RoD header

Translate

Expo, Waregem, Belgium
24th - 26th July 2009
Gothic Festival 2009 Day 2: DAF, Blutengel, The Klinik, Diorama, Henke, Winterkälte, The Birthday Massacre, Spiritual Front, Lacrimas Profundere, Monolith, Miss Construction, XMH

After we had celebrated quite a little during the night before, we were quite tired when we arrived at the festival area at around twelve. Thanks to the best merch guys ever (you know who you are) we got some good and strong coffee to wake up and so we were perfectly prepared for the bands to come during the day. Personnel highlights for me were THE KLINIK, DIORAMA, BIRTHDAY MASSACRE and DAF.




XMH (Club Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

XMH formed in 2005 after Benjamin Samson had left his former band ACTIVE DISORDER and the same year released its debut EP ‘Life’ staying in the Dutch Underground Charts for more than 6 months. In 2007, it was time to release the XMH debut album called ‘Time to Play’ off of which several songs became club hits and which received positive reviews from the press. XMH currently are working on their second album ‘State of Mind’. XMH is Benjamin Samson (music, vocals, lyrics), Isa Garcia (vocals, keys, backing vocals) and Pieter Sperling (keys, live programming). http://www.xmh-music.nl/ / http://www.myspace.com/xmh



Music & Performance
The second festival day started musically with the Dutch duo XMH and a pretty typical electro setup was expecting us at the club stage. Two synth / key towers on the left and right on elevated pedestals and a lot of space for vocalist Benjamin Samson to rush around, whilst beats were pounding off the speakers into a not so willing audience! Maybe, it was just too early to dance already. But back to Samson, rushing from left to right and screaming out the lyrics. His performance was completed with extensive gestures and at many points I had the impression of watching a madman on stage. For one song, he changed positions with keyboardist Isa Garcia and a not very convincing performance followed. Afterwards, everything flipped back to the normal setting. For me, a sober start into the second day!

Rating
Music: 4
Performance: 5
Sound: 5
Light: 5
Total: 4.6 / 10




Miss Construction (Main Stage - Peter Smets & Katrin Renner)

Since 2008, MISS CONSTRUCTION has been another project of Chris Pohl (vocals, programming, lyrics) who had already created bands such as TERMINAL CHOICE and BLUTENGEL. Together with his TERMINAL CHOICE mate Gordon Mocznay (bass, guitar) Pohl formed this new brainchild that replaced the former Electro / Industrial project TUMOR. The formation categorizes itself as Industrial Splatter Porno Pop. In April 2008, MISS CONSTRUCTION released the debut album `Kunstprodukt´. http://www.myspace.com/missconstruction / http://www.blutengel.de/missconstruction/home.htm



Music & Performance
Whoever did the planning at the Gothic Festival did not intend for the visitors to have any quiet start of the 2nd day. Those who were still sleeping after XMH, or just limped back into the main hall from their hotel / camping / car, were assured for a wake-up call with MISS CONSTRUCTION. Yes, the show was loud, hard, energetic, aggressive and whatnot of description I can throw at it - especially at this time of day. And did it end up as a nice show? Yep, it did. Even with only two people on stage, the stage looked well-stuffed, the background images matched, the audio was good, the light spot on. Either that or this reviewer was biased because of the early hour of day.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.2 / 10




Monolith (Club Stage - Peter Smets & Katrin Renner)

MONOLITH is a conceptual Electro / Industrial solo project of the Belgian producer Eric van Wonterghem. In 2004, MONOLITH released the long-player `15 Seconds´. Two years later and after extended touring in Europe and the USA, the project signed a contract with the label Alfa Matrix followed up by the recording of the full-length recording `Talisman´. http://www.myspace.com/monolith1



Music & Performance
On first glance, MONOLITH starts out as any "we do not need a microphone" set. A few synths and a laptop but that’s it. But what happens when you make that synth a vintage analogue one, throw in a big-ass mixing panel (but still use 6 mono inputs), put a laptop on one input pair and an effect box on the remaining couple? You suddenly pass the unseen line of "how it is done correctly" in the genre and people no longer mind that you walk up on stage in dark sunglasses without saying a word and get off in the same style, barely waving a hand in what could be seen as a "thank you" but then maybe it was just swatting at a fly, who knows. In the end the entire stage presence was, well, minimalistic to say the least - no matter how well performed the music was. But then not many people that were at the club stage at that point would care about that.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.5 / 10




Lacrimas Profundere (Main Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE is a German band founded in 1993 by Oliver Nikolas Schmid. Short time later he was joined by his brother Oliver Schmid. But it was not before the entrance of vocalist Anja Hötzendorfer, they drew enough attention to themselves to be able to record their debut, entitled ‘...and the Wings Embraced us’ which was released in 1995 followed by the second album ‘La Naissance d’un Rêve’ in 1997. Taking a look into the future now we’ll notice there’s been several substantial changes to the line-up and except for Oliver no one of the original crew remained. Same goes for the style of music which has become an emotive mixture of Dark, Rock, Gothic and Doom Metal.



With ‘Songs for a last view’, they’ve released their most recent record at the end of June 2008. LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE is Oliver Nikolas Schmid (guitar), Tony Berger (guitar), Peter Kafka (bass), Karl Fuhrmann (drums) and Roberto Vitacca (vocals). http://www.lacrimas.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/lacrimasprofundere

Music & Performance
They came all the way from Germany to rock the Belgian festival and they delivered in Waregem according to the audience’s reaction! LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE from Swabia, coming on stage and starting theirs right away with straight, Metal-induced Goth Rock! Everybody on stage felt very comfortable and the band visibly enjoyed themselves eager to move as much as possible. Singer Roberto Vitacca had a pleasant dark voice and thus a perfect one for this style of music. The audience, in the beginning still a bit cautious, got warm and clapped along if encouraged to do so and the band in return received applause, so everyone could be satisfied. A solid show, I’d say!

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.8 / 10






Spiritual Front (Club Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

SPIRITUAL FRONT is an Italian Music Group that has been founded in the late 1990s in Rome by guitarist and singer Simone Salvatori. Since their early days, they’re playing with lots of clichés and stage themselves in an exaggerated way, always with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. 2006 saw the release of the third album ‘Armageddon Gigolo’, which was recorded with some musicians of the Ennio Morricone Orchestra. Recent information from the band’s website reveals they’re in the final production stages of their new album ‘Roma Rotten Casino’. SPIRITUAL FRONT is Simone Salvatori (guitar, vocals), Giorgio Maria Condemi (E-guitar), Sten Puri (piano, keys), Piergiorgio Ambrosi (piano, keys), Jack Puri (E-guitar) and Andrea Freddy Nio (drums). http://www.spiritualfront.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/spiritualfront



Music & Performance
I’ve read a lot about this band and I was told they’re definitely a pleasure to watch, but still I wasn’t sure what to expect. I chose a place in the first row and waited for the things to come. First thing that came were a couple of guys in black suits and white ties, whereas the guitarist and bassist sat on stools on the edge and played their music, while Simon Salvatore was standing in the centre. Their music has a certain western feel to it on a foundation of folk and dark pop and, let’s not forget, Blues. Sounds like a very crude mixture but obviously appealing to many more people than I expected as a lot had turned up at the club stage to see them! While the opening track displayed just the elements I just talked about, the second one came up with a kind of Tango feeling and was rhythmically more complex. But as odd as this might sound at first it works and with Simone’s dark and cool voice they had also a perfect vocal part in stock.



‘Bastard Angel’ brings more action on stage, seeing Simone spinning around to the rhythm with his acoustic guitar and beautiful strings caress the ears, while during ‘Jesus Died in Las Vegas’ an intimate, longing mood took hold and one was lulled in by the soft piano and acoustic harmonies gliding around. That they also have a little rocker inside of them was proven at the end of the set when Simone threw himself down to the ground, rolling and spinning, still playing his guitar. It’s been a very intense performance and a very positive surprise for me.

Setlist
01. Cruisin
02. Shining Circle
03. Bastard Angel
04. Walk the Deadline
05. Jesus died in Las Vegas
06. Loved or Defeated
07. Song for the old Man
08. Cold Love in a cold Coffin
09. Slave

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8.6 / 10




The Birthday Massacre (Main Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

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
What happens if you have a couple of adult children form a band called THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE and let them loose on stage? Sure, they will do anything but behave and after the sounds of the instrumental ‘Before Dark’ faded and a few seconds into the first proper track ‘Red Stars’ it all started. They jumped, did spins, climbed on keys / synth just to switch back to normal again a few seconds later and bless the audience with their very own blend of rock and sense synth work, combined with the lovely voice of Chibi. Well, lovely, except when she‘s unleashing the demon best heard on the chorus of the dark and powerful ‘Blue’. However that just came later at the end of the set. First we had a couple of relatively new songs with ‘Goodnight’ from the recent album ‘Walking with Strangers’ and my favourite track off the ‘Looking Glass’ EP ‘Shiver’. All of this time, the band just threw a big party up there.



Usually, a band having such fun takes its toll on the audience and I was glad to see this happened here as well. Many just couldn’t stand still anymore and started dancing or did some heavy head nodding and the band got their reward in receiving some fair applause and cheers for their performance and from my point of view, they deserved every single clap that sounded. A little, if positive surprise for me was to see them playing their rendition of TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS ‘I Think we’re alone now’. Cheesy as hell but I just love it as I loved their show that came to an end with the aforementioned ‘Blue’.

Setlist
01. Before Dark
02. Red Stars
03. Goodnight
04. Falling Down
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: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8.3 / 10




Winterkälte (Club Stage - Peter Smets & Katrin Renner)

Udo Wiessmann and Eric de Vries formed the Industrial / Electronica project WINTERKÄLTE in 1991. In 1995, they released the groundbreaking genre classic `First Album´. Meanwhile, they are regarded as the pioneers of the Rhythm´n´Noise style and one of the leading formations of the German Industrial scene. Providing forceful and harsh electronic sounds combined with bombastic beats and distorted vocals, further albums such as `Structures of Destruction´ (1997), `Drum´n´Noise´ (1999) and `Disturbance´ (2004) made WINTERKÄLTE attain an established reputation in the scene. http://www.myspace.com/winterkaelteofficial



Music & Performance
I've restarted this review of WINTERKÄLTE for a couple of times but I've come to the conclusion that its best just to dump my notes and see where it goes from there, as the first note on the top of my list was "WTF". Some kudos need to be in place for setting up a full - being it electronic - drum kit on stage, although it broke a couple of times because of hitting various pads too hard. The "rhythmic noise" takes getting used to and counting the number of WINTERKÄLTE t-shirts in the audience a lot more people "got it" than me, and that the people in those shirts loved it was out of the question. But I cannot ignore the, again, quite static performance - outside of some "marching in place" and synth-drum action not much happened on stage. Yes its part of the show and the genre but well I might as well just plug in the CD any play it really loud at home.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.5 / 10




Henke (Main Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

Henke, and here comes the big surprise, is the newest brainchild of Oswald Henke most people now very well from GOETHE’S ERBEN, ARTWORK and ERBLAST and HENKE is about these projects; about a fresh re-interpretation of well-known songs off these projects whilst retaining the roots. HENKE is also a clash of two generations with one half of the band comprising very young musicians around the age of 20 and the other one filled with seasoned artist of an older semester and together they will tour selected festivals in 2009 and as recently confirmed play shows in 2010 as well to present a fresh Best-Of set of these three bands. HENKE is Oswald Henke (vocals), René Gruhl (guitar), Tom Bola (bass and special fx coordinator), A:lex Popp (piano, keys), Hanna Løg (piano, keys, backing vocals) and Benjamin (drums). http://www.oswald-henke.de/henke.html



Music & Performance
Just recently I have seen Oswald Henke with another one of his projects FETSCH: MENSCH and according to this experience I thought I pretty much knew what would happen when his new project HENKE entered the stage. How wrong I was - at least in parts. Oswald Henke is still a main character on stage so that hasn’t changed. In the usual a bit theatrical way he’s delivering the lyrics which are spoken-word and written on papers lying on a kind of desk, he would also use to underscore his art performance. He’s making the prose visible for the audience if it’s willing to open their minds and I can tell you at the Gothic Festival, they definitely were. However, what’s differing so much from my last encounter with his art is the interaction with the musicians he’s gathered around him; a few of them very young but absolutely gifted.



But there was one person that stood-out the most for me and I’m sure many others feel the same way. A young lady called Hanna Løg doing a superb job on the piano. Suppose she’s trained and apart from that bringing on heavenly backing vocals and melodic synth work. But her special is the way she works with mimics. I had doubts sometimes whether this was still acting or real. A huge compliment! The audience was just as impressed as I was - also due to what Henke himself did - and found no other way in expressing that with thunderous applause and cheers and was more than happy to take the huge candles given to the first row by Oswald who lit them just a few minutes ago. Seemed a bit strange to me but surely was a nice motif for a photographer. Last but not least something about the music! Fans of Henke’s other projects GOETHES ERBEN or e.g. ARTWORK could be pleased about songs like ‘Zinnsoldaten’, ‘Stadt der Träume’ or ‘Der Eissturm’ - all in fresh, dynamic and rocking costumes. Don’t now how much that’s differing from the original ones though. A rousing and impressing show I really didn’t expect to see.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.8 / 10




Diorama (Club Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

DIORAMA was founded by Torben Wendt between 1994 and 1996. His long-time friend Felix Marc soon joined him as a co-producer and keyboard player. Sometime later, bass player Bernard le Sigue and guitarist Sash Fiddler, who were fellow students of Torben and Felix, gradually grew into the line-up and last but not least drummer Marquess became a member of the band. Unfortunately Bernard le Sigue left the Band in October 2006. In 2007, the band released their fifth and newest album ‘A Different Life’, preceded by the single ‘Synthesize me’. There was no tour, accompanying the album release (Still, I do think that was a mistake, but now it’s too late anyway). The band, however, played some extremely energetic and compelling festival shows to present the album and kept playing various shows in the following time. Temporary peak were two acclaimed full live sets in February 2009 on of which taking place within the scopes of D-Day III in their home base Reutlingen, presenting some material out of the upcoming album ‘Cubed’ which still has no official release date.



But a release party end of September implies that it’ll be out around that time. We’ll see… DIORAMA is Torben Wendt (words and music, vocals, keys, percussion), Felix Marc (co-production, keys, vocals), Sash Fiddler (guitars) and Marquess (drums). http://www.diorama-music.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/dioramamusic

Music & Performance
Bad news first! Drummer Marquess wasn’t present at the show in Waregem. But even though we missed him in Belgium, the rest of the guys delivered greatly anyway. But first things first! The beginning of the set was to be differing from a usual DIORAMA festival show as we saw a huge stage piano build up in front of the cube, made of metal strings framing the respective platform with the keys (and usually the drums, but this was missing this time). All to our surprise, a stripped down piano version of ‘Leaving Hollywood’ made the opener for the set; this time and plucked the heartstrings and as you can imagine met with sheer excitement. The contrast program followed shortly thereafter with the almost complete line-up and the club-ish pulses of ‘Hla’. It wasn’t just in the first row that people started heavy dancing. Gradually more and more people joined in. But where did all those effervescent energy suddenly come from? The origin was the stage! More specifically Torben and Sash who’re literally exploding up there every time!



Looking back on my first live encounter with DIORAMA in 2007 it’s become even more of an explosive affair; Torben’s and Sash’s front action has become even more intense and compelling than before and you just can’t help but getting blown away by that. Following as the second and third song were the fan favourite ‘Erase Me’ and ‘Acid Trip’ from the upcoming new album. I’ve already heard that song a couple of times and it keeps getting better and better. “I’m stuck on the acid trip, baby!” No rest for the wicked this time, as the set continued with ‘Kein Mord’, ‘Advance’ and ‘The Girls’. Especially the latter one with its undeniable live power had the audience go wild and due to Torben’s absolutely whacked-out and raw emotional showcase I had goose bumps all over my body. The last part of the set consisted of ‘Synthesize Me’ and ‘Why’ that as is usual by now has a few “special” people starting sort of a stadium chorus, invented at a show in Zurich earlier this year. Those crazy folks!



However, under enthusiastic cheers, the band left the stage and all the sweaty masses that kept dancing the whole gig through now headed towards the exit in need of some fresh air. DIORAMA performed an excellent gig and surely has won over a few people who had just come to watch the spectacle in the first place.

Setlist
01. Leaving Hollywood (Acoustic)
02. Hla
03. Erase Me
04. Acid Trip
05. Kein Mord
06. Advance
07. The Girls
08. Synthesize Me
09. Why

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 9.3 / 10




The Klinik (Main Stage - Peter Smets & Katrin Renner)

THE KLINIK is a Belgian Industrial project that was formed at the beginning of the 1980s by the only constant member Marc Verhaeghen. In 1985, he brought Dirk Ivens (ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL, DIVE, SONAR), Eric van Wonterghem (ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL, MONOLITH) and Sandy Nys on board. After several line-up changes, Ivens and Verhaeghen remained as a duo. After the debut album `Sabotage´ (1985), THE KLINIK released full-length milestones such as `Face to Face´ (1989) and `Time´ (1991) that established its reputation as a groundbreaking formation in the Electro / Industrial genre. http://www.myspace.com/dirkivens



Music & Performance
Walking onto the main stage in their trademarked black leather cats and heads wrapped in gauze in their current live-setting of Dirk Ivens and Peter Mastbooms (DJ Borg, also VOMITO NEGRO) - Marc Verhaegen is still out for health reasons - THE KLINIK started the annual dose of Belgian classics on the Gothic Festival. Yes, VOMITO NEGRO already filled a gap on the first evening but this was the same slot as the NEON JUDGEMENT filled in last years edition. With the hard EBM blasting out of the speakers an entire VJ set was beamed onto the screen between the 2 men on stage, the VJ / synth details head banging behind his equipment and the-man-with-the-distorted-microphone relentlessly inhabiting the same 15 square meters of the stage in a front-to-back motion - stopping every now and then for what only be described as a ski-jumper-pose.



After initially calling the light technician to switch off all the lights on the stage, the technician had to help out with when the beam system went down, requesting the help of an on-site technician on stage to get everything back up and running again. Nothing that hindered the overall performance one should note that remained at a constant, and high, level. Seeing THE KLINIK on stage did good and kept an unofficial tradition alive - only wondering which band can be brought next year to provide the necessary dose of Belgian classics.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.2 / 10




Blutengel (Club Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

BLUTENGEL arises in 1998 from SEELENKRANK, the former band of initiator Christian Pohl that released with ‘Child of Glass’ its first album in 1999 and with that album began a matchless career in the Goth scene and beyond as with the kind of music BLUTENGEL creates the project had some considerable successes in the regular German album charts. The second album ‘Seelenschmerz’ hit the stores about two years later and was anxiously anticipated by the fans. The band couldn’t leave their fans waiting for new material for long and so they went to the studio again after their first acclaimed gig front of 10.000 people at the Wave Gotik Treffen 2001 to record the follow-up ‘Angel Dust’, released in 2002. With time relentlessly moving on, BLUTENGEL released album after album and meanwhile have reached an ionic status in the scene. With ‘Schwarzes Eis’, the seventh BLUTENGEL album ‘Schwarzes Eis’ in 2009. BLUTENGEL is Chris Pohl (Male voice, programming, and lyrics), Constance Rudert (Female voice, lyrics, and visual concept) and Ulrike Goldmann (Female voice and lyrics). http://www.blutengel.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/officialblutengel



Music & Performance
After THE KLINIK had just performed an awesome show I just had a reprieve of 15 short minutes until I had to start a painful walk to the club stage for the hour had struck for BLUTENGEL. A phenomenon in the Goth scene that actually isn’t so phenomenal if you just take a closer look at it. It’s a cavalry of clichés from death to suicide over fallen angels to Lucifer and on a related note, I think if Lucifer knew about the abuse of his name in these sonic experiments gone wrong he’d kick Chris Pohl’s ass to hell and the world would be a better place for all. No, seriously everyone has the right to hear what he wants but why is it that BLUTENGEL enjoy such popularity in this scene, while other bands have to struggle because their music isn’t reduced to the simplest schematics of pop music? Actually you’d have to give him credit for getting good money out of a project he’s not even backing if it weren’t so pathetic.



Let’s get to the show alright? There were a few lanterns mounted on stage dividing it into two separate “alleys”. The first one was booked for Chris Pohl and his two female accomplices and in the back usually some women fired up some pyro stuff that didn’t work well in the first place with too little oxygen left in the venue. But even as it did it couldn’t distract from the lack of emotion and anything remotely related to fun that came over from the stage. It felt like “Hey, let’s get this thing over and done with and go home then” But the numerous people that had turned up for the gig enjoyed it very much and when they were asked if they wanted more, they begged Chris Pohl to play more songs. The band surely drew a big crowd and pleased it but I will never understand why and at some point I just decided that it’s better to leave and get a beer.

Rating
Music: 1
Performance: 1
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 2.7 / 10




DAF (Main Stage - Sebastian Huhn)

DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) is a band that can be counted amongst the pioneers and influences for such genres as Electro Punk, Techno or the so called “Neue Deutsche Härte”. The unpolished, raw sound they’ve developed should as well be defining for the emerging EBM genre. The album ‘Die kleinen und die Bösen’ from 1980 can be named as prime example for this and was and is a milestone for the EBM movement, released by Daniel Miller’s Mute label. Shrank to the duo Robert Görl / Gabi Delgado-López, the band continued working on new material which found its way on the two albums ‘Alles ist gut’ (1981) and ‘Für Immer’ (1982) with which they finally made their breakthrough.



Some of the songs like ‘Der Mussolini’, ‘Die Götter sind Weiß’ or ‘Ein bisschen Krieg’ cause controversies with their provoking lyrics and more than once the two were exposed to hostilities of being fascists. When ‘Für Immer’ was released in 1982, DAF had already called it quits and every member pursued solo activities. However an album called ‘1st Step to Heaven’ was released under the DAF moniker, it was only intended for the US market and should be the only musical sign of that band until 2003 when they reunited and released ‘15 neue DAF Lieder’ as well as went on world tour after which they broke up again. www.myspace.com/deutschamerikanischefreundschaft / http://www.myspace.com/delgadogoerl



Music & Performance
After the shocking experience I just had, it was now time for something I was comfortable with! It was DAF time boys and girls and what does that mean? Dancing, fun, and dancing! For that DAF don’t need much equipment. Just a drum kit, a player for the synth stuff and most importantly Gabi Delgado-López who didn’t even start an attempt to talk to the audience in English just like some of his peers did with more or less good results. The show took off with ‘Verschwende deine Jugend’ and the sweaty adventure could begin with López marching over the stage, like a commander bringing out the lyrics. After ‘Verlier nicht den Kopf’ followed the band’s probably biggest hit ‘Der Mussolini’. Merely the starting sequence of that track was enough for the entire audience to burst into rupture and dance as if there’s no tomorrow. A bit ironic if you got the lyrics of the song correctly! Well, after that exhausting procedure, the crowd needed to calm down a bit and so the dancing to following songs like ‘Ich Will’ or ‘Mein Herz macht Bum’ has been a lot more like in an energy safe mode.



But for ‘Alle gegen Alle’ power was switched back to the max and big bunch of people took the track’s title literally and opened a pit to let all their energies run wild. Of course without anybody getting hurt! As the final song of this set ‘Der Räuber und der Prinz’ was chosen and for a little while López just set on the edge and looked what happened in the crowd which was still dancing but movements were getting lamer now with many people. They wouldn’t stop dancing though until the last beat had faded and DAF left the stage. All I can say is, they wrapped up the second festival day with a blast!

Setlist
01. Verschwende deine Jugend
02. Ich und die Wirklichkeit
03. Verlier nicht den Kopf
04. Der Mussolini
05. Ich Will
06. Muskel
07. Rote Lippen
08. Osten währt am Längsten
09. Mein Herz macht Bum
10. Liebeszimmer (Opium Mix)
11. Sato Sato
12. Alle gegen Alle
13. Nachtarbeit
14. Moschino, Heckler & Koch
15. Die Lüge (Wahrheitslied)
16. Als wär’s das letzte Mal
17. Kebapträume
18. Der Räuber und der Prinz

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8.6 / 10



Also the second festival day ended with a little after show party and some dancing before we finally fell into bed.

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), Sebastian Huhn, Peter Smets and Katrin Renner (some band intros)

{jos_sb_discuss:18}

See also (all categories):

Comments powered by CComment