C-Club, Berlin, Germany
2nd November 2013
Faun & Jyoti Verhoeff
During their current tour, FAUN also stopped at the C-Club, Berlin, which opened about an hour late that evening. This, however did nothing to diminish the audience’s excitement. What did diminish it somewhat, was the fact, that the concert-hall was by far too small to accommodate as many people as were there. Probably the only complaint I heard that evening – and sevenfold I did hear it – was about standing tightly packed from stage to exit without any place to move. Quite a shame, since the place itself is a rather beautiful concert-hall, but definitely for smaller audiences…
Jyoti Verhoeff
Opening act on that evening was Dutch/Russian JYOTI VERHOEFF, a duo consisting of Jyoti Verhoeff (singer, songwriter, piano) and Maya Fridman (cello, vocals). According to their website, “with their instruments, voices and beautiful compositions they lure you into the depth and welcome you in the marvellous land of imagination, where nothing is predictable anymore and yet everything is recognizable.” Jyoti taught herself playing the piano and she plays it expressively. Jyoti says "When we play, we abandon the sinking ship of this reality and let the sounds of the deep blue silent ocean take us where we are no more than ourselves." Maya as classically trained cellist adds a passionate warm sound. She states: "When we play, the space behind my eyes opens up and I am nothing but a soldier conquering the lands of the kingdom of imagination. There I meet Jyoti and the space between us is filled with fire." Surely this was a nice opening of the evening. http://www.jyotiverhoeff.nl / https://www.facebook.com/JyotiVerhoeffMusic
Faun
FAUN is a German Pagan Folk band, which was founded in 1999 by Oliver “SaTyr” Pade, Werner Schwab and Birgit Muggenthaler (of later SCHANDMAUL-renown). Their first LP ‘Zaubersprüche’ was published in 2002 by Curzweyhl/ Rough Trade, and their 2nd album ‘Licht’ gave them a boost in popularity in 2004, introducing them to festivals all over Germany. By now, FAUN’s discography contains eight LPs, the last of which, ‘Von den Elben’, was published under the Universal label and went gold. As of now, FAUN consists of Oliver “SaTyr” Pade (vocals/ several instruments), Fiona Rüggeberg (vocals/ flutes/several instruments), Niel Mitra (synthesizer/ sampling), Rüdiger Maul (percussion/ drums), Sonja Drakulich (vocals/ percussion) and Stephan Groth (vocals/ hurdy-gurdy/ other instruments). http://www.faune.de/ / https://www.facebook.com/FaunOfficial
Music & Performance
The performance was solid. There is not that much going on at stage during a FAUN concert, but the movements on stage, the lighting and a fog-machine very effectively accentuated the music and the mood it conveyed. FAUN managed to create a beautiful atmosphere of light and sound, a short escape from reality to a world of fairy tales. The concert mainly consisted of songs from the last two LPs.(Understandable, but personally I would have wished for more of the older pieces.) It was played with an energy and passion, bands often lose after so many years on stage. But FAUN were bringing a great mood, graciously given encores and the announcement to rectify the problem of missing “dance-space” next time. 
Special notice from my side went to the first and the last songs. I have no idea, if it was intended or not, but ‘Diese kalte Nacht’ and ‘2 Falken’ went full circle. Opening with a song dedicated to the passion of new love and ending with a dirge for a lost beloved, holds its very own poetry and virtue. In itself the encore contained the highlights of the evening. As the back of the concert hall was clearing out after the last official setlist pieces, the four encores were filled with a special energy, with the band being pushed to a last effort by their audience’s pleas for more and the audience going absolutely bananas as the band’s goodbye “Wenn wir uns wiedersehen” filled the room.
Aside from a few hiccups regarding the sound (4 or 5 songs were not mixed very well) and the aforementioned missing space it made for a great and relaxing evening, sending home a very content audience.
Setlist
01. Mit dem Wind
02. Diese kalte Nacht
03. ???
04. Warte auf mich
05. Zeitgeist
06. Von den Elben (new-high-german version)
07. Iduna
08. Iyansa
09. ???
10. ???
11. Welche Sprache spricht dein Herz?
12. ???
13. Andro
14. Tinta
---
15. Wind und Geige
16. Hymn to Pan
17. Wenn wir uns wiedersehen
18. 2 Falken
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.8 / 10
All Pictures by Florian Schürmann
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