6th of April 2007
Schandmaul
For almost ten years now this band from Munich has been combining folk music with rock music. Next year they will give a huge concert in Munich to celebrate this. There was quite an audience waiting outside the venue when I arrived. I heard a lot of German speech around me. Since Arnhem is so close to the border this was to be expected of course. The concert wasn’t sold out but it was extremely warm already inside so that was for the better. With all the dancing and singing along the temperature could only rise throughout the evening.
Music
Schandmaul played a lot of new songs but also older songs which were immediately sung along to by the audience. They started out with an instrumental intro, full of energy and enthusiasm. It is amazing to see how they can still play violin and flute while jumping and skipping across the stage. Birgit also proved to have a great talent of sparing her breath, the same second she stopped singing she continued on the flute. Thomas (main vocals) has a warm singing voice. During ‘Die Tür In Mir’ he also showed us the more raw side of his voice, a great sound I might add. Their mixture of folk and rock is a great success. They mix the cheerfulness and warmth of folk music with the intense sound of rock.
Performance
The concert started exactly on time, which is worth a compliment for I have hardly ever seen a band do that. From the start of the concert there was a great atmosphere in the audience. They were very willing to clap along with their band or even make an ocean of hands. Which was needed for the dramaturgy of the song ‘Das Seemannsgrab’ according to Thomas. Thomas started speaking in Dutch at first but then agreed with the audience that it was fine that he spoke German for the rest of the evening. He announced almost every song with a little story, which was fun for the audience to hear. There is nice (though often also choreographed) contact between the band members. They seem to have sincere fun on stage. It was a pity though that we could hardly see it because the lighting was awful. Most of the time there was more lighting on the audience then on the stage. The two guitarists and the drummer who were at the back of the stage, simply disappeared in shadows. A better light show could have added a great deal to their wonderful performance.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 3
Total: 7 (6,8)
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