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2011-06-25
DE – Gelsenkirchen - Amphitheater |
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| And One - Diary Of Dreams - IAMX - Apoptygma Berzerk - Rabia Sorda - Mono Inc. - Absolute Body Control - Solar Fake - Autodafeh - Burn [Psycho] Arrival was relaxed, still with a lot of free parking. No wonder, many decided to show up later hoping for better weather. At least we didn’t get into mud-wrestling, at neuralgic spots plastic mats were rolled out at noon. Well done! :: pics :: [Psycho]
The rain just had one advantage: everyone already present stood
crowded in front of stage… under the roof ;) So ::
BURN
:: kicked off the festival in front of a well-filled
area ;) Could have been worse… Unfortunately BURN
had to struggle through many technical problems. First both songs
got used for a sound-check, micros failed and no stage-hand in
sight to change them. Instead the band members had to run to the
ones working. To call that professionalism is a joke…
[Psycho] Originality never was a proposition of :: AUTODAFEH :: and so the Swedes got announced as Front 424. Musically speaking that’s ok and I still like old school EBM. Highly questionable I find the fact that the original is much livelier on stage than its younger epigones. Since Front 242 headlined last year’s edition of BLACKFIELD FESTIVAL I’m directly able to compare. The only one mentionable circumstance of the show was the fact that keyboarder Anders could not take part; he became a daddy at this weekend, congratulations! He got replaced on a short notice by [SITD]‘s own Tom, wherefore the band did not drop any word of thanks during the show. Really nice…
[Dajana]
Well, also :: SOLAR
FAKE :: were not (yet) able to change course. I
really never experienced a festival that was so dull and boring
so far. Sven Friedrich presented most of the tracks of his brand
new and upcoming solo album Frontiers, out on July
22. And yes, some of these songs are really danceable. But first,
it is always difficult for only 2 persons (one nailed behind its
keyboard) on a huge stage to create that kind of energy and dynamics
that let the crowd freak out, and second, Sven’s gestures
and courses of movement are so stereotyped, no matter with what
band he is actually playing. You won’t see anything new;
it’s just all the same. The audience was absolutely unmotivated
due to this bad weather and did not give back anything to the
band. To hit the bottom SOLAR FAKE covered (or remixed?)
Talk Talk’s Such A Shame. Sven better get this song
off his setlist again. Such a shame… literally.
[Psycho]
No, the festival did not gain any momentum and it was not only
due to the weather. Same goes with ::
ABSOLUTE
BODY CONROL :: the first love of Dirk Ivens. Well,
at least they proved that old school EBM can be really varied,
but the show itself was too static, something I can still forgive
since we deal here with elder gentlemen, which at least seemed
to have a lot of fun. And I liked it too ;)
[Dajana]
Finally a ray of hope sprouted regarding the festival mood. ::
MONO
INC :: I already have seen several times and it
always was a hell of a party. They really know how to get the
audience into full swing, no matter if you like them or not. For
the very first time during this festival day one could state that
the Amphitheater was now comfortably filled with a crowd in better
mood and the first rows dancing and moving.
[Psycho]
This festival truly is not my cup of tea so far, but now it was
time for :: RABIA
SORDA :: an act warmly recommended by my working
mate Holger. Well, it seems, he itself wasn’t that enthused
by the band’s performance afterwards. Songs were lacking
of power and specialty, you know, je ne sais quoi. However, at
least Erk Aicrag was a very lively frontman, running and jumping
around and animating the fans. Nevertheless, I could not help
thinking that his “main employer” Hocico not insignificantly
contributes to the popularity of RABIA SORDA.
[Dajana]
Those who now thought that :: APOPTYGMA
BERZERK :: would be in for some highlights…
once again got disappointed. The new live crew around Stephan
Groth (funny enough to see Ophelia Dax behind the keys now) is
for sure skilled and did its best, but it was Stephan himself
who “shined” with the worst singing performance in
ages. To the continuous rain APOPTYGMA BERZERK offered
the common best-of setlist without any specials or rarities. It
was just to notice that the older tracks still get the people
up, of course…
[Psycho]
The change-over for :: IAMX
:: caused a massive delay. Time frames at festivals
are always tight and a 25 minutes delay is almost killing every
frame. Just to make it clear: the show was worth the waiting!
IAMX is just completely different from all other bands
of the festival, beginning with the music (that actually does
not has anything to do with scene stuff we got here) and stopping
with the very dynamic, extroverted and rock’n’roll-like
stage-acting. Also much impressing the permanent groove created
by drummer Caroline Weber.
[Psycho]
Next up was :: DIARY
OF DREAMS :: During the change-over the crew accelerated
to make up for the delay. Though, the band had to shorten its
setlist. I have not seen them for a while and so was curious how
they would turn out these days. Well then, DIARY OF DREAMS
have a much more rocking approach, partly with 3 guitars on stage
and rotating hairs. But some live action never did any harm so
far. I liked their dynamic performance. Next to old hits (unfortunately
not the very old ones) also brand new ones got played, from their
upcoming album Ego-X. Sounded quite ok, though I’m
not sure, if Ego-X will own the necessary amount
of variety to convince. Well. Let’s see… Yes, good
show, went down very well. The pyro-show however I did not found
soooo spectacular.
[Psycho]
The first festival day comes to an end, closed by ::
AND
ONE :: There show exactly happened the way I expected:
Two extras in the background behind the keys and in the foreground
Steve Naghavi acting the big shot… erm… singing and
dancing for his fans. That Joke Jay and Rick Schah have rejoined
did not change anything at all, although now those team together
again AND ONE achieved their first success in the 90s.
You may like it or not and AND ONE have for sure enough
great songs in their repertoire but as for me… it was a
too contrived and insincere one-man-show. Isn’t new at all…
but when it get thrown back into your face that strikingly…
[Psycho]
After a day full of rain, a gooseflesh causing wind and a
billing only convincing in bits we were not in the mood for party.
Let’s go home… Are we getting old? |
| story © Psycho & Dajana • pics © Dajana |
