Oomph!  Cologne 2006

Details: Written by: Nicole Kizina; Published: 12 June 2006

Cologne, Live Music Hall, Germany
27th May 2006
A_Life [DivideD], Samsas Traum, Oomph!

Oomph! returned this year to the music scene with a new album called “Glaube Liebe Tod” and after two single releases - ‘Gott ist ein Popstar’ and ‘Das Letzte Streichholz’ - they were touring through Germany again after two years and the big success of their first No.1 hit ‘Augen Auf’. Those who had seen Oomph! live once or several times before know that the guys are a guarantee for a good concert. They also invited to Cologne which was a sold out concert with two support bands. We followed this invitation to see three different music styles during one evening.

A_life [DivideD]

A_life [DivideD] are six musicians from Munich. Life itself doesn’t generally work as mathematics. There are no binomial formulas, no Pythagoras` theorem and no rules for isosceles triangles which computed results are objectively revisable. Life is rather like music: unpredictable, complex, depending on moods, short: Life sounds like A_liFe [DivideD]. That’s the reason for this programmatic band name. That’s the reason for a stylistic spectrum that can’t be reduced to a specific formula.

What does that mean in detail? Strong, modern metal meets electronic beats, fascinating noises waft through spheres, sounds first hard then soft grab and let up – the music is melodic and gruff at the same time. References? None. To satisfy journalistic cross references you could define the bandwidth as follows: From Depeche Mode to Devin Townsend, from Vast to Static X, from Nine Inch Nails to Bon Jovi. A_liFe [DivideD] are: Jürgen Plangger (voc), Korl Fuhrmann (drums), Toby Egger (bass), Mike Hofstätter (guitar), Tony Berger (guitar) and Erik Damköhler (guitar/programming). http://a-life-divided.de

Music
Let me use the words of Flux from Oomph! because it’s a perfect description: A_life [DivideD] is one of the few bands who know how to combine melancholy melodies, electronic instruments and aggressive guitar rock. A singer with a charismatic voice, fantastic guitar riffs - everyone who’s just a little bit into hard rock and heavy metal must have enjoyed their music. A nice surprise was to hear a cover version of the 80ies classic song ‘Sounds Like a Melody’ from Alphaville. It was just like made for them. In Berlin Marian Gold, the singer from Alphaville joined them on stage for this song. Unfortunately he wasn’t in Cologne. After this song a voice from a tape said: “Let me give you some inside information about god” which was the intro for ‘Hand of Healing’ and singer Jürgen asked: “Tell me where is god?” and just another song that was perfect to mosh sounded through the hall.

Performance
You could see six musicians on stage who just enjoyed playing. Always in move and banging around, asking the audience for clapping their hands and people were really enthusiastic. They played and acted on stage just like ‘the big ones’ and it was a real joy and the guitarist can play his instrument with just one hand. Singer Jürgen was wearing his leather jacket during the whole set. A wonder that he survived, it was so damn hot in the hall and he wasn’t standing still while he was singing. I’ve read these guys don’t have a record deal yet – just can’t believe that!

Setlist

01. Intro
02. Isolation
03. Anyone
04. Virtulized
05. Ordinary
06. Sounds Like A Melody
07. Hand Of Healing
08. No World Order

Rating
Music 8
Performance 7
Sound 7
Light 6
Total: 7 (7.3)

Samsas Traum

Samsas Traum are a German music project, which was created 1996 by Alexander Kaschte. On 1st March 1999, exactly three years after foundation, they signed their first record deal with the black scene admitted label Trisol Music Group. The band name is derived from Franz Kafkas Protagonist Gregor Samsa from its narration "the conversion" which begins like this "as Gregor Samsa awaked one morning from jerky dreams, he found himself lying in his bed changed to tremendous vermin."
This quotation you find also in the opener "Elite" from Samsas Traum first album "The Love Of God". Samsas Traum aren’t unknown in Germany and in the Gothic scene, so it’s kind of strange that they still play as a support band. Alexander started the band alone and many members came and have gone. At the moment the band consists of four members. They must have had many fans in the Oomph! audience, because they really got a warm welcome. Samsas Traum are: Alexander Kaschte (vocals), Daniel Schröder (sax - since 2000), Martin "Acid Loverboy" Gutmann (key - since 2005) and Michael Puchala (guitar - since 2005).
Official homepage: http://www.samsas-traum.info/
http://www.aurora-acht.de/1024x768/index.php

Music
There is not only one direction for their music. It’s a mixture of Black and Gothic metal, also alternative and even classic elements. Singer Alexander had just an easy game when he entered the stage and introduced the first song ‘Es war einmal’ with “For you tonight the Taliban”. Well, Alex forgot his lyrics, but these are things that can happen and it’s the best proof for a live gig. ‘Khaos-Prinz and Wind-Prinzessin’ was played for everyone who is in love; ‘Stromausfall im Herzspital’ for those who like to drive to the sea. Everyone also seemed to enjoy ‘Bis ans Ende der Zeit’, which is part of the “SAW 2” soundtrack. There was a moment when I also heard something of the German punk band ‘Die Ärzte’ in their music, but maybe it was just my imagination.

Performance
Samsas Traum also had no show or something like that, but it was definitely singer Alexander who is the star on stage. He seemed to be a crazy person, he was always joking with the crowd or he played with a doll on stage. That one he introduced as “Trullala” to the audience before they started to play “Die Zärtlichkeit der Verdammten”. The crowd was screaming that they want something to drink and Alex said to someone at the front “When you are already 16, just go to the bar and have a beer”. Girls were screaming Alex should strip and most of the time he seemed to be really overturned. Martin was also very wild behind his keyboard, that you thought he would pull down the background with the Samsas Traum logo any moment. Alexander took the opportunity to tell us that they play nearly on every festival this summer and there will be also a tour at the end of the year.

Setlist

01. Es war einmal
02. Khaos-Prinz und Wind-Prinzessin

03. Die Zärtlichkeit der Verdammten

04. Stromausfall im Herzspital
05. Für immer

06. Bis an das Ende der Zeit (Soundtrack SAW2)
07. Ein Fötus wie du

08. Kugel im Gesicht

Rating
Music 7
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 6
Total: 6 (6.4)

Oomph!

Oomph! are a German industrial metal group which was formed in 1989 by Dero, Flux and Crap in Wolfsburg, Germany. The name means something like to have this “something special”, to have sex-appeal and to be full of energy. All three things you can find in Oomph!. Some people thought the name could mean 0.0 miles per hour which is nonsense. Oomph are: Dero (vocals), Crap (guitar), Flux (guitar) and the live Support: Léo (Drums) & Hagen (Bass). http://www.oomph.de/

Before Oomph! even entered the stage, there was this horrible heat in the hall. Maybe the support bands had done such a good job or it was just because we all were standing so close to each other. But we were all sweating without moving. Oomph should begin earlier as normal because there was still a “Rockgarden-Party” on the list of the Live Music Hall that evening after the concert.

Music
After the intro ‘Fragment’ they started the show with ‘Träumst Du’ and all the fans were with them right from the start. They played a mix between new and old stuff and already after the 2nd and 3rd song ‘Unsere Rettung’ and ‘Keine Luft Mehr’ everyone was shouting for water. There was no choice - you had to jump during these great old songs, but because of the heat there was really no air left. Just some girls still had enough air to shout instead of ‘Water please’, ‘Dero you sexy bastard’ and things like this. During ‘Fieber’, ‘Supernova’ or ‘Das weisse Licht’ for example Dero let the fans sing by themselves. Sometimes he was so amazed by the great mood, that he was shouting: “You are the greatest” or “Cologne I want a child from you”. The songs from the recent album were limited to ‘Gott ist ein Popstar’, ‘Das letzte Streichholz’, ‘Mein Schatz’, ‘Du willst es doch auch’, ‘Mensch Sein’ and ‘Die Schlinge’.

For ‘Die Schlinge’ it was time for the fans to surprise the band. When the song started nearly everyone was holding a paper up with a skull printed on it. It was a little choreography of the masses, if you want to call it like this. This idea was born by the members of OomphDay.com and the band really seemed to enjoy it. There was also enough room for old classics like ‘Gekreuzigt’ - Dero mentioned that he knows Cologne is such a religious city - and ‘Mitten ins Herz’. Lots of people were waiting for some great songs from the album “Oomph” and “Sperm” - we wondered if this is a finished chapter for the guys now. Dero even didn’t sing ‘Mein Herz’ a-ccapella at the end of the set as he normally does; it was now ‘Ich will Deine Seele’.

Performance
There was this large big screen in the background of the stage. The first thing you could see on the screen was the ‘Black Jack’ picture and also the cover of the new album with a cross, a heart and a skull – the symbols for ‘Glaube,Liebe,Tod’ (faith, love and death). This time the band wasn’t wearing all the same clothes. Flux, Crap and Hagen were dressed like a priest, Leo wore just shorts and Dero came on stage with his well-known straitjacket. When Crap came on stage he blessed the audience first of all. Already with the 2nd song Dero jumped into the crowed what he always enjoys to do for ages now. But he didn’t get far, the security guys held his feet and didn’t let him go. So Dero just spent a few minutes surfing on the hands of the fans. Later he repeated to jump into the crowd for a few times. All guys were moving the whole evening - they jumped, banged their heads or encouraged the fans to clap their hands.

On the screen you could see different pictures and projections. During ‘Fieber’ it looked like blood was running down; during ‘Die Schlinge’ there was just the skull on the screen; during ‘Sex hat keine Macht’ you could see a naked woman licking her breast like in these cheap commercial movies where you just have to dial a certain number to get satisfaction. Later when they played ‘Mitten ins Herz’ the screen was changed into a LED wall with a lot lightning pictures. For ’Brennende Liebe’ the stage was dived into a great red light. Because of some troubles that happened here in Germany in the last time, Dero had spoken for everyone when he shouted: “Never ever fascism again!”. The highlight of the show was the “Mr and Mrs Wet T-shirt contest” on stage. First a boy came up on stage covered by water and then he lifted up his shirt, a girl had done this as well. She wanted that Dero should also show his chest, but he only showed a bit of his belly. His excuse was his straitjacket, how should he show more?! Dero was begging for some pity on these old men when they came back on stage to start with the encores. No chance - we had to sweat so they had to as well. Dero recognized now why Cologne is called the warmest city. But this had also another meaning. In Germany we call a gay person also ‘warm’ and Cologne is an important and famous city of the homosexual scene. Without a doubt this was another fantastic concert by Oomph! but we still suffer for more old tracks a bit less of the ‘Plastik’ album.