Diary of Dreams - Görlitz 2009

Diary of Dreams

There is no need for a detailed introduction of this band anymore. Since 1989, DIARY OF DREAMS enchants a still growing fan base all over the world with beautiful and at times fragile tunes. Already 1.5 years after ‘Nekrolog 43’, the latest album ‘(if)’ was released on 13th March 2009. In this release was going to be celebrated with this special concert today. DIARY OF DREAMS is Adrian Hates (vocals, guitar), Gaun:A (guitar), D.N.S. (drums) and Torben Wendt (keyboard). http://www.diaryofdreams.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/diaryofdreams



Music & Performance
The first concert after a CD release is always something special. You do not know before how the new songs will sound live. You do not know any setlist. And so, we all were waiting anxiously for the show to start. But first, the stage had to be set up, line-check had to be done and our tension was still growing until finally the lights went down and the band entered the stage one after another. Adrian as last one put on the guitar and started the tape. It was very silent in the room. Hearing the first sounds coming out of the speakers you still did not recognize which songs was coming up now. Familiar sounds were confusing the ear. But finally the opener of the current album - ‘The Wedding’ - opened the set much to the excitement of the audience and much to mine, did I already mention that this song would give a great opener. And it worked! Even though I still could imagine the drums and guitars even more powerful, it was already great as it was presented.



The whole set was quite fast and energetic. After a new song as opener, ‘UnWanted?’ from the previous release ‘Nekrolog 43’ and one of the all-time fan favourites ‘The Curse’ continued the set. Very remarkable when listening to the older songs were the little, sometime more and sometimes less obvious, variations in the arrangements. Here a new piano lone, there adjusted guitar riffs or re-worked drum parts… with the adjustments older songs you already listened to several times never get boring. ‘Choir Hotel’ from ‘(if)’ was the next new song in the set and already people were singing along the refrain… “The words of a wise man are not worth a dime…” It was obvious that the band, and especially mastermind Adrian Hates, were keeping an eye on the reactions of the audience. But don’t be worried! The new songs were received very well! After ‘MenschFeind’ and the fast version of ‘AmoK’ one of the ‘(if)’ songs followed which I really wanted to hear live! Thank you guys for ‘Odyssey Asylum’! “Please let the rain fall down on me; please let me feel the miracles of life”. With this line I was diving deep into another world.



Right after ‘Odyssey Asylum’ we got ‘Regicide’, the second song of the ‘G(if)t’ bonus CD. With its power this song was pushing fast forward and emerged as a brilliant choice for the live set. The band did not offer any time to take a breath and went on strait away with the fantastic ‘Hypo)crypticK(al’ and my all-time live favourite ‘Soul Stripper’ with the fantastic drum solo delivered by D.N.S. all the light were on him during this solo and it was good like that. Speaking of the lights… the set up was really fantastic and well adjusted this time. For solo parts and special lines, it was concentrated on drums or on Torben on the keys. In other times the whole stage was illuminated with colourful flickering lights. For the afore mentioned ‘Soul Stripper’, a staccato of bright strobe lights flooded the stage while for upcoming calmer songs, gentle spots were illuminating the persons of interest, in that case mostly Adrian and Torben. It was a big pleasure just to watch.



Next song coming up was the German tongued ‘Wahn!Sinn?’ from the latest release just followed by one song I wished most to hear live: ‘Poison Breed’ with its harsh guitar riffs. With such a great performance it did not matter at all that Adrian repeated the wrong verse. An embarrassed smile proved that he as well recognized this fault. Did that matter? No! Just a little smile about such sympathetic behaviour must have been visible in my face as well. With ‘Chemicals’ and ‘Kindrom’, the main set ended with a big bang. Big smiles in their faces, the band left the stage for the first time. But 14 songs were of course not enough to satisfy the crowd at the Kulturbrauerei. Loud and long clapping brought the band back on stage. Shouts for ‘ButterFly:Dance!’ could be heard out off the audience and exactly this song was presented now followed by ‘The Plague’ with its strong guitar chords.



The band left the stage again. But a DoD concert would not be a DoD concert without ‘Traumtänzer’, right? When the band came back on stage, it was this song bewitching the audience. German and Polish (yes, we were very close to the border) people were singing al together “wirst du mich nie verstehn, wirst du denn nie verstehn, hast du noch nie gesehn wie meine Augen glitzern” while Adrian was standing in a bright spot while the rest of the stage was sinking in deep red light. Again, the band left the stage. And again, the audience wanted more. And so, Adrian and Torben returned for a very last song. Loud applause was not ending and so, Adrian started with the words “we do a little exercise now. You are silent and we are as well… with piano”. Still, people were clapping and screaming (maybe not all in the audience understood this statement done in German?) and so, Torben just started with Scott Joplin’s ‘Entertainer’ causing very loud laughs. Finally, the guys on stage started with an - again newly arranged and very touching - version of ‘She and her Darkness’. That was finally really the end of the set leaving happy faces all around.



So, what is left to say? Even though some of the new songs I really wanted to hear, like ‘The Chain’, ‘The Saint’, ‘King of Nowhere’ and ‘Colours of Grey’ (latter one seems to be a wish of many fans like I heard around me), were missing, the setlist was just amazing and contained more new songs than I expected. The band was not always confident with the new songs, but it was already a great foretaste of the upcoming tour where I think the songs will be even more powerful than already presented. And maybe the band adds a ballad out off the new album as well. The light show as fantastic too and let me just add, Gaun:A looked very elegant in his new outfit. Were we happy and satisfied after the show? Yes, we were!