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introMarkthalle, Hamburg, Germany
12th April 2014
Diary of Dreams & Special Guest In Strict Confidence

This Saturday evening, the Markthalle in Hamburg was in the hand of dark music fans since DIARY OF DREAMS were celebrating the final of their “Elegies in Darkness” tour in Hamburg. Since 1989, the band stands for first-class Synth Roth with gloomy character, so it is no surprise that the new album climbed up to a veritable 31st position in German album charts and the venue was nearly sold-out. The support slot was taken by IN STRICT CONFIDENCE who started their set punctually at 20:00.


In Strict Confidence

IN STRICT CONFIDENCE is surely not a new name in the Electro / Industrial scene. Mastermind Dennis Ostermann creates his own vision of dark electronic music since the early 1990s and with various collaborators he produced massive genre hits such as ‘Zauberschloss’, ‘Kiss Your Shadow’ or ‘Engelsstaub’. IN STRICT CONFIDENCE turn out to be more of a live band than one might expect from their Electro dominated studio material. With a fully-fledged acoustic drum kit and a guitarist they sound much more organic than many of their colleagues who rely too much on pre-recorded music data. The band released ‘Exile Paradise’ back in 2007. The EP 'My Despair' brought the final end of a long hibernation period, followed up by the release of the new album 'La Parade Monstrueuse' in February 2010. The latest studio album, ‘Utopia’, was out in September 2012. ISC is Dennis Ostermann (vocals, songwriting, lyrics), Jörg Schelte (songwriting, programming, keys), Steve Vesper (rhythms, programming, drums), Nina de Lianin (vocals) and Haydee Sparks (guitar). http://www.instrictconfidence.com / https://www.facebook.com/instrictconfidence

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Music & Performance
As usually, IN STRICT CONFIDENCE were not only audio entertainment but also eye candy. On one hand-side, the songs were visually underlined by videos on a screen in the back, and on the other side, the band not only consists of male members Dennis, Jörg and Stefan, but also the attractive ladies Haydee, wearing a red latex outfit, and Nina de Lianin, wearing black latex dress today. Both surely attract the male audience. But during the opener ‘My Despair’, the audience had to do without slim and willowy Nina. The lady, being trained vocally and in dance at the Serbian National Ensemble and being engaged there as soloist for several years, entered the stage for the second song, ‘Promised Land‘. But I have to admit that her voice could not convince me any time during the show. She convinced together with the rough and dark voice of Dennis Ostermann where her voice fitted perfectly, but when she was singing alone, I think she was… let’s say… a little grating every now and then. The audience still was kind of restrained during ‘Tiefer‘ and ‘Seven Lives’ and some tension was missing during ‘Forbidden Fruit’.

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But finally, Dennis caught his audience with his “Hummel, Hummel” shouts (wtf?) and during the cracking ‘Set Me Free’, people clapped along vividly. ‘Morpheus‘ afterwards invited to dance and the faster ‘Engelsstaub‘ was taking with excitement. Then, both ladies left the stage to put on some huge black gowns for the scene hit ‘Zauberschloss’. During the songs, the gowns were used as kind of big wings as part of the final performance. Under applause, the quintet said goodbye with a last bow after 45 minutes-lasting show to make room for the evening’s headliner anyone was waiting for.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. My Despair
03. Promised Land
04. Tiefer
05. Seven Lives
06. Forbidden Fruit
07. Set Me Free
08. Morpheus
09. Engelsstaub
10. Zauberschloss

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7 / 10

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Diary of Dreams

Since 1989, DIARY OF DREAMS enchants a still growing fan base all over the world with beautiful and at times fragile tunes. Already 1.5 years after 'Nekrolog 43', the album '(if)' was released on 13th March 2009. In October 2009, the 'King of Nowhere' MCD including a brand new video clip has been released. In early 2010, the band was supporting UNHEILIG on their "Große Freiheit" tour. As a vanguard to the upcoming new album 'Ego:X' the track 'Echo in Me' was released digitally with the fans being able to choose what they'd like to pay for the download. 'Ego:X' has been released at the end of August 2011. Following up this last studio album was the ‘Dream Collector II’ compilation in summer 2012 and now in October 2012, the band released its first acoustic album, ‘The Anatomy Of Silence’, followed by an acoustic tour to present the album’s songs and a lot more in a totally new dress. March 2014 saw the release of the band’s latest studio album, ‘Elegies in Darkness’, reaching even position 31 in German charts. DIARY OF DREAMS in stage is Adrian Hates (vocals, guitar), Gaun:a (guitar, big bass, backing vocals), Flex (guitar, cello, backing vocals), Dejan (drums)and Julius (keyboard, bass, backing vocals). http://www.diaryofdreams.de / https://www.facebook.com/officialdiaryofdreams

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Music & Performance
After IN STRICT CONFIDENCE had left the stage, it took about thirty minutes until the stage was prepared for the main act and anything was in place… also the wooden, specially curved microphone stands. The stars of the evening opened their set with strong ‘Malum’ from their new album ‘Elegies in Darkness’. Fans did not need a special invitation to get on fire and celebrate. They were loudly clapping and screaming from the first moments, of course also during following ‘Kindrom’. Accompanied by a frenzy of flashing spotlights, the song from 2004 ‘Nigredo’ album was celebrated before Adrian Hates grabbed a guitar himself for the following ‘Rumours about Angels’ and Flex changed his guitar for a cello, that was used for the first time during the acoustic tour in autumn 2012, accompanying the release of ‘The Anatomy of Silence’ album. The strings were adding a new, dramatic level to this old song. The same holds true for ‘O’ Brother Sleep’ where Gaun:a showed his abilities in playing a big bass before changing to guitar again while Julius changed from keys to bass. ‘Play God’ was afterwards dedicated to the Russian fans who followed all shows of the German tour. You can imagine how happy those fans were when Adrian later on even came down from stage to shake their hands.

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Did the audience need any ‘Chemicals’? Of course they need and they were getting them right after ‘Play God’. This classic hit is always good for a big celebration. You hardly can imagine how loud people were screaming in the hall. It was amazing! With ‘A Dark Embrace‘, DIARY OF DREAMS presented one of their most personal songs of the new album. The Markthalle was surely not a house of silence anymore, when the band presented ‘Haus der Stille’ (house of silence) from their ‘MenschFeind’ EP. Following ‘Babylon’ was surely a surprise in the setlist for many since the band played this song for the first time ever during this tour [every night during the tour]. In the past, they refused to do so since this song is really long. But well, audience and musicians had time and so, the band did the unexpected and played ‘Babylon’ with a length of nearly ten minutes, being a highlight for many afterwards. Then it was time to cast out your demons. ‘Daemon’ saw Adrian Hates awarding the price for “clapping in time” to the Hanseatic audience. With ‘StummKult’, DIARY OF DREAMS presented now one of the songs from the new album where they recorded a video clip for [watch here!]. With ‘Dogs of War’, another new song [all in all eight new songs were played, as many as never before I think] was on the list. Following ‘Lebenslang’ from the ‘Ego:X’ album was one of my favourite from ‘Elegies in Darkness’, ‘The Luxury of Insanity’.

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Another ‘Ego:X’ song, namely catchy ‘Undividable’, ended the main set in a perfect way. Under thundering applause, the band left the stage. The frenetic applause of the fans left no doubt that even the past hundred concert minutes were long not enough and DIARY OF DREAMS have to play more. The encore bloc was opened in typical slow motion dramatic with ‘A Day In December’ [watch the video here!]. ‘King of Nowhere’ and ‘The Curse’ were two more highlights in the band’s discography that definitely couldn’t be missed and so, they were of course welcomed with loud screams and clapping. After another break, where the fans loudly screamed for more, the band returned for an acoustic final of the concert. ‘Die Gassen der Stadt’, the ballad on the new album, and the always celebrated ‘Traumtänzer’ were presented acoustically with Flex on cello and Gaun:a on big bass again. This concert was pure pleasure again. It is always great to see DIARY OF DREAMS live, but the tour final in Hamburg was really special. After around 130 minutes playing time, the band of course thanked their crew and their fans. While afterwards the “Return of the Living Dead” party started, the band was meeting their fans at the merch. That I call real fan contact! Now, I am waiting already for another DIARY OF DREAMS show!

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Setlist
01. Malum
02. Psycho-logic
03. Kindrom
04. Rumours About Angels
05. O’ Brother Sleep
06. Play God!
07. Chemicals
08. A Dark Embrace
09. Haus der Stille
10. Babylon
11. Daemon
12. StummKult
13. Dogs of War
14. Lebenslang
15. The Luxury of Insanity
16. Undividable
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17. A Day In December
18. King of Nowhere
19. The Curse
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20. Die Gassen der Stadt
21. Traumtänzer

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9.5 / 10
If I could rate the mood in the hall too, it would receive a ten as well!

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All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.black-cat-net.de / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)



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