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Matrix Bochum and Forum Bielefeld, Germany
11th and 15th May 2007
The Crüxshadows, Behind the Scenes and Big Boy (only Bochum)

THE CRÜXSHADOWS are one of my favourite bands and I was very happy that I had the possibility to join several shows at their "2007 Dreamcypher World Tour". On Friday, 11th May we joined them in Bochum (Matrix) and on Tuesday, 15th May once again in Bielefeld (Forum).

The first of my shows took place in the Matrix - a famous and important gothic location in Bochum with a nice ambience, but also known for hotness and density at concerts.


Big Boy

The opener of the evening was BIG BOY. BIG BOY was born 1977 in Sweden, spent the most part of his childhood in Germany and then underwent a strange way - among others he spent two years in the French Foreign Legion - and finally he had found his destiny in music business and formed his band BIG BOY. The other musicians in the band are AK, Kafka and Happy. http://www.hailthebigboy.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/hailthebigboy

I'd never heard anything about this band and was a little bit curious about them.


Music
Just in time at eight, BIG BOY entered the stage in a well crowded venue. The music of them was kind of glamour rock. They presented a set of eight songs in only 25 minutes, started by ‘Hail the Big Boy’ and finished with ‘One Good Reason’. The sound of the guitars and the drums was very hard and powerful and the voice of the singer remembered a little bit too much of MARILYN MANSON.



Performance
BIG BOY could be called "Bad Boy" too - at least all the whole time the singer tried to play a bad boy. In my opinion the performance seemed overacted and ithyphallic announcements like "I want to fuck one of you tonight" or masturbation-gestures on stage took more a disconcerting effect to me. However, after 25 minutes the show was over and BIG BOY gave way to the next band.



Setlist
01. Intro
02. Hail the Big Boy
03. Fake It
04. Get over it
05. Tricky
06. Fuckin Jerk
07. Just like we
08. Gestasi Baby
09. One good Reason

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 6.6




Behind the Scenes

The evening went on with BEHIND THE SCENES. BEHIND THE SCENES was founded in 1993 by Melrow (vox, programming) and Fred B. (bass, programming). In 1998 they recorded their first album, called ‘Fragment’ which entered directly the German alternative charts (DAC) and stayed there for several weeks. Their second album ‘Homeless’ was released in 2000 by the Bloodline label and afterwards in the USA through Dancing Ferret Disks. Unfortunately their label Bloodline crashed down in 2002. Besides that, their guitarist Sven left the band of sanitary reasons.



So, BEHIND THE SCENES had to look for an adequate substitute which took a long time. But then finally in 2005 they were successful and found Scholli (Ex-SECRET DISCOVERY, SYLAND, ASSASSIN) as the new and long awaited member. So they started writing new songs and went into the studio in September 2005 to record their long awaited new album ‘Pure’. BEHIND THE SCENES are Mel Rode (Vocals, Programming), Fred B. (Bass, Programming) and Scholli (Guitars) extended on stage to a quartet by one more keyboard player. http://www.behindthescenes.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/behindthescenesmusic



Music
The music of BEHIND THE SCENES was typical Wave / Synth Pop with catchy melodies and great hook lines as well as sweeping refrains, perfected by powerful live guitars. The set started with ‘For the Loss’, followed by ‘SOS’ and ‘Reason’- all taken from the current album ‘Pure’. Afterwards, they played some older songs like ‘Plastic Love’ or ‘Free’ followed by the ballad ‘Reach Me’.



Performance
In contrast to the "Rock Star"- Show of "Big Boy" now we experienced a smoothly show - not sensational but also not so harrying. The singer performed the songs soulful, dedicated supported by the powerful sounds of his band. Altogether a reasonable performance!



Setlist
01. For The Loss
02. SOS
03. Reason
04. Plastic Love
05. Free
06. Reach Me
07. Human
08. Razor Fields
09. Dreams

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 7.9






The Crüxshadows

After a short break - meanwhile the temperature in the location went high as like in a sauna - the first members of THE CRÜXSHADOWS entered the stage and the audience awaited the main act of the evening impatiently.



THE CRÜXSHADOWS started in the early 1990's in a little town in North Florida. Over the years, their success among the Gothic, EBM, New Wave, & Dark Electronic genres has earned them a nearly legendary underground status and they were developed to a synonym for a new kind of Electro Wave. The charismatic singer, the impressive live performance and the beautiful female dancers make the awareness higher and higher every year and with every tour. The current album is called ‘Dreamcypher’ and was released in January this year. ‘Sophia’ - the first single out off ‘Dreamcypher’ - counted high at the billboard charts and was the biggest success in the band history so far.



To my sorrow my favourite band member Rachel McDonnel - the bewitching violin player - will leave the band after this tour. I can understand her motivations but I will miss her on stage. Current band members are: Rogue (vocals, song writing, programming, lyrics, keyboards, some violin, front man), Rachel McDonnell (violin and some keyboards), George Bikos (guitar) & Pyromantic (AKA Jen Jawidzik - keyboard). Current dancers are Jessica Lackey (singer/dancer) & Sarah Poulos (singer/dancer). http://www.cruxshadows.com/ / www.myspace.com/officialcruxshadows



Music
The music of CXS is a special kind of Dark Wave marked by danceable, catching and sweeping sounds, the romantic sound of the violin and the unique voice of Rogue. The set included a lot of songs taken from the current album alternating with songs from earlier releases. The set started with the latest single ‘Sophia’ after the intro and the spirit went over to the audience very quickly during the first songs. After about 80 minutes, the main set was finished with ‘Eye of the Storm’, but quickly the band came back on stage and played an encore.



Performance
Like usual, at the beginning only the band entered the stage to play the intro and Rogue started the concert from the back of the audience and walked through the audience during the intro to enter the stage from the crowd. On stage we could enjoy a great diversified show once again - all musicians were playing convincing, dedicated and carrying away, perfected by the great dance performance of Jessica and Sarah. Like every time the girls looked very sexy and ravishing and the whole show was very pleasing for the ears and the eyes. George and Jen dominated the background of the stage - Jen behind her keyboard singing and dancing along and George steadily dancing and posing with his guitar.



In the foreground the both beautiful dancer - dressed with sexy hot pants - dominated with a ravishingly dance performance, in the centre Rachel - dressed with a very short skirt - was dancing along and playing her violin in a virtuoso manner. Rogue meanwhile is all over - on the stage, in the crowd, walking through the crowd, climbing on a bar chair, dancing with fans and on stage again. Really a fantastic show once more and everybody in the house was infected and excited by this overwhelming performance.



During the introduction of the band by Rogue, the audience responded with rapturous applause; especially during the introduction of Rachel the audience didn't stop with applause and Rogue demonstrative was watching to the clock for fun. Finally at the encore, during the last song the first rows have been allowed to enter the stage and a lot of fans entered it to dance and sing along together with the band. A great showdown for a great show by great musicians!



Setlist
01. Intro
02. Sophia
03. Foreverlast
04. The Edge of the World
05. Deception
06. Solus
07. Ariadne
08. Memorare
09. Wake the White Queen



10. Windbringer
11. Winterborn
12. Birthday
13. Eye of the Storm
---
14. Dragon Fly
15. Marilyn My Bitterness

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





4 days later we went to Bielefeld to join THE CRÜXSHADOWS again. This time the show took place in the Forum - a pretty small location in an old industrial building. On the sides and on a little gallery in the back of the crowd, benches were arranged and so we could sit comfortably during the waiting time. The doors opened at a half past eight and at this time already some fans were waiting in front of the location. Before the concerts started I was worried that the little stage would be too small for the space requirement of the show, but it wasn't.


Behind the Scenes

20 minutes later as announced, BEHIND THE SCENES opened the evening.



Music
The setlist was the same as in Bochum. The show started with ‘For the Loss’, followed by ‘SOS’ and ‘Reason’ - all taken from the current album ‘Pure’. After it, they went backwards in the band history with two tracks from 2000 – ‘Plastic Love’ and ‘Free’, in between a ballad from the current album and then finally more backwards to 1998 with ‘Razor Fields’ and ‘Dreams’.



Performance
This time, the band seemed fresher and more rock-like as they were in Bochum; the performance was more dynamic and the show pleased me more, unfortunately the light was worse. Amused I noticed that the singer did just the same phrase to the sound engineer after the first song: "Please more drums to my monitor". During the show of BEHIND THE SCENES - I was sitting on the little gallery in the back - I could detect yet some members of THE CRÜXSHADOWS in the crowd: Rachel and George were walking through the crowd, near by the merchandise stand and Jen joined the show of BEHIND THE SCENES in the first row. The audience was livened up and ready yet for the main act.



Setlist
01. For the Loss
02. SOS
03. Reason
04. Plastic Love
05. Free
06. Reach Me
07. Human
08. Razor Fields
09. Dreams

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 6
Total: 7.7






The Crüxshadows

During the following rebuilding break, the rowdies cleared up all unnecessary things off the stage to make more room for THE CRÜXSHADOWS and it didn't take very long until the audience could welcome the highlight of the evening.

Music
The setlist was nearly the same like in Bochum; the show started after the intro with the current single release ‘Sophia’ which was counted high in the American billboard charts, followed by  ‘Foreverlast’ - an earlier single release - and ‘The Edge of the World’ - danceable and rousing too.



Then a beautiful violin intro introduced my favourite song ‘Deception’ – in my opinion a highlight of every show. After it, some new songs like ‘Solus’, ‘Ariadne’ or ‘Windbringer’ have been played before Rogue discoursed and introduced the band. After his “speech” the show went on with ‘Winterborn’ - another earlier single release and after about 80 minutes the main set finished with ‘Eye of the Storm’. Of course the audience requested an encore and the band came back for three more songs - started by ‘Elissa’ and finished by ‘Marilyn my Bitterness’. Sadly the sound in the location was very bad and over-modulated.



Performance
The show was the usual sensory overload for me, all members had given their best and that was a lot because they all are excellent. Rogue was dancing, climbing and walking like ever, he got a bar stool on to the stage and was standing on it high over the ground. During the last song he picked up the first rows to the stage again. The bewitching sexy dancers once more performed a very oratorical wowing dance performance, Jen - sexy clothed too - did a great job behind her keyboard and George - the crazy guitar player - also had a lot of fun to play.



Last but not least of course I must report something about Rachel. Rachel is my favourite band member because her bewitching violin play is the musical figurehead of THE CRÜXSHADOWS for me and every time when the violin rises over the sound, my soul is touched. Even if she would be the ugliest woman in the world, I would love her because of her violin play. But additionally to her virtuoso and bewitching violin play she is very beautiful too and like always she was very sexy dressed with a very short skirt.



Steadily, she was dancing and jumping during her play - very pleasing to the eyes. It's such a shame that she will leave the band; I will miss her on stage very much in the future! Every person on stage did a very good performance, all together it was an overwhelming show, pleasing for all senses and after about 1.5 hours THE CRÜXSHADOWS left us satisfied and delighted.



Setlist
01. Intro
02. Sophia
03. Foreverlast
04. The Edge of the World
05. Deception
06. Solus
07. Ariadne
08. Memorare
09. Wake the White Queen
10. Windbringer
11. Winterborn
12. Birthday
13. Eye of the Storm
---



14. Elissa
15. Dragon Fly
16. Marilyn My Bitterness

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 9.3





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