Skaters Palace, Münster, Germany21st March 2024
Madsen - “Hollywood Tour 2024 Part 2” - Support: Alex Mofa Gang
From a health perspective, MADSEN’s “Hollywood Tour” has not been off to the best start. After several concerts had to be postponed last December - including the one planned for us in Oberhausen, for which the rescheduled date did not work for us - now the second leg of the tour has also been affected. The planned concerts in Cottbus and Leipzig have been postponed to April. Luckily, today’s show in Münster went ahead as planned.
Alex Mofa Gang
ALEX MOFA GANG is a German Punk Rock band that was founded in Berlin in 2012. In January 2016, their debut album ‘Die Reise zum Mittelmaß der Erde’ was released. The band members are long-time friends who, before forming the band, worked as sound engineers, tour managers, lighting technicians, backliners, and merchandisers, among other roles. Lead singer and lyricist Sascha Hörold already had many songs and demos that would later become the album ‘Die Reise zum Mittelmaß der Erde’. After the band was formed, they toured with bands such as MONTREAL, RADIO HAVANNA, LA VELA PUERCA, and MASSENDEFEKT. They recorded their second album ‘Perspektiven’ at Dailyhero Recording Studio with Florian Nowak in January 2017. Their latest album ‘Nacht der Gewohnheit’ was released in 2022.
ALEX MOFA GANG consists of Sascha Hörold (vocals, guitar), Tommy Kosslick (vocals, guitar), Rotscher Hörold (vocals, bass), Michael Breuninger (drums) and Matze Vogel (keyboard). https://alexmofagang.de / https://www.facebook.com/alexmofagang
Music & Performance
The hall was already pretty crowded at eight when Sascha Madsen announced ALEX MOFA GANG as support and afterwards the five guys entered the stage for their forty minutes set. The show was energetic from start to the end whereas the band was always close to the fans. I just think if the moment when extrovert singer Sascha was standing on the drum case being held by the audience and then surfed the crowd. Musically, ALEX MOFA GANG presented poppy Rock with a good pinch of Punk attitude. The loudest Pop band in the world, as they call themselves, presented music with a heart and warmed up the audience perfectly for the MADSEN show.
Setlist
01. Ende offen
02. Sie tanzt nie lange allein
03. S.O.S.
04. Wie lang ist schon für
05. Holiday Inn
06. Kleine Schwester
07. Reich sein
08. Kein Land in Sicht
09. Montevideo
10. Unser Haus
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 7.3 / 10
Madsen
There’s not much more to explain: MADSEN is a brand of its own. Their current album ‘Hollywood’ entered the German charts directly at number 1, all concerts of their past “Hollywood Tour Part I” were sold out - but for the band, this is no reason to rest on their laurels, as MADSEN have subsequently announced the second part of their “Hollywood Tour”. The band, consisting of the eponymous brothers Sascha, Johannes, and Sebastian, along with their childhood friend Niko Maurer, has been one of the most successful live and rock acts in the country for almost 20 years. It might not be easy to find a person who hasn’t seen MADSEN live at least once in the last 20 years. One could say that the stage is simply an essential part of the band. However, if one only reduces MADSEN to their live entertainment qualities, it does not do justice to the band: Their ninth studio album ‘Hollywood’, released in August 2023, underscores the band’s status as one of the most important rock bands in the country, also on record. With songs full of empathy, love, strength, and clear edges, MADSEN prove on ‘Hollywood’ that German-language guitar music is anything but trivial.
Whether it’s political statements or big emotions that sometimes draw on the good kind of kitsch, MADSEN’s songs ignite emotions and quickly feel like new favourite songs. Additionally, and this is important to mention in today’s time: The family-run company MADSEN is a zone where everyone should feel comfortable, and where disrespectful and inappropriate behaviour is not tolerated. Few bands have managed to remain uncorrupted by the often-ruthless music business and to stay true to their character, whether they were equipped with the biggest major budgets or, as of now, founding their own label Goodbye Logik Records for the latest album - MADSEN is a family affair, and we all get to be a part of it. That’s something this fabulous band from the Wendland region has achieved that others can only aspire to. MADSEN consists of Johannes Madsen (guitar, vocals), Sebastian Madsen (vocals, guitar), Sascha Madsen (drums, vocals), Niko Maurer (bass), Lisa Nicklisch (live keyboard, vocals) and Martin “Mücke” Krüssel (live guitar). https://www.madsenmusik.de / https://www.facebook.com/Madsenmusik
Music & Performance
It is five years ago since my last MADSEN concert, also taking place at the Skaters Palace in Münster. And once again, the hall was crowded and anticipation high. People were very much looking forward to the upcoming show if the “Hollywood Tour”. The playlist for the change-over was already rising the mood and when finally Short before show-time the KILLERS classic ‘Mr Brightside’ sounded through the PA, nearly anyone in the hall was singing along. What a big choir. Of course I had to join in the chant. Accompanied with loud applause, the band entered the stage starting with ‘Ein bisschen Lärm’ from their latest records ‘Hollywood’. From start to the end, you always felt the close connection between band and audience. And MADSEN were on fire, praising the Münster audience to be the best. They have been in the city already several times and most of the attendees have seen them before.
During the whole show, fans were jumping and singing loudly, following every command by the band… might it be to form a mosh pit or to sit down… or to raise their fists against fascism during the yet unrecorded and only “live rehearsed” song ‘Faust hoch gegen Faschismus’. I was especially touched by the loud proclamation of the audience “Ganz Münster hasst die AFD” (“whole Münster hates the AFD” - The AFD is a right-wing party with fascist tendencies). Also, the band was touched and stated once again that there is no chance for the AFD - not for the first time during the show. A show, where always was something happening. Might it be snippets from other songs (i.e. ‘Angels’ by ROBBIE WILLIAMS, ‘Song 2’ by BLUR or ‘Wonderwall’ by OASIS) being woven in, confetti canons or a drummer surfing the crowd to grab his beer from the FOH.
MADSEN also always have a close connection to their support bands. At ‘Nachtbaden’, the front man of ALEX MOFA GANG joined MADSEN on stage during the last verse, much to the pleasure of the fans. After uber hit ‘Die Perfektion’, Sebastian stated that they are still on “Hollywood Tour” and it is time for the name-giving song. But then, he and Lisa, wo should accompany his acoustic intermezzo vocally, decided to first play an older song, a song they did not rehearse and were not sure to remember the lyrics. So, they asked for help from the audience. A girl (sorry, I forgot the name) was chosen and invited to stage to prompt them. So, they sang the song as a trio and released a happy fan back to the arena. Afterwards, finally ‘Hollywood’ in an acoustic version followed before the whole band returned to stage. Last song of the main set was the classic ‘Du schreibst Geschichte’, wildly celebrated by the fans.
The pause was short and soon MADSEN returned to stage for their encore, starting with ‘Na gut dann nicht’. And what a special event this song should become! Always after the first refrain there is a “freeze” when the whole band does not move and lately, always something happens and the band never knows what. Today was very special since backliner Tim organised a fire brigade marching band indeed marching on staged, first someone with a big base drum and then all other usual instruments. They played a whole song marching over stage with Tim as last holding up a sign. Still, no one could read it. Only when he was standing on the drum podium with the whole marching band taking position on stage (while MADSEN still were frozen in their movement and hardly could resist laughing) he turned the sign around, showing “FCK AFD” - how aptly it was fitting to this evening. ‘Mit dem Moped nach Madrid’ and ‘Lass die Musik an’ and more confetti canons followed and then a fantastic evening was over.
MADSEN finally bowed to the crowd and bid farewell. Melancholy, joy, humour, rock vibes - all emotions were present during this evening. I could have written much more about this evening and things happening, but you have to experience it yourself. So, if MADSEN is touring near you soon, it’s best to just go see for yourself since MADSEN is a fantastic live band, always worth to see.
Setlist
01. Ein bisschen Lärm
02. Mein Herz bleibt hier
03. Sirenen
04. Macht euch laut
05. Keiner
06. Nachtbaden (with Alex Mofa Gang)
07. Angel (Robbie Williams cover) (Snippet)
08. Kein Mann für eine Nacht
09. Wir haben immer noch die Sonne
10. Kompass
11. Die Perfektion (with Blur’s ‘Song 2’ Snippet)
12. So cool bist du nicht (acoustic)
13. Hollywood (acoustic)
14. Faust hoch gegen Faschismus
15. Love Is a Killer (with ‘Radar love’ Snippet)
16. Du schreibst Geschichte
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17. Na gut dann nicht
18. Mit dem Moped nach Madrid
19. Lass die Musik an
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by Dani Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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