Beatsteaks - Dortmund 2008

Beatsteaks

The Beatsteaks were founded 1995 in Berlin. Like many others they try the classic line-up with guitar, bass, drums and vocals resulting in Punk Rock mixed up with Hardcore elements. They did not take part in any band contests at first but recorded right away a demo (‘Beatsteaks - Die Erste’) and sold it 1,000 times. After that success they felt ready for the first band battle in their home city and won it right away. Part of the price is a support slot for the SEX PISTOLS. 1997, the band was signed by the HNO label and released the first long player ‘48/49’ and from now on, their career skyrocketed with several chart positions or the win of an MTV Music Award. Heavy touring and several released leaded finally to the release of the latest album ‘Limbo Messiah’ in spring 2007. Today, you can call the BEATSTAKES on of the most important German alternative rock acts. The BEATSTEAKS are Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß (vocals and guitar), Peter Baumann (guitars, vocals), Torsten Scholz (bass), Bernd Kurtzke (guitars) and Thomas Götz (drums). http://www.beatsteaks.org/ / http://www.myspace.com/beatsteaks



Music & Performance
Already before the band entered the stage you could hear various “Beatsteaks! Beatsteaks!” screams through the audience accompanied with rhythmic clapping. The fans were really euphoric. Well, they had to wait quite a while until they could finally see the band on stage. The stage was hidden behind a big black curtain and when the first sounds floated through the hall, anyone was looking for the band. Soon, singer Arnim was appearing in front of the curtain, walking on the stage rim from one side to the other and finally unveiling the stage and the musicians who already took their places. When the third song was over and the photographers did not leave the pit fast enough, Arnim right away commented this situation: “Photographers please leave the pit, this is a dance event”. The funny case was that such a statement did not come from the security but from stage. Accompanied by loud applause, the press crew left the pit and the band on stage the band shifted to the second gear. Finally, the evening with the BEATSTEAKS was really going to start. No metre on stage is left unused; any contact to the audience is used to the max and soon all the fans know: the guys on stage wanna party! Why was the show in Dortmund cancelled in December? Voice problems was written in the press release than. But you could not realize any vocal problems during this evening in Dortmund.



With every song the band was increasing their joy in playing and was pushing their fans to extremes. People in the venue followed any advice from stage, might it be clapping, waving arms, jumping or even pleasing the crowd to sit down just as DIE ÄRZTE do it. Even though the venue was not totally sold out, latest after the first songs the attendees must have been happy about this fact. It was a boiling pot anyway. From the back part of the floor you had the chance to watch the stage show and calm down a bit and take a deep breath before going back into the jumping mob. There was no escape from the Berlin crew. “Today is Monday, but imagine it was Saturday! Dortmund! Partly like on a Saturday!” In our job you can experience lots of shows and some of them are extraordinary, but there are moments where you tell yourself: “This gig I will remember”. According me, I had goose bumps for the second time during this evening and I was asking myself if the band can stand this level until the end. Just let me tell you: they could!