Live Review: ASP - Munich 2011

Written by Erika Knepper Wednesday, 02 November 2011 10:08

Muffathalle, Munich, Germany
27th October 2011
ASP - ‘Fremd Tour 2011’ with support Lahannya

Last Thursday, my ride to Munich to see ASP on their 'Fremd' tour was rather adventurous thanks to rail traffic. As I reached the Muffathalle, an endlessly long queue of fans expected me who already waited for admittance...

Lahannya

LAHANNYA is a British singer and songwriter. In 1998, she founded the band of the same name. Every now and then she also works as a DJane in London’s Slimelight club. She was known by her cooperation with bands like COMBICHRIST and ASP. In 2004 Lahannya hit by chance on Lutz Demmler, the bassist and producer of Umbra et Imago with whom she works together since this time. At the beginning of October 2011 the third album of LAHANNYA 'Dystopia' appeared. www.lahannya.com



Music & Performance
Shortly after 8:00 PM Lahannya (voice), Lutz Demmler (bass / background voice), Luca Mazzucconi (drums) and Chris Milden (guitar) entered the stage. Unfortunately, from beginning the sound was badly mixed, the whole one sounded exceedingly vague. It was a pity that the voice of the singer quite often could not be heard ans was completely lost in the loud instruments and so, you could not really hear nothing at all from her. Only with the last song 'Save Me', one had the feeling that the sound was more harmoniously. The band sadly could not convince the audience in the not completely sold off Muffathalle during this evening. The listeners looked rather apathetical and seemed to be longing for the main act of the evening and thus it was also not surprising that the applause was rather held back at the end of the set.



Setlist
01. Never Enough
02. Sick And Tired
03. Beautiful Wasteland
04. Burn
05. Dystopia
06. Out Of Time
07. Inside The Machine
08. Save Me

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 5
Light: 6
Total: 6.5 / 10




ASP

ASP is a rock band from Frankfurt / Main which was founded in 1999 and on account of their appearance and style is assigned to the black scene. The band name was taken from the nickname of the singer Alexander Spreng. After the success of the cycle around the 'Schwarzen Schmetterling' about whom the band dealt in the first five albums, now a new chapter began in the story of ASP. After a musical time out of the band, the split with guitarist and foundation member Matthias Ambré was announced in spring 2011. Now on the 21st of October 2011, the new album 'Fremd' appeared which already reached place 9 of the German album charts. www.AspsWelten.de



Music & Performance
Then after the rebuilding break it was so far and the stage completely belonged to Alexander Spreng (voice), Andreas 'Tossi' Gross (E-bass), Oliver 'Himmi' Himmighoffen (drums) and the both new guitarists Lutz Demmler and Sören Jordan. Now from the first tone the sound was perfect, the voice of Asp came across clearly and the audience raved. The programme offered a nice mixture of older songs, but also some of the new ones, again more like rock sounding album. The listeners were extremely safe in singing the lyrics along; they clapped and danced where it went along and enjoyed the creeps-moments. The mood in the Muffathalle was boiling and quite obviously, not only to the audience had a lot of fun, but also Asp himself. I thought that he was more dynamic compared with the last appearance in Munich in 2009. He whirled above the stage and included the audience into the show.



In this evening there were also two duets: For the song 'Sing Child', Asp got vocal strengthening of Tossi. For the second duet of the evening, the song 'Werben', Lahannya came back on stage. This time her voice sounded much better and it became a really nice interpretation of this song. With the additions, the audience could overexert themselves once again so properly and the mood reached the boiling point once more, before this evening came finally to an end… In my opinion it was an absolutely successful concert of ASP which might have given equally pleasure probably to all - on, as well as in front of the stage. The only point of criticism was the sound of LAHANNYA.



Setlist
01. A Prayer For Sanctuary (Intro)
02. Wechselbalg
03. Sing Child
04. Duett (Das Minnelied der Incubi)
05. Demon Love
06. Wer Sonst?
07. Eisige Wirklichkeit
08. Und Wir Tanzten (Ungeschickte Liebesbriefe)
09. Werben (with Lahannya)
10. FremdkörPerson, erstens
11. Kokon
12. Ich Bin ein Wahrer Satan
13. Schwarzes Blut
14. Krabat
15. Unverwandt
---
16. Nie Mehr
17. Sanctus/Benedictus
---
18. Rücken An Rücken
19. Ich Will Brennen
---
20. Schwarzer Schmetterling

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.3 / 10



All pictures by Erika Knepper ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.facebook.com/erikaknepper)