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Warndtschacht, Großrosseln, Germany
28th April – 01st May 2006
Mystic Festival 2006 Day 2: Equatronic, Heiland, Songs of Lemuria feat. Nik Page, Welle:Erdball, Unheilig, Letzte Instanz, Diary of Dreams

The second day started with rain and it was even colder. We were still searching for rain-capes while the opener was playing, so we missed them. We arrived right at the moment the second band started to play.


Equatronic

Although the band is already making music for 13 years now, we didn’t know them yet. After some changes the band members are now Dirk Gerlach (keyboards, vocals) and Oliver Thom (vocals, programming). They released six albums and are now in the studio recording the upcoming one. With their songs they took part in 23 compilations. Their music fits very well, when you’re driving the whole night through. http://www.equatronic.de/


Music
They remind us a little bit of those old classic synthie -bands of the early eighties. Unfortunately there is something missing in their songs, but we can’t even say what this could be. Maybe a little bit more dynamics or other instruments.

Performance
Oliver Thom is a little bit eccentric on stage, but his lack of movement fits to the music. Keyboarder Dirk wasn’t more enthusiastic than Oliver either. All in all it was a very short concert too.

Rating
Music   4
Performance    3
Light    - (daylight)
Sound 6
Total 4




Heiland

The German singers Nicole Heiland und Martin Otto are announced as a new dark highlight – on any Teenie-show. They released their first single “Schuldig” so far and until the festival they haven’t released an album yet. http://www.heiland-music.de/

Music
Their style reminds us of something that a commercial producer understands under the categories “Gothic” and “Dark”: a male singer with a very dark and “evil” voice and an angel-like female vocalist. The music is set somewhere between Rock and Alternative Pop. It was a very short audition because they didn’t want to reveal too much of their upcoming album.



Performance
Nicole Heiland had huge problems during the first song. She wasn’t even heard. Also she seemed to feel a little bit unsure. Maybe they realized that they weren’t the right band for such a festival. So what, Martin Otto tried to be an entertainer and did a good show for the photographers.

Rating
Music   3
Performance    4
Light – (daylight)
Sound  5
Total 4 (3.9)




Songs of Lemuria feat. Nik Page

Nik Page is a very hard-working man. As the former singer of The Blind Passengers he became a professional musician in 1994. After the split of the band he released a solo-album with the Sacrifight Army. He also works on the projects Cromax International and Songs of Lemuria now. With them, Nik Page made his dream to combine classic music with dark pop elements a reality. The first single “Shake the disease” is a tribute to his heroes from Depeche Mode. http://www.songsoflemuria.de/

Music
As it is said this is a project for putting beloved dark hits together with the elements of classic music. Of course this is interesting. Nevertheless there were also many fans of Depeche Mode or i.e. Rammstein who were getting very angry, because they had to listen to their favourite songs in strange versions.



Performance
The female singer Michaela Laubauch studied classical singing and acting and this is shown on stage. With wide gestures she supported her appearance. Together with the pianist Corinna Söller and the cellist Michael Kreyer this was their stage premiere. Nik Page entered the stage a little bit later and added the darker voice to the songs. Maybe it wasn’t already dark enough for this concert – felt a bit strange in daylight. The audience didn’t react so much to the songs.

Rating
Music   5
Performance    5
Light – (daylight)
Sound  5
Total 5




Welle:Erdball

Since 1990, Welle:Erdball are sending their program. With very classical and minimal songs they keep their loyalty to the C-64 (one of the first personal computers). They released nine fulltime-albums and some maxis so far. At the moment they are on an anniversary-tour and besides they are celebrating “10-Jahre-Hörerclub” (“10-years-listeners-club”). http://www.welle-erdball.de/

Music
As always the very pleasant singer Honey welcomes the audience. For this concert all festival guests seemed to meet in front of the stage. The show was a travelling back in history of wave-music - the minimal and retro-sound of the C-64 created its own atmosphere.



Performance
The German retro-poppers are always a guarantee for good party music. As we hoped they could use nearly all their show elements on the big stage. The female singers Miss Venus and Miss Plastic had their turning constructions and little drums. They also worked with lots of accessories. This time Honey hit a normal drum for “Arbeit adelt!” instead of an oil tank. Songs like “Starfighter F-104 G” and “Wir wollen keine Menschen sein” were celebrated by the audience. As a special highlight the band threw huge balloons with their symbols into the crowd. Because of the band’s birthday they gave some drinks to the first row. All in all, this concert was one the highlights of the festival with a band that made us forgetting the cold.

Setlist
01. Schweben, fliegen und fallen
02. Wir wollen keine Menschen sein
03. Graf Krolok
04. Mensch aus Glas
05. Happy Birthday
06. 8-Bit Märchenland
07. Starfighter F-104 G
08. 23
09. Kneif mich
10. Arbeit adelt!
11. Es geht voran
Rating
Music   8
Performance    8
Light – (daylight)
Sound 6
Total 8 (7.6)




Unheilig

The band was founded in 1999 and released their debut-album “Phosphor” in 2001. Since then, they developed into a very well-known act in German underground and a good live band. With smash hits like “Freiheit”, “Sage ja” or “Maschine” they are always present in the clubs. http://www.unheilig.com/

Music
For this concert they mixed nearly all their well-known songs and best hits. They just finished their last tour, so they could base the evening on a very good team-work. Together with the nice stage-decoration it all was fitting together for a good concert and a very professional appearance.



Performance
From the beginning Der Graf made the audience singing and dancing. He ran all over the stage and made his typical gestures. The guitarist and the keyboarder stood mostly still as usual. The fans knew nearly all lyrics and so this became a fine concert.

Rating
Music 7
Performance 8
Light 8
Sound 7
Total 7 (7.45)




Letzte Instanz

2004 was a very hard year for the band. The singer Robin, guitarist Tin and bassist FX left the band. In February 2005 they completed the line-up again with the new singer Holly. They released their latest album “Ins Licht” in March 2006. For the single “Das Stimmlein” they were working together with Eric Fish (Subway to Sally), Sven Friedrich (Zeraphine) and Thomas Lindner (Schandmaul). http://www.letzte-instanz.de/

Music
Letzte Instanz are a special band because of the use of violin and violin-cello. They played especially the songs of the last album, but these songs are really good rocking ones. The crowd partied a lot and also the band seemed to have lots of fan.



Performance
Although it was only about 5 degrees cold, there was a party-feeling from the beginning of the concert. All members of the band stood barefoot on stage. The new singer Holly did a good job and we like his voice - there is no need being sorry about losing the old singer. He also sang the old songs like “Singt Halleluja” and “Rapunzel”. The cellist Benni Cellini was banging his head nearly the whole time while violinist M. Stolz jumped and danced during his play.

Rating
Music   7
Performance    8
Light    7
Sound  6
Total 7 (7.2)




Diary of Dreams

The band released the special live-CD “Alive” last year and was on tour for some months. We saw them last at the Dark Dance Treffen in December 2005. Anyone who has ever seen them on stage knows what a special singer Adrian Hates is. For the last 17 years he developed his own special style. A Live-DVD is announced for the end of this year and we can’t wait to get it. Actually, they are on tour in the USA now, but they will also play at the Am phi Festival, Cologne in July. http://www.diary-of-dreams.de/

Music
What ever had happened before the concert, there were huge technical problems. Diary of Dreams started later and they had to stop in-between the songs. During the whole concert they were always patching something up. We worried whether they must cancel the concert or can continue. As usually they were playing fantastic songs and as always the crowd was singing and dancing. They were celebrating the greatest hits “Mensch:Feind”, “Giftraum” and – of course – the wonderful “Traumtänzer”.

Performance
Adrian Hates is a marvellous singer and a professional musician. He tried to do a good show, but it was obvious that something was very wrong. The voices of Adrian and Torben were beautiful as always, but the special atmosphere of a usual DoD-concert was missing. For a headliner on Saturday the concert was very short (about an hour).

Rating
Music   9
Performance    7
Light    6
Sound  5
Total 7 (7.4)


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