Camouflage  Osnabrück 2006

Details: Written by: Carsten Leopold; Published: 21 September 2006

Rosenhof, Osnabrück, Germany
17th September 2006
Camouflage and Kolkhorst

In the evening of Sunday, 17th September we went to Osnabrück to attend a concert of the famous German Synth-pop act CAMOUFLAGE who's promoting their brand new album which was released three weeks ago. The concert took place in the "Rosenhof" - a pretty location in the downtown of Osnabrück which was a cinema in the past and has retained its charming ambiance like a nightclub from the 60ies. When we arrived at half past seven, only a few people were in the house, some more came later in the course of time but I think altogether only about 150 people were in the club whereby it was a familiar atmosphere at the concert.

Kolkhorst

KOLKHORST is a one-man-project by Kai Uwe Kolkhorst from Lüneburg (near Hamburg) in Germany. Rocking electro-pop made by drum computer and guitar meets intensive songwriting. The second and current album "Wir sind grösser" (we are bigger) was released in August this year. After the show we met Kai Uwe at the merchandise and he told us that he is playing about 80 concerts a year and sometimes up to four hours non-stop. Really a nice boy and a little bit crazy too. http://www.kai-uwe-kolkhorst.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/kolkhorst

Music
KOLKHORST presented a 40-minutes-set – nine songs were taken from his current album "Wir sind grösser". The show was completed by "Bonjour" from his first album and "This is Rock'n'Roll" - a yet unreleased song - at the end of the show. Maybe the unreleased song will be released via internet in the next time.

Performance
Just in time at 8 o’clock the light was switched off and KOLKHORST entered the stage, switched on the drum computer, switched on the guitar amp, put out the cigarette and started the show. The drum computer animated the legs to move, the guitar lines animated the ears and the lyrics animated the brain. It was an honest performance - entertaining and nicely to listen to. The light could have been a bit better; it was mostly dominated the red top only.

Setlist
01. So lang allein
02. Der Mond
03. Andere Schwingungen
04. Alles
05. Einzelkämpfer
06. Schön
07. Distanzen
08. Mit wem
09. Dächer
10. Bonjour
11. This is Rock'n'Roll

Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 6
Total 8 (7.7)

Camouflage

After a short break, the evening went on with the headliner CAMOUFLAGE. CAMOUFLAGE is a famous German Synth-pop band, formed in 1983 and noted for their typical danceable Synth-pop sounds. Their greatest hits like "The great commandment" or "Love is a shield" were frequently mistaken for "Depeche Mode". The current album "Relocated" was released in September 2006. CAMOUFLAGE are Oliver Kreyssig (keyboard, synthesizer, electronic drums, lyrics, vocals, background vocals, composition), Heiko Maile (keyboard, synthesizer, composition, background vocals) and Marcus Meyn (lyrics, vocals, composition). On tour they are supported by a live drummer (Jochen Schmalbach from PROJECT PITCHFORK) and a guitar player (Volker Hinkel). http://www.camouflage-music.com/ / www.myspace.com/camouflagemusic

Music
After the intro, the show began with "Me and You" - the success single release of the previous album. The set consisted of some songs taken from the current album "Relocated" completed by known and older hits like "Thief", "Love is a shield" and "The great commandment". The main set finished after more than one hour with "Something wrong" and the band members left the stage, but only for a short break. On request by the crowd Marcus, Oliver and Heiko came back quickly to perform the first encore which was started by "Suspicious Love" followed by "Something Wrong" and "Love is a shield". The next break followed, again only for a short time and after it they finished the show with "Real Thing" and an acoustic version of "Strangers Thoughts". Altogether a nice set with a lot of favorites and some new stuff. The sound was excellent and the vibes on stage very well. At some songs Oliver used electronic drums additional to the real drums played by Jochen.

Performance
The band members entered the stage all dressed in black with white shoes; Marcus sung most of the songs but he alternated with Oliver at some songs. The keyboards were arranged on left and right side in the foreground of the stage, the drums and the guitar in the background. The stage in this location was very small and the musicians had not much space in-between the instruments, but they didn’t care and were dancing and moving all the time. The vibes on stage were very well from the very first second; Markus spoke to the audience often and all the time they did try to animate the audience. As a special song was requested by someone in the audience, Markus begun to sing the first row of this song ("On Island") before the show went on with the regular setlist. At another song, Marcus used a special microphone like an old microphone in the 60ies (such as Elvis Presley). At "The perfect key" Oliver played additional a little drum.

All the time we could feel the power and spirit of the band and see that they had much fun to play for us. The lightshow was very beautiful too - all over the stage were arranged special effects with LED's which lighted in different colors and arrangements. At the second encore during the song "Real Thing" Oliver left the stage and went into the crowd to shake hands with the fans in the first row. At the last song the whole band was sitting on stage to perform a very beautiful acoustic version of "Strangers Thoughts".

Setlist
01. Intro
02. Me and You
03. The Pleasure Remains
04. I Can't Feel You
05. That Smiling Face
06. Heaven - I Want You
07. Thief
08. Confusion
09. We Are Lovers
10. Perfect
11. Close - We Stroke the Flames
12. Dreaming
13. You Turn
14. The Perfect Key
15. Motif Sky
16. The Great Commandment
17. Conversation
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18. Suspicious Love
19. Something Wrong
20. Love Is a Shield
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21. Real Thing
22. Strangers Thoughts (Acoustic)

Rating
Music 9
Performance 9
Sound 10
Light 10
Total 9 (9.3)