E-Werk, Cologne, Germany24th March 2017
Tokio Hotel
After a two year break, TOKIO HOTEL are back presenting their 5th studio album, ‘Dream Machine’. The electro-pop quartet delivered a glamorous and theatrical live performance at the E-Werk Cologne. The Kaulitz twins’ (27) band has sold more than seven million albums worldwide and received a number of international awards, including the US MTV VMA for ‘Moonman’, five European Music Awards, four MTV Latin Music Awards and the MTV Japan Music Award. TOKIO HOTEL was founded in the year 2001. After all these years they know how to reinvent themselves. Singer Bill Kaulitz said “Our new record is special. It's like nothing we've done before. It has our soul. Probably for the first time ever.”http://www.tokiohotel.com / https://www.facebook.com/tokiohotel
Music & Performance
Friday, the 24th of March: Time for the highly anticipated and sold-out gig of TOKIO HOTEL. The show started at 20:38 (nearly 40 minutes later than announced) but the venue was already full one hour earlier. The fans were clearly looking forward to this concert. When the lights went out there was big cheering and yelling. By the high tone of the yelling one could easily guess that the majority of fans were female. The loyalty of their fans is clear since the public is not exclusively teenager as it used to be. There wasn’t any support act. The stage design was retro-futuristic with a two level lighted platform. On the upper level all electronic instruments were placed on a spaceship-like control panel layout. The constantly changing neon-style lights were giving the platform different shapes throughout the show. Tom Kaulitz, who used to only play guitar, played a variety of instruments. The musicians moved up and down of the platform on a dynamic and entertaining performance. That was also possible for Gustav as there were was one drum set on each level of the stage. The show was theatrical. Bill changed his look several times following the different songs themes. The quartet performed song after song like a well-oiled machine with almost no break.
Bill Kaulitz' voice sounded pristine with fewer effects than a few years ago. His distinctive high tones are still crystal clear. However they don’t intend to hide the fact that Bill Kaulitz sometimes uses recorded vocals. The focus is clearly an entertainment package rather than a rock spectacle. This honesty gives Bill Kaulitz a space to show his emotions and seduce his fans. Especially with the tear-jerking last song, 'Stop, Babe', Bill’s clean voice hit like a hammer. One could feel Bill's connection with the fans. 'Stop, Stop. Babe, I’m not ready to love you, because I’m not fully healed.' I saw tissue papers wiping teary eyes in the audience. Friday the 24th of March, 2017, the seventh stop of the Dream Machine tour, was most likely an evening for fans of the newer albums. ‘Darkside of the Sun’, ‘Black’, ‘Automatic’ and ‘Durch den Monsun’ were the only older songs. Besides those four songs, they only played songs of ‘Kings of Suburbia’ and the new ‘Dream Machine’. A great performance with danceable tracks and an acoustic interlude left the fans , their companion boyfriends and even some accompanying parents with a big smile on their face.
Setlist
01. Something New
02. Boy Don't Cry
03. Feel It All
04. Love Who Loves You Back
05. Darkside of the Sun
06. The Heart Get No Sleep
07. Better
08. Cotton Candy Sky
09. We Found Us
10. Run, Run, Run
11. Black
12. Easy
13. Girl Got a Gun
14. Automatic
15. As Young As We Are
---
16. What If
17. Durch den Monsun
18. Stop, Babe
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
Buy music from TOKIO HOTEL
All Pictures by Cécile Hautefeuille
Comments powered by CComment