[Dajana] It has been a long, long time since I saw IN THE NURSERY playing live. One reason might be that the Sheffield-based music and art project doesn’t tour that often, another one that the Brits released soundtracks and albums of the Optical Music Series during the last years, mainly presented as single events at special cinemas in Sheffield or UK.
The last regular album was Blind Sound, released back in 2011. So, a new one was long overdue. And finally here we go. For their new effort, IN THE NURSERY dealt with the year 1961, the year of birth for the twins Klive and Nigel Humberstone. In a loose conception, they have taken inspiration from the historic, literary and personal connections of that year. And a new album is finally a reason to perform live aside of festivals.
But it was a festival that brought us IN THE NURSERY back to Germany and to the :: Kulttempel :: in Oberhausen. At a late hour. Unusual door and show times always leave me skeptical and so we arrived right after the doors were opened. Good for us, because the support act kicked off at 8.30 pm instead of announced 9pm. Phew…
[Psycho] I actually didn’t give so many thoughts to this event. My decision to attend was rather spontaneous. I never heard of SPHERICAL DISRUPTED before, although I listen to Dark Ambient a lot as of late. Regarding IN THE NURSERY, I lost sight of them during the last couple of years, so I jumped at the opportunity on short notice.
The number of attendees was surely disappointing, especially since the headliner isn’t that often on tour. I’d say 120 people were there, optimistically guessed. That’s really low. Maybe it was the late show time on a mid-week day…
:: pics :: SPHERICAL DISRUPTED ::
[Dajana] Those, how frequently hit the dance floors in the wider Ruhr area probably know him as DJ Paradroid. But Mirko is a man of many talents. He not only twists the turntables but also runs an own label and has his hands in various music projects. One of those is his Dark Ambient/IDM solo project :: SPHERICAL DISRUPTED ::, supporting ITN tonight.
For the entire show, Mirko Hentrich was bathed in deep blue lights and massive smoke billowing around him, while creating stellar soundscapes. Most of the tracks were taken from his most recent output, Periapsis. The tracks sounded harsher and more rhythms-driven then pure Dark Ambient (as experienced lately at the Phobos festival). The music of SPHERICAL DISRUPTED is not that kind to close your eyes and drift into other worlds but such kind to dance, or to swing hips at least.
At this chance, SPHERICAL DISRUPTED was able to test the new equipment of the club… yes, sound was great, the purchase paid off.
[Psycho] I can only agree! The sound was excellent, with clear and crispy bass lines yet transparent.
[Dajana] When it comes to such kind of music projects where one or two musicians “just” twist knobs and create sounds, I find it important to have great visualizations. SPHERICAL DISRUPTED did so but unfortunately there was hardly anything to see as the big drums of In The Nursery were blocking sights. Altogether, it was an interesting and pleasant half hour of performance :)
[Psycho] I don’t know, if DJ Paradroid would like to have an own drawer for his style of music… classic Dark Ambient this is not (despite a similar atmosphere). As for that, the music was too rhythmic and danceable and some sequencer parts would have even been perfect for an old school EBM band. To me a quite interesting mixture. And, with the Tibetan singing bowl even a real instrument was played… ;)
Setlist: Phantom, Com Verbot, Orbital Eccentricity, Eta Carinae Outburst, Observatory, Through Homunculus Nebula
:: pics :: IN THE NURSERY ::
[Dajana] A 30 minutes break followed to straighten out the equipment to get :: IN THE NURSERY :: started but they didn’t get off the grid properly. There have been (monitor) sound issues; the voice of Dolores was hardly to hear and whatever software probs they had, it made the backing tracks starting too early. The band didn’t seem to be well rehearsed or couldn’t hear each other. So every now and then they played wrong notes. Furthermore, there were hardly lights and still a lot of smoke. As much as I like IN THE NURSERY, the show was somehow disappointing to me. Far away from the awe-inspiring shows I experienced in the past.
Musically, the Brits went through their extensive history, started with the opening track Until Before After from their brand new album 1961 and finished with Compulsion, taken from the 1988 album Köda. The response was enthusiastic but it seemed an encore wasn’t planned at all. Nigel Humberstone was already on the way to the merchandise again, but continuous applause and calls changed his mind, so he called for his mates and IN THE NURSERY played one or two more songs.
[Psycho] I was quite surprised by this show, in many aspects. There was the musical spectrum, from Wave/Gothic up to soundtrack-like songs. I didn’t expect that. I assumed that such old hands would deliver a great show but there were shortcomings. I got well entertained but the number of wrong notes was striking. It was easier to connive at the thin voice of Dolores.
[Dajana] Despite some minor faults, the show was nice after all yet got narrowed by some idiots screaming and misbehaving most of the time. That was really bad.
[Psycho] That dorks probably wanted to outweigh the small numbers of attendees with noise. At this kind of music, recommendations from the dictionary of the little Rock fan are out of place. Anyway, IN THE NURSERY slurred over it gracefully. But to jump onto stage within the band and equipment and to take photos I consider to be totally off the mark. (Me too – Dajana) To me, it was a nice concert evening. But something special it was not. And that a headliner didn’t include an encore per se was totally new to me. I never experienced something like that.
Setlist: Until Before After, Crepuscule, Crave, Rainhall, Lectern, Bombed, Prisoner Of Conscience, Mystery, Stone Souls, A Rebours (Against Nature), TLP, Cobalt, Compulsion, L'Esprit
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