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Tanzbrunnen, Cologne, Germany
18th & 19th July 2009
Amphi Festival 2009 Day 1 Main Stage: Fields of the Nephilim, Covenant, Leaether Strip, Eisbrecher, The Birthday Massacre, Solar Fake, Mantus, Coppelius

The first jubilee is over and it could not have been more exciting. Who would have expected FEINDFLUG to literally play the plaster from the Rheinparkhalle’s ceiling! Fortunately no one got hurt when that 2m² sized part fell on the stage and did burst into tiny bits. Still the facility manager of the Rheinparkhalle had to close the venue for security matters… but more about that in our Indoor-Stage report. The main stage on this first festival day had a great program to offer with Goth heroes FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM headlining the stage. Furthermore you got, among others, electro heroes COVENANT and LEÆTHER STRIP.




Coppelius (Dajana Winkel)

Nothing particular is known of this mysterious band. If you take a look on their homepage you can find a “concertography” dating back until the early 19th century but the first known appearance of COPPELIUS was the farewell tour of THE INCHTABOKTABLES where they had the support slot. They also performed as support for Mila Mar, Mutabor, Fiddler’s Green and others in 2003 & 2004. A demo EP called ‘To my Creator’ has been released which also includes the first video for the song ‘Get used to it’. In April 2007 a live DVD was recorded in Berlin followed by the first time appearance at the Wave Gotik Treffen in the same year. In summer 2007, COPPELIUS signed a record deal with Fame Recordings and the debut album ‘Time-Zeit’ was released in September 2007. With ‘Tumult’, the fine gentlemen would return from their manor in 2009 to give the following fresh material. COPPELIUS is Max Coppelia (vocals, clarinet), Nobusama (drums), Graf Lindorf (vocals, cello), Comte Caspar (vocals, clarinet), Sissy Voss (contrabass) and Bastille (vocals, servant). http://www.coppelius-band.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/coppeliushilft



Music & Performance
Overwhelmingly introduced by WELLE:ERDBALL singer Honey, who then forgot the name of the band he was talking about *g*, Berlin’s time-honoured rockers known as COPPELIUS opened the fifth edition of Amphi Festival on the main stage at 12am. Butler Bastille of course spiffed and furbished the stage up before, running around with a feather duster and arranging the instruments. Finally, Bastille turned on the radio (for the intro) and the tail-coated and top-hat wearing gentlemen entered the stage delivering a wild thirty minutes lasting show par excellence of finest chamber-core music. Having released a sophomore in Spring, COPPELIUS played three songs from ‘Tumult’, added by classics from previous releases. Seeing COPPELIUS performing live is something special, extraordinary, not only because of the classic instruments and attire, but also because of the props, all these little things on stage, the slapstick and black humour.



If you ever get the chance, go and get your own COPPELIUS show! A much entertaining kick-off for a festival! Love these guys… erm… gentlemen. You know, COPPELIUS makes you happy...

Setlist
01. Transylvania
02. Der Advokat
03. Schöne Augen
04. To My Creator
05. Urinstinkt
06. Habgier
07. I Get Used To

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 8.2 / 10




Mantus (Dajana Winkel)

The project was founded by Martin Schindler around 1998 and named after the god of underworld in Etruscan mythology. Existing as a solo project already for a certain time, the first album ‘Liebe & Tod’ wasn’t released before he added his sister Thalia to the line-up for realizing a dualism of alternating male and female vocals in the song. With every New Year, a new musical chapter was added to the MANTUS diary but even though the dark scene welcomes them with open arms and they become acclaimed works within that subculture, they’ve never had real commercial success. Another fact contributing to this might have been that MANTUS never played any live shows. End of 2004, MANTUS disbanded and were said to never return, however end of 2008, the project was revived after all and with ‘Requiem’, released a new album, subsequently followed by the EP ‘Königreich der Angst’ and this year will see the first ever MANTUS live appearances as well. http://www.mantus.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/mantus69



Music & Performance
And now the time has come… for the very first live show ever of MANTUS and MANTUS didn’t start with less than the main stage at Amphi Festival. Not sure, if that was such a great idea… Well, I’m hardly ever a friend of female fronted Gothic Metal and MANTUS approved my fears. This duo, added by two live members, drowns in cheesy Gothic Metal with sickly-sweet German lyrics. Music is boring and following beaten tracks, you know, as heard umpteen times. Luckily the voice of female singer Thalia is not high-strung and “ethereal” yet inexpressive, without any charisma. Much worse her performance: she seemed to be very nervous and tensed up. Her facial expression was kind of harsh with pressed lips and her movements pretty… woodenly. Same to the other members. I think MANTUS should have played a couple of club shows before to get a bit of the feeling and routine such show needs. Nope, this band is not for me. And the world can do without too ;)

Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 5
Sound: 7
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 5.4 / 10






Solar Fake (Carsten Leopold)

Sven Friedrich, former member of the prolific DREADFUL SHADOWS and the singer and songwriter of the follow-up band ZERAPHINE, gave birth to SOLAR FAKE in 2007. However, the idea of a solo project already existed longer than that, but after the last ZERAPHONE album had been released he finally had the time to delve into it. He ended up having 12 songs finding their way on the debut album ‘Broken Grid’ out in February 2008. Soon, he would also play various live gigs at festivals and some clubs. SOLAR FAKE is Sven Friedrich (production, vocals, lyrics) who was supported live by Frank on keys. http://www.solarfake.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/solarfake



Music & Performance
Just in time, SOLAR FAKE entered the stage and started their show. Sven Friedrich is not the biggest entertainer, but he presented his songs with soul and power and the crowd was pleased by this. The show ran about 35 minutes and included eight songs. Besides their own songs, SOLAR FAKE played a cover version of RADIOHEAD’s ‘Creep’ which was already released on their first and so far only album. The space in front of stage was well-filled despite the early hour; people enjoyed the show and moved their legs.

Setlist
01. Hiding memories from the sun
02. Stigmata rain
03. (You think you're) Radical
04. Sometimes
05. The Shield
06. Creep (Radiohead)
07. Here I stand
08. Lies

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 7.2 / 10






The Birthday Massacre (Carsten Leopold)

The band was officially formed in 1999 in Canada, known at that time as IMAGICA, a name taken from a novel by Clive Barker. Having the line-up completed with a bass player, keyboardist and live drummer, the band started working on a first, limited demo. In 2001, following the departure of former live keyboardist Dank, they relocated to Toronto and recorded another limited demo with five songs. It was around that time they changed their name into THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE and shortly thereafter, in July 2002, ‘Nothing and Nowhere’ sees the light of day, independently released by the band. The following years see the band releasing the EP ‘Violet’, later re-released with expanded tracklist and updated album artwork after being signed first to Repo Records in Germany and later to Metropolis Records in America. The popularity kept growing and growing, in big parts thanks to the social network MySpace and touring.



In September 2007, the band released the album ‘Walking with Strangers’ spawning the ‘Looking Glass EP’ in May of the following year. Currently, they’re working on a new album to be released in fall 2009. THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE is Chibi (vocals), Rainbow (guitar & programming), Michael Falcore (guitar), Rhim (drums), O-en (keyboards), and O.E. (bass). http://www.thebirthdaymassacre.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre

Music & Performance
The boys of THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE entered the stage one by during the intro, followed then by beautiful and hyperactive female singer Chibi – all clothed in similar black shirts. They started their show powerful and quickly the crowd followed the animations and anyone was dancing and singing along, pushed by the rousing performance. It seemed they had a lot of fun to play this show and the temper of the crowd was great too. For me, the show of THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE was the first festival highlight and I was very pleased by the great performance.



You shouldn’t miss the band playing the “Into darkness” tour together with DEATHSTARS, DIARY OF DREAMS and DOPE STARS INC. in autumn. The whole set presented at Amphi ran about 45 minutes and included all in all eleven songs taken from the latest album as well as older releases.

Setlist
01. Red Stars
02. Goodnight
03. Falling Down
04. Weekend
05. Shiver
06. Lovers End
07. Video Kid
08. Looking Glass
09. I think we're alone now
10. Walking With Strangers
11. Blue

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 8 / 10




Eisbrecher (Carsten Leopold)

EISBRECHER was formed in 2003 after former MEGAHERTZ singer Alexx Wesselsky left the band over creative differences, co-founding member was another ex-band member Noel Pix. Then in 2004, they debuted with their self-titled album; there was a heavy outcry due to the band adding two CD-Rs as an incentive to copy the album and as a statement against the criminalization of the end-customer through the music industry. The sophomore ‘Antikörper’ became a big success for EISBRECHER charting at #85 of the German album charts. Ever busy with touring, the band meanwhile has a huge following and EISBRECHER shows usually are nearly or completely sold-out. The saga continued in 2008 with the band, releasing the current album ‘Sünde’. http://www.eis-brecher.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/eisbrecherkommando



Music & Performance
It was raining when EISBRECHER entered the stage and started their show, but a lot of people filled the space front of stage and enjoyed the show despite of the rain anyway. The show started with ‘Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein’ (Can love be a sin?) - the opener of the current album which was released in 2008. The set list consisted of songs from the latest album ‘Sünde’, such as ‘Heilig’ or ‘This is Deutsch’ combined with older songs like ‘Antikörper’, ‘Leider’ or ‘Schwarze Witwe’. The show was finished after about 45 minutes by the MEGAHERZ song ‘Miststück’ which is always a fan favourite. Also, as little tradition, EISBRECHER included a part of CLAWFINGER’s ‘Nigger’ into the set. It was the third time for the band to play at Amphi festival and it seemed that meanwhile the crowd would know every song of EISBRECHER. The crowd responded every song with applause and people were dancing and singing along the whole time.



Setlist
01. Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein
02. Angst?
03. Antikörper
04. Heilig
05. Leider
06. Vergissmeinnicht
07. Schwarze Witwe
08. This is Deutsch
09. Miststück (Megaherz)

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 7.5 / 10




Leaether Strip (J. “Niggels” Uhlenbruch)

Claus Larsen first released music under the name of LEÆTHER STRIP in 1989, however demos appearing on a later album suggest that the project commenced already several years earlier. LEÆTHER STRIP was one of the earliest and most prominent acts on Germany's now defunct Zoth Ommog record label on which he released his first album ‘The Pleasure of Penetration’ in 1990 with another collection, entitled ‘Science for the Satanic Citizen’ following that same year and continue to release albums until 1997, amongst them ‘Solitary Confinement’ from 1992, deemed today as one of Larsen’s best works and influential for a number of epigones that ,however, never really came close to its authenticity and genre-defining qualities. As of 2000 follows a dormancy period and except for a remix for German KIEW, nothing would be heard of him until 2005 he signs with Belgian label Alfa Matrix and releases the official comeback, the ‘Suicide Bombers EP’ only serving only as the start of a series of new releases out of Larsen Headquarters in the following years, finding is current apex with ‘Ængelmaker’, released in April 2009. http://www.myspace.com/leaetherstrip



Music & Performance
Before LEÆTHER STRIP’s only festival appearance in Europe this year many fans wondered how Æ mastermind Claus Larsen will pull off the show. After all he decided to perform alone, with no additional musicians on stage - unlike the legendary “Solitary Confinement” tour, LEÆTHER STRIP’s last live outing which is as far back in time as 1992! So, some people were sceptic how the performance would come across as a one-man show. Some other fans were simply overly happy to have the chance to see LEÆTHER STRIP live at all, as this was something not to be reckoned with only a few years ago. And the reports from the first few shows in Danish Aarhus, in Gothenburg and at the aptly titled Power Strip Festival in Philadelphia were all really positive. In the end, both the doubters and the optimists were right. Yes, the show would have looked better (and the stage less empty) if Larsen had invited a few additional musicians to support him. The daylight didn’t help too much here as well.



On the other hand Larsen surely rocked the stage and looked just as happy as the crowd in front of the stage. Almost all of the music was pre-recorded - no big surprise really - but it has to be said that Larsen really prepared the show with the love of details. This began with the intro, an instrumental piece called ‘The Battle of Cologne’ he composed exclusively for his Amphi gig and which even featured the bell ringing from the famous bells of the Cologne cathedral! The intro faded into ‘Strap Me Down’, one of LEÆTHER STRIP’s biggest classics and presented in a different version. Got the crowd going for sure! Claus Larsen could not stop smiling, this was after all LEÆTHER STRIP’s biggest concert ever and the response of the Amphi audience was truly a good one. Larsen had quite some gear on stage, with a single keyboard in the middle of the stage and a rack with more synths and effect devices on the right hand. A setup which kept Larsen pretty busy although he added only a few lines and sounds here and there to the playback of the HDD.

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 6
Sound: 9
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 8 / 10




Covenant (Carsten Leopold)

It’s the year 1992 and the location is Sweden, where 3 friends have just decided to form a band which would eventually be known internationally as COVENANT with the aim of producing good electronic music. An honourable intention many other electronic acts should have today. With the year 1994, the first album ‘Dreams of a Cryotank’ arrived, whose track ‘Theremin’ would become a club hit, however, not as big as the following EP’s title track ‘Figurehead’, still spinning in clubs until today. With the arrival of ‘Sequencer’ (1996) and ‘Europa’ 1998, the name COVENANT became an epitome for a sophisticated yet still club-compatible kind of electronic music and tours into every corner of the world made sure their following would grow considerably and still does it today.



In 2000, the threesome presented their fourth album, ‘United states of mind’ (“Album of the Year” at SAMA), including the singles ‘Tour de force’ and ‘Dead stars’ followed by a tour and live album ‘Synergy’. Their next regular offering would be ‘Northern Light’ in 2002. Now signed at subdivision of Sony ‘Ka2’, the album gained greater public exposure with videos of ‘Call the Ships to Port’ and ‘Bullet’ going on rotation on many music channels. It takes 4 years before the fans can get their hands on the successor and current album ’Skyshaper’. Meanwhile, Clas Nachmansson left the band and sound-wizard Daniel Myer took his place, who had accompanied the band on several live shows before. Right now those sound freaks are working on their next strike. COVENANT is Eskil Simonsson (vocals, songwriter), Joakim Montelius (keyboards, songwriter) and Daniel Myer (keyboards, synths, production). http://www.covenant.se/ / http://www.myspace.com/covenant



Music & Performance
Time for one of my favourite bands! COVENANT entered the stage, first Daniel clothed in a black suit, than Joakim with a beige suit and last but not least Eskil with a white suit and a white hat, as we have seen it on sunny open air festivals before. Once again, Eskil fascinated the crowd right from the start with his charismatic performance and when ‘20 Hz’ followed as the second song after the new song ‘Come’ was presented, the crowd already was infected by the spirit of COVENANT. Well-known songs like ‘Bullet’ or ‘Stalker’ or the nowadays rarely performed ‘Speed’ from the ‘Dreams of a Cryotank’ album were heating up the temper before a new calmer song from the upcoming album called ‘If I could give my soul’ was played. After it, the show went on with well-known up tempo songs like ‘Ritual Noise’ or ‘Call the Ships to Port’ which enthralled the audience. The crowd was jumping, dancing, clapping hands and singing along and the mood was great.



Daniel again played additional drums to some songs which gave more power to them. The show ran about 70 minutes and included 13 songs. Altogether it was a great show with mostly well-known hits and two new and yet unreleased songs which whetted the appetite to the upcoming album.

Setlist
01. Modern Ruin Intro
02. Come
03. 20hz
04. Bullet
05. Stalker
06. Speed
07. If I would give my soul
08. The Men
09. We stand alone
10. Ritual Noise
11. Brave New World (rmx)
12. Call the Ships to Port
---
13. One World One Sky

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 9.3 / 10




Fields of the Nephilim (Carsten Leopold)

This name is bound to the traditional Gothic Rock and by many people from the press as well as from the fans this band is praised as a legend. The FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM have been founded by Carl McCoy in 1984; the original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Andrew "Nod" Wright. Subsequent to the release of the first EP ‘Burning the Fields’ the first line-up change took place and Whisker was replaced by Peter Yates; already in 1986 they switched record companies to release the debut ‘Dawnrazor’. The following ‘Blue Water’ was the first FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM single to reach the UK charts. The year 1990 brought the release of the second album ‘Elizium’ and in 1991 Carl McCoy left the band after paying the rest of the band's members for the rights to the NEFILIM name and the remaining members formed other projects.



This seemed the end for the FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, as Carl McCoy focussed on his own projects until one fateful day in August 1998 when Carl McCoy and Tony Pettitt held a press conference at the Zillo Festival in Germany, announcing their future plans to collaborate under two separate monikers, FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM (along with the Wright brothers) and THE NEFILIM (an altered spelling of McCoy's solo project) and a “new” single was released, containing reworked tracks from the debut. Eventually in 2005, when no one really expected something new, McCoy released the fourth album ‘Mourning Sun’ and proved he’s still able to put all the wannabes in their places. http://www.fields-of-the-nephilim.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/fieldsofthenephilim



Music & Performance
8:30 pm - time for the headliner on the main stage. Honey, the anchorman who is known as the singer of WELLE:ERDBALL too, entered the stage but he didn't announce the headliner directly, furthermore he picked up a fan from the crowd who could take over this job. Must have been quite surprising for the guy who climbed up the stage to announce his “second favourite band” but the “greatest Goth Rock band ever” not forgetting to mention that “Carl McCoy is god” what earned him big applause. After his announcement the show was finally starting and behind a wall of fog, majestically the members of FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM moved onto stage and the whole venue was filled with the spirit of this legendary band.



The pushing sound dominated by the guitars and perfected by the dark, raw and strong voice of McCoy infected the crowd which enjoyed the impressive show very much. Powerful songs like ‘Preacher Man’ or ‘Penetration’ remembered to the glory times of Gothic rock and quickly the time went over. The main set ran about 60 minutes and was ended by the band’s probably greatest hit ‘Moonchild’ and ‘Psychonaut’. But of course this was not enough and so two more songs followed with ‘Zoon III’ and ‘Last Exit’ – great title for the very last song of the show! After about 80 minutes, THE FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM left the stage finally and closed the first day at the main stage.



Setlist
01. Shroud
02. Straight to the light
03. Preacher man
04. Trees come down
05. Love under will
06. Penetration
07. Watchman
08. Moonchild
09. Psychonaut
---
10. Zoon III
11. Last exit

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10



After the headliner on the main stage it was time for the last band in the Rheinparkhalle... no, wait! There’s something wrong. After a little “accident”, the gig had to be rescheduled to the Theater stage. Read more about this in our second part of festival report.

All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
Written by Daniela Vorndran (common parts and overall editorial), J. “Niggels” Uhlenbruch, Carsten Leopold, Dajana Winkel and Sebastian Huhn for all band intros

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