Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany14th March 2015
Eisbrecher & Märzfeld
Not for the first time did EISBRECHER perform in Oberhausen's Turbinenhalle in their almost 13 years long band history. Some days before, the Ruhrpott show of the tour for the new and sixth record ‘Schock’ sold out, also because of the practical Saturday evening date. That came with no surprise as the new long-player received overall positive criticism in contrast with its calm and partly schlager-esque predecessor ‘Die Hölle muss warten’. Alexander Wesselsky and his colleagues brought their Bavarian friends MÄRZFELD for support.
Märzfeld
Parallel to this band, singer Hellfried “Heli” Reißenweber and his five companions Mike and Matthias Sitzmann (guitar), Bora Öksüz (bass), Michael Frischbier (drums) and Thilo Weber (keyboards) have been active in the RAMMSTEIN cover band STAHLZEIT since 2004. The band’s third record ‘Nackt’ will be supported by a tour in November/ December 2015. The first single ‘Es bricht’ was introduced by the sextet at their support gigs. And not only that: The band offered several CDs with the new song for free after the end of their shows to old and new fans. https://www.facebook.com/Maerzfeld / http://www.maerzfeld.de/
Music & Performance
Before MÄRZFELD began their show with a nine-songs lasting set with ‘Vaterland’, EISBRECHER front man Wesselsky and guitarist Jürgen Plangger entered the stage to entertain the quite filled venue with a short and apparently not very well-trained play improvisation from Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's ‘Nathan the Wise’. Of course they gave some “wise” and social-critical thoughts along the way to their fans, as usual. Afterwards, MÄRZFELD rocked their discography for almost 40 minutes without presenting any RAMMSTEIN covers. They ended their set with ‘Stalingrad’, another song from the ‘Nackt’ record which will be released sometime during this year. Unsurprisingly, the band and their catchy songs were granted more than the usual polite applause by the many German Rock/ NDH lovers.
But as usual with bands in this genre: they are only moderately unique, especially the vocals of Heli Reißenweber resembled RAMMSTEIN frontman Till Lindemann way too much during the performance. Being ultimately necessary for STAHLZEIT cover shows in order to be as authentic as possible becomes more of a curse outside this context. A similar fate has happened to their colleagues from HELDMASCHINE. Those who hope for sound innovations are at the wrong address with MÄRZFELD.
Setlist
01. Vaterland
02. Ich flieg
03. Hübschlerin
04. Maerzfeld
05. Fremdkörper
06. Es bricht
07. Treibjagd
08. La petite morte
09. Stalingrad
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 6.2 / 10
Eisbrecher
Originally formed out of the band MEGAHERZ in 2002, Alexander “Alexx” Wesselsky (vocals), Jochen “Noel Pix” Seibert (guitar), Achim Färber (drums), Rupert Keplinger (bass) and Jürgen Plangger (guitar) have become one of the top bands of the Neue Deutsche Härte (NHD) genre and sell out in great regularity venues of a capacity holding a few thousand people. Before their headliner show at the upcoming Blackfield festival in Gelsenkirchen the quintet from Fürstenfeldbruck came down handsomely to present some of their new songs from the current record ‘Schock’ in the Ruhr area. http://www.eis-brecher.com / https://www.facebook.com/eisbrecher
Music & Performance
The show began less shocking at exactly 21.15 with the current record opener ‘Volle Kraft voraus’. After the subsequent ‘So oder so’, Alexx took some time to greet the numerous children in the gallery which were rocking to the music with the usual, over-dimensional ear muffs. Of course he didn't miss to mention to their parents that some X-rated words will be mentioned in the next two hours... The set was constituted of forceful and loud songs, half of the songs were from ‘Schock’ and the other half were older songs. The music was supported by a wonderfully aligned lightshow with a big LED screen which also functioned as a kind of “sing along help” for some songs. This wasn't probably necessary in the sold out venue - which was crowded by 2,500 people - as they proved more than once and especially during the classic ‘Miststück’ which is usually played by the end of the show.
‘Miststück’ was probably as entertaining as the unsuccessful trumpet solo by the front man before the start of ‘This is Deutsch’. Some visitors who have already seen the band several times might criticise one thing: EISBRECHER play always the same, old songs, last year's jubilee tour forms an exception. Why former live stunners like ‘Phosphor’, ‘Zeichen der Venus’ or ‘Angst’ have been ignored completely for years remains a secret of the band. Though, a danceable version of the ancient success ‘Schwarze Witwe’ - having some club potential - stirred some attention. Despite the poverty in surprises, no visitor left the Turbinenhalle in the heart of Oberhausen unhappily. The mighty ballad ‘Schlachtbank’ finally closed the show after two hours with EISBRECHER proving once again why they have developed from a secret tip to a festival headliner. They are simply entertaining!
Setlist
01. Volle Kraft voraus
02. So oder so
03. Antikörper
04. Willkommen im Nichts
05. 1000 Narben
06. Noch zu retten
07. Leider
08. Prototyp
09. Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn
10. Schwarze Witwe (Remix)
11. Zwischen uns
12. Rot wie die Liebe
13. Vergeissmeinnicht
14. This is Deutsch
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15. Eiszeit
16. Verrückt
17. Miststück
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18. Schlachtbank (ZZ)
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.2 /10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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