Hugenottenhalle, Neu-Isenburg, Germany
25th November 2011
And One, Camouflage, De/Vision & !distain
AND ONE was on tour again, calling it the “Sextron Fulltime Shows”. Several of the concerts were sold out, the one in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt/Main was one of the few you could still get tickets for. With two high-class special guests, DE/VISION and CAMOUFLAGE, this promised to be a great evening, being started by support act !DISTAIN.
!distain
!DISTAIN was formed back in 1992 by Alexander Braun, Oliver Faig and Sebastian von Wyschetzki. In February 2002, singer Alexander Brown and Manfred Thomaser started writing new songs, the first demo arrived at Chrom records. One year later (2003), Oliver Faig and Sebastian von Wyschetzki separated from the band to start a new project. Alexander Braun continued !DISTAIN together with Manfred Thomaser. Since the beginning it was associated with such acts like DE/VISION or CAMOUFLAGE an so, playing before those two bands was a perfect match. Through all of the years, the band had a strong fan base. Their fans or course were looking forward the release of their 7th album ‘On | Off’, which was out three years after the release of the previous work, to be exact in May 2011. !DISTAIN is Alexander Braun (vocals & instruments), Manfred Thomaser (vocals & instruments) as well as Rick Prokein (live on stage). http://www.distain.de / https://www.facebook.com/pages/distain-Official-Facebook-page/115989415111193 / http://www.myspace.com/distainmusic
Music & Performance
!DISTAIN had replaced MINERVE, who were filling the support slot during the previous shows. Since I never had seen !DISTAIN, I was looking forward the gig. Announced to start at 17:10 (I know, really early for a concert, especially on a Saturday evening) we had to wait for about 20 minutes until the band finally entered the stage. Even though there was this delay, the hall was not filled right now, but anyway there were enough people looking forward the evening to start. First surprise when !DISTAIN entered the stage was that only Alexander and Manfred would perform. But I guess that was not the reason that !DISTAIN could not fulfil my expectations at all. The vocal performance of Alexander could not convince me. Besides that, when first song ‘Confession’ sounded through the hall I felt like listening to MELOTRON. The set went on with ‘Why’ from the current album ‘On | Off’. For ‘Mandragore’, Alexander and Manfred changed duties and Manfred took over the microphone. After ‘Sex ‘n’ Cross’, the short set ended already with classic ‘Tears of Joy’ and just moderate applause, even though some people requested an encore.
Setlist
01. Confession
02. Why (Bootlicking Hypocrites)
03. Mandragore
04. Sex ‘n’ Cross
05. Tears of Joy
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 6.5 / 10
De/Vision
DE/VISION are making music for almost 20 years now and belong to the leading representatives in the synth-pop genre. Their style constantly evolved during that large time-span. First it was just ordinary synth pop, but soon they started to integrate new elements into their sound which culminated up in the release of 'Void' in 2000 which was a very unusual DE/VISION release. It was upon that time, that founding member Markus left the band. Steffen and Thomas continued with the band and returned to their old strengths with the release of the album 'Two' in 2001. The album 'Noob' was the first album, where DE/VISION equally collaborated with their producers Schumann & Bach. ‘Popgefahr’, released in 2010 continued with that collaboration. Finally, a remix album, ‘Popgefahr - The Mix’, was released in September 2011. DE/VISION is Steffen Keth (vocals, synth, composing) and Thomas Adam (synths, backing vocals, lyrics). http://www.devision-music.de / https://www.facebook.com/pages/DEVISION/24741337633 / http://www.myspace.com/devisionmusic
Music & Performance
The rebuilding break was very short and after a few minutes, Steffen and Thomas already entered the stage starting their set with ‘Twisted Story’. The mood in the audience was fantastic from the very start, people were singing and clapping during the whole show. Before the next song, classic ‘Try to forget’ started, Steffen welcomed the audience: “Good evening… I see, you’re in good mood!” And people proved when singing loudly into his microphone during the refrain. During the following songs, Steffen was holding the microphone into the audience several times, always rewarded with loud singing. People really loved the set. After ‘Ready to Die’, wonderful ‘What’s Love all about’ and ‘I regret’, a song I really love followed, ‘Rage’. And not only me loved that song, the mood in the hall was boiling! With ‘Time to be alive’ and ‘Flavour of the Week’, the show was already over… well, almost, since people heavily requested more and so, the duo came back.
Announced by the words “Now one of our classics will follow, we need to sing together”, ‘Hands on my Skin’ started marking a wonderful and emotional end of the set. Under big applause and loud screams, the band left the stage. All in all I have to say that for me, DE/VISION delivered the best performance of the evening, especially vocally.
Setlist
01. Twisted Story
02. Try to Forget
03. Ready to Die
04. What’s Love all about
05. I regret
06. Rage
07. Time to be alive
08. Flavour of the Week
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09. Hands on my Skin
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.8 / 10
Camouflage
In 1983, Heiko Maile, Marcus Meyn, Martin Kahling and Oliver Kreyssig, four friends from Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany, formed the band LICENCED TECHNOLOGY. It was short lived, as Martin Kahling left in 1984. Soon after, the remaining three members renamed themselves CAMOUFLAGE. The three young musicians set up their first studio in the basement of Heiko's parents' house, calling it "Boy's Factory". Their first live gigs at local music clubs soon followed. In 1985, CAMOUFLAGE recorded two demo tapes at their studio, and the following year, the group won a local radio music contest, after a friend of theirs handed one of the demos in. A small Frankfurt music label, Westside, showed interest in taking CAMOUFLAGE on. There, the song ‘The Great Commandment’ was recorded to be presented to bigger music companies. After considering offers from several record companies, CAMOUFLAGE decided to sign a contract with Metronome. At the beginning of 1990, Oliver Kreyssig left the band for personal reasons. In October, Heiko and Marcus began work on the third album ‘Meanwhile’ at the Black Barn Studio in England with producer Colin Thursten. Taking a different path, this album included real drums and conventional musical instruments played by guest musicians In 1997, Sony Music and Polydor released a remix album of past hits called ‘We Stroke The Flames’ and a limited edition maxi single with previously released mixes of ‘Suspicious Love’, ‘Handsome’ and ‘Love is a Shield’, albeit without input from Heiko and Marcus.
In 2004, CAMOUFLAGE signed a new contract with SPV and Heiko moved to Berlin to begin working on a new album with Oli and Marcus with Heiko taking on production responsibilities. The result was 2006's ‘Relocated’. In 2007, Polydor released ‘Archive#1 (Rare Tracks)’, a new CAMOUFLAGE compilation of rare tracks and remixes on 2 discs. Currently, the band is working on a new album, titled ‘Greyscale’ to be released in 2012. http://www.camouflage-music.com / https://www.facebook.com/camouflagemusic / http://www.myspace.com/camouflagemusic
Music & Performance
It was a while ago since I saw CAMOUFLAGE and I missed their show at WGT in spring. So I was really looking forward the show, especially since I knew the band is working on a new album and I hoped for one or more new songs. As you’ll read, my wish came true… but let’s begin with the first song starting the show, ‘Suspicious Love’, performed just by Heiko, Oliver and Marcus. I cannot remember if Oliver was playing drum pads in the past as well, but for this song, he did. Besides that, I saw Marcus more vividly dancing on stage as he did in the past. For the second song, already a new one from the upcoming album ‘Greyscale’ called ‘Misery’, the trio was joined by Jochen Schmalbach on drums and Volker Hinkel (who might be known from his work in FOOLS GARDEN i.e.) on guitars. The audience reacted quite hesitant though, I think it takes a while until people are really into the new work, but for the next one, ‘Neighbours’, people were waking up accompanying the song with loud clapping. Also Marcus did recognise the good mood: “Hessen rules!” Following songs ‘I Can't Feel You’, ‘We Are Lovers’ and ‘Dreaming’ received a lot of applause as well. Then, Marcus changed the role as main vocalist with Oliver, who sang ‘Confusion’.
After ‘That Smiling Face’ and ‘Me & You’ one of the biggest CAMOUFLAGE hits followed: ‘Love Is A Shield’ where people were singing the chorus all on their own. Then it was time for a second new song called ‘Shine’ which was received better by the audience. Uber hit ‘The Great Commandment’ finally ended a great set and CAMOUFLAGE cleared the stage for AND ONE.
Setlist
01. Suspicious Love
02. Misery (new song)
03. Neighbours
04. I Can't Feel You
05. We Are Lovers
06. Dreaming
07. Confusion
08. That Smiling Face
09. Me & You
10. Love Is A Shield
11. Shine (new song)
12. The Great Commandment
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.2 / 10
And One
No need for a long introduction for AND ONE, as the Berlin-based Synth trio is one of the most popular bands from their genre. Founded in 1989, when Naghavi and Ruiz were young teenage club-goers at places like the famous Linientreu in Berlin, AND ONE soon released their first EBM floor-filler with their debut single ‘Metalhammer’, released on Machinery records in 1990. The first album, ‘Anguish’, followed in 1991 and marked a very prolific era for AND ONE. Up to 1994 the band released one album per year, plus several singles and EPs. By the mid-90s AND ONE had established their profile with simple but hypnotizing and catchy Electro meandering between the sonic worlds of Synth Pop heroes like early DEPECHE MODE or CAMOUFLAGE and the straight EBM tunes of pioneers like NITZER EBB and FRONT 242. The hit single ‘Deutschmaschine’ (1995) is a fine example for the typical AND ONE sound, with a significant AND ONE bass line (did they ever change the sound of their bass lines since then?), simplistic yet charming melodies, lyrics which wander from darker issues to a very ironic, tongue-in-cheek style, and last but not least Steve Naghavi’s recognizable voice. Signing to major label Virgin in 1997 granted AND ONE some chart success in their home-country Germany but after a longer break they signed to an Indie label, Out Of Line, in 2006 to release the album ‘Body Pop’, followed by the compilation ‘Bodypop 1½’. The latest Album ‘Tanzomat’ was released in March 2011.
The release of a new single is announced for early 2012. Furthermore, for next year a new tour is announced, the “Cover for the Masses” tour, where 50% DEPECHE MODE will be played. After the ‘Tanzomat’ release, long-time band members Gio van Oli and Chriz Ruiz left the band and formed PAKT. AND ONE now is, besides Steve Naghavi, Joke Jay and Rick Schah, who were in the band before Chriz and Gio joined in. http://www.andone.de / https://www.facebook.com/ANDONEoffiziell / www.myspace.com/andoneofficial
Music & Performance
Well, here they were, AND ONE. Much discussed during the last month, I was not sure if they could convince me. They said with the new old line-up, they are a real band now and also playing stuff live. Well, let’s see how that turned out! Accompanied by the intro ‘Ice’, Steve, Joke, Rick and additional keyboarder Felix (at least we understood steve introducing him with that name. to be true it is Nico Wieditz) entered the stage with half an hour delay at 20:30, first just posing for the audience (receiving a lot of screams) before anyone except Steve was hiding behind his instrument in the back of stage giving nearly whole stage to Steve, to celebrate more or less his One-Man-Show starting with classic ‘Techno Man’ making people freak out right at the start. After ‘Love & Fingers’ and ‘Love You to the End’, the CURE cover ‘The Walk’ was next followed by ‘Shining Star’ and ‘Sometimes’, a song being close to Steve’s heart, as he stated. After ‘Seven’, AND ONE presented two new songs to be released on the upcoming album: ‘Wounds’ and ‘Memory’. As Steve said, they were just testing the new songs. Well, I was not convinced, just another typical AND ONE piece with simple sounds, both sounding as you had already heard them before. Than, one of the rare highlights of the show followed with Joke presenting his song, ‘High’. After ‘Traumfrau’ and ‘Electrocution’, Steve was vocally supported by Joke for classic ‘Deutschmaschine’ and ‘The Aim Is In Your Head’. I need to say that I missed the simple power in songs like ‘Deutschmaschine’. With the new adjustments, the songs did not sound like EBM anymore but more like fluffy Synth Pop.
After ‘Schwarz’, Steve said: “Up to this point of the show, we pretended to play a serious concert. That’s over now. Now, the party’s starting!” And the party started with ‘Für’ and single ‘Zerstörer’ followed by stomper ‘Metalhammer’. With ‘Recover You’ and ‘Get You Closer’, two older pieces came up next and then it was time for the last song ‘Playing Dead’ and then, the band stepped forward to say good bye… while the music was just going on without anyone standing behind an instrument! If you know AND ONE shows, you know that there would be lots of more songs. So, after quite a long waiting time, the band returned. But before the show continued, Steve had to ask people for help: He told that a crew member lost the key to the band van in the hall and anyone has to have a look for it… otherwise they had to carry their equipment home. So, people were having a look but I did not recognize anyone finding the key. And well, you never know if this was serious or just another one of Steve’s jokes. After hinting to the after show party, where he might also spin some records, the show went on with ‘Timekiller’, ‘Military Fashion Show’ and ‘Body Nerv’ in the first encore bloc. The next bloc of three songs was made of ‘Krieger’ where some snippets of EURYTHMICS’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ were woven in, ‘Speicherbar’ and ‘Wasted’. Latter one contained some snippets of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘personal Jesus’. After ‘So klingt Liebe’, the finally last song of the evening was announced with the words “Without Depeche Mode no And One!” “Let’s celebrate what we love”, Steve was screaming into the audience and anyone there celebrated the last song ‘Enjoy the Silence’, being a foretaste to the upcoming tour.
To sum this show up: Even though the audience really seemed to love the concert (except the ones who left already after CAMOUFLAGE), AND ONE could not convince me at all. The re-arranged older songs sounded whitewashed and I had the impression that the additional simple keyboard lines were only added so that Rick and Felix had something they really could play live. Joke on percussions was mostly not really audible (I think the percussions are really useless) and there was nothing really added to the show, except his singing during ‘High’. And even though Steve proclaims AND ONE is a real band now, I still had the impression this AND ONE show was only Steve’s thing and the other three people on stage are just alibi musicians. All three were standing far in the back, not very close together, so you did not have the feeling to see a real band on stage. In the past, Gio and Chris have not added something to the show musically, but in my opinion, the new crew didn’t either… For me, there is no need to see another AND ONE show. The highlights of this one were the two special guests DE/VISION and CAMOUFLAGE.
Setlist
00. Intro: Ice
01. Techno Man
02. Love & Fingers
03. Love You to the End
04. The Walk (The Cure cover)
05. Shining Star
06. Sometimes
07. Seven
08. Wounds (New Song)
09. Memory (New Song)
10. High (Joke Jay)
11. Traumfrau
12. Electrocution
13. Deutschmaschine
14. The Aim Is In Your Head
15. Schwarz
16. Für
17. Zerstörer
18. Metalhammer
19. Recover You
20. Get You Closer
21. Playing Dead
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22. Timekiller (Project Pitchfork cover)
23. Military Fashion Show
24. Body Nerv
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25. Krieger (with "Sweet Dreams" snippet by Eurythmics)
26. Speicherbar
27. Wasted (with "Personal Jesus" snippet by Depeche Mode)
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28. So klingt Liebe (Acoustic)
29. Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode Cover)
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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