Arena Berlin, Germany19th December 2008
In Extremo - Sängerkrieg / The Black Sheep
Yes, it’s a cold winter. So much the better that IN EXTREMO put the heating on full blast at the end of the last year - last but not least because of their Pyro-Show & Fire-Stuff on their stage. The guys choose the arena Treptow for their Berlin show... possibly not the best choice. The arena has although a nice ambiance but the building has not the optimal acoustics.
THE BLACK SHEEP is a young girl-band from Cologne (Germany) and signed to Roadrunner Records. Their debut album ‘Not Part of the Deal’ was produced by Peter Keller and mixed by Moritz Enders. Charly and Johanna are sisters. As kids they played classic music together, which is a really nice typification. The type of music at the moment is something between the German bands SILBERMOND or JULI paired with something like LAFEE / TOKIO HOTEL. THE BLACK SHEEP have got a tour-diary on their homepage http://www.theblacksheep.de/ which delivers little, nice background information’s. THE BLACK SHEEP is Charlotte Klauser (lead vocals), Johanna Klauser (guitar), Patricia Ross (drums) and Aurora Steffens (bass).
Music & Performance
MÄGO DE OZ (Spain) should play as support but some rapid problems made it impossible. I’m not sure why IN EXTREMO chose THE BLACK SHEEP as alternative support. Maybe due to time problems, maybe because MÄGO DE OZ were not very reliable in the past... The music was really different from the main act. But the people came to the show because of that kind mediaeval music. It seemed that the girls want to be like GUANO APES. But the impression was more like Pop music with drifts to some catchy tunes. Unfortunately - or maybe a good thing - they don’t run into a stereotype way. The girls came on stage with normal clothing: jeans, shirt, and sneakers… a chill-look. I think it’s much better to see somebody on stage with a special outfit that can be admired by the fans. I don’t know if there are fans that would say: “Yes, that’s a cool dress. I would like to wear that style.” But a good look we found at the background of the stage with a transparent which had white stars and the Logo of the band on it.
The transparent showed the different colours of the light and the illustrations stayed white. The colours of Charlotte Klauser’s voice were not much multi-faceted and the sound was embryonic yet. Optionally was it up to the sound at the location. But it was the first image of THE BLACK SHEEP and this image was taken at the arena. I had the feeling, that their performance ran offhanded so that they game away some riffs, when they bang their heads. Maybe it was the wrong audience to perform. I think younger people that are listening to mainstream rock would have had fun and would have liked the whole style of the band. At least I would say that the band could become a really good combo, if they will find their direction.
Setlist
01. On The Ground
02. My Answer
03. You Can’t Push Me
04. Come Out Now
05. Take The Bullets Back
06. Unwritten Apology
07. Game Over
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 7 / 10
In Extremo
The title song of the newest IN EXTREMO album ‘Sängerkrieg’ is a synonym for the new working of this famous mediaeval-metal-band. The Berlin-guys count on integration and complexity. New ideas, new directions but also the good old IN EXTREMO sound. The difference to the old tracks is the integration of bagpipes into the arrangement and the connection with the guitars. Michael Rhein (Das letzte Einhorn) commented on http://www.inextremo.de/ that everyone of the band put his ideas to the whole big project and it was a longer way to find out, that it would be effective for the band. A little goody for the upcoming days without seeing IN EXTREMO live: On 28th of November 2008 IN EXTREMO released the ‘Sängerkrieg Akustik Radio-Show’ including bonus tracks ‘Requiem’ and ‘En Esta Noche’ (piano version with Vincent Sorg). Moreover there is a bonus-DVD with 40 minutes documentation about the history of the band. IN EXTREMO is Das letzte Einhorn, Der Morgenstern, Die Lutter, Dr. Pymonte, Flex der Biegsame, Van Lange and Yellow Pfeiffer.
Music & Performance
As the first tones sounded, the half of the stage was left behind a big transparent and a projection of the Sängerkrieg-illustration began to move on it. The fans rejoiced as the transparent fell down. And IN EXTREMO rejoiced to see so many people they know: At home in Berlin! In the course of a short time I registered that the sound of the arena - especially at the back of the hall - was so terrible, that I can’t imagine, why a band wants to play there. The reason for IN EXTREMO was maybe the plans for the similar pyro-show like RAMMSTEIN. Maybe it would be better, if their left the pyro-show and were concentrated on the fire-breathing and played into a better hall. It felt like a big iron sheet room where the sound after a few meters only is a clangour.
The left box tower had also a problem: only a deep hum came out of the speaker; difficult to say, if the mix of the voices was right. The voice of Das letzte Einhorn was amiss to understand and everything seemed to be a sound-mash. A really freaky image was the mediaeval theme and the modern LCD-displays, that shown some forms and colours in red, green or other fresh looks. Maybe this was an experiment if modern stuff goes conform to old styles - like their music. The show was really nice and the audience was in good mood! They jumped and sang from the deepest ground of their vocal cord. The party for IN EXTREMO after the show ran until 6:00AM and a few hours later they started to Stuttgart for the next gig.
Setlist
01. Sieben Köche
02. Frei Zu Sein
03. Liam
04. Himali Tempore
05. Sängerkrieg
06. Nymphenzeit
07. Ave Maria
08. Spielmanns Fluch
09. Poc Vecem
10. Vollmond
11. En Este Noche
12. Ai Vis Lo Lop
13. Zauberspruch
14. In Diesem Licht
15. Flaschenpost
16. Mein Rasend Hertz
17. Mein Sehnen
18. Omnia Sol Temporat
19. Auf’s Leben
20. Küss Mich
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21. Berlin (Ideal Cover)
22. Wind
23. Villeman og Manghild
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 8
Total: 7.8 / 10
The concert and last year is over - full of wonderful dark music concerts. But 2009 is in planning yet, particularly for the fans. So the first dates for the Tour 2009 are set:
22.05.2009 Wacken Rocks South, Rieden-Kreuth
23.05.2009 Wacken Rocks Seaside, Aurich
01.08.2009 Wacken Open Air, Wacken
02.08.2009 Big Day Out Festival, Anröchte
07.08.2009 Taubertal Festival, Rothenburg o.T.
09.08.2009 Open Flair Festival, Eschwege
28.08.2009 Dresden - Junge Garde // + Special Guest
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