Live Review: Lacrimosa - Berlin 2012

Written by Amrei Sander Tuesday, 09 October 2012 12:05

Postbahnhof, Berlin, Germany
4th October 2012
Lacrimosa

LACRIMOSA were founded in 1990 by Tilo Wolff; in 1994 the Finnish musician Anne Nurmi joined the band. Since more than twenty years, LACRIMOSA is a star well-known in the Gothic scene all over the world. LACRIMOSA has published about eleven albums, the last a few days ago, called ‘Revolution’. The concert in Berlin was part of their tour dedicated to their new album.

Music and Performance
On this cold and rainy evening, the Postbahnhof was three quarters full. Most of the audience was clearly part of the Gothic scene, some of them wearing gorgeous dresses. The stage was illuminated in purple and blue, with an old and beautiful piano between the keyboard and the drums with three candles lighting the keys. LACRIMOSA appeared punctually, a very likeable attitude toward their audience. But even more: After their first song, ‘Ich bin der brennende Komet’ (I’m the Burning Comet), Tilo gave the welcome to the audience and announced a real nice surprise. “I prepared a setlist”, he said, “and wanted to play both new songs and older ones, but I didn’t want any song to be thrown out – so I decided to play them all, and we are going to play nearly three hours”. People applauded this decision a lot.



Due to the length of the concert, the show was divided into to two sets thematically arranged. The first set started with the title song of the new album, ‘Revolution’. The second song, ‘Malina’, was highly acclaimed by the public. A few songs later, Tilo performed ‘Mandira Nabula’, a newer song from the album ‘Sehnsucht’ (2009), which ends with a loud and painful screaming. The next song, ‘Feuerzug’ (Train of Fire), was a ballad full of passion and anger, and Tilo Wolff gave his best and showed the mastery of his dark and sonorous voice. Anne Nurmi performed her first song singing ‘If the world stood still a day’, although her voice was a bit too weak and seemed to be a little bit lost between the instruments. In contrast, Tilo showed the hole spectrum o his voice on the next song, the incredibly sad ‘Alles Lüge’ (All is Lie). On the next song, ‘Alleine zu zweit’ (Lonely Together), Tilo and Anne sung together, but their voices didn’t harmonize completely. It must be said that Anne performed alone ‘Ein Hauch von Menschlichkeit’ (A Touch of Humanity) with Tilo at the keyboard, and that she did her part really well - maybe her best performance at this evening.



Before they played the last song of their first set, Thilo announced a surprise – that he and Anne would meet their fans at the merchandise shop during the break. People applauded this decision a lot. The last song of the first set, ‘Stolzes Herz’, was highly acclaimed by the public. With hard bass and guitars, who become faster and faster, the song gained on passion and ended with a drums outro. The second set was clearly dedicated to the romantic side of life, full with songs about heartbreaking, love and pain. They begun really dramatically with Tilo alone at the piano singing ‘Refugium’ (Shelter). At the third song of the second set, ‘Am Ende stehen wir zwei’ (At the End, We Two Will Stand Together), a fan gave Tilo a very big bunch of red roses. Really heartbreaking was the song ‘Ohne Dich ist alles nichts’ (Without You, Nothing Matters), a song about love and lost full of passion and an ardent plea for love. After finishing the last song of the set with a lot of applause, Tilo reappeared and announced that they would have to re-play ‘Revolution’, cause they wanted to record the song only in Berlin for a live video clip. People gave their best to show the hole enthusiasm for Tilo to the cameras. After two additional encore songs, Tilo and Anne ended their out-standing concert in Berlin.



A great concert and a really likeable attitude to the public by the band, cause in times there so many bands let people wait for hours and, finally appeared, play for hardly one hour, LACRIMOSA are a remarkable exception and showed real commitment for their music and their audience.

Setlist
01. Ich Bin der Brennende Komet
- First Set -
02. Revolution
03. Malina
04. Schakal
05. Mandira Nabula
06. Feuerzug
07. Lichtgestalt
08. If the world stood still a day
09. Alles Lüge
10. Tränen der Sehnsucht
11. Alleine zu zweit
12. Irgendein Arsch ist immer unterwegs
13. Ein Hauch von Menschlichkeit
14. A Prayer For Your Heart
15. Apart
16. Stolzes Herz
- Second Set -
17. Refugium
18. Ich verlasse heut' dein Herz
19. Am Ende stehen wir zwei
20. Weil du Hilfe brauchst
21. Not every pain hurts
22. Ohne dich ist alles nichts
23. Rote Sinfonie
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24. Revolution
25. Der Morgen danach
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26. Feuer

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



All Pictures by Nadine Ginzel (www.dyingsun.de)