Live Review: L‘Âme Immortelle - Berlin 2018

Kesselhaus, Berlin, Germany
2nd February 2018
L‘Âme Immortelle, Versus & Dunkelsucht

The first Friday in February in the Berlin Kesselhaus was marked by the electronic sounds of three bands - and all from German-speaking countries. Headlining this special evening was the Austrian cult band L’ÂME IMMORTELLE. Accompanying them on tour are DUNKELSUCHT from Switzerland and VERSUS from Germany. The audience was international too; there were excited fans from as far away as Chile and Finland who had booked vacations to Germany to coincide with concerts of this “Schattenwelt Tour”.


Dunkelsucht

DUNKELSUCHT is an electronic music project which takes in Industrial, EBM and Synth Pop genres. Emotional, melodic parts alternate with cold rough electro. At times melancholic, then morbid and disturbing, the music invites you on a dark, dreamy journey. https://www.facebook.com/Dunkelsucht



Music & Performance
The young musicians put on a solid, confident performance with a good mix of Synth and EBM songs that made their seven-song set fly by quickly. Singer Patrick Näf and keyboard player Tim Lindner are still quite at the beginning of their career with the band and clearly demonstrated their upward potential. The Berlin audience enjoyed it and one must hope that the band will eventually return to Germany on their own tour.

Setlist
01. Tanznacht
02. Das Zweite Leben (Serpents Cover)
03. Wenn Liebe Das Herz Erwärmt (Der Stalker)
04. Es Ist An Der Zeit
05. Misstrauen
06. Erholung
07. Die Letzte Nacht

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 6
Total: 7 / 10

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Versus

The band VERSUS was founded in 2001. Their music style knows no real boundaries and their mostly melodic songs are influenced by Electro, Synth Pop, EBM, Future Pop, Techno and Pop. After a long break, VERSUS released their latest album ‘Freakwaves’ in April 2017. https://www.facebook.com/Versus2

Music & Performance
The Kesselhaus is a great concert location and enjoys a nice atmosphere. The second band on stage this evening was VERSUS from Dresden. Their appearance onstage was welcomed warmly and it was not at all evident that the band had had a long break or many setbacks in their career. They played numerous songs from the current album with a lot of charm. Singer André communicated a lot with the fans and he even noticed a fan who had by far clapped the loudest and longest. Andre rewarded him by allowing him to speak into the microphone and a free band shirt after the concert.



It was especially striking that the charismatic singer was barefoot for the whole concert. Another highlight was a large rainbow flag being waved as a symbol of tolerance and acceptance by the audience. VERSUS was a good fore-runner for this evening’s headliner.

Setlist
01. Freakwaves
02. Schenk Mir Zeit
03. A Memory In Frames
04. Lies
05. Love 2 Go
06. Immer Dann
07. Definition: Lost
08. Into The Galaxy
09. Welle Sieben

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10

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L’âme Immortelle

L’ÂME IMMORTELLE is an Austrian electro-rock band founded in 1996 by Thomas Rainer. Singer Sonja Kraushofer joined the band not long after. The lyrics of LAI are partly in German, and partly in English. In 2000, they played their first headliner tour and a year later, with the album ‘Dann habe ich umsonst gelebt’, they enjoyed their first chart success in Germany. Now, following the release of the album ‘Hinter dem Horizont’ in January 2018, L’ÂME IMMORTELLE bring their “Schattenwelt-Tour” to the Berlin Kesselhaus. An absolute must for all fans is the beautiful 3CD Book Edition of the new album. https://www.facebook.com/LAI.official/

Music & Performance
The Berlin audience had a treat in store. This was an exceptional first-class concert from the Austrians, featuring a wonderful mix of songs from the new album ‘Hinter dem Horizont’ and old classics from the band’s long history. Songs in German, songs in English, some sung by Thomas alone, others only by Sonja; and also wonderfully arranged duets. Through their gestures, facial expressions and how much feeling they put into each song, you notice how they are moved by their music.



It is also visually very engaging, as both Sonja and Thomas presented different, elegant outfits throughout the evening. The only thing missing this evening was a sold-out hall. But as many events took place in Berlin that evening, including ones of similar music, unfortunately the Kesselhaus was only about 2/3 full. But this offered the visitors more space to dance during the more up-tempo songs. The hits ‘Stumme Schreie’ and ‘Phoenix’ were of course included, as was the beautiful title track of the current album ‘Hinter dem Horizont’. This one ended the regular set. Of course the fans loudly vocalised their desire for an encore, and for this, the band did not wait long. The first encore was followed by a beautiful cover version of the 1992 worldwide hit ‘Stay’ by the English band SHAKESPEARS SISTER. It was followed by their 2004 big hit ‘5 Jahre’ which was very often played on the music TV channels back then. The finale of a fantastic evening was the great ballad ‘Life Will Never Be The Same Again’.



Thank you, L’ÂME IMMORTELLE, for a terrific show. And everyone who was at other concerts that night, you missed something really special!

Setlist
01. Unendlich
02. Stumme Schreie
03. Judgement
04. Treiben
05. Fear
06. Fallen Angel
07. Ich Fang Dich Auf
08. Am Ende Aller Tage
09. Letztes Licht
10. Es Tut Mir Leid
11. Phoenix
12. Eye Of The Storm
13. Schwerkraft
14. Tauch Mich In Deine Licht
15. Hinter Dem Horizonz
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16. Stay (Shakespears Sister Cover)
17. 5 Jahre
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18. Life Will Never Be The Same Again

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10

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All pictures by Marko Jakob