Taubertal Festival - Rothenburg 2006 (Day 1)

Taubertal Festival, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
11th – 13th August 2006
Taubertal Festival Day 1: Blackmail, Millencolin, Bif Naked, Wir sind Helden

The festival started at the early Friday afternoon. At this time we were still sitting at work and that’s why we missed the first concerts. We arrived with the last sound of ‘Die Happy’. We just saw one song, but we were impressed by the powerful singer Marta. We haven’t seen them on stage before, but we had heard some good things about them. It is all true. They were still rocking the area at the last song. It must be a pleasure to take pictures of them. We will try to get this opportunity at any other time.


Blackmail

Reading this name on the program, we knew that we already saw them anywhere, but we just could not remember. The band from Koblenz, Germany, was founded in 1994. The members Aydo Abay (vocals), Kurt Ebelhäuser (guitar), Carlos Ebelhäuser (bass) and Mario Matthias (drums) found each other by a notice in a music magazine. They got their first record deal in 1996. Until now they released seven albums and got part on the soundtrack of the German movie “Kammerflimmern”. http://www.blackmail-music.com/



Music
Right from the beginning the voice of singer Aydo reminded me of Brian Molko (Placebo). The voices are really similar and I remembered wherefrom we knew them. They got the video for a song in a heavy rotation on German music television and I thought this was the new single of Placebo.

Performance
The voice is the only thing which reminds of Placebo. Only Aydo was moving on stage. The other members were standing still nearly the whole concert. Although they were making good rock music they acted not very emotional.

Rating
Music 5
Performance 5
Light 6
Sound 8
Total 6 (5.6)


Millencolin

They were announced as a skater band from Scandinavia and so we just didn’t know what to aspect.  The band was formed in 1992 by Erik Ohlsson (guitar), Mathias Färm (guitar) and Nikola Sarcevic (vocals, bass) in Sweden. Fredrik Larzon (drums) joined the band in 1993. Millencolin as a word derives from the skateboard-trick melancholy (also known as "sad air") because of their passion for skateboarding. Since 2003, the band has hosted a skateboard contest at their own skate-park in Örebro, Sweden named the Millencolin Open. There are rumours about a new album to be released in 2006/2007. http://www.millencolin.com/



Music
It wasn’t the “skater music” we expected. They played good Ska music with influences of rock and some punk attitudes. Maybe this is the new “Crossover” style.

Performance
They really looked very unspectacular, but they did a good show. With lots of energy and fun they animated the audience from the beginning. There was a huge round of dancing and jumping people in front of the stage and the security guys became lots of work pulling the crowd surfers out of the masses.

Rating
Music 5
Performance 6
Light 8
Sound 7
Total 6 (6.1)




Bif Naked

I felt so excited seeing this exceptional woman live on stage. I already knew her from the time I was reading the Rolling Stone Magazine. She is one of the “Enfant terrible” in rock business. There is no comparison with any other female singer actually. Born in India and adopted by American missionaries, she is now living in Canada. Until now she released seven fulltime albums and a greatest hit album. She took part of some soundtracks, i.e. “Buffy”. http://www.herroyalmajestysrecords.com/bif

Music
With the combination of good old rock music and her deep voice, she is one of the exceptions in the rock world of our time. She had some good musicians with her and they played prevailing songs of the latest album “Superbeautifulmonster”. Unfortunately the concerts at this festival overlapped and so we had to go to the main stage in the middle of the concert.



Performance
I have to be honest. I’m so disappointed of her performance. That’s not the fault of any problems with her voice or the music. It was her behaviour. I haven’t seen her before, so I don’t know how she acts normally. I also don’t know whether she was drunk, but this was not funny. She sang in a good way and moved a lot and wanted to animate the audience to sing with her and have fun. Her comments between the songs were so bad. She mumbled and told about her likes and dislikes, about the hobbies of her and the other band members. We learned that she likes soy milk and riding her BMX. Nearly at the end of the concert she even lost her microphone by falling down into the security’s row. That is so sad. Her music and style (she is tattooed all over her body) is so impressive and I still like her music so I hope that this evening was an exception.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 2 (and I’m so sad about that)
Light 8
Sound 8
Total 6 (6.2)




Wir sind Helden

This German band got so much support by the German popular media, that they aren’t “alternative” anymore. With their song “Guten Tag” they released one of the surprising hits four years ago. They are part of the renaissance of German rock music like Mia. or Silbermond. Although they just released two albums they are one of the leading German rock bands. The members Judith Holofernes (vocals) and Pola Roy (drums) are married and Judith is pregnant at the moment. http://www.wirsindhelden.com/

Music
We were surprised. They were very good. Their combination of rock with very pop-related melodies is very successful. If this will be part of the “normal” music on radio stations in the future that is a good development.



Performance
Although singer Judith is pregnant, she did a very good show. She was jumping as fast as she could and danced a little bit. With her pleasant behaviour she convinced also the critics (like us). The other musicians supported her and animated the audience too. They made them jumping and singing, although they were already singing yet. Sometimes Judith sang so fast that we could not understand the lyrics, but that’s the only point to nod at. This wasn’t a problem for the audience anyway because they all knew the lyrics.

Rating
Music 7
Performance 8
Light 9
Sound 9
Total 8 (7.9)



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