Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany
19th October 2024
Front 242 - “BLACK OUT: The Final Shows” - Support: Rein
As you already know, FRONT 242 have announced an extensive concert tour for this year! The tour motto is “BLACK OUT: The Final Shows”. This brings us and surely you too, on the one hand, great anticipation to be able to experience the band live again, on the other hand, we are very sad. The year 2024 is the band’s last concert year. A great era comes to an end and the pioneers of EBM bid farewell to you with dignity. One of the biggest venues of the tour was the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, where FRONT 242 and support REIN played last Saturday.
Rein
REIN is the Swedish wunderkind Joanna Reinikainen from Stockholm, and there has been quite some hype around her in the last few years. REIN is a rare thing, last but not least since an ass-kicking and confident female artist in the pretty male-dominated electronic music genre is still no normality in 2024. Go figure! But her music speaks for itself, as it quite spectacularly winded through different styles within a few years without denying REIN’s roots and identity. From anarchic Cyberpunk and tight EBM of the early days, elements of Techno, Dance, EDM, and Pop made their way into the sound of REIN. It’s like a modern take on EBM and Industrial by a younger generation - well, that’s exactly what it is indeed! After touring with high-profile acts like FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY it was time for REIN to join another front - FRONT 242 on their “Black Out” farewell tour! https://www.reinofficial.com / https://www.facebook.com/reinofficialmusic
Music & Performance
The stage of the Turbinenhalle is huge but before you could wonder if Joanna Reinikainen might look lost up there, she made very clear that she doesn’t. She commands the stage from the very first moment and NITZER EBB’s Douglas McCarthy might be one of her inspirations when it comes to stage antics - certainly not a bad thing! Dressed in a black suit, wearing dark shades and now with short black hair there is certainly a similarity between her and the NEP frontman. And I like that! The huge video screen behind her probably helped to fill the giant place, and it took me a moment to realise that there’s actually a second person on stage behind a rag full of gear. The computer-generated animations looked great on the screen but in the end, REIN does not really need them, they are just a bonus. She’s granted a generous set of twelve songs, allowing her to present all the facets of her two albums and the couple of EPs she’s released. The Pop side of it is probably not exactly my cup of tea but is impressive how effortlessly she combines all the different styles while maintaining a true REIN vibe. It’s like a shot of fresh blood into a scene that can feel old and stale at times.
Thankfully the crowd at the Turbinenhalle was open for such a cutting-edge approach and gave REIN a pretty warm welcome. At the end of the day this is exactly what the scene needs to so survive! FRONT 242, the godfathers of EBM, knew exactly what they were doing when they invited REIN to their very last tour.
Setlist
01. Transmutation
02. Accelerate
03. Reincarnate
04. Power & Passion
05. Reactivity
06. Automation
07. Dystopia
08. Bruises
09. How’s It Gonna Be?
10. Refuse the Pressure
11. Bodyhammer
12. There Is No Authority but Yourself
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.8 / 10
Front 242
FRONT 242 writes about the farewell tour: “FRONT 242 will stop performing concerts! It is with a mix of emotions that FRONT 242 announces their last concerts... On one hand, we sadly close a great adventure of some 40 years amazing feelings shared with our wonderful audience. On the other hand, we realise that stopping now with a great image and full energy is what everybody would like to remember. So, don’t miss FRONT 242 this year, we promise you the most powerful and enjoyable performances.” We as a magazine bow deeply to the band, their life’s work, what they have created in music culture, and thank Jean Luck, Patrick, Richard, and Daniel for unforgettable concerts, years of friendship, and loyalty to you, their audience, and to us. https://www.front242.com / https://www.facebook.com/Front.242
Music & Performance
This is the final tour of FRONT 242 and one has to ask: Why?? Okay, nobody on earth would begrudge Jean-Luc De Meyer, Patrick Codenys, and Richard Jonckheere that they want to enjoy retirement after such an amazing career of more than for decades! Last but not least as founding member Daniel Bressanutti backed out from touring years ago already. Touring is tough, this is all the more true when you are over 60. But then you watch the band on stage, completed by much younger live drummer Tim Kroker, and you just have to wonder again: Why?? As soon as they enter the stage the energy level is simply insane and makes fellow performers who are probably 20 years younger pale in comparison.
The gig at the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen was probably the biggest show of the tour. At first the gig was planned for the smaller Halle 2 of the Turbinenhalle, but presale demand made it clear quickly that the show needs to be moved to the main hall. Much to my regret, I have to admit, as the main Turbinenhalle is one of my least favourite concert venues. It may look nice and somewhat industrial-ish, after all it hosted gas turbines to deliver energy for the Oberhausen steel industry before it was converted to an event centre. But it’s a somehow unpleasant and cold place and it has awful acoustics. One of the few bands I saw there and which had a decent sound was, well, FRONT 242. They surely have the best professionals in their crew! What you hear is what you get! And that’s the exact song FRONT 242 start their farewell show with, listed as ‘W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G.’ on their 1987 album ‘Official Version’. A brilliant new version with a longer intro which built up tension perfectly. With ‘Moldavia’ and a smashing version of ‘Body To Body’ they put the pedal to the metal, pretty stunning when you consider that ‘Body To Body’ is actually the oldest track in the set - released 1981 as B-side of their first single ‘Principles’!
The sound was rather good for this ole venue and the huge stage was perfect for the brilliant light- and video-show. FRONT 242 didn’t intend to drop the energy level one yota, and the only quieter moment was the brand-new ballad ‘Hide And Seek’, a song they didn’t play in Hamburg the week before and replaced ‘Gripped By Fear’. All in all, the setlist offered four different songs compared to Hamburg, much to my delight as I attended the shows in both cities. The Oberhausen set focussed pretty much on ‘Official Version’ but offered songs from almost the entire back catalogue. Only the albums ‘06:21:03:11 Up Evil’ from 1993 and 2003’s ‘Pulse’ were left out. Instead we got with ‘Generators’ and ‘Fix It’ two songs which have been played live over the last few years but which have not seen a studio release as of today. Anyone lucky enough to have experienced these two songs live knows that they are total bangers! One can only hope that the band will finally release studio versions of these songs at some point. As I’ve heard FRONT 242 have a little more time at their hands from February next year…
The crowd was really up for it, although at times it could become a little uneasy at the packed 3,000 capacity venue. The week before at the much smaller Markthalle in Hamburg the atmosphere was even more electric, I have to admit, and people were shouting “zwei vier zwei” between songs all the time. But that doesn’t mean that the atmosphere in Oberhausen were as cold as the vast and bland Turbinenhalle, quite the contrary. The closing run from the energetic ‘Welcome to Paradise’ to the encore with ‘Happiness’ and, of course, ‘Headhunter’ was a complete homerun and the crowd looked like a massive jumping workout. The band left the stage but soon ‘Work 242’ playback started, completed by a slide show with pics of over four decades of FRONT 242 live shows. The band returned to stand at the edge of the stage to honour their own legacy and to enjoy thunderous applause and worshipping from their fans. A pretty emotional moment, and well deserved after another awesome performance in a long career packed with awesome shows!
And again, you can’t help to ask yourself: Why do these legends have to quit? This tour proves that they don’t lack energy at all and put on shows that put contemporary bands to shame. And they even have some great unreleased songs! They would have still have so much to offer but anyway, it’s probably better to leave on a high, I guess. And it’s a high some other bands can only dream of...
Setlist
01. W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G.
02. Moldavia
03. Body to Body
04. Don’t Crash
05. U-Men
06. Generator
07. Quite Unusual
08. Punish Your Machine
09. Hide and Seek (UnderViewer cover)
10. Red Team
11. Take One
12. Masterhit
13. Tragedy >For You<
14. Fix It
15. Welcome to Paradise
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16. Happiness (More Angels)
17. Headhunter v1.0
18. Work 242
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10
All Pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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