely Latvian, and it was a lot of fun. The vaguely punk highlight was when the crowd was going wild as they walked off the stage, cheering for an encore; the band consulting with the festival director; him clearly saying "no you can't do an encore;" and the band then pointing to the crowd and walking out for an encore anyway.

Yeah! Fight the man! Punk's not dead! Be sure to catch them when they come to your town!