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Solar FakeTäubchenthal, Leipzig, Germany
25th November 2022
Solar Fake - “Enjoy Dystopia Tour” 2022 - Support: Seadrake

SOLAR FAKE released their current hit album ‘Enjoy Dystopia’ in February 2021. Because of the pandemic it took a long time to bring it to stage. For this tour SOLAR FAKE has invited SEADRAKE as special guest. It finally started this May and brought them to Hanover, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Bradford (UK). And after a break for a line of shows through the USA and Canada, SOLAR FAKE continued their “Enjoy Dystopia Tour” through Germany in October.

They will have last two shows in December before they take another move to the USA in spring next year. Meanwhile master mind Sven Friedrich is working on new material for the upcoming 7th SOLAR FAKE album. Joining a SOLAR FAKE concert is always a great experience, even if you aren’t a hardcore fan or going alone. The fans are very considerate and kind and you always find some people to talk and joke around. After a wonderful show in Erfurt in October, I had the opportunity, to attend a second one in Leipzig last Friday.

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Seadrake

SEADRAKE is an electronic music and art collective led by Mathias Thürk (ex-MINERVE) and Rickard Gunnarsson (STATEMACHINE, LOWE) based in Zürich and Stockholm. The musicians are open to collaborate with different vocalists. Dorian Electrique (DEAR STRANGE, WE ARE LOVEBLIND) and Sir Boyfriend (VISITEUR) joined SEADRAKE on this tour. The two excellent vocalists perform very different and make the show energetic and entertaining. Unfortunately, Dorian Electrique and Rickard were unable to perform in Braunschweig in October due to illness. So, Mathias and Sir Boyfriend performed as a two-man army. I’m happy to see both musicians well again and have the quartet complete tonight. www.seadrakemusic.com / www.facebook.com/seadrakemusic

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Music & Performance
Punctual at nine o’clock the intro is started and Mathias and Rickard enter the stage, followed by Sir Boyfriend. SEADRAKE take a good start with ‘Get It On’ and ‘What You Do To Me’. Sir Boyfriend seems to be in an extremely good mood. His extravagant and lascivious stile entertains us well. The crowd cheers and teeters along. Next is ‘Something Durable’, where Sir Boyfriend is wildly flirting with the audience. That seems to be delighted and responds some shouts. The following SEAL cover ‘Killer’ takes us in a very good mood and the audience is clapping, singing and dancing right from the start.

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Then Mathias leaves the stage and Rickard takes his place for ‘Daydream’. The stage is almost dark, only spots on to the two artists, what underlines the atmosphere. A very emotional song, especially in this acoustic version. Then Sir Boyfriend commands “some noise” and the crowd is cheering and shouting as Dorian Electrique joins the stage for ‘Lower Then This’. The daintily woman convinces with an enormous voice and charisma. The duet of the two artist is well received and their voices harmonize perfectly. After the song Sir Boyfriend leaves the stage. Rickard jumps to the front and animates the crowd to clap their hands for the just released new single ‘Asche’.

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That comes with German lyrics and Dorian marches to the hard driven beats. The song puts us into very good vibes and the performance reaps a lot of applause, what puts a satisfied smile on to the artists faces. Sir Boyfriend is joining us again on stage for the last song ‘Fever’ and the duet lets us party very good. Dorian and Sir Boyfriend are dancing together on stage and we´re doing the same in front of it. Finally, Rickard introduces the two vocalists before the musicians leave the stage and wave us goodbye. After 40 Minutes we are well warmed up and ready for SOLAR FAKE.

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Setlist
01. Get It On
02. What You Do To Me
03. Something Durable
04. Killer (SEAL cover-version)
05. Daydream (acoustic)
06. Lower Than This
07. Asche
08. The Fever

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 7
Sound: 10
Total: 8.3 / 10

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Solar Fake

The Synth Pop / Industrial / Indie-Electro act of Sven Friedrich (also ZERAPHINE, formerly DREADFUL SHADOWS) was founded in 2007. SOLAR FAKE released their debut album ‘Broken Grid’ in 2008 and another five studio records in the following years. The last three albums entered the official German album charts. With ‘Enjoy Dystopia’ on #4, SOLAR FAKE had their highest chart-entry ever. The multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Sven Friedrich has always been SOLAR FAKE’s only songwriter and on the albums plays all instruments by himself. André Feller (former guitarist of DREADFUL SHADOWS) joined SOLAR FAKE as live keyboardist and bassist in 2014 and in 2017 Jens Halbauer (FLIEHENDE STÜRME, BAD TASTE PARANOIA) as live drummer completed the trio. SOLAR FAKE´s high energetic and emotional shows are always a great delight and one of the best ways to spend a weekend. www.solarfake.de / www.facebook.com/SolarFake

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Music & Performance
After a short break André and Jeans enter the stage at 9:56 p.m. They are hearty welcomed, but André lays the hands to his ears. Maybe we’re not loud enough, so we cheer a bit harder. Then he seems to be satisfied and forms a heart with his fingers. The opening ‘At least we’ll forget’ immediately creates a good atmosphere and Sven hops onto the stage as usual. Sven and André ensure a lot of movement and swap places again and again. Through the whole set André is skipping between bass and keyboard. ‘Reset To Default’ and ‘This pretty little life’ are bringing André as the “Dancing Queen” before he’s marching to the beat. Sven is dancing and jumping up and down as we’re doing in front of stage as well. After just three songs we’re already over the moon and far beyond. ‘Under Control’ is sung so loudly by the crowd, that Sven isn’t heard anymore from time to time.

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“For punishment” a “very old track from the first album” comes next, a song that “is rarely played”. But when ‘Here I Stand’ shall start, it happens that André crashes a key. That doesn’t matter. It happens from time to time and we are used to it. The song gives us a little breather. Then ‘All The Things You Say’ makes the crowd freak out again, before ‘I Don’t Want You In Here’ creates a collective “ahhh” and a gentle wave on which we float. The following ‘Invisible’ starts kind of strange. Obviously, an audio track from ‘More Than This’ has stolen into the song and Sven commands Jeans friendly to put that in order, before they taking a new try.

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The chorus of ‘Not What I Wanted’ is sung so loudly by the audience that Sven gladly leaves the field to the crowd and holds the microphone to us. The man is struggling with a cold and seems visibly exhausted. But he’s professional enough and doesn’t take a pause, just keeps going on with ‘Arrive somewhere’ on full speed. For André there’s not even the time to take a swallow from his water bottle. So, he just tosses the thing behind and goes on with ‘Es geht dich nichts an’. Then he gets the stricken Sven some tea, who in turn finds it quite embarrassing. This is the first time that he drinks tea on stage, but probably appropriate for his age. Speaking of age...

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With ‘More Than This’ comes another old track, which this time causes a collective “ohhh” and sets the hall in motion. Everyone jumps up and down. The melody is accompanied by a loud "o oh oho, o oh oho, o oh oho, oho oho" from the audience. As the song ends, we just keep singing and André starts stomping along to the rhythm. Then Jeans sets in on the drums again, so that poor Sven has no choice but to sing one more line. ‘I despise you’, ‘I’d rather break’, ‘It’s who you are’ and ‘The pain that kills...’ follow until Sven finally announces the last track. With ‘Observer’ it’s back to full speed and Leipzig completely freaks out again. Sven says goodbye “See you soon. Maybe” and the musicians are led off the stage with heavy applause.

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The three return just seconds later and André gestures to the audience to be quiet. However, the silence lasts only until the first tones of ‘Join me in death’ can be heard. The HIM classic is celebrated mightily and Sven holds the microphone out to us again and lets us sing. With ‘Sick of you’ SOLAR FAKE continue energetically and then with ‘Just leave it’ fulfill a fan’s wish. The encore ends very emotionally with ‘Stay’. The song causes some glassy eyes and I have to blink away a few tears too. The second encore also starts with a cover version. This time ‘Papillon’ by EDITORS, which is extremely celebrated. The entire hall sings and jumps.

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I had the pleasure to hear the song recently in Hamburg at the EDITORS’ show at Große Freiheit 36. The performance of SOLAR FAKE are in no way inferior to the original in terms of power, intensity and temper. With ‘I Hate You More Than My Life’ Sven, André and Jeans are able to top this. But even that is not enough. With ‘Where Are You’ they let us come down a bit before they say goodbye with ‘Wish Myself Away’. After two hours full of energy and emotions, SOLAR FAKE leave us exhausted and happy around midnight. A thoroughly successful and satisfying evening.

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Setlist
01. At least we’ll forget
02. Reset To Default
03. This pretty life
04. Under Control
05. Here I Stand
06. All The Things You Say
07. I Don’t Want You In Here
08. Invisible
09. Not What I Wanted
10. Arrive somewhere
11. Es geht dich nichts an
12. More Than This
13. I despise you
14. I´d rather break
15. It’s who you are
16. The pain that kills…
17. Observer
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18. Join me in death (HIM cover-version)
19. Sick of you
20. Just leave it
21. Stay
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22. Papillon (EDITORS cover-version)
23. I Hate You More Than My Life
24. Where Are You
25. Wish myself away

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 9
Sound: 10
Total: 9.8 / 10

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All Pictures by Helge Roewer (www.hr-pictures.de)

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