Haus Auensee, Leipzig, Germany6th to 7th October 2018
Gothic Meets Klassik 2018 Day 1 with Diary Of Dreams, Joachim Witt, Unzucht and Schwarzer Engel
Gothic Meets Klassik went into its 7th round this year and again the confirmed bands were not less than some of the best artists from the Gothic music scene and beyond. This year’s artists were JOACHIM WITT, DIARY OF DREAMS and UNZUCHT on the “Classic Day”, plus SCHWARZER ENGEL on the “Festival Day” on Saturday. As always the event consists of two parts: the first part took place at the Haus Auensee on 6th of October 2018 and the bands played there their “normal” sets as fans are used to see their bands.
Schwarzer Engel
SCHWARZER ENGEL opened the 2018 edition of the fantastic Gothic Meets Klassik event. The project SCHWARZER ENGEL was from the beginning planned as a solo-project of the singer and musician Dave Jason that gets live support from other musicians on stage. SCHWARZER ENGEL started in 2007, the first album ‘Apocalypse’ was released in 2010, followed by many festival gigs and the band got the title “Newcomer of the month” by the German alternative music magazine Orkus. Over the years 6 albums, 4 EPs and 3 singles were released. The latest release is the album ‘Kult der Krähen’. The opener of the gig on Saturday at Gothic Meets Klassik was the song called ‘Krähen an die Macht’, a song from the latest album which also got a music video. The third song of the slot was ‘Sinnflut’ that was released on an EP in 2017.
So the project has been active through the years and also now a lot is happening. Dave Jason himself calls the music style of SCHWARZER ENGEL “Modern Dark Metal”. It kinda is, I think. The music is metal with many melodies and German lyrics which makes it sometimes sound more like ‘NDH’ (=Neue Deutsche Härte), but due to the specific melodies in the songs it makes a difference to other bands in the genre. SCHWARZER ENGEL made a good opener for the evening, it was loud, theatrical and epic and the crowd enjoyed the start of the evening here a lot. The last song of the slot was ‘Schwarze Sonne’ which is a song from 2013 and so well-known to the fans. So the crowd was perfectly warmed-up for the next band: UNZUCHT. // https://www.schwarzerengel.info / https://www.facebook.com/schwarzerengelband // Setlist: 01. Krähen an die Macht / 02. Geister und Dämonen / 03. Sinnflut / 04. Meine Liebe / 05. Traum einer Nacht / 06. Königin der Nacht / 07. Schwarze Sonne
Unzucht
The next band on the schedule on Saturday was UNZUCHT. The guys are well-known for their energetic live-performances and German lyrics between provocation, fun, depth and grief. The first song ‘Wir sind das Feuer’ was the perfect start to lighten up the show and crowd. The intro was just a blast! Followed by the well-known and popular ‘Engel der Vernichtung’ the energy in Haus Auensee just doubled. At least. ‘Nela’, a song from the new album ‘Akephalos’, fitted perfectly in the setlist here. After that, Daniel Schulz asked the audience “Are you ready for a little bit of UNZUCHT (German for ‘fornication’)?” The noise from the audience made it absolutely clear: we are/ were! At this point the gig became just a great energetic party. It couldn’t get better for me with the next one: ‘Kleine geile Nonne’ is since ever my favourite UNZUCHT song.
It’s actually total nonsense (sorry :D), and so I really adore how serious Daniel De Clercq is about it while singing his parts! And the electronic music influence is so much fun, I just have to dance all the time. While Daniel De Clercq was performing his parts, Daniel Schulz played the nun a bit which was just cute. Also the rest of the gig was a lot of fun and we all celebrated as much as was possible. Great gig that made me even more excited about the show next day at Gewandhaus with the orchestra. // http://www.unzucht-music.com / https://www.facebook.com/Unzucht // Setlist: 01. Wir sind das Feuer / 02. Engel der Vernichtung / 03. Nela / 04. Unzucht / 05. Kleine geile Nonne / 06. Ein Wort fliegt wie ein Stein / 07. Nur die Ewigkeit / 08. Deine Zeit läuft ab
Joachim Witt
JOACHIM WITT came on stage wearing kind of a monk’s habit. And finally we knew who the trees belonged to. Yes, you’ve got it. From the beginning there were several trees on stage. Very nice deco actually, though a bit unusual for bands like UNZUCHT. My first association with JOACHIM WITT’s appearance on stage was “oh, Gandalf-style”. A man of higher age with a white long beard and a monk’s habit in the woods. Sorry, but how could I not think of Gandalf here? Also the first song ‘Herr der Berge’ was a good choice here. The whole show was dark and many times very majestic. JOACHIM WITT has a very strong voice and his charisma became just stronger over the years. Though personally I was sometimes somewhat confused in between of the songs by the announcements and things he said. But others didn’t seem to be so confused so maybe it’s been due to the fact that I haven’t seen JOACHIM WITT so often live. Nevertheless the performance was great.
My personal favourite was the older song ‘Das geht tief’, it had so much dark and deep attitude in it. Also many songs from the new album ‘Rübezahl’ were performed. JOACHIM WITT introduced some of them like ‘Mein Diamant’, written by Chris Harms (LORD OF THE LOST) or ‘Wiedersehen woanders’ written by Martin Engler (MONO INC.). The new fitted great in the setlist. Of course, one of the highlights was ‘Die Flut’, this time without PETER HEPPNER, though one of the band members did a great job here, singing the parts of PETER HEPPNER. Respect! The most celebrated song, maybe of the whole night, was ‘Der goldene Reiter’. Honestly not my song and it’s a bit difficult for me to understand the fascination about it, but let’s just blame my ‘young age’ here again. All in a very unique and fascinating performance. // http://www.joachimwitt.de / https://www.facebook.com/joachimwittmusik // Setlist: 01. Herr der Berge / 02. Ich will leben / 03. Wofür du stehst / 04. Agonie / 05. Mein Diamant / 06. Eis und Schnee / 07. Leben und Tod / 08. Wiedersehen woanders / 09. Das geht tief / 10. Die Flut / 11. Der goldene Reiter / Encore: 12. Strenges Mädchen
Diary Of Dreams
Finally it was time for my personal and the headliner of the day: DIARY OF DREAMS. Following the band for about 14 years now and being a big fan of their work, it was no brainer that we instantly had to buy the tickets for Gothic Meets Klassik the day the bands were announced. To see this band with an orchestra was a must! But first things first: on Saturday we got an extraordinaire rock show that made me as long-time fan perfectly happy. Favourite songs from the last album ‘hell in Eden’ mixed up with all-time favourites from long time ago. After the tree decoration was removed from the stage, it seemed a little bit empty first, but actually great for the show of DIARY OF DREAMS. The musicians were all full of energy and it was obvious that they had a lot of fun on stage.
I was very happy to hear ‘Epicon’ from the latest album live again as it is one of my favourite songs on the release. Even on CD it has a very epic sound, but listening to it live on stage made me immediately a huge fan of that song last year during the tour where the new songs were performed for the first time. Unfortunately I was not able to make it to more shows during the tour, so I was insanely happy about hearing it again. But also some older treasures made it into the setlist and on stage like ‘Kindrom’, ‘Giftraum’, ‘Soul Stripper’ or ‘The Curse’. Adrian’s voice was just on point and the whole band performance made the show in the very packed Haus Auensee to a night to remember and made me just more excited for the next day. ‘Butterfly:Dance!’ was an epic finale for this perfect show and a bridge for the orchestral show the next day.
Adrian Hates excused himself for not coming out after the gig as he wanted to save his voice for the big day and admitted that he was going to be pretty nervous about it. This is one thing I really love about the event: even for musicians with a long experience on stage playing with a whole orchestra some of their songs is a very special and unforgettable experience and it is so exciting to see it as a fan. So the Saturday ended and left everyone just more excited for the next day. // http://www.diaryofdreams.de / https://www.facebook.com/officialdiaryofdreams // Setlist: 01. Made in Shame / 02. Epicon / 03. Kindrom / 04. The Wedding / 05. Charma Sleeper / 06. Sinferno / 07. Listen And Scream / 08. Soul Stripper / 09. Malum / 10. Giftraum / 11. Traumtänzer / Encore: 12. The Curse / 13. Undividable / 14. Butterfly:Dance!
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
Comments powered by CComment