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Westfalenhalle 1, Dortmund, Germany
7th April 2008
Beatsteaks & Turbostaat

If you are looking for the best German live band, you have to think of the BEATSTEAKS definitely. Already DIE ÄRZTE asked in their song “Unrockbar”: “How can you sit still during the BEATSTEAKS…?” With their combination of Punk Rock and Hardcore elements, the guys from Berlin climbed up the top ten of the German charts and made it being support of the SEX PISTOLS. Their latest album ‘Limbo Messiah’ was released last year already, but the scheduled tour had to be postponed due to health problems of singer Arnim. Now finally the rescheduled tour had started and people could enjoy their fabulous live performance.


Turbostaat

The first rehearsals of this band from Husum / Germany took place in January 1999. After the first written song - ‘Blau an der Küste’ - soon a demo was following. The first album ‘Flamingo’ was released in 2001. With their mix of Indie-Pop-Rock and Punk, the band soon discovered territories outside their home region. The second record ‘Schwan’ was released in 2003 followed by a third one - ‘Vormann Leiss’ - in 2007. TURBOSTAAT are Jan (vocals), Marten (guitar), Rotze (guitar), Peter (drums) and Robert (bass). http://www.turbostaat.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/turbostaat  

Music & Performance
With the first Album ‘Flamingo’ the bands bridges Washington Hardcore and German Punk. The lyrics move between resignation and aggression. First, the band was playing youth clubs, but their great shows soon claimed attention of a bigger audience. One of the numerous concerts was attended by Thomas Götz, drummer of the BEATSTEAKS and music turned into friendship. That might be the reason why TURBOSTAAT now were supporting the BEATSTEAKS.



Due to heavy traffic and some problems finding a parking lot, we were arriving very late at the venue and when I entered the hall, TURBOSTAAT were already playing. But luckily we missed not much more than one song. The setlist of the evening contained mostly songs out off the current album ‘Vormann Leiss’ such as the title track or ‘Harm Rochel’ among several others. The newer songs do not have that heavy punk attitude as older stuff and go more into the Indie direction - what is not really a disadvantage. But of course the band also played a few older songs, starting with the first song of the evening ‘M - Eine Stadt sucht ihren Mörder’. The performance was a bit reluctant compared with the one I saw in summer on the Area4 Festival. Light were pretty reduced too. Was that a typical support act thing? Anyway, the band was well received by the audience and made a good start into the evening.

Setlist
01. M - Eine Stadt sucht ihren Mörder
02. Der Frosch hat’s versaut
03. Haubentaucherwelpen
04. Harm Rochel
05. Ja, roducheln!!!
06. Insel
07. Bei Fugbaums
08. Charles Robotnik seine Frau
09. Vormann Leiss
  
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 5
Total: 6.4




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!



After and during any song, the fans were animated and they had not to be asked for long. They willingly followed - be it the split of the crowd into two sides for the “wall of love” (like Arnim called it), be it singing along all the lyrics or be it the never-ending clapping to the beat. But still this was not enough to show the deserved honour to the band. After another great song, Arnim, standing on the side of the stage, recognized: “You’re not sweating! I wanna see you sweat!” With these words the beats of the next song arose and anyone should be clear now: you will leave this venue crawling. Even a failure of a guitar amp did not upset the band. Instead of moaning Arnim was giving the Beatmaster and DJ. A small hint to the gig of SCOOTER, taking place next-door, followed. Arnim has seen their sound check and stated than he does not have something against them and compared to the Berlin “Gangsta Rappers” SCOOTER is even “cool”. So, he moved to the DJ desk while the amp was reflated, and with surprising sounds of the BEASTIE BOYS Arnim started free-styling under thunderous applause.



Yeah, the BEATSTEAKS are here to give more than just a concert and you could se the emotions jumping over to the fans. Several times during the evening the band stated how special the atmosphere in the hall is, especially watching people from stage - and you could see the crowd really perfect because it was illuminated by bright spots. Arnim also welcomes his parents who were watching the gig from the tribune and he thanks them for buying his first guitar long back in the past. Later on, in front of a glittering wall of stars, he also introduced all the band members man by man. Please give me the names of some front men being that close to the fans like Arnim was on that evening. I did not remember a single one during the evening - third time goose bumps. I admit that this was the first BEATSTEAKS concert for me and so, anything was new. But something became very clear: the fact that this was the only BEATSTEAKS show for me so far has to be changed. Not only the mood was great but also there was a lot to watch. Steadily changing backdrops or sparkling stars made you wonder, how many different stage designs this band had in stock. All those stage designs fitted perfectly to the songs and together with a fantastic light show this evening came close to be perfect.

Setlist
01. She was great
02. As I please
03. Demons Galore
04. Monster
05. Hello Joe
06. Loyal to none
07. Hot Snakes
08. Coming over you
09. Atomic Love
10. To be strong
11. Summer
12. Panic
13. -Sampler-
14. I don’t care as…
15. Hail to the Freaks
16. Jane became insane
17. E-G-O
18. Frieda
19. Hey du
20. Frieda und die Bomben
21. Hand in Hand
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22. Meantime
23. Cut off the Top
24. Let me in
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25. Big Attack
26. Schlecht

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 8


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