Schandmaul - Eisbrecher - Combichrist - Letzte Instanz - Assemblage 23 - A Life Divided - Reaper - Sono - Stahlmann - Blitzmaschine

[Dajana] After a long and hot bath and adequate sleep I headed into festival day 2. And this one did not start any promising either… Despite contrary weather forecasts the sky was grey and the streets rain-soaked. This will be no laughing matter…
Arriving at the Amphitheater - surprise, surprise - it really cleared up… and became hot and humid. It didn’t take for long and it became HOT. People once again crowded under the roof of the stage… to escape the sun.

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Day two got kicked off with :: BLITZMASCHINE :: a lately founded outfit from Hamburg that has just released its debut Faustrecht. EBM for the middle class… so they say. In fact the music of these finance-gentlemen is just clear mixtures of Nitzer Ebb and DAF that it is already naughty. Join In The Chant a The Mussolini were more than just clear to hear out. However, the arena was barely filled; after the shitty weather yesterday most attendees seemingly took it easier this day. Yes, BLITZMASCHINE is for sure entertaining, a nice wake-up call, but generally speaking I rather get stuck with the originals.
Setlist: Liebe auf den ersten Blick (DAF Cover), Useless Pain, Blondes Mädchen, Do Not, Kämpf’ um mich, Vorwärts, Blute jetzt!

Next up is :: STAHLMANN :: who got warmly recommended to me. Where the predecessors have copied DAF and Nitzer Ebb, STAHLMANN did it with Oomph! and Rammstein, just with silvery painted musician and a doubled entertaining factor. Besides, singer Mart loved to joke around, talking lot of dog's doodas and eventually pulled out a bottle of Jacky with the words: “for such nonsense we have to shout a drink for you” and briskly got the first rows sloshed ;) Hilarious! For the fact that we had a real band on stage that also acted downright lively I had a lot of fun during this show.
Setlist: Willkommen, Marschieren, Stahlmann, Kaltes Herz, Göttin, Hass mich… Lieb mich, Herzschlag, Teufel

:: SONO :: had to “cancel” last year’s appearance unintentionally. This year everything went well and the band entered the stage on time :) I was much looking forward to see SONO again and at the end they turned out to be the highlight of festival day two! This Hamburg-based Indie band is so refreshingly different and actually - similar to IAMX the day before - far away from the Electro/Gothic scene. Most of all they are outstanding musicians and truly outclassed many bands of this festival. The worthy audience was now, under a blue and sunny sky, in best mood and worshipped SONO the best possible way. Awesome show, awesome band!
Setlist: 2000 Guns, All Those City Lights, What You Do, Blame, A New Cage, Open The Door, Better, Keep Control

Although :: REAPER :: play very aggressive Electro, the high level of spirit and energy could not be kept up. As more the sun shined as more singer Vasi got in trouble with his war-paint. But it didn’t do any harm to his own good mood. Key wiz Gregor once again so downright freaked out behind his keys that one of his boards fell down. Those who thought now that a stage-hand would come and help… no way! The photographers were the ones vehemently waving hands to attract attention for the keyboarder’s predicament. Technical organization really made me sick! Also the PA went on to bitching, nobody cared. Vasi took it easy and instead devoured some booze. Tiny bottles, ‘coz someone said he drinks too much on stage… *laughs* Another eye-catcher appeared little later with guest singer Javi Ssagittar who gave his voice to Dirty Cash, as kind of replacement for the missing drummer and guitarist.
Setlist: The Devil Is Female, Twisted Trophy Hunter, Execution Of Your Mind, It’s Your Game, Robuste Maschine, Dirty Cash (Spanish Version with guest singer Javi Ssagittar of Terrolokaust), She Is A Devil And A Whore

Hach, finally another “real band” :) Metal, Alternative, Electro… Munich-based juggernauts :: A LIFE DIVIDED :: range anywhere between. And they rock as fuck! A LIFE DIVIDED is a side project of Jürgen Plangger, in his other life guitarist in Eisbrecher. Here, he is da man in da front, so to say ;) He was going wild and already got his warm-up for the Eisbrecher show. I like!
Setlist: Change, Words, Doesn’t Count, Other Side, Anyone, Sounds Like A Melody (Alphaville Cover), Hey You, Heart On Fire

Now it was meant to be the right time for Rotersand. But due to illness within the band, Rotersand cancelled and :: ASSEMBLAGE 23 :: stepped in. And they were soooo lame. Paul Seegers had to go back to the States on a very short notice and got replaced by X-Divided man and festival hoster Jens Domgören, next to Spanish DJ Albert Code. Sounded all like canned. Besides, singer Tom Shear had many problems with his voice and it went worse with every new song. Mood killer.
Setlist: Naked, Opened, Drive, Alive, Impermanence, Let Me Be You Armor, Document, Let The Wind Erase Me, Disappoint

Seems like it was up to :: LETZTE INSTANZ :: now to save mood and atmosphere of the festival. Well, what can I say… I don’t how, but LETZTE INSTANZ always make it to enthuse its audience, to the max. They dance, they jump, they sing and they joke and so does the crowd.
Setlist: Intro & Dein Gott, Neue Helden, Komm!, Der Garten, Flucht ins Glück, Tanz, Ohne Dich, Der letzte Tag, Finsternis, Wir sind allein

Now let’s talk about the second supposed festival highlight :: COMBICHRIST :: who turned out to be the flop of the day. During the first three (photopit) songs the world was still ok. Andy La Plegua and his gang delivered, as usual, their extremely aggressive show with such scenery to keep your finger permanently on the release button. Drummer Joe sparked fly…. erm… his drums, while the guitarist did the dying swan and Andy unleashed his demons. And then it happened…first the PA failed, second the band’s Mac failed too. No back-up. No electricity. COMBICHRIST were not able (and skilled it seemed) to play any kind of unplugged stuff to bridge time. They tried and drum and a keyboard solo, but terribly failed again. Seemed like the monsters & demons COMBICHRIST conjured up took over ;) No chance to solve technical problems, COMBICHRIST broke up their show and left the stage, totally pissed off. How embarrassing…
Setlist: Shut Up And Swallow, Today I Woke To The Rain Of Blood, Follow The Trail Of Blood, Deathbed (“unplugged”), Fuck That Shit (“unplugged”)

It took some time till all technical difficulties were solved and :: EISBRECHER :: could guarantee a smooth show. But then Alexx Wesselsky and his mates just left scorched earth, or burning planks, whatever, metaphorically speaking. EISBRECHER played a hell of a show but I was afraid they could die by heat in their Mount Everest outfit. Alexx was joking around and especially Jürgen Plangger, who just played with A Life Divided, had to take the one or the joke. Generally speaking EISBRECHER were in for pranks including sing-along parts (Missstück), once again a bottle JD they had problems to empty or some typical Bavarian jokes (to yodel and stuff). Furthermore EISBRECHER got on the billing via a fan-voting they were totally thrilled about thanking the fans for it several times, which responded vociferously ;) Yep, I’d say… that was the highlight of the second festival day, from an objective point of view.
Setlist: Eiszeit, Willkommen im Nichts, Angst, Leider, Heilig, Schwarze Witwe, Die Engel, Vergißmeinnicht, Amok, This Is Deutsch, Misstück, Outro: Total Eclipse Of The Heart

Once again we have to face the end of a festival weekend. When :: SCHANDMAUL :: entered the stage many fans were already on their way home leaving the Amphitheater quite clear. It doesn’t wonder, the Monday is for the most a normal working day (odd rule by the way that Gothic/Electro festivals always take place on Saturday and Sunday, knowing that people have to work on a Monday…). Singer Thomas seemed to have a broken shoulder, wishbone or similar stuff and was badly handicapped. He couldn’t do anything just stand still behind his micro. Since the stage was fogged all over there was also not that much to see. Hm. Left fans didn’t care and cheered the band as much as possible, while SCHANDMAUL did their best to finish a rather mediocre BLACKFIELD FESTIVAL 2011 worthily.
Setlist: Kein Weg zu weit, Auf hoher See, Trinklied, Leb!, Der Alchemist, Mit Leib und Seele, Assassine, Das Teufelsweib, Lichtblick, Pakt, Drachentöter, Traumtänzer, Hexeneinmaleins, Frei, Die Walpurgisnacht, Der Krieger, Dein Antlitz

We say goodbye to BLACKFIELD 2011. Weather is an unpredictable matter, nobody can do anything against it, but it killed the entire festival atmosphere during the first day, that’s a fact. The billing was weak; half of the bands already played the BLACKFIELD FESTIVAL during the last three years and bout the technical side of things I was already ranting enough. It was a disappointing festival. For the first little anniversary next year organizers have to push themselves a lot to make things better and the festival to a success again.

story & pics © Dajana