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Kulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany2nd March 2006
Unheilig, Secret Discovery
The new ‘Unheilig’ album ‘Moderne Zeiten’ was released in January 2006 and directly made it into the German Media Control Charts. Even Premiere-TV used the song ‘Ich will alles’ for advertising. Since 16th February ‘Unheilig’ is now on tour to present the new album. Steady support on this tour was ‘Maren Noel’ who released her debut album ‘Voice of hope’ last November. Second support on some of the shows was the Goth-Rock band ‘Secret Discovery’ from Bochum. The evening in Krefeld started with a little surprise: Maren just left the venue short before the show… we don’t know really why. So there was quite some hectic on stage short before nine, setlists were changed and then the guys from Bochum entered the stage to warm the very well filled Kulturfabrik up.
Secret Discovery
The brothers Kai (voc) and Falk Hoffmann (guitar) were founding the band back in 1989 together with Mathias Glathe (bass) and Michael Gusky (guitar). The first release ‘Way to Salvation’ was released in self production in the same year. One year later a small tour followed with the addition of a live drummer. The real debut album ‘Darkline’ was released in 1992 and from that on the band gained more and more fans. After lots of albums, live shows and line up changed the band now consists of Martin Hirsch (bass) – who replaced Mattes Glathe at the end of 2005, Lars Graebe (drums), Kai Hoffmann (vocals), Falk Hoffmann (guitar), Ramses Razmjoo (guitar) and Dirk Riegner (piano, keys, guitar, backing vocals). Their recent album ‘Alternate’ was finally released during the tour with ‘Unheilig’ on 24th February 2006. http://www.secret-discovery.de
Music
Sometimes the Goth-Rockers from Germany are compared with ‘The Sisters of Mercy’ or ‘Fields of the Nephilim’. And there are indeed some similarities, but than again there is this self-reliance in their music too. The sound is based on guitars, but they keyboard notes give a little extra to it so it differs from all the pure guitar based Goth-Rock bands. On that evening the band had to suffer from technical problems. They came to present their new album but just after the first song there was a break due to sound problems… the second song started but after the very mystic intro it had to be cut off. While technicians tried to fix anything Kai presented the ‘U2’ cover ‘Where the streets have no name’ with his very good voice only supported by keyboard and drums. But obviously that song wasn’t long enough to solve the problems and an even longer break followed… the sound problems were bigger than expected… anything was adjusted for Maren’s show. After several minutes when even some tape was playing music, Kai announced that they can go on: “we are back”. The songs of the recent album were very well combined with older songs, Kai’s voice was very good but the whole set was suffering from bad sound.
Performance
The show was a typical rock performance where the eyes of the audience were laying on the very attractive brothers Hoffmann. And watching Kai you saw that he’s very aware of his charisma. The mix of old and new songs and of Germany and English lyrics was well appreciated by the audience. But somehow the highlight wasn’t an own song – it was a cover version of Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell’ which made the audience move and applause. The whole set was underlined with mostly red and blue lights while a few light spots were focused on Kai. The concert was finished by Kai’s announcement of the album release concert on 17th March in Bochum.
Setlist
01. Away
02. Where the streets have no name (U2)
03. Lass mich los
04. Sieh nicht zurück
05. nichts ist mehr wahr
06. Down
07. Mein Kleiner Tod
08. Same way 7. Englisch, sehr melodisch
09. Rebel Yell (Billy Idol)
10. Hello
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 4
Light: 6
Total: 7 (6.8)
Unheilig
In 1999, the foundation for UNHEILIG was laid by Der Graf (‘The Count’). The debut single ‘Sage Ja’ was released in 1999, shot straight into the German DAC charts and became a club smash. The debut album ‘Phosphor’ followed in February 2001. Festival appearances followed. The second album ‘Das zweite Gebot’ was released in spring 2003 and was brought live to the fans on a tour with ‘L´ame immortelle’. Besides his own releases, Der Graf remixed a lot of other artists such as ‘Absurd Minds’ and ‘Terminal Choice’. ‘Zelluloid’ was then released in February 2004 and afterwards a tour with ‘Terminal Choice’ followed as well as a live CD and a DVD in 2005. The recent release ‘Moderne Zeiten’ was released in January 2006 and now ‘Unheilig’ is on headliner tour for the first time to present their album to an ever growing live audience. http://www.unheilig.com/
But despite of the huge success, Der Graf is still walking on the ground. So you could see him at the merchandise before the show talking with fans. And also after the show he could be met there. The stage looked quite impressive: a huge black backdrop was hung up showing the clock which is featured at the album artwork. Besides that were big ‘UH’ symbols as well as the band name. Tall altar candles decorated the stage… unfortunately they were not enlightened during the show – just different to other gigs.
Music
It was nearly eleven when the intro ‘Das Uhrwerk’ started and Der Graf entered the stage dressed very fancy with black suit, white shirt, black tie and fitting black nail polish. As musical support he had Niki (guitar) and Henning (keyboard) on stage. The band received a very warm welcome from the very start. And no one cared about the still quite bad sound… people just enjoyed the music and atmosphere and ‘Unheilig’s’ multi-facetted mix of traditional Electro and Rock which is married to Der Graf’s unbelievable, unique voice performing German songs. Ballads are mixed with dancier songs und just songs that rock plain straight ahead.
Performance
People might say that ‚Unheilig’ is one of the most charismatic artists around due to his appearance and presence. Well, they are not totally wrong. When he moves to the sounds you feel how deep he’s sunk into his music and that he loves to be on stage close to the fans. Remarkable is his unique facial expression. The stage design and mostly red and blue lights supported the somehow mystic feeling of the show which was underlined with – sometimes maybe a little too much – smoke that reflected the lights and scanners in a beautiful way. The audience was as deep into the show as Der Graf himself, singing along the songs and applauding a lot. The main set ended with ‘Maschine’ but of course the band was forced to come back for three more songs – along with them the varied ‘Schutzengel’ which includes some guitar solo. For the last song ‘Mein Stern’ sparkling candles were handed out and created a special mood… only the enlightened candles on stage could have made it better. With a big “Thank you” the band left the stage promising to come back to the merchandising stand after a shower.
Setlist
01. Das Uhrwerk + Luftschiff
02. Ich Will Alles
03. Goldene Zeiten
04. Sieh In Mein Gesicht
05. Helden
06. Auf Zum Mond
07. Astronaut
08. Zauberer
09. Herz Aus Eis
10. Phoenix
11. Horizont
12. Freiheit
13. Gelobtes Land
14. Menschenherz
15. Maschine
----------------------
16. Schutzengel
17. Sage Ja
18. Mein Stern
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7 (7.3)
More pics on page two and on Black-Cat-Net
{jos_sb_discuss:17}
The brothers Kai (voc) and Falk Hoffmann (guitar) were founding the band back in 1989 together with Mathias Glathe (bass) and Michael Gusky (guitar). The first release ‘Way to Salvation’ was released in self production in the same year. One year later a small tour followed with the addition of a live drummer. The real debut album ‘Darkline’ was released in 1992 and from that on the band gained more and more fans. After lots of albums, live shows and line up changed the band now consists of Martin Hirsch (bass) – who replaced Mattes Glathe at the end of 2005, Lars Graebe (drums), Kai Hoffmann (vocals), Falk Hoffmann (guitar), Ramses Razmjoo (guitar) and Dirk Riegner (piano, keys, guitar, backing vocals). Their recent album ‘Alternate’ was finally released during the tour with ‘Unheilig’ on 24th February 2006. http://www.secret-discovery.de
Music
Sometimes the Goth-Rockers from Germany are compared with ‘The Sisters of Mercy’ or ‘Fields of the Nephilim’. And there are indeed some similarities, but than again there is this self-reliance in their music too. The sound is based on guitars, but they keyboard notes give a little extra to it so it differs from all the pure guitar based Goth-Rock bands. On that evening the band had to suffer from technical problems. They came to present their new album but just after the first song there was a break due to sound problems… the second song started but after the very mystic intro it had to be cut off. While technicians tried to fix anything Kai presented the ‘U2’ cover ‘Where the streets have no name’ with his very good voice only supported by keyboard and drums. But obviously that song wasn’t long enough to solve the problems and an even longer break followed… the sound problems were bigger than expected… anything was adjusted for Maren’s show. After several minutes when even some tape was playing music, Kai announced that they can go on: “we are back”. The songs of the recent album were very well combined with older songs, Kai’s voice was very good but the whole set was suffering from bad sound.
Performance
The show was a typical rock performance where the eyes of the audience were laying on the very attractive brothers Hoffmann. And watching Kai you saw that he’s very aware of his charisma. The mix of old and new songs and of Germany and English lyrics was well appreciated by the audience. But somehow the highlight wasn’t an own song – it was a cover version of Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell’ which made the audience move and applause. The whole set was underlined with mostly red and blue lights while a few light spots were focused on Kai. The concert was finished by Kai’s announcement of the album release concert on 17th March in Bochum.
Setlist
01. Away
02. Where the streets have no name (U2)
03. Lass mich los
04. Sieh nicht zurück
05. nichts ist mehr wahr
06. Down
07. Mein Kleiner Tod
08. Same way 7. Englisch, sehr melodisch
09. Rebel Yell (Billy Idol)
10. Hello
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 4
Light: 6
Total: 7 (6.8)
Unheilig
In 1999, the foundation for UNHEILIG was laid by Der Graf (‘The Count’). The debut single ‘Sage Ja’ was released in 1999, shot straight into the German DAC charts and became a club smash. The debut album ‘Phosphor’ followed in February 2001. Festival appearances followed. The second album ‘Das zweite Gebot’ was released in spring 2003 and was brought live to the fans on a tour with ‘L´ame immortelle’. Besides his own releases, Der Graf remixed a lot of other artists such as ‘Absurd Minds’ and ‘Terminal Choice’. ‘Zelluloid’ was then released in February 2004 and afterwards a tour with ‘Terminal Choice’ followed as well as a live CD and a DVD in 2005. The recent release ‘Moderne Zeiten’ was released in January 2006 and now ‘Unheilig’ is on headliner tour for the first time to present their album to an ever growing live audience. http://www.unheilig.com/
But despite of the huge success, Der Graf is still walking on the ground. So you could see him at the merchandise before the show talking with fans. And also after the show he could be met there. The stage looked quite impressive: a huge black backdrop was hung up showing the clock which is featured at the album artwork. Besides that were big ‘UH’ symbols as well as the band name. Tall altar candles decorated the stage… unfortunately they were not enlightened during the show – just different to other gigs.
Music
It was nearly eleven when the intro ‘Das Uhrwerk’ started and Der Graf entered the stage dressed very fancy with black suit, white shirt, black tie and fitting black nail polish. As musical support he had Niki (guitar) and Henning (keyboard) on stage. The band received a very warm welcome from the very start. And no one cared about the still quite bad sound… people just enjoyed the music and atmosphere and ‘Unheilig’s’ multi-facetted mix of traditional Electro and Rock which is married to Der Graf’s unbelievable, unique voice performing German songs. Ballads are mixed with dancier songs und just songs that rock plain straight ahead.
Performance
People might say that ‚Unheilig’ is one of the most charismatic artists around due to his appearance and presence. Well, they are not totally wrong. When he moves to the sounds you feel how deep he’s sunk into his music and that he loves to be on stage close to the fans. Remarkable is his unique facial expression. The stage design and mostly red and blue lights supported the somehow mystic feeling of the show which was underlined with – sometimes maybe a little too much – smoke that reflected the lights and scanners in a beautiful way. The audience was as deep into the show as Der Graf himself, singing along the songs and applauding a lot. The main set ended with ‘Maschine’ but of course the band was forced to come back for three more songs – along with them the varied ‘Schutzengel’ which includes some guitar solo. For the last song ‘Mein Stern’ sparkling candles were handed out and created a special mood… only the enlightened candles on stage could have made it better. With a big “Thank you” the band left the stage promising to come back to the merchandising stand after a shower.
Setlist
01. Das Uhrwerk + Luftschiff
02. Ich Will Alles
03. Goldene Zeiten
04. Sieh In Mein Gesicht
05. Helden
06. Auf Zum Mond
07. Astronaut
08. Zauberer
09. Herz Aus Eis
10. Phoenix
11. Horizont
12. Freiheit
13. Gelobtes Land
14. Menschenherz
15. Maschine
----------------------
16. Schutzengel
17. Sage Ja
18. Mein Stern
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7 (7.3)
More pics on page two and on Black-Cat-Net
{jos_sb_discuss:17}
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