Hafenklang, Hamburg, Germany16th January 2020
The Foreign Resort - “Outnumbered” Tour 2019 - Special guests: Golden Apes
The new year is still young, but the concert highlights don’t let us wait long for them - one of the first highlights on my list that I’ve been looking forward to was the show of THE FOREIGN RESORT and GOLDEN APES on that Thursday evening in January at Hafenklang with the best view to the Hamburg harbour, a packed venue and a lot of good, melancholic vibes.
Golden Apes
GOLDEN APES from Berlin are an institution in the international Wave and Gothic scene from their early beginnings in 1998. The melancholic and restlessness of the lost one’s is reflecting in the poetical lyrics and the compositions that live from the aesthetically beautiful, driving, gloomy sound of the string instruments. Their latest album ‘Kasbek’ once more shows the slightly hidden beauty of their music that opens up to those who mean to really listen to and let the music touch their souls. http://www.goldenapes.com / https://www.facebook.com/GoldenApes
Music & Performance
GOLDEN APES started the evening with the opener of their latest album ‘Kasbek’; ‘Oblivion’ picked the audience up right where it was important to do so. The atmospheric music and performance immediately caught the right vibes and the audience was listening spellbound. The stage was pretty small, so I hardly could see Christian as he was “hiding in the second row”, but these are the special features of playing smaller underground venues. Anyway Hafenklang is a venue I really enjoyed and the atmosphere here was very cool. ‘Voykova’, another song from the new album that was performed, also convinced with the flowingly beautiful melancholy filled with the vibes of the lost thoughts. Four out of the nine songs that were played, were taken from ‘Kasbek’.
It’s been mesmerizing to watch the guys play their instruments and Peer, smoking one cigarette after another and becoming one with the words he was singing - a fascinating band and heartfelt music. For everyone into Goth Rock and Dark Wave an absolute must in case you’ve managed to somehow miss them before. ‘Ferryman’ and ‘Happy Losers’ were the songs to finish the set and definitely make the crowd dance.
Setlist
01. Oblivion
02. Ignorance
03. Voykova
04. Deliverance
05. Verify
06. Sleep
07. Kasbek
08. Ferryman
09. Happy Losers
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 6
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
The Foreign Resort
As the GOLDEN APES, also THE FOREIGN RESORT released an outstanding album in 2019. ‘Outnumbered’ has received a lot of positive feedback and also caught me right away with its diversity and being even darker than the previous (and also one of my favourite albums) creation ‘New Frontiers’ (highly recommend you to listen to both if you consider to check them out). The Post Punk and Wave vibes stand out presented with the magic of the remarkable guitar and bass lines, the sophisticated drums and the quite addictive vocals. As the band is active for more than a decade now and has played way more than 500 shows you’ll experience what’s so inspiring about them once you see them live. Attention, you might fall in love with the music, the vibes, and the energy on stage. It’s honestly the most satisfying thing to watch the three of them play their instruments. http://theforeignresort.com / https://www.facebook.com/theforeignresort
Music & Performance
It was good to see that the people living in Hamburg are still going to concerts even on weekdays, although you can consider Thursdays being the “little Fridays” as Mikkel also mentioned at some point them being called in Denmark - we treat it kinda the same in Germany as well - so more people are willing to leave their sofa again and get into the weekend mood. Anyway it’s not that natural that venues fill up like that unless it is weekend. But fully deserved as pretty much everyone would confirm after the show, I believe. ‘In Gloom’ picked up the mood that GOLDEN APES already created and brought up more of the dark tension. The catchiness of their songs along with the specific signature sound of THE FOREIGN RESORT are reflecting in the performance all the way. The shows feel always so close since Mikkel does not miss on interacting with the audience.
‘Cheers’ and stories are shared and suddenly it does not feel like there is a band on stage and the audience in front of it (though the difference wasn’t that high at Hafenklang anyway), but everything is just melting in together inviting everyone to have a great time while dancing to the songs about melancholy, human doubts, the darkness in our minds and all the things that are left when everything that once meant the world disappears. ‘Send Your Heart To The Riot’ and ‘Suburban Depression’ are full with the desperate, yet strong rebellion. The crowd is dancing, the drinks are disappearing and refilled quickly. It’s getting hotter, the leather jackets are falling down and the guitar, bass and drums keep on reaching out to the deepest wounds one is usually trying to hide.
THE FOREIGN RESORT also added some songs to their setlist that they haven’t played live yet like the already mentioned ‘In Gloom’ and ‘Clouds’ - it actually surprised me that they haven’t been part of the live set yet. Obviously, it was about time! An interesting song in the setlist is also ‘Summer’. For those who did not know it yet, it might have appeared as a bridge or intro to the popular ‘She Is Lost’, a “soft Rock song” as the guys tend to joke sometimes. But ‘Summer’ is actually more. It is not a typical summer song as one might assume if we would talk about another genre probably. Less surprising that this one is full of heaviness and softness, quite dreamy and all instrumental. I wish one day to hear that one live while everyone in the audience is just quiet and diving into the music. We keep on practicing, I am sure.
‘Flushed’ as always made my heart jump. This song is the most enjoyable piece of tragic. You gotta love Post Punk, celebrating the sadness at a pure honest level. Mikkel thanked honestly touched and from the bottom of his heart the audience for being there and dancing. THE FOREIGN RESORT almost tried to leave the stage without an encore as “the drinks are empty, so the party is over”, but well - there was a bar and immediately enough people ready to bring more beer on stage. So, that one didn’t work and of course they had to play more. I don’t think though that they were that disappointed. More beer, people dancing and enthusiastically wishing for more - could not workout better, I guess. The only thing that could be improved on the technical side was the light on that evening as we all stated later.
However this is a small thing when you actually have a band like that putting their hearts out on stage. When you feel your heart bleeding during the songs and can laugh as real as possible in between and just see all the satisfied faces afterwards you know - these guys are doing a lot right.
Setlist
01. In Gloom
02. New Frontiers
03. Send Your Heart To The Riot
04. Suburban Depression
05. Dead End Roads
06. Clouds
07. Summer
08. She Is Lost
09. Obsessing
10. Hearts Fade Out
11. Flushed
12. Outnumbered
13. Onto Us
14. Orange Glow
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 5
Sound: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by Nastja Iz
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