Kurfürstliches Schloß, Mainz, Germany
18th December 2010
ASP - Dunkelromantische Winternächte
Two years after “Von Zaubererbrüdern, schwarzen Schmetterlingen und anderen Nachtgestalten - Dunkelromantische Herbstabende”, ASP asked their guests to take their places for the gathering of “the ensemble” once again. This time, the tour was called “Von Zaubererbrüdern - Dunkelromantische Winternächte” and was sold out as fast as one can imagine - just like the last unplugged tour in 2008.
Music & Performance
Due to the fact that this tour gave the opportunity to fans, who weren’t able to attend the first “Von Zaubererbrüdern” tour, to see ASP, the setlist was similar for the most part, but not at all points. Starting with ‘Betteljunge’ and ‘Beschwörung’, there was simply the great feeling that shivers down the spine when the atmosphere began to evoke imaginations of passed days. There couldn’t be a better beginning for the show, so that ‘Krabat’ and ‘Die Teufelsmühle’ draw the audience right into the story of Ottfried Preussler´s great masterpiece. The decisive point is that front man Asp was more narrating connective story than leading over to the songs. Maybe that’s one of the reasons, why he was reading from a book while talking to the audience, just to be suggestive of being a storyteller - another one could well be that he was simply nervous… for it is not day-to-day business, performing such a project.
‘Stille der Nacht’ and ‘Wolfsspuren’ were following, another two songs well known from the setlist in 2008. The first alteration was ‘Where Do The Gods Go?’ from ASP’s first album ‘Hast Du mich vermisst?’. Really impressive was that with this unplugged version ASP succeeded in performing the song “stripped down to the bones”, as you can say so. How fragile and pure this song came along and finally revealed its secret of being a “folk song” that was arranged in an awesome way during ‘Hast Du mich vermisst?’. Continuing with ‘Ballade der Erweckung’, ‘Denn Ich Bin Der Meister’ and ‘Nie Mehr’, ASP moved the audience to waves of excitement. No wonder at all, because these songs are a must at every concert. After a short break ASP entered the stage again and the sound of ‘De Profundis’ pervaded the halls of the electoral château in Mainz. A very elegant atmosphere came from these walls and perfectly fit the mood that was taking place. As being heard in 2008, ‘The Last Lovesong’ and ‘Biotopia’ followed, while with ‘Briefgedicht’ Asp showed his sovereign talent of creating worlds within his mind by compounding just words to great pictures. 
Two classics, ‘Duett’ and ‘Und wir tanzten’ had the desired effect and the audience went overboard as usual. One of my personal highlights was the next song, ‘Schneekönigin, Wohin’. Just like ‘Where Do The Gods Go?’ before, this song showed to me once again, that ASP were really capable of arranging songs and performing them with a passion which is seldom found in this business. ‘Der Geheimnisvolle Fremde’ and ‘Zaubererbruder’ were the two following songs from ‘Von Zaubererbrüdern’ and it is impossible to imagine without. First one is the classical audience activation (it’s quite funny to hear hundreds of people exercising this songs during a concert), one can’t await… the other one was the first single of ‘Zaubererbruder - Der Krabat-Liederzyklus’ featuring SUBWAY TO SALLY’s Eric Fish. Both were approved by the audience enthusiastically. ‘God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen’ a cover of a traditional Irish tune was offered to the audience afterwards and showed once more the pulchritude of instrumentation this evening carried along. ‘Abschied’ closed the actual setlist and lead over to a medley of several songs like ‘Ballroom Blitz’, ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and ‘Let Me Entertain you’, to name but a few…
But there was still more to come! The first two encores ‘Varieté Obscur’ (one of my personal favourite songs of ASP) and ‘Werben’ were even well known from the tour 2008 - but the last two songs of the evening were the final straw. ‘I’m Stretched On Your Grave’ was another traditional tune that perfectly fitted the atmosphere… but then ASP simply blew my mind! I’ve never expected that they were trying to perform ‘Die Ruhe Vor Dem Sturm’ with this ensemble… What can I say? It was outstanding, unbelievable… inaccessible! If anyone was doubting that this band is but one of many, was taught a lesson. In my opinion this evening couldn’t better brought to a finish. Really impressed I went back home, even I was feeling sorry that everything was over so soon… but I live on the memories still now! At last there’s one conclusion to this evening that simply reproduces the efforts of this band in a simple play on words: Per ASPera ad astra! http://www.thetalesofasp.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/thetalesofasp
Line-up
Asp –Vocals
Matthias “Matze” Ambré – Guitars
Oliver “Himmi” Himmighofen – Drums
Andreas “Tossi” Gross – Bass
Almut Storch – Violin (www.ally-fiddle.de)
Sylvia Eulitz – Cello (www.cellophilia.de)
Carlos Serrano del Rio – Percussion (www.carlos-serrano.de)
Thomas Zöller – Hurdy Gurdy, Whistles, Bagpipe (www.dudelsack-akademie.de) 
Setlist
01. Betteljunge
02. Beschwörung
03. Krabat
04. Die Teufelsmühle
05. Stille Der Nacht
06. Wolfsspuren
07. Where Do The Gods Go?
08. Ballade Von Der Erweckung
09. Denn Ich Bin Der Meister
10. Nie Mehr
---break---
11. De Profundis
12. The Last Lovesong
13. Biotopia
14. Briefgedicht
15. Duett (Minnelied der Incubi)
16. Und Wir Tanzten (Ungeschickte Liebesbriefe)
17. Schneekönigin, Wohin
18. Der Geheimnisvolle Fremde
19. Zaubererbruder
20. God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen
21. Abschied / Medley
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22. Varieté Obscur
23. Werben
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24. I’m Stretched On Your Grave
25. Die Ruhe Vor Dem Sturm
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 9.3 / 10
All pics by Björn Butzen
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