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introARTheater, Cologne, Germany
26th March 2017
BirdPen featuring Dave Pen & Mike Bird from Archive - “O´Mighty Vision Tour 2017”

Mike Bird and Dave Pen – or short BIRDPEN – are both also part of the London based collective ARCHIVE and create experimental Pop sound since 2003. The new album ‘O‘ Mighty Vision’ was out in 2016 and now the band is presenting the new album live on stage.

BIRDPEN are writing pieces you think you know already with the first listening. The band itself compares the sound of their new album with the feeling of a smile on your face at the end of the world and says “‘O‘ Mighty Vision’ sounds like TALKING HEADS meets PINK FLOYD’s ‘welcome to the Machine’”. BIRDPEN are a good example for a DIY band: they create many of their videos and artworks themselves so keep their freedom. They work without compromises and tell their unfiltered stories of their songs being an angry view on a controlled world of lies, fear and stupid talks. BIRDPEN is Dave Pen & Mike Bird, with musical friends Rob Lee, Yas Clarke, Smiley, Tim Slade, Mike Breach and The Seagull. Homepage: www.birdpen.com / www.facebook.com/birdpen

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Music & Performance
During their last tour, BIRDPEN already visited the ARTheater in Cologne. They liked it, as Dave said during the show, and are happy to be back in the city and venue which was well filled. There was no support act and the show started about twenty minutes past eight with the title track of the new album, ‘O‘ Mighty Vision‘. From the beginning, the sound was very good, perfectly supporting the advanced and tight guitar sounds of the duo. But the songs are not only based on guitars, but also on electronic sounds and memorable drums. On first sight, the setlist seems quite short. But BIRDPEN in known to have also very long songs in their repertoire, like the more than ten minutes lasting ‘The Solution Is The Route Of All My Problems‘. As already said, the band was presenting the new album, which was of course in the centre of attention. But of course the past was not left out and some older songs were presented as well, like ‘They’re Coming To Take You Away’ or the mid-tempo ‘Into The Blacklight’. ‘Off’, about a decade old by now, was ending the main set after about one hour.

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BIRDPEN came back for two more songs, ‘The Underground’ from the current album, and the gloomy, older ‘Only The Names Change’, finally ending the show after about seventy minutes. As I said, kind of short, but better a high-class short concert than two hours of boredom. BIRDPEN took care for a diversified evening deserving a much bigger audience.

Setlist
01. O‘ Mighty Vision
02. The Chairman
03. Toolkit
04. The Solution Is The Route Of All My Problems
05. Lifeline
06. They’re Coming To Take You Away
07. Dance To The End
08. Into The Blacklight
09. Off
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10. The Underground
11. Only The Names Change

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 6
Total: 8.5 / 10

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Music from BIRDPEN is available here:


All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)


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