Metropolis, Münster, Germany
10th September 2010
Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub, Sasu
PHILLIP BOA, one of Germany’s “Indie” heroes, hits the road again this autumn with his band THE VOODOOCLUB and visits seven selected German cities for a “Best Of” show. We had the pleasure to get a gig just around the corner, literally, with BOA’s concert at the Metropolis club in Münster.
Sasu
Originally SASU was formed in 1999 as a Dark Punk trio by front man Tyrone together with Drummer Norb van Boyken and bassist Dan. Ten years later, SASU was reinvented and became the four-piece line up it always wanted to be, and a soulful Alternative Pop outfit with a smack of glam and hidden humility instead of the Punk of the band’s early days. SASU refuse categories at all, though they're influenced by Indie Rock and Pop culture in general. The band cites The Cure, David Bowie, Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, Radiohead, Nick Cave, and lust but not least PHILLIP BOA himself as their major influences. German Indie / Rock band SASU is Tyrone (vocals), Pat (guitar, vocals), Rob (bass-guitar), and Norb van Boyken (drums). http://www.sasuworld.com / http://www.myspace.com/sasuworld 
Music & Performance
PHILLIP BOA has a tradition of bringing young up and coming bands, often even unsigned bands, on his tours. A nice way to give young bands the chance to perform in front of a good crowd! This time it was no different, and PHILLIP BOA invited SASU to be the support of his autumn tour. The Metropolis club was already pretty crowded when SASU performed their short set, and while many people were still busy to get a drink or to get in front of the stage. The Metropolis is an old cinema and when you enter the actual concert venue after walking upstairs you are immediately stuck - the club looks nice but the floor plan is a pain in the neck, with a chokepoint between the upper bars and the stage area a few steps lower. Anyway, SASU got a good response and also a few new fans, I guess. 
SASU’s music is much to the BOA fan’s liking - a bit of Pop, a bit of Indie Rock, a strong resemblance of THE CURE musically and singer Tyrene’s voice reminds often on DAVID BOWIE. After the mess of getting inside I found a nice spot to enjoy the second half of SASU’s set, and the band was quite into it themselves. Singer Tyrone didn’t communicate much with the audience but got more and more taken away by his band’s sound. While SASU started rather dark and introspective sound and performance became more expressive and punchy in the course of the 30 minutes of their set. SASU even made some people at the front dance a bit - yes, this was a good warm-up!
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub
Birth place of PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB was the West-German city of Dortmund, where Ernst Ulrich Figgen and his partner Pia Lund founded the band in 1984. Influenced by British music, most notably the Punk and New Wave movements of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and German avant-garde music, PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB helped to shape the profile of German Indie music. They released their first album ‘Philister’ in 1985 on their own Constrictor-label and received excellent reviews and even made to the top of the German Indie charts. In 1986 PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB signed to Rough Trade (Germany) and the English indie label Red Flame to release the album ‘Aristocracie’. The band toured clubs across Europe and got signed by major-label Polydor. This move triggered a backlash for PHILLIP BOA as he was accused of being a traitor of the ‘Indie’ spirit by his audience for doing this, as BOA was a symbolic figure of the ‘never-sell-out’ ideology of the Independent scene. Rude “Asshole! Asshole!” chants between songs became notorious at BOA concerts, and subsequently some kind of running gag. 
PHILLIP BOA, however, has always kept up his “never sell-out” indie ideology alive and well refusing to appear on TV, rejecting advertising / sponsoring even in 2007, were this practice is wide spread amongst a lot of bands. The album ‘Hair’ marked the band’s commercial breakthrough in 1989, and PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB became the German band with the most "Album and Single of the Week's" in the British music press ever (8x "Single of the Week" and 5x "Album of the Week" reviews in NME, Melody Maker and Sounds). While the band’s release schedule has become less busy since the mid 90s, PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB remain one of the most successful independent acts of Germany with a solid and loyal fan base, but they seem to be almost unknown or a mere cult band in most other European countries. PHILLIP BOA, who lived and worked on the island of Malta for many years, gathered his band for a short tour to shorten time until the release of the new album, which is to be released in 2011. After many line-up changes PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB live on stage are today Phillip Boa, Pia Lund, Toett, Moses Pellberg, Maik T., and Oliver Klemm. http://www.phillipboa.de / www.myspace.com/phillipboaandthevoodooclub
Music & Performance
The audience at the Metropolis - most of them clearly in their thirties - was ready for a nostalgic musical journey of 25 years back and forth. The VOODOOCLUB entered the stage, followed by BOA and Pia Lund to a roaring applause. Quite adequately for a Best of show, the band started with a string of classic BOA tunes like ‘Euphoria’ or ‘Diana’ and the mood in the crowd was indeed euphoric. A journey through more recent releases followed with songs like ‘Lord Have Mercy With The One-Eyed’ from BOA’s last album or the single ‘Rome In the Rain’ from 2000. While there was a lot of space at the front, people were just crammed together in the back. Maybe that’s why the atmosphere was a little less ecstatic there but it was worth it to try to get to the front - if you don’t mind some pogo dancing, that is. 1993’s ‘Love On Sale’ and its beautiful chorus sung by Pia Lund interrupted the series of songs from the second half of BOA’s career, which was continued by tracks like the moody ‘Valerian’, another single from the last album, or the upbeat ‘Burn All The Flags’ from 2005. The setlist made clear that a BOA best of show is not limited to the classic material from albums like ‘Hair’ or ‘Copperfield’, and the reaction of the crowd proved that newer material is as much accepted and loved as classics like ‘Fine Art in Silver’ or the heavy and humorous ‘Albert Is A Headbanger’. 
PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB have more to offer than a few golden hits from “back then” but of course their probably biggest hit to date, ‘Container Love’ was not just essential but also the perfect closer of the main set. This song haunted Phillip Boa for many years; he never loved it and hated it that his name too often was chained to this single song. He’s right that his band and his music has a lot more to offer beyond this evergreen but on the other hand it’s the perfect song to sum up the world of PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB, Pia Lund’s lovely vocals in contrast to Phillip Boa’s rather groaning and sometimes even dissonant voice, a sweet melody with a catchy hook battling with wild and noisy rhythms. And in the much demanded encore we got all ingredients of BOA’s world again in new combinations. A bounteous encore of six songs in total, from the hymnist ‘Deep In Velvet’ to the groovy ‘This Is Michael’ to the dramatic Pop of ‘And Then She Kissed Her’ to the hectic Punk of ‘Kill Your Ideals’. 
After all it was just a short seven-stop tour to fill the gap between two album releases but the performance made clear why PHILLIP BOA & THE VOODOOCLUB is still considered as one of Germany’s spearheads in terms of Indie Rock.
Setlist
01. Euphoria
02. Atlantic Claire
03. Diana
04. Lord Have Mercy with the 1-eyed
05. Rome in the Rain
06. Love On Sale
07. Burn All the Flags
08. Punch & Judy Club
09. Valerian
10. Speed
11. Albert Is a Headbanger
12. Black Tiger
13. Diamonds Fall
14. Fine Art in Silver
15. Get Terminated!
16. I Dedicate My Soul to You
17. Container Love
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18. Deep in Velvet
19. So What
20. This Is Michael
21. Life After Being a Zombie
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22. And Then She Kissed Her
23. Kill Your Ideals
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
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