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zeraphine_intro.jpgRiff, Bochum, Germany
March 27th 2005
Zeraphine and LAB

Right after we were arriving at the airport in Dortmund, after a short holiday, we drove to Bochum to see "Zeraphine". I know the music of that band quite well so I knew what to expect there. But I had no idea what music the support act "LAB" would perform. I only knew the single "When Heaven Gets Dirty" from the video shown on TV.

As we arrived around 7 at the venue, quite a queue of people was already standing there. We met some people we know there and talked a while before we went into the club and made our way to the 1st row, in front of the stage.


LAB

LAB from Finland, that are Kirka (bass), Johannes (guitars), Ana (vocals), Pekka (guitars) and Masa (drums). Kirka and Johannes are also doing some backing vocals. All good things come in threes, and so this spring our friends LAB are getting ready to present "Where Heaven Ends", their third offering following "Porn Beautiful" and "Devil Is A Girl". The songs are melancholic and moving, pathetic and touching, and vocalist Ana loves playing with all things celestial – an angel descended from heaven, constantly torn between good and evil. The first single, "When Heaven Gets Dirty", is about the conflict between that fallen angel and heaven. Ana – a rebellious angel who owns up to her sins and would like to return to the Elysian fields.

Music
While singing with great conviction, Ana's voice was unfortunalely not enough to lift the otherwise slow and emotional songs to the level they deserved. By the song "Love like hell" the audience seemed to have tuned into the music, incidentially on the same song Anna started crawling on the floor - could it be connected? The play of bass and guitars were powerful and the band tried to warm the audience up for the forthcoming headliner.

Performance
Ana and the three guys in front certainly did a good job on the given small area. Especially Ana and Kirka were the ones who carried the show on stage. Unfortunately most people didn't see much of the drummer as his set wasn't elevated... but that wasn´t really possible because of that small stage where it was hard to fit them all on it. The lights were quite good throughout their performance, in fact surprisingly good for such a small venue and a support act. Ana always tried to be in the spot to show up her performance... jumping around the stage or crawling on the floor. With her really short white dress and the huge amount of blond curls she was the eye catcher of LAB´s show.

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Lights: 7
Total: 6 (6.45)

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Zeraphine

Spontaneous claps and cheers accompanied the band as they entered the stage. Zeraphine are quite well known in the German and European dark wave scene. The band consists of Sven Friedrich (vocals), Manuel Senger (guitar and backing vocals), Norman Selbig (guitar), Michael Nepp (bass) and Marcellus Puhlemann (drums). Their 3rd official studio album "Blind Camera" was released in January 2005.

Music
Right from the start Zeraphine had a good contact with the audience, starting with 3 faster songs including the 1st single of the current album "Die Macht in Dir". Moving on to the slower "In der Tiefe" and "Sterne sehen" on which several people in the audience fired up sparklers. Their cover of "New Years Day" didn't quite fire up the audience, like when performed by U2. But anyway the resonance of the audience was really good. Having said that it deservedly got a lot of cheers at the end of the song. "Be my rain" did however produce that audience response. Especially Sven´s charismatic voice accompanied by the guitar play made the girls in the audience scream.

Performance
The energy of show was mostly carried by Sven in his long black skirt who also was the main focus of a well orchestrated lightshow. By the song "No tears" the other guys were fired up sufficiently to contribute a bit more to the on stage performance though. The drummer was really giving his best, apparent - if nothing else - by the fact that he lost a drumstick to the audience in the song "Siamesiche Einsamkeit". You really felt the joy the band had playing. Sven talked a lot to the audience, made some jokes and all of the band was laughing a lot. Pushed by the cheers of the audience the band entered the stage for 3 encores including a wonderful cover version of "Coldplay´s" "In my place".

Playlist
I Never Want To Be Like You
Die Macht in Dir
No more doubts
In der Tiefe
Sterne sehen
Die Welt kann warten
No tears
Ohne Dich
United and lost
Siamesiche Einsamkeit
New Year´s Day (U2 Cover)
Stop pretending
Sometimes
I'm numb
I feeI your trace
Licht
Hollow skies
Die Wirklichkeit
Jede Warheit
Kaltes Herz
Be my rain
When walls arise
Wenn du gehest
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Flieh Mit Mir
Traumaworld
Kannst du verzeihen?
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Unter Eis
In my place (Coldplay Cover)
Deine Welt
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Until I finally drown

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Lights: 8
Total: 8 (7.85)

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More pics soon on Black-Cat-Net
Zeraphine Band Info

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