Who played in the cube? It is a game of musical ‘Who is it’ at the Le Guess Who? festival.

Is anyone standing there? A vague figure appears to be bending over a table with glowing buttons. Nothing more becomes visible of the musician – or musicians? – in the white cube of six by six meters that stands in the middle of the Great Hall of TivoliVredenburg. On the opening night of the adventurous festival Le Guess Who? There is a question mark on the program three times. The acts remain anonymous before, during and – the idea is – afterwards.

It automatically becomes a musical ‘Who is it?’, a game that the dedicated visitors are happy to take part in. But it also raises more fundamental questions. Do you appreciate a band for its name or sound? Does a musician dare to experiment more anonymously? How important is audience interaction?

When the first synthesizer swells at half past seven, it turns out not to be enough to immediately distract the attention of all the spectators around the cube from their telephone calls. After a long run-up, after fifteen minutes the first start of a beat is heard and then one person dares to cheer. That’s it. In the absence of visible musicians receiving the appreciation, the applause is saved until the end, when the hall is no more than half full.

But those who surrender to the experiment will experience an intense sound story. The visuals draw you into a forest of fungal threads with the slowly changing colors of the electronic music. Remarkable for such an eclectic festival, the second and third Question Mark concerts also took the form of esoteric sound essays, with lots of synths – a constant in this sixteenth edition. In this commendable experiment, wouldn’t it be more exciting to also put a black metal band or hip-hop collective in the cube?

Africa Head Charge

That show and presentation matter is now evident in the full Ronda at dub collective African Head Charge. Between the question marks, it suddenly feels like a relief when the percussionist balances his djembe on his forehead. Does that add even one note or bar to the music? No, but it’s fun to see. Even at a gourmet festival, a concert proves to be more than just sound, the visible pleasure of the musicians is half the battle.

During the weekend, Le Guess Who? with 256 other acts – with name and face – all over the city. This offers the more than 19,000 visitors more than enough diversity with a lot of attention to experiment and tradition. Such as the beautiful contrast on Friday, for those who followed the Iberian language route. You first allow yourself to be scourged by the merciless duende of the voice magician Niño de Elche from eastern Spain, and then you are embraced by the warm, subtly jazzy tropicalia in powerful harmony singing by Bala Desejo from Rio de Janeiro.

Niño de Elche (Francisco Contreras Molina) is a fantastic cantaor, a well-trained flamenco singer, but an extremely stubborn one, who collaborated with like-minded people such as Rosalía, Raül Refree and C. Tangana. He looks the almost sacred Spanish music tradition in the mouth and laughs at it. He presented it in a cut-up style in Utrecht with fragments of poetry, scatting, improvisations and other free vocal arts. He had the stately Jacobi Church as a companion, although the full echo at the back of the church obscured the sound. But whoever crawled closer to the Spaniard heard meowing sounds, murmuring panting, clicks, squeals, and then heavenly endless melismas (tone variations on a syllable) up, down, without losing power.

Richard Dawson

At that same place, Richard Dawson showed why he is such a beloved folk singer. Captivating in all its recognisability, yet mysterious. Completely in denim, bring a mug of tea. “This new song is about an older couple in an allotment garden. I was tired of singing about dragons and stuff,” he jokes. Dawson knows how to sing about and elevate the everyday, often in double layers, with a flair that suits your colorless neighbor, but also an incognito magician who can pull out his magic wand at any moment.

Ahya Simone

Wandering between locations and genres (adventurous hip-hop by Antipop Consortium, dreamy sample harp playing by Ahya Simone), the question remains who was in the cube. There is speculation on social media: producer James Holden and jazz drummer Tom Skinner are mentioned. Both are already on the program elsewhere and director Bob van Heur swears that this is not a double booking. Maybe it will really remain a question mark forever and therefore a unique festival experience.