Front 242 - Hamont-Achel 2009

Written by Peter Smets Wednesday, 29 April 2009 11:45

De Posthoorn, Hamont-Achel, Belgium
24th April 2009
Front 242 & Parade Ground

FRONT 242 can be listed among those bands that need no introduction. Often described as “the inventors of EBM”, Jean-Luc De Meyer, Daniel Bressanutti, Patrick Codenys and Richard '23' Jonckheere have had their impact on the music scene since the early 80s. With the last studio album dating back from 1993 they are now mostly occupied with touring, side-projects and releasing the sporadic live-album or collectors box.

This brought 242 to Hamont, a small town in the upmost top-right corner of Belgium - explaining the many German and Dutch attendance, with PARADE GROUND as support. Having released their first EP in 1983 PARADE GROUND are of the same age and are currently joined by Patrick Codenys on the studio buttons.

Parade Ground

When half the people at the venue are either hiding outside or way at the back at the bar something usually is wrong, as here with the audio system being way too loud either way or just punching out totally distorted garbage noise. It all improved by the end of the set but the damage was already done. The non-existence of any light on stage except for a spot on the right hand side and a slide-projector that was moved about in the front stage area obviously did not help as well and the floor in front of the stage remained empty for most of the set. And in the end that was quite sad as once the audio technician got the speakers aligned, it all got together - if you didn't mind looking at a mostly dark stage.

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 5
Light: 5
Total: 5.8 / 10

Front 242

Starting off in a strobe-filled, audience blinding light live-drummer Tim Kroker was the first one on stage, quickly followed by the rest of the band except Daniel Bressanutti who - as always - was managing the total experience from the sound mixer where he is equipped with his proper keyboard for live mixing. Starting of a set that included all the tracks that one would expect it left at the same time not much room for surprises. ‘No Shuffle’, ‘Tragedy’, ‘Im Rhythmus Bleiben’, ‘Welcome to Paradise’ and of course ‘Headhunter’; all came out of the speakers. Some unexpected tracks - but then again maybe not so - were left for the encore: ‘Kampfbereit’ and ‘Punish Your Machine’.

With Jean-Luc De Meyer and Richard 23 taking turns on the microphone you can’t help to notice that they each have their own technique with De Meyer clearly having a better stage voice for the evening. And was there something to look at? Well, the eyes of the people in Hamont - who were very adept in singing along most of the tracks - were treated to a mix of white and blue lights with a sometimes a bit monotone video projection.

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