Palladium, Cologne, Germany19th February 2016
Hurts, Miamigo & Tüsn
Last year I had the chance to see HURTS for the first time live in Düsseldorf. Actually I was quite sceptical in the beginning, but in no time I was really flashed by the performance even in such a big venue. Thus I was very much looking forward to see this band once again on occasion of the “Surrender Tour” and this time in a smaller venue. Though the show was not sold out, a big crowd showed up. And as I could observe after the show, on my way back to the car, the devoted fans came from all over Germany, the Netherlands and even Poland.
Tüsn
It’s not easy to get some information about this young band from Berlin. The look on its homepage is not much helpful either, but between some videos and photos of the band you can look at many arty photographs in black and white. The band consists of singer “Snöt” Stefan, bassist Daniel and drummer Thomas. The debut single, released in 2014, ‘Schwarzmarkt’ (black market) went viral. The outlandish mixture of genres between Rock, Independent, Pop and Synth Pop makes it hard to pigeonhole TÜSN. The lyrics are in German language. On the 12th February of this year, the first album was just released. And by touring with HURTS the band has now the chance to introduce its music to a wider audience. http://www.tuesn.de / https://www.facebook.com/tuesn
Music & Performance
Bells from the playback were ringing as it still was dark when the band entered the stage. And then the beats and first synth tunes could be heard before finally there was some light. The concerts started with much pathos and so went the whole show. Everything was too exaggerated and lackadaisically for my taste: the lyrics that should appear very sophisticated as well as the interpretation of the singer. Definitely not my cup of tea. Though the audience applauded politely, I couldn’t avoid the impression that no one was too sad when the band left the stage to the sound of bells.
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 5
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 6 / 10
Miamigo
Another young band you can hardly find any decent information, not even on its own homepage. It seems that MIAMIGO was founded in 2015 and is based in Brighton, UK. It is a duo consisting of Liam and Jamie. In November 2015 the first EP ‘Soda Lime Love’ was released as download version. http://www.miamigomusic.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/miamigomusic
Music & Performance
After the disappointment of the opening act this band came up as a really positive surprise. With some nice Indie Rock music the band quickly charmed the audience. In order to create more dynamic to the live show the duo had also a drummer and guitarist, who played a second keyboard as well, on board. It didn’t take long and the audience moved to the songs and gave MIAMIGO a big applause after each song.
Setlist
01. What I want
02. Irreversible
03. Last summer
04. Follow me
05. Seeing two
06. Downlow
07. Hard to love
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 6.5 / 10
Hurts
Founded in 2009 in Manchester, UK, the band quickly reached popularity with its hit singles ‘Wonderful life’ and ‘Stay’. Naming bands like PET SHOP BOYS, DEPECHE MODE, TEARS FOR FEARS, FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD and the like as the source for its inspiration Theo Hutchcraft (vocals) and Adam Anderson (grand piano keyboard, guitar) create Synth Pop/ Electro Pop/ New Wave music that reaches not only people of the more gothic scene but also the audience who listens mainly to the popular/ mainstream chart music. With its hit single ‘Wonderful life’ the band reached the top ten of the charts in several European countries and stayed there for many weeks. In Germany HURTS even reached the position two for some weeks. Thus it is no surprise that HURTS was headliner at some different kind of festivals and the audience is quite mixed with fans of different appearances as well as from age. The in October 2015 launched album is now the third album the band produced. http://www.informationhurts.com / https://www.facebook.com/hurts
Music & Performance
Though the rebuilding was done, we had to exercise patience. When finally the intro was played from the playback, the half transparent curtain was still down as Theo started to sing the first tunes. Thus the show started with a kind of shadow play before the curtain was drawn. The live band and both background singer were positioned in the background in a kind of open cage, with colour changing neon lamps on the ceiling, that was covered with a further half transparent curtain, which fell after the second song. Right from the beginning it was apparent that the fans knew all the lyrics by heart and so almost everybody sang along with HURTS. Clearly the audience was dominated by the female fans judging from the shouts. Before the band continued with ‘Somebody to die for’ Theo addressed to the audience with “Deutschland, endlich sind wir wieder zu Hause angekommen!” (Germany, finally we are back home!).
Well, this was clearly a charm offensive. As it seemed Theo, Adam, the live band and the background singers really enjoyed performing on this evening and this carried over the audience as well. ‘Affair’ was performed in a catching acoustic version which gave many of us a goose bumps feeling. Theo convinced definitely with fantastic life vocal qualities and all songs were underlined with a harmonious light show. For ‘Lights’ Theo invited us with “Ok, tanzen jetzt!” (Ok, dancing, now!) and of course he didn’t need to ask us twice to do so. Like at the show I’ve seen before, Theo threw white roses every now and then into the crowd. And before they performed ‘Wonderful life’ Theo addressed to us once again as beautiful people in Germany, thanking the fans for wanting them back, listening to their songs, buying the records and that they are grateful for that.
After 16 songs the concert was over but after vehement shouting for an encore we got at least one with two more songs before HURTS left the stage for good. And so a fantastic show ended and many happy faces could be seen.
Setlist
01. Intro: Surrender (Playback)
02. Some kind of heaven
03. Miracle
04. Why
05. Somebody to die for
06. Weight of the world
07. Blood, tears and gold
08. Evelyn
09. Illuminated
10. Affair (acoustic)
11. Rolling stone
12. Lights
13. Sunday
14. Sandman
15. Wonderful life (with extended piano intro)
16. Better than love
17. Wings
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18. Nothing will be bigger than us
19. Stay
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9.5 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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