Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Polarkreis 18

Details: Written by: Daniela Vorndran; Published: 27 February 2009

Kamp Bielefeld, Germany
25th February 2009
Polarkreis 18 & Super 700

Even though the Dresden based band is already around since 1998 they were just known to a few insiders… until their single ‘Allein Allein’ got massive radio airplay and jumped up to number one in German Charts. Loving both yet released albums it was for sure that I need to see the band live on stage as well and so, I took the chance to travel to Bielefeld where they were performing supported by SUPER 700 from Berlin.

Super 700

The band was founded 2003 in Berlin. First, they were just touring Berlin clubs and Germany as well as Switzerland before the mini album ‘When hare and Fox had fun’ was released in 2005. This time, a bigger tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland followed. The real debut album ‘Super 700’ was released at Motor Music in May 2006 and now, the band is ready to release the new album ‘Lovebites’ on 27th February 2009. SUPER700 are Ibadet Ramadani (vocals), Johannes Saal (guitar), Simon Rauterberg (keyboards), Michael Haves (bass), Sebastian Schmidt (drums) and the two backing singers Ilirjana Ramadani and Albana Ramadani who were sadly been missing on tour. http://www.super700.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/super700

Music & Performance
Fist thing you spotted when you saw the stage was the band name put on stands in huge white letters. Looked cool! When the band entered the stage they had quite a hard time to do so… there was no room at all and they had to step over lots of cables and stuff. But finally anyone had found his/her place and the set was going to start. Usually, the band consists of seven people, but the two sisters of Ibadet have been absent. All in all, the band presented a mixture of Tip-Hop, Jazz, Synth Pop and Guitar Rock packed into seven songs and 30 minutes. The set which mainly contained songs of the album ‘Lovebites’ to be released on 27th February and already sold at the merch, started with ‘Tango’, also the opener of the mentioned album. The poppy tunes with the still melancholic chant and a certain 80s flair were surely a good warm-up for what’s to come.

Setlist
01. Tango
02. Selfcontrol
03. S.T.T.S.M.C. (Somebody Tried To Steal My Car)
04. The Fortuneteller
05. I love the Rain
06. We Will Never Drown
07. Lovebites

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10

Polarkreis 18

Imagine you combine driven drums, atmospheric electronic sounds and plucked guitar strings with an extraordinary, falsetto male voice. What do you get? The answer is simple: POLARKREIS 18. Twisted beats and powerful samples meet mellow pop melodies. The emotional effect of the songs is the most important objective of their music. The six boys from Dresden (Germany) founded the group at the age of 13 in 1998. The first records deal was signed in 2006 followed by the first album in February 2007. The second album ‘The Color of Snow’ hit the stores in October 2008. POLARKREIS 18 is Felix Räuber (vocals, guitar, piano), Philipp Makolies (guitar, piano), Silvester Wenzel (piano, electronic), Uwe Pasora (bass), Christian Grochau (drums), and Ludwig Bauer (piano, guitar, electronic). http://www.polarkreis18.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/polarkreis18

Music & Performance
POLARKREIS 18 have a straight concept and don’t do anything by accident. On their second album the band presents itself as a styled-though art object. And this concept also shines through during the live performances. The venue was totally packed when the band entered the stage at around 21:30. The audience was very mixed, old and you, kids with their parents, alternative students and such. The show started with a very long intro when voices were whispering through the dark ending with the words “Der Schnee ist Schwarz” (The snow is black) and so, the first real song, ‘The Color of Snow’, started. All band members entered a dark stage only with a small lamp on their foreheads and all of a sudden with a thunderstorm of blue flickering lights, hell broke lose on stage. With such a start, frenetic audience reactions were for sure.

On stage, the sound of POLARKREIS 18 was more guitar-laden then on CD where they were supported by the Babelsberg Film Orchestra. Clothed totally in white, how it fits to the whole concept, the band rocked the stage very expressively; fantastic to watch with a great light show which I would not have expected in such a small club. With ‘130/70’ another song from the latest album followed until we went back to the first release with ‘Crystal Lake’ when Felix grabbed an acoustic guitar to play along and the whole set turned into the calmer mood. Few more songs followed, new and “old” ones constantly changing, until ‘comes around’ when barefoot Felix all of a sudden left the stage, made his way through the crowd and entered the FOH from where he sang totally without microphone. Luckily it was silent enough to hear him singing in his best manner. Great!

On of the highlights of the evening followed afterwards with ‘River loves the Ocean’ when Felix bewitched the audience with his angelic voice. It was totally silent in the room. Later on, Felix mentioned how great the audience was… not only because it was celebrating but also because it was so silent during this soft song. Following after this calm moment was ‘Dreamdancer’ which was accompanied with a fantastic laser light show. With ‘Name on my ID’ and the hit single ‘Allein Allein’ the main set ended. Anyone in the room was singing along. It sounded fantastic! Already when the band was leaving the stage, people were yelling for an encore and so, the band returned with a wonderful cover version of TALK TALK’s ‘Such a shame’. Last regular song of the evening was ‘Look’ from the debut album which was performed by all band members wearing white masks.

This should have been the end of the set. But the audience still was screaming for more and jus singing all alone “Allein, Allein…”. Reason enough for Felix to return with one of his companions to intonate this song only accompanied with the piano. With a happy smile and loud laughing he several times had to break… but it was just fantastic. What to say at the end? It was one of the best concerts I have seen lately and with best memories I started my ride home.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. The Color of Snow
03. 130/70
04. Crystal Lake
05. Tourist
06. Somedays Sundays
07. Prisoner
08. Comes Around
09. River loves the Ocean
10. Dreamdancer
11. Name on my ID
12. Allein Allein
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13. Such a Shame (Talk Talk cover)
14. Look
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15. Allein Allein (Piano)

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10