Zeraphine

After a short tour in last year’s fall ZERAPHINE is back on tour again this time for a longer one through Germany. With them their latest album Blind Camera plus single Die Macht in Dir, which recently reached No. 61 in German single charts. Even though it is not quite clear if this is really such a positive aspect.
On 16th of March they played in the Bremen’s Tivoli and had as support act LAB the Finnish newcomers with them.
There were rumours before the show that the only reason why ZERAPHINE chose the Tivoli as venue was that their equipment did not fit in the smaller clubs in Bremen. My fear that it would not be crowded at all was unfounded at the end. In fact a smaller club would have been to small for these two acts.

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:. LAB ~ This time LAB, one of Sven Friedrich’s favourite bands, toured with them as opener that even brought their own fans along, which could be heard loudly during their show.
Compared with the studio versions of songs like When Heaven Gets Dirty or other ones Ana obviously had problems to find the right pitch live on stage. Although their performance was generally good and powerful. We will see, if LAB are going to have as much success as their fellow countrymen, Finnish bands like HIM or The 69 Eyes, as some media predict.
They do have the potential. But Ana’s voice is capable of improvement (at least on stage) to describe it positively. Anyway, all in all it was a good live show.
Setlist: When Heaven Get’s Dirty, Raining Dogs, Danger, Love Like Hell, TV, Machine Girl, Hardcore, Goddess, Insane With Love

:. ZERAPHINE ~ 45 minutes after having changed the backline ZERAPHINE hit the stage. It was the second time (after the show in 1996 in Essen, at this time still with the Dreadful Shadows), that I saw Sven Friedrich plus band playing live. All in all we saw a 2 hour set that was fascinating not even as a result of the lightshow. The setlist was variable. Many German songs were played.
I am quite often worried about German songs if they are played live. Just because I fear they could not be presented authentically. ZERAPHINE managed to present them in an authentic way. Even though I had the impression that the audience honoured cover songs like New Years Day more than ZERAPHINE’s own songs. S. Friedrich had the tendency for years to interpret classic songs on his albums; in earlier days with Dreadful Shadows and now with ZERAPHINE.
Moreover I think it would be better to stick to own songs instead of recording and playing classics from U2 and New Order without really changing them in any way. Their creativity is lacking here. On the other hand the reaction of the audience was positive. It might increase the number of copies that are sold but it would not push the band any further.
Setlist: I Never Want To Be Like You, Die Macht in Dir, No More Doubts, In der Tiefe, Sterne sehen, Die Welt kann warten, No Tears, Ohne Dich, United & Lost, Siamesische Einsamkeit, New Years Day, Stop Pretending, Sometimes, I’m Numb, I Feel Your Trace, Licht, Hollow Skies, Die Wirklichkeit, Jede Wahrheit, Kaltes Herz, Be My Rain, When Walls Arise, Wenn Du gehst

All in all everybody saw the sets of 2 professionally acting bands this evening. I hope they can keep up this level in the future. Or even raise it. In contrast to LAB, ZERAPHINE’s music still sounds like a lot of their favourite bands like The Sisters Of Mercy or even more like Fields Of The Nephilim.
It depends on their ability to detach themselves from them if Zeraphine will one day be as successful as them. Let’s wait and see. A development could already be seen. Sven’s voice had changed remarkably since the Dreadful Shadows. He never sounded as variable as before.