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Cologne, Germany, Live Music Hall
25th April 2006
Mesh & Mechanical Cabaret

It has been a very long time of waiting, but finally ‘We Collide’ the new Mesh album was released on Friday 31st March 2006. If you live in Germany then it's easy to get the album through stores like Saturn, Media Markt and Karstadt as well as online via Amazon and iTunes. The lucky German fans can also buy a Limited Edition of the album (CD+DVD) which is a limited pressing. With that special packaging you get to hear demos of some of the album tracks plus videos and a behind the scenes report of the making of the album. The album is available worldwide on iTunes since 31st March apart for Russia, Greece, USA, Japan and Scandinavia where separate deals exist. But ‘Amazon.com’ has the album in store as well.

It’s just a year ago that Mesh were in Germany for playing the Bochum Total festival, where they already performed two songs of the recent album: ‘Step by Step’ and ‘Open up the Ground’. But it’s always great to have them back and ‘here we are on course again’ and were looking forward to hear more of the new material live. Besides us so many other people had found the way to Cologne. The hall was filled, so this evening just had to be successful. 2006 – Some People Meet Others Collide!


Mechanical Cabaret

They have made many appearances around the UK at various club nights, supported such bands as ‘Fad Gadget’, ‘Karl Bartos’ (of ‘Kraftwerk’), ‘Suicide’, ‘Sigue Sigue Sputnik’, ‘Sheep On Drugs’ and now ‘Mesh’. They also headlined at such places as Camden Underworld, The Garage in Islington and several times at Electrogogo in Soho’s Madame Jo Jo’s where Roi also joins Mark Moore (‘S’Express’) and Frankie D as one of the resident DJ’s every Thursday at this renowned electrodisco / electropunk / no-wave club-night which has recently been voted No.1 UK club by The Guardian! As Rob Dyer (Dark Star Organization Website )said: “ Mechanical Cabaret are not the ideal first date to take home to meet your Mum…brutally frank and decidedly English black humour..!”
’Mechanical Cabaret’ are: Roi Robertson (Songs, Synths, Computers, Electronics, Vocals), Tobi Chandler (Live Lead Synth and Backing Vocals) and Bruce Lovelock (Live Synth, Bass).
http://www.mechanicalcabaret.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/mechcab 



Music
When they started to play my first thought was “Soft Cell”. Great synth sounds and beats together with Roi’s voice often remind of Marc Almond (singer in ‘Soft Cell’). You could hear the influences of not only ‘Soft Cell’ but also of ‘Fad Gadget’, ‘DAF’, ‘New Order’ and of course ‘Depeche Mode’. Just a little bit of everything when you think about Synth-Pop. But the band gave their songs a personal note and it was definitive one of these support bands, when you think “damn why haven’t I heard about them before”? Songs like ‘Disbehave’ or ‘See Her Smile’ were very catchy right from the start. A great surprise was to hear a cover version of ‘Fad Gadget’s’ ‘I Discover Love’. Well done guys!



Performance
Three really cool and mysterious looking men entered the stage. Two of them were standing behind their keyboards and the front man just knew how to pose. The lights were perfect for their sound - most of the time red or blue. Roi must be a chain-smoker or he was just too nervous, but I don’t think I have seen him without a cigarette longer than a minute. Roi asked the crowd “Wie geht’s”? (“How are you?”). He said that’s the only German sentence he knows. Sometimes he was taking photos of the crowd what must have been a strange picture, because not many people were moving - but the guys always got a great applause after each song. I guess everyone was just starring at the stage to see what will happen next - because Roi knew how to move. He was posing and moving real sexy endlessly. Sometimes it had a gay touch, but don’t get me wrong, it was in a positive way, a little bit ‘Roi’s Horror Picture Show’. Near the end of the show he took off his shirt and as well you could see the hot pants he was wearing under his trousers. Before they left the stage, Roi said: “Thank you for your attention, for the band you didn’t come to see”. There was no doubt about it, you have found a lot new fans after that gig, because you are everything else than cheap and nasty!

Setlist
1. Cheap and nasty
2. I don’t know where…
3. Alter me
4. Blank canvas
5. Don’t murder me
6. Disbehave
7. I discover love
8. Nil
9. See her smile

Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 7
Light  7
Total 8 (7.7)






Mesh

‘Mesh’ began through a chance meeting when Mark Hockings saw a poster in the canteen of the factory he was working in, promoting a gig by a local band at the Bristol Bridge Inn, a then long-standing venue for bands in the Bristol area. Mark was a keyboard player in another band at that time, but this poster looked interesting. It all started from there. Richard played / programmed keyboards in the band, and after a brief conversation after the gig, they arranged to meet at Richards home to try out some material. The first track, ‘Waste of Time’ might have been, and was pretty rough, but it was a good first attempt, and it was obvious there was some kind of chemistry here. Richard Silverthorn had been in a band previously with Neil Taylor, and asked if he would like to join what then became ‘Mesh’.
http://www.mesh.co.uk/ / http://www.myspace.com/meshwecollide / http://www.mesh-fanclub.de/



Music
They began the show with the wonderful ‘Petrified’, which started slowly, but turned into a dance song after about a minute, so they didn’t lose any time to begin the party. With the second song the riddle was solved why there was a second microphone stand in front of the stage. Richard left his place behind the keyboard and was playing guitar. During the concert also Mark was playing guitar as well, first time during the brilliant ‘Step By Step’. All songs had a new gown especially because of the live drums - more powerful, but not too much. Very striking was the drum sound during ‘Little Missile’, but it was just the way it has to be. Unfortunately Richard and Neil’s voices were very low when they were singing background vocals. Mark’s voice and all the instruments were much louder. Mark dedicated ‘It Scares Me’ to someone who celebrated his birthday at the concert and before they started with ‘Friends like These’, Mark introduced their new friend on stage: Gary, the drummer! What also makes Mesh very special is that they are one of the rare bands who also play B-Sides of their singles, this time for example: ‘Soul’, ‘From This Height, or ‘Let Them Crush Us’. Their new version of ‘From This Height’ drove the audience completely mad. Everyone was already sweating, but there was no other way than jumping up and down and be part of the song. Mark waved good-bye, but Richard, Neil and Gary just kept on with such a great instrumental part – it was just amazing. It could have been a perfect end of the show, because the mood couldn’t get better anymore. But everyone was shouting for more and got one more song. Mark, Richard and Neil - have it your way, see it your way, you're the one on top now and this was your day.



Performance
First thing you could see when you looked towards the stage was a big video screen in the background. Two keyboards and drums were in front of it. When ‘Mesh’ came on stage after ‘Mechanical Carbaret’ it was such a radical change – like the bad boys were gone now it was time for the good ones – it was just the look of the guys, the whole stage which was filled with bright and colourful light and the bright big videos on the screen in the background. As we knew it from earlier shows before, the video projections were some of their video clips and other scenes - also with their lyrics shown on it. Mark was never an active front man, but his unmistakable voice and the music caught you and you just had to dance and clap your hands. Okay sometimes the people nevertheless still needed incentive of Neil and Richard. If you missed the tour you still have the chance to see ‘Mesh’ live this year when you are planning to visit the “Wave Gotik Treffen” in Leipzig or “M’era Luna Festival” in Hildesheim where they will perform too.

Setlist
01. Petrified
02. What are you scared of
03. Not prepared
04. Is nothing sacred
05. Step by step
06. Leave you nothing
07. No place like home
08. People like me
09. Fragile
10. I don’t expect to be right
11. This is what you wanted
12. It scares me
13. Little missile
14. Friends like these
15. Can you mend hearts
16. Crash
-----------------------------------
17. My hands are tied
18. Soul
-----------------------------------
19. Open up the ground
20. From this height
----------------------------------
21. Let them crush us

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 9
Total: 8 (9.1)





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