2raumwohnung - Essen 2007

Weststadthalle, Essen, Germany
24th March 2007
2raumwohnung, Werle & Stankowski

On Saturday 24th March 2007 we went to the WESTSTADTHALLE in ESSEN to enjoy 2RAUMWOHNUNG and their support on their current tour. I hate the WESTSTADTHALLE because this location is boring and without charm in my opinion, but anyway I was curious to see 2RAUMWOHNUNG because I've never see them live on stage. I didn't know the support band WERLE & STANKOWSKI I and so I was curious to see them too.


Werle & Stankowski

WERLE & STANKOWSKI were founded in 2003 and consist of SIMON WERLE (electronic necromancy) and JOHANNES STANKOWSKI (vocals, physical instruments). The debut album ‘Your Show’ was releases in 2004, followed by the EP ‘The Sound of my Guitar’ in 2005. The second album is called ‘Listen to Werle & Stankowski’ and was released in February this year. http://www.werle-stankowski.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/werlestankowski



Music
An acoustic guitar and the distinctive voice of Johannes were supplemented by a lot of electronic necromancy of Simon; the output was a good mixture of campfire-music and pop - very nice to listen to and with recondite lyrics. The set run about 30 minutes and included eight songs inclusive the current single ‘After all’.



Performance
The show started just in time at 8 o’clock. First the band introduced itself and after it they started with ‘Sound of my guitar’. The barefoot singer performed the songs very soulful and dedicated. Simon - behind the synthesizer - was dancing all the time and we could see that they had a lot of fun to perform their songs. The light was moderate. Altogether a bracing gig that intrigued to more.



Setlist
01. Sound of my Guitar
02. Throw your Life away
03. Lady Grey
04. After all
05. I like it
06. Lost in Love
07. In this World
08. Today

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




2Raumwohnung

The Berlin based duo started in the vivid club scene of Germany’s new capital. The success story of 2RAUMWOHNUNG began with a few chords of ‘Wir trafen uns in einem Garten’ for a TV commercial in 2000. Since then, 2RAUMWOHNUNG have completed several successful tours, leaving their mark on clubs and large festivals in Germany, as well as in Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Spain and Russia ... to name only a few. The third album of 2RAUMWOHNUNG ‘Es wird Morgen’ was recorded with a drummer and a guitarist who also joined their tours in 2004 & 2005. The brand new album ‘36Grad’ has been released on February 2nd, 2007. Now, the band is touring with their live band all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 2RAUMWOHNUNG are INGA HUMPE and TOMMI ECKART; on stage they will are supported by some musicians: a drummer (Daniel), a keyboarder (Jansen), 2 guitar players (Heine and Carsten) and 2 background singers (Bart [beard] and Nichtbart [no beard]). http://www.2raumwohnung.de / http://www.myspace.com/2rw



Music
Electronic sound meets guitar, meets the distinctive warm and soft voice of INGA completed by the powerful live drums - beautiful German pop songs powerful presented by an energetic live band. The set started with ‘Spiel mit’, followed by different songs, eight of them taken from the brand new album ‘36Grad’, completed by older well-known songs like ‘Ich und Elaine’, ‘Garten’ or ‘Sexy Girl’. The main set was finished after about 80 minutes by ‘Besser geht’s nicht’, but on the request of the crowd they came back three times to play encores. After about two hours the show finished finally with ‘Lotus’.



Performance
Eye catcher on stage was Inga - the charismatic female singer who was dancing and animating the audience during the whole show with her singing; behind her the musicians were arranged - in the centre Tommi, on right side Daniel behind the drum set, on left side Jansen behind his Keyboard and inside left Heine with his guitar. In the background were 12 large TV sets arranged showing nice artworks during the show. At some songs the band was supported by an additional guitar player and two male background singers - called Bart [beard] and Nichtbart [no beard]. At one song Inga herself played an additional keyboard too.



The show had some interactive parts as well: at the 4th song ‘Ich und Elaine’ - a song about friendship - some fans in pairs from the crowd were lifted to the stage and during the song ‘Freie Liebe’ (free love) a girl from the audience was permitted to enter the stage and kiss the drummer during the song - very crazy. Altogether a diversified and sweeping show which made the audience going home very satisfied.



Setlist
-----------------------------------
20. Lotus

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.75







All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/)
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