Diary of Dreams - Sheffield and London 2008

Corporation, Sheffield and Dingwalls, London, UK
27th and 28th September 2008
Diary of Dreams, Sieben, Adoration, Swarf, Deviant UK

We have done several shows in Germany this year already… as well as shows in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Paris and some festivals as well. When DIARY OF DREAMS announced two shows in the UK it was more than clear that we would also go to see those concerts taking place in Sheffield and London end of September 2008. And what could be better than being on the road with friends, see the world and experience great concerts?


Sheffield 27th September 2008

Our trip already started in Friday 26th September when three of us met at a hotel in Bremen from where our flight would go on early Saturday morning. After some wine and nice chats, with a lot of plans and expectations we fell asleep just to get up a few hour later. Arriving at the airport we met the last member of our “travel group” and the journey was up to start. Manchester airport welcomed us with wonderful warm autumn weather. We just had to check out the trains to Sheffield and soon we found the right one. At early afternoon we arrived at Sheffield station and took a walk to the hotel to enjoy the beautiful weather. After checking in we took care of some refreshments and started exploring the city.



Of course we first were checking out where the club was the concert shall take place and to our pleasure it was just around the corner, not even five minutes walk. Perfect! In good old “tradition” we then took a walk over the wonderful Victorian grave yard which is more a part today. Soon, the evening was coming closer and it was time to get ready for the concert. When we entered the club, it was already quite hot in there. We learned later that the air condition was broken. So, this would become a very hot night... not only because of the band playing on stage. The room where DIARY OF DREAMS were going to play was pretty small which promised a very intimate atmosphere. But before the German band was entering the stage, there was of course a support act.




Sieben

SIEBEN is the one-man project of Matt Howden, a Sheffield based artist who say his influences are “good food, unusual weeds, earthy things, love, lust, trees and travel.” Sounds not usual? Indeed! This man is doing something not too common on stage. When he started playing, just armed with a violin and loop pedals, it did not really sound live. Maybe he saw some question marks in our faces when he soon stated than anything was played live… and that in a special way. He is playing some parts on his violin and then looping those parts adding more totally different lines played with his instrument and accompanying it with his voice. Matt is not only playing the violin in the “usual” way, he is also using his mouth or chimney or hammering on the strings and the wood with his fingers what of course creates very new sounds. It is really as he says… the built, layer on layer, by violin and loop pedal and he sings over it. His songs are surely nothing for anyone but it was in fact a new discovery. If you are interested in this artist now… check out one of his releases, ‘Desire Rites’ (released October 12th 2007) is his most personal one, as he says. http://www.myspace.com/matthowden7




Diary of Dreams

There is no need for a detailed introduction of DIARY OF DREAMS anymore since we reported extensively about this band in the past. Following the release of the latest album ‘Nekrolog 43’ in October 2007 was an extensive tour through Germany, Russia and some more European countries in the first quarter of 2008 followed by several festival appearances. Now it was finally time for Adrian Hates (vocals, guitar), Gaun:A (guitar), D.N.S. (drums) and Taste (keyboard) to play two dates in the UK starting with the Sheffield gig on 27th September. ttp://www.diaryofdreams.de / http://www.myspace.com/diaryofdreams



After the 30min show of Matt Howden it was now time for DIARY OF DREAMS to start, eagerly awaited by the people in the room. It was already very hot in there and after the show, after lot of clapping, screaming and dancing, we were totally sucked. But let’s start at the beginning… The stage was pretty small and so, it was pretty crowded up there. The ceiling was that close over the heads of the guys that I sometimes feared Adrian would hit his hands when reaching out. But luckily THAT did not happen. From the very start band and audience were in a very good mood. As for the audience, I would not have expected such a good mood because British people are always a bit cool, what not means that they cannot celebrate as they proved at the Corporation in Sheffield. The whole set was a bit shorter than during the winter tour and contained a little less songs from the latest album. Nonetheless it was perfect… nearly… because a DoD show is always much too short. I already said that there was great mood on stage? Well, especially Adrian was acting like rarely before, pushing anyone up, letting people sing into the microphone more often that I have seen before and later thanking all the fans in the audience and the “handful of people following us around the planet”.



The favourite part of the set for me was again the triple ending the main set - most energetic ‘Soul Stripper’, ‘Kindrom’ and ‘The Curse’. When the band has left the stage, soon loud cheers and even German “Zugabe” yells (no, it was not even our small German group screaming that) brought the band back for ‘Giftraum’ and ‘PaniK?’, ending the set after another break with the familiar lullaby ‘She and her Darkness’ - always a special moment when Adrian is deeply sunk into this song only accompanied by Taste’s gentle piano lines.

Setlist
01. Nekrolog 43
02. The Plague
03. Chemicals
04. She
05. UnWanted
06. Butterfly: Dance!
07. Hypo)crypticK(al
08. MenschFeind
09. AmoK
10. Traumtänzer
11. Soul Stripper
12. Kindrom
13. The Curse
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14. Giftraum
15. PaniK?
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15. She and her darkness (acoustic)



After the show, we had time for some refreshments - which we heavily needed - and some nice talks. Since our hotel was just around the corner, we went to bed quite early after the show to be fit for the upcoming day we planned to spend sightseeing in London before the second UK show.


London 28th September 2008

After a few hours of sleep we started the Sunday also quite early. We planned to be in London early afternoon to have enough time for sightseeing. Since two of our group have never been in London before, we planned a “tourist sightseeing route”. But first, before we could start with that, we had 3.5 hours train ride to stand which was, as you can imagine, very funny with a lot of laughing - might be very common when four girls are on the road looking forward the things coming up.



After arriving at St. Pancras station, we just bought our travel cards and entered the underground for Tower Hill. Our tourist rout let us from the Tower over the Tower bridge, walking along river Thames to London Bridge passing the HMS Belfast battle ship and the London Dungeons. From London Bridge station we took again the tube to Westminster and then walking from the Houses of Parliament to Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. From Leister Square we too the underground again to Camden Town where we were exploring the markets, checking out the position of the club and having some food. At around seven we entered the Dingwalls where three more bands were going to play this evening before the headliner DIARY OF DREAMS was on the bill.




Deviant UK

The club was pretty nice; I lived it with the low stage and different levels for the audience. It was not very big, but perfect for such concerts. First band of the evening and already playing when we entered the venue were DEVIANT UK, formed in 2004 as the one man project of Jay Smith who is joined for live performances by BJ Johnson and Simon Clewlow on live keys. The show at London was presented by Jay and Simon who had to put up his keyboards besides the stage because on stage it was already too full with all the equipment of the following bands. Also Jay did not have much room to perform. Even though there were not too many people present at the club at that early time the mood was already pretty good and DEVIANT UK were warmly welcomed. http://www.myspace.com/deviantuk






Swarf

Second band of the evening were SWARF from Brighton. The band was formed in 2001 by Liz Green (vocals and lyrics) and Andrew Stock (synths, programming). Chris Kiefer (synths, programming) joined the band later. I have never heard of that band before but they are not unknown in UK; they already toured with ULTRAVOX veteran John Foxx and released several tracks already as well as the debut CD ‘Art, Science, Exploitation’. The band's original following stemmed from the Goth and Industrial but more recently the group have moved away from their original audience and seem to have found a niche in the dance scene. At their gig at Dingwalls, several of their fans were presented and created a loud coulisse for the show. Liz has a beautiful touching voice, just at some songs it did not really fit in my opinion. Nevertheless they won my heart with the cover version of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘In your room’ which was presented at the end of the set. http://www.swarf.info/ / http://www.myspace.com/swarf






Adoration

ADORATION, the band coming next, is a name you should keep in mind. Formed in 2003 by Stephen Carey (guitars, programming) together with vocalist John Stone, the band already supported bands such as RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY and ALL ABOUT EVE. Together with Lee-Anne Burgess joining them on bass they recorded the debut album ‘Sleepwalking’. Recording the album was a lengthy process due to Steve's other musical commitments (NFD, Eden House). On stage, the band is supported by three mode musicians: Rob Leydon (guitar), Chris Milden (NFD - guitar) and Simon Rippin (drums). With all in all six musicians the stage was really crowded and no on was able to move away from the place he was standing. But it was not the show that counted; it was all about the music - a mixture of Wave, Goth Rock and Dark Pop.



You could hear that the band was influenced by such bands as THE CHAMELEONS, THE CURE or COCTEAU TWINS. The songs found directly their way into the ear and you could sing along at least the refrain very fast. I loved it, especially the song ‘Same as it ever was’. The band also had gathered a lot of fans in the audience, building up human “towers” as you know it from concerts of FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM and such. http://www.myspace.com/adorationuk

Setlist
01. Sleepwalking
02. Closure
03. Slow Motion
04. Touch the Water
05. Same as it ever was
06. Broken Sky
07. Overground




Diary of Dreams

When it was finally time for DIRAY OF DREAMS to enter the stage at around 9.30, the club was totally crowded and anyone was in best mood to welcome the guys from Germany. I had the impression that the overall mood in the club was even better than the day before and the fans were louder… singing louder, clapping louder and screaming louder. What a welcome for the band! Cool Britons? No way! It was amazing and also the band was impressed. With the low stage they had today, they could even prove real fan contact when Gaun:A and Adrian were stepping onto the speakers built into the audience area several times. Countless arms were reaching out for them and people sang every line of the songs with their favourite band.



The setlist of the evening was again the same as during the show in Sheffield starting with ‘Nekrolog 43’ and ‘The Plague’ from the current album followed by several fan favourites such as ‘Chemicals’, ‘She’, ‘MenschFeind’, ‘AmoK’ or ‘Traumtänzer’. The rocking end of the set - again the triple from the previous day - was again the time for Adrian loosening his hair and banging like a madman - angry and full of emotions. I am impressed by every show again how much he lives his music during every single show - and let me tell you I have seen a lot so far! You hardly find any musician nowadays who really means what he is singing about. The gentle end of the show was again ‘She and her Darkness’ and this time this song was nearly plucking my heartstrings when memories and emotions were coming up.