Grosse Freiheit 36, Hamburg, Germany19th October 2024
Camouflage - “Rewind To The Future And Goodbye Tour - 40 Years Of Camouflage”
Oh, how they were ridiculed! CAMOUFLAGE, proudly celebrating 40 years in the business in 2023, were often criticized in the distant past as “DEPECHE MODE for the poor”. What a serious misjudgement! After all, the three gentlemen from Bietigheim have not only had lucrative international hits to their name over the last four decades, most notably ‘Love Is A Shield’ and ‘The Great Commandment’, they have also always had their own style, which cannot be compared to anything else. The three-piece constantly reinvented themselves musically on a total of eight studio albums and never ceased to amaze with their creative flavours. From pop to dancefloor to dark wave and the occasional ambient, a wide variety of styles were represented.
Now the band from Swabia has returned to its old strengths after years of abstinence from the music industry. Above all, however, singer Marcus Meyn, drummer Oliver Kreyssig and keyboardist Heiko Maile are in a celebratory mood. This will be communicated to the public by giving live concerts in 2023 - finally after eight years - to mark the anniversary year. “Rewind To The Future And Goodbye” is the motto of the tour. Heiko Maile explains this slogan as follows: “The ‘Rewind’ stands for rewinding in our discography. Combined with the word ‘Future’, the whole thing is ‘rewinding into the future’, a mind game with the time before our first professional recordings, to the beginning of the whole thing, when our band still had the future far ahead of it.”
Planning for the concert tour is in full swing. According to Maile, the band wants to “sound more electronic again”, says the composer and sound tinkerer. “Many of our old songs will be interpreted in a modern way, some of the newer ones will perhaps even be realised in the sound of our early days, a mixture that plays rather freely with our previous styles. We also want to present a hopefully successful mix of audience favourites and our own preferences. In addition, videos and visual effects will play an even bigger role than before. When we celebrate, we do it properly.”
Are there already concrete plans for the visual realisation of the gigs? “We don’t want to reveal any details yet,” laughs Maile. “Just this much: we’re planning a video campaign for one or two songs with fans and people who want to help us with their own video content. We’ll be announcing more details soon on our website and on social media.” In any case, Maile is convinced that the concerts will “go back to the roots and at the same time allow the entire history of our band to shine in a new light”. The enigmatic band logo, which is characterised by “Italian futurism” and represents a reference to the future and the past in equal measure, is also a fitting link.
There are also connections between modernity and the era in which the verses were written in some of the lyrics. ‘The Great Commandment’ was conceived in the mid-1980s, when the fall of the Berlin Wall was still some way off and the “Cold War” between East and West had not yet been completely overcome. Since February 2022, the “Cold War” and the East/West conflict have returned to our planet with a vengeance. Regardless of such gloomy visions, the trio is unwavering in its vision to keep the CAMOUFLAGE story alive. Various deluxe editions, strictly limited vinyl editions and remasters will be released in the coming months. As you can see: Even after 40 years, the story of this exceptional formation is not over. And that’s a good thing.
(Michael Fuchs-Gamböck)
Additional Concert Info
Doors: 18:00
Start: 19:00
Tickets: are available for 46.75 euros (plus charges pre-sale) vie Eventim
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/414980203893066
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