Kulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany24th September 2010
Solitary Experiments, f.o.d
I drove to Krefeld right after finishing my work at the office on that Friday. The venue is really close to my home, so that I could accept partying hard. The show in Krefeld was literally planned to take place on the 26th March, 2010, but it was cancelled for a chemical accident in the neighbourhood which caused that the venue was closed. So the concert was postponed to the 24th September, 2010. But the fans took advantage from this delay because SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS are going to present many songs from the actual record ‘The Eye Of The Beholder’, as well as a mixed bag of songs from previous releases. On the gig they’ll be supported by the guys of f.o.d.
f.o.d
EBM and dance are combined to form a new musical genre that they call “eXcess dance”. Melodies need power to know the musicians and have current "refreshing innovation" as Orkus magazine praises, opened a "totally casual synth-pop album with gorgeous mid-tempo club numbers" as Sonic Seducer magazine said. F.O.D is eXcess D (vocals, composition, arrangement, and programming), an/dress a. anderson (lyrics, synthesizer, composition, programming) and andré van den gerk (synthesizer). http://www.fod-band.de/ / www.myspace.com/excessdance
Music & Performance
This was the first time for me that I saw F.O.D live. And it was a pleasure. They did a great performance, although the KuFa just offered the little stage. Though they started very late, the venue wasn’t filled. Some of the guests assumed that this gig was going to fail again because of the delayed start. Anyway, they didn’t care and just did a good job - animating the visitors to sing along and something like that. Was fun! The band from Leipzig, Germany, offered a well-functioning mixture of Future-pop and Synth Pop with 80 bonds. And they gave the audience a little breeze of summer feeling, because they wore white suits and sunglasses, the stage was decorated with windbreakers you often notice at windy beaches. Behind the windbreakers were lights, which made a cool atmosphere.
However, I had noticed that some songs are a little nicked. Naughty, but effectively stolen! But a bonus is the obligation of Eva Pölzing (ex-BLUTENGEL) who enhanced various songs much to the positive. Really cool was the interpretation of MODERN TALKING’s song ‘You’re my Heart, You’re my Soul’ which made the audience partying hard. And they absolutely kicked the fan’s asses by performing DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Never let me down again’. Ha, that was great! All the people sang along and had a lot of fun. In general F.O.D reminded me very much to AND ONE - musically, and with their appearance.
Setlist
01. Intro
02. Synthesizer Tanzmusik
03.Spiegelbild
04. Runaway
05. No Good
06. Siegerwelten
07. Dreams
08. Germany
09. You’re my Heart you’re my Soul
10. Fair love
11. Allein
12. Gleichstrom
13. Counting the Days
---
14. Never let me down again
15. Let’s fly
Rating
Music 8
Performance 9
Sound 9
Light 6
Total 8.2 / 10
Solitary Experiments
When the worlds of Dennis Schober and Michael Thieleman collided one day, they found out they were like-minded and made their first musical experiences under the name PLAGUE, before they decided to form the project SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS in 1994. By doing that, they were making the foundation for what was to become a successful story in the genre of electronic music, even though the way to getting that status was full of many stones. With every new album, they could enlist a bigger audience and a loyal fan base grew from that. Their newest album ‘In The Eye Of The Beholder’, which came out in late 2009 following a long time of dormancy since ‘Mind Over Matter’ in 2005, marked their triumphant return to the scene with powerful and melodic electro songs carried by a distinctive voice.
Musically rooted in the harsh EBM sound and a golden knack for catchy melodies, the SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS created its own niche in the Electro-Olympus. The trio combines pressure and aggressiveness with catchiness and emotionality. SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS is Michael Thielemann (sampling, programming, engineering, recording), Dennis Schober (lyrics, vocals, effects, performance) and Steve Graeber (programming, sampling). http://www.solitaryexperiments.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/solitaryexperiments
Music & Performance
SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS started their show with the instrumental ‘World Of Wisdom’. The venue wasn’t less filled like it was when F.O.D performed but if we had counted the people there wouldn’t have been counted more than 70-80. Two months ago I saw just a few minutes of SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS. They performed at the Amphi Festival in Cologne but I’ve had reached the Staatenhaus (the place where they played) very late, so I was very happy to see them for a complete live gig in Krefeld.
They entered the stage with their red worker shirts and the typical SE cravat. The audience was very quiet but because of their appearance there was no doubt that definitely SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS entered the stage. The fans noticed that distinctly when the first bass lines of ‘Road To Horizon’ reached their ears. Dennis had badly problems with the lyrics and said on his own that he also needs to get warm. He read off the song texts from a paper on the bottom. The audience wasn’t dissatisfied when he missed some lines, but they also had some problems with the sound which weren’t a pleasure for our ears. SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS’ Dennis was obviously a bit tired and knocked-out from their long journey. He told us they had a 7 hour road trip, including a heavy traffic jam near Hannover. Forgiven!
But ok, nobody and nothing is perfect. These problems always bring the advantage to know that the show was really played live - hehe. The light was all the better, nice beamer projections and colours made a superb stage show. The set included 15 songs and the members of SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS were happy that the audience wanted them to perform for an encore. After two more songs the concert ended.
Setlist
01. Words Of Wisdom
02. Road To Horizon
03. Pale Candle Light
04. Immortal
05. DEJA´VU
06. Homesick
07. This Is The End
08. The Dark Inside Me
09. Delight
10. A Rush Of Ecstasy
11. Still Alive
12. Glory & Honour
13. Rise And Fall
14. Point Of View
15. Seele Bricht V2.0
---
16. Watching Over You
17. The Edge Of Life
Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 9
Total 8.6 / 10
All pictures by Marcus Nathofer
{jos_sb_discuss:17}
Comments powered by CComment