11th October 2015
Torul & EGOamp
While in the nearby arena IMAGINE DRAGONS were playing a big show in front of several thousands of people, at the Kulttempel was a much cozier concert scheduled: Slovenian TORUL, who were present on several festivals in summer, were now on a little headliner tour to promote their current record, ‘The Measure’. Support in Oberhausen were EGOamp
EGOamp
EGOamp was founded by Asmodi Caligari and Cesare Insomnia. The project is influenced by 80s electronic music and the love for silent movies like ‘The cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ and others. The first song Asmodi and Cesare recorded was a cover of the classic ‘The Cabinet’, originally released by the English band DAS KABINETT. The first tracks came to the attention of Chris Lietz, i.e. producer of German electronic pioneers DIE KRUPPS, who decided right away to produce EGOAMP's first album ‘Welcome To The Cabinet’. The debut album already dates several years back, but now there is finally a new sign of live. The band works on releasing a new album named ‘1/0’ and released already a new EP, ‘Neonshein’, as little foretaste. EGOAMP is Asmodi Caligari with different live members. In Oberhausen, he was accompanied by Bernard Fate and Re Va. http://www.ego-amp.com / https://www.facebook.com/Egoamp-Band-151569578239636
Music & Performance
When EGOAMP started their show at eight, the crowd was still kind of manageable. Nevertheless people were hot from the beginning and danced and sang together with the band. As already mentioned, the German-expressionistic movie of the 20s is a stylistic line through the whole EGOAMP project and the first album plays with elements of the mentioned ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’. On stage, the band’s appearance is also based on the 20s with suits and white coloured faces and a makeup reminding of old silent film classics. Musically, EGOAMP delivers songs based on the early 80s by combining it with modern and progressive elements. As for the setlist, the band of course presented several of their classic from the debut album, but also had some new songs from the upcoming release in stock. First to mention is the title track ‘1/0’ and furthermore there was the new single ‘Neonshein’ where the band handed out glowing balloons to the crowd to play with. All in all a very nice start of the evening.
Setlist
01. Battle of the worlds
02. Lady and the tramp
03. 1/0
04. Iron and steel
05. The Carnival
06. Neonshein
07. Jajaja (TRIO Cover)
08. The Cabinet
09. Egomanic Maniacs
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
Torul
Slovenian band TORUL was founded in 2010 and got their name from the band member Torul Torulsson. Slovenia is surely not famous for being a country with some extraordinary Synth Pop bands. And thus TORUL is surely an exceptional phenomenon. Eponym and founder of this band is Torul Torulsson (keyboard) who was already busy in the club scene with several releases before he formed the band together with Borut Dolenec (guitar, keyboard) and Jan Jenko (vocals). Their first album ‘Dark Matters’ was launched in 2010. In 2013 they were supporting act for the British Synth- Pop band MESH on their Europe tour and won some more new fans. Also in 2013, TORUL released ‘Tonight We Dream Fiercely’ via Infacted Recordings. Today, the band is still signed to this label and in 2015 they released their new album, ‘The Measure’. www.torul-recordings.net / www.facebook.de/torul
Music & Performance
The crowd waiting now for TORUL was still not very big, but anyone was coming closer to the stage now and you felt the love of the people for the band and that they were ready to celebrate. And well, right from the first song ‘Lonely Night’, anyone was moving and singing along. Obviously the band on stage had also fun and later in the show, Jan came even down from stage to walk in-between the people. Vocally, he was nearly perfect as always. In fact, I never heard him fail so far. He casted a spell on the audience through pure existence and with the help of his hypnotic and fascinating voice. Visually, the lights were kind of dimmed like we know it but the band brought a screen with them where videos and images accompanying all songs were shown. As one of my colleagues said in the past, TORUL make music to dream and to let one really zone out from everyday life. Well, and she is right. The catchy Synth Pop was carrying you away making you forget your stressful life and just dive deep into the music. I would say some kind of perfect Sunday evening entertainment!
Setlist
01. Lonely night
02. The Balance
03. Higher
04. In whole
05. Difficult to kill
06. Hearts
07. All
08. Show me your city
09. If you so wish
10. Where the nights start
11. Take me home
12. Discrepancy
---
13. The sun
14. The fall
15. Wake up
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
Comments powered by CComment