Live Review: And One - Hamburg 2023

Große Freiheit, Hamburg, Germany
8th December 2023
And One & Special Guest: Rroyce

On 8th December at the legendary Große Freiheit in Hamburg, AND ONE presented songs of a new album as part of a major tour of Germany combined with the band’s greatest hits from more than 30 years. It was a delightful new live show, with first-class dancing by Steve Naghavi. Special guests of the tour were Dortmund Synth Pop band RROYCE.


Rroyce

The spirit of the 80s undoubtedly lives on in RROYCE. As the main source of inspiration, RROYCE rescues the influences of Wave / Electro / Synth Pop into today’s times using and implementing their compositions. RROYCE’s music cannot resist a certain morbid charm. RROYCE’s aim on the live stage is to visually implement the acoustic sound experiences through moving images and illuminations. The listener should also become a spectator. The viewer consequently becomes a listener. https://www.rroyce.de / https://www.facebook.com/RROYCE.official



Music & Performance
A stately man trio in black. The awesome Synth Pop / EBM band from Dortmund, RROYCE, can be characterised as energetic, fun and explosive, with a little bit of pyrotechnics on stage also making their contribution. Their intense sound, like echoes of 80s electro bands, was to everyone’s taste, and the audience had a blast with the empathetic vocalist Casi, who in the middle of the show even went down into the crowd and sang and danced along with the fans. If you like AND ONE’s music, you will not leave RROYCE’s show disappointed.

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 9
Light: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10

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And One

AND ONE is a German New Wave / Synth Pop, and EBM band founded by Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz in 1989. It sounds like a poorly constructed myth and yet it is true: The story of AND ONE begins at a DEPECHE MODE concert. At least 17-year-old Steve Naghavi is standing in Berlin’s Deutschlandhalle in November 1987 to cheer on his idols. The opening act features the Belgian EBM heroes FRONT 242, who leave a lasting impression on Naghavi. The teenager, who has plenty of musical ambitions, suddenly realizes that electronic music can also work in a harder style without necessarily having to fall by the wayside.



But it would be another two years before Naghavi, who was born in Iran in 1970, caused a sensation in the group with his friend Chris Ruiz. One of the first compositions is called ‘Metalhammer’ and causes great enthusiasm for dancing in the Berlin scene disco Linientreu. Thanks to the support of a gentleman called Jor, who has just set up his indie label Machinery, AND ONE’s career is not insignificantly similar to that of their great idols from Basildon, who found an early mentor in Daniel Miller.



Naghavi can rightly claim that AND ONE have never been as popular as they are in 2023. The singer has retained his self-irony over the years. He expresses his astonishment that all the halls of the current tour are gradually hanging the “sold out” sign in front of the doors with the comment: “It can’t be because of my singing.” In order to monetarily exploit the general enthusiasm, AND ONE are also offering backstage passes on their tour for 99 euros, which allow access backstage before and after the concerts, selfies and “beer and champagne until you die.” https://bodypop-shop.de / https://www.facebook.com/ANDONEoffiziell



Music & Performance
My love for AND ONE’s music started back in my university days, with the song ‘Sometimes’. I thought that such a heavy version of the Synth Pop sound was very unusual and exciting, but at that time I was just getting to know the EBM style. And that’s basically half of the German Schwarz scene that play in that direction. But of course, AND ONE is something special, flavoured with a strong influence of DEPECHE MODE and 80s electronic music. From the first moment of their appearance on the scene, vocalist Steve Naghavi set off into the endless dance avant-garde. For five years the band had not done any concert tours, and now it was the perfect moment to please the fans and release all the energy they had accumulated.



The last AND ONE album was also quite a long time ago, as much as nine years ago. However, Steve made a statement from the stage that next year we are in for something special! AND ONE are working on their new album, which will be released on 27 July 2024. New songs from the upcoming record can already be heard on tour! Among them are ‘Atomic Bomb’, ‘No TV’ and ‘Immer weiter’. Of course, in Hamburg you could also hear classics from the past like my favourite 'Sometimes', ‘Military Fashion Show’ and of course ‘Get you Closer’. What a lovely evening with stunning music of such great artists.

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9.5 / 10

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All Pictures by Iryna Kalenska