MAUD THE MOTH and AIDAN BAKER live on board the MS Stubnitz, Hamburg (April 24th 2026)

After Roadburn Festival comes the Roadburn Blues, that thing where you have seriously developed an entitlement for amazing performances, secret show announcements and a community of kindred spirits to share it with on a daily basis. But instead you get the disappointing grind of everyday life.

Before my five-part Roadburn review - which is in the works, but always takes its sweet time - comes my report from the first show I visited to actively fight Roadburn Blues. And with these two performances, which would both have been absolutely worthy of being a part of the festival, I made the absolutely right choice.

I had a moment of doubt though. The audience boarding the MS Stubnitz didn't exactly look like the usual Ambient/Drone/Expermimental crowd (if there even is something like that) - and a look at the merch table revealed that some Polka thing was playing. Wait! What?
I actually had to check the date, remained confused for another moment, before I realized that there were two parallel events happening on the ship and I had to go to another room, where I had never attended a show before. With the stage being on floor level it felt much more intimate, while still having those huge Stubnitz acoustics. Perfect for this night's artists.

AIDAN BAKER

Aidan Baker came with a guitar, his effect board and a violin bow, delivering a truly beautiful, emotionally laden Ambient set in several unbroken connected movements. You could both feel the endless experience the male half of Nadja has with this kind of performance, as well has the soul he still pours into it.

The biggest break of the flow happened towards the end, when everything was caught in a rectangular loop, before Amaya López-Carromero aka Maud the Moth joined in on eery vocals and keys, together with her guitar player (and also Healthyliving bandmate) Scott McLean. Their improvisation was a stunning finale for this immersive show.

MAUD THE MOTH

Since everything was set up anyway, it wouldn't have bothered me at all, if they had just continued with Maud the Moth's show immediately, but of course they took a little breather, before the singer sat down at her keyboard to play one older song, which just consisted of piano and her half-operatic hauntingly beautiful voice.

After that McLean joined her for a set of manifoldly layered newer tracks, in which synths, guitar, samples, loops and López-Carromero's spectacular singing grew to breathtaking dramatic highs.

And just when you thought the mixture of ethereal Neoclassical, Experimental Post Something music couldn't get better, Aidan Baker came back for one last trio performance during the finale "Kwisatz Haderach", the last track from Maud's recent 2025 album "The Distaff". And wow, what a mighty way to finish this night! Roadburn Blues definitely beaten - for now.

Cool, I see you actually scrolled through all my pictures! So normally the review would end here, but since the band in the ship's main room was still playing I also stayed for a couple of their songs, which somehow added to the Roadburn feeling, when you walk out of one thing and into something worlds different. So here's my absolutely unqualified "review" of that show as well:

HEPTA POLKA

As the name says, these are seven guys playing Polka (and other Folk music with inspirations from all around the globe). When they switched on their party mode it was definitely too much and a bit too shallow for me, especially after the spiritually charging music I had witnessed before.

But when they took it slower, Hepta Polka actually developed some intriguing depth... so between these poles all in all this had propably been a pretty good show as well, I guess. But that's it now! Any more of my opinion would really be presumptuous.



Weird place to end a live report, I know.



Deal with it!