H-Blockx - Münster 2008

Written by Daniela Vorndran Sunday, 08 June 2008 15:13

JuWi Fest, Münster, Germany
5th June 2008
H-Blockx, Pohlmann

The JuWi Fest is the campus festival of the university in Münster and this year it was already the 33rd JuWi Fest taking place. Started as a small afternoon party, the festival is now best known also outside the student city Münster. This year’s fest offered all in all two outdoor stages and an indoor stage with several bands performing live in front of about 4.500 visitors. Headliner of the fest was local heroes H-BLOCKX and we wanted to take our chance to see the guys rocking the stage. We arrived early enough on this warm early summer evening to start relaxed with POHLMANN into the night.

Pohlmann

Previously singer of the band GOLDJUNGE, Ingo Pohlmann (vocals, guitar) is making music now as solo artist POHLMANN. After the album ‘Zwischen Heimweh und Fernsucht’ (2006) the second album ‘Fliegende Fische’ was released in September 2007. For his stage performance, he brought a whole live band with him consisting of Christian Kretschmar (bass, cello, piano) who can also be seen live with SCHILLER right now, Hagen Kuhr (cello), Reiner “Kallas” (drums) and Christian Neander (guitar). http://www.pohlmann-music.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/ingopohlmann

Music & Performance
POHLMANN’s catchy songs were perfectly made for this mild summer evening when all the students gathered in front of the main stage while the second stage remained mainly empty. Already before POHLMANN entered the stage it was clear that most people came only for him and following H-BLOCKX. While Ingo was playing the acoustic guitar, supported by cello, bass, drums and guitar, he was singing his songs full of longing, such as ‘Wenn jetzt Sommer wär’. Along with the up-beat songs, i.e. ‘Mädchen und Rabauken’, people started dancing in front of the stage. After nearly an hour the show ended with an encore… a funny song POHLMANN has written for the European Football Championship, which is called ‘Fänchen im Wind’.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 7.7

H-Blockx

Seventeen years ago, the band was founded by Henning, Tinte, Gudze & Mason on a school fest in Münster. The first single, and maybe still the best known hit of the band, ‘Risin’ High’ was released 1993 and left a deep mark in German Crossover scene. During the coming years, the band released five studio albums and played over 1,300 concerts in Germany and abroad. The latest album is called ‘Open letter to a Friend’ and is definitely 100% H-BLOCKX. The band consists of Henning Wehland (vocals), Tim Humpe (guitar), Steffen Wilmking (drums) and Stephan "Gudze" Hinz (bass). http://www.hblx.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/hblockx

Music & Performance
It was totally clear from the very beginning, that most people came to see this band. When singer Henning Wehland entered the stage screaming “Münster City, where are you” loud screams answered and people just freaked our jumping to the first song of the set, ‘Yesterday’. Any song was celebrated; people were clapping and yelling the lyrics. Several boys and girls were surfing the crowd. H-BLOCKX presented several hits, such as ‘Leave me alone’, ‘Move’, ‘Here I go again’, ‘Cliché’ or the all-time greatest hit ‘Risin’ high’. Henning had the crowd totally under his control, people just made what he said, like running in circles during ‘Rings of Fire’ or building up a “wall of death” - well, this worked better a few days ago at the gig of DIE ÄRZTE. The set ended with the calmer ‘leaving’ and anyone in front of stage was totally happy after this show. And also the band loved it, as Henning said: “Great to play in Münster again”.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.2

For most students, the evening was not over after the H-BLOCKX show. There were still some more concerts and afterward there was a big after-show party where people were celebrating into the night… or early morning. ;)

All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
{jos_sb_discuss:17}