Live Review: Crüxshadows, The - Mannheim 2012

Written by Kai Bimber & Sarah Siegel Friday, 10 August 2012 08:28

Alte Seilerei, Mannheim, Germany
4th August 2012
The Crüxshadows & Goldkint

An electro-/wave-band which comes from the dark alternative scene, played in about 26 different countries and was the first of its kind ever to be allowed to play in China? Well, this can only be the CRÜXSHADOWS.

Although the band, which was founded in 1992, comes from Florida, the majority of the fan base can be found in European countries. There, Rogue and his fellow band-members enjoy cult-status for quite some years, and although the CRÜXSHADOWS’ critics give them a dressing down and calling their success and their music as strange, about eight CDs, seven singles and five EPs, gigs with bands like THE CURE or BJÖRKspeak another – and more clear – language. These days, the latest of the CDs will be released, ‘As The Dark Against My Halo’, and to this occasion, the CRÜXSHADOWS finally went on tour again. A tour which did not only take them to Amphi Festival 2012, but also to Alte Seilerei in Mannheim. Reason enough to take the trip there and see what CRX have to offer to their fans.



Although the day began not “Goth” at all – it was a warm and sunny summer-day – about an hour before the concert some mostly black-clad folk had already gathered in front of the hall, eager to see the CRÜXSHADOWS and their support band. This role fell to GOLDKINT (Yep. With “T”. No typo.). GOLDKINT are a an electro pop project from Hannover, founded in 2010 and consisting of Jana Goldkint and Lübke. The charismatic singer (who, by the way, entered the stage in a pink Snoop-Dogg-Shirt and barefoot) did not let herself get irritated by the fact that the audience first reacted a little reserved to their music and played a self-confident performance with sometimes dreamy, sometimes cheeky electro-pop songs, and in the course of time, GOLDKINT managed to win the audiences feelings with tunes like ‘Mein Roboter’, ‘Pirat’, ‘Kopfkino’, ‘Paris’, ‘Labyrinth’ or ‘Fehlfunktion’, and some of the dark figures in the crowd could even be seen dancing. A charming performance of a young, likeable band which surely left stage with having won some new fans.



And after a short pause, the moment for the performance of the legendary CRÜXSHADOWS had come. While the band already got cheered when they started with the first song – ‘I Believe’ from the new CD, the second song ‘Valkyrie’ (the very catchy und rhythmic title-song from the last EP) made the crowd go crazy within the first few tunes, a fact which sightly cheered up beautiful JoHanna Moresco (Violin), Rogue (Vocals), Mike Perez (Guitars), David Wood (Violins), Jen Jawidzic (Keyboard) and the dancers Jessica Lackey and Jenne Vermes. The band presented itself as very close to their fans, as usual: Rogue, for example, always took some time while his agile and energetic performance to shake hands with the fans in the first row or take eye-contact. And – of course – to spend some time on his hobby, climbing. Climbing? Yes, climbing. Rogue, being notorious to climb up on stage wherever he can, due to the freedom his headset-mike gives him, spent some time of one of the first songs almost under the roof of the Alte Seilerei.



This stage acting and the great songs whipped up the audience from song to song even more, although the temperature in the hall had already reached tropical levels, and not only the general atmosphere and Rogue himself offered much for the fans´ eyes, the rest of the band performed classy, too: from the perfect choreography of Jenne and Jessica to the charming JoHanna or the obviously cheerful Mike and his rocker posing, one could easily see that the concert meant a lot of fun to the band, too. The highlight of the first half of the set was reached when Rogue jumped off stage during ‘Quicksilver’ in order to march through the audience and even took a bar seat with him, placing it in the rear section of hall and climbing onto it, so the fans back there had a clear view on him, too. He then even climbed the bar – everything while still singing. After the first half of the concert, which consisted of the songs ‘I Believe’, ‘Valkyrie’, ‘Halo’, ‘Quicksilver’, ‘Invisible’, ‘Sophia’, ‘Angelus Everlasting’ and ‘Burning’, and a show some bands can’t even manage to deliver in a whole concert, Rogue paused to introduce the band and lose some words on the tour and the new CD (in German, besides).



Then, show went on with ‘Sleepless’ and the sing-along-song ‘Winterborn’, the last sung by Rogue mostly together with the cheered-up crowd, while Jenne and Jessica soon got two girls on the stage for dancing, while preparing themselves for a dancing choreography with a combination of veils and hand-held fans. As time marched on (and having very much fun, it marched on way too fast), the point for encore was reached way too soon…. the CRÜXSHADOWS’ first encore of choice was ‘Deception’, a perfect choice for motivating the audience again. And this stimulated, the people were in the perfect mood for THE song of the band that always makes one’s flesh crawl for the entire length: ‘Marilyn. My. Bitterness’. And the people went crazy once again, singing along every single word of the song… and at this moment, the band finally and for all overcame the border between concert and party, taking as many fans as they could onto the stage, singing and partying with them, before having to end this fantastic concert.



But even this did not mark the complete end of the event: It did not take even ten minutes until you could see the band members, especially JoHanna and Rogue, walking around in the concert hall, taking much time for each and every fan who wanted to take a picture, get an autograph or just say hello – a great gesture whose example many national or international acts could consider to follow… Concluding, I must say that probably nobody who witnessed this gig regretted visiting Alte Seilerei on this day, not even rudimentarily. The great atmosphere, the brilliant choice of songs (did I already mention that the new CD will most probably turn out as one of the best the band ever released? No? Well, go and see for yourself) and the energetic show made this concert – at least for myself – to one of the best concerts so far this year. Two thumbs up!

Rating
Music 8
Performance 9
Light 7
Sound 8
Total 8 / 10




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All pictures by Kai Bimber