Alte Spinnerei, Glauchau, Germany6th December 2008
Zeraphine, Diorama, Darkcore
What do you do when DIORAMA announces on of the very rare concerts this year, even though it is hundreds of kilometres away? You go for a ride! And so it happened that I travelled far to see the band playing together with ZERAPHINE and DARK CORE on 6th December in Glauchau, a small Saxon city you might know for the well-known Woodstage festival taking place in the summer time. Announced as “Zeraphine and friends” you might have thought this would be a double-headliner show. But sometimes you are wrong…
DarkcoreWhat do you do when DIORAMA announces on of the very rare concerts this year, even though it is hundreds of kilometres away? You go for a ride! And so it happened that I travelled far to see the band playing together with ZERAPHINE and DARK CORE on 6th December in Glauchau, a small Saxon city you might know for the well-known Woodstage festival taking place in the summer time. Announced as “Zeraphine and friends” you might have thought this would be a double-headliner show. But sometimes you are wrong…
René Anke, Matthias Trompelt and Tino Weigel met some when in 1999 and soon started working musically together also the band name - DARKCORE - was found very fast. In May 2000, the first CD ‘Negativ’ was released. After an EP, the second real long player ‘Liebe + Tod’ was released in April 2002 followed already one year later by ‘Timebreaker’. After a longer break, ‘Sommerkrieger’ was released in November 2004 and received a lot of positive critics. The latest studio album ‘Unsterblich’ has been released in spring 2006. The show in Glauchau was one of the rare live performances of the band. http://www.darkcore-music.de/
Music & Performance
About 15 minutes before the scheduled time, DARKCORE entered the stage. The three guys presented poppy synth sounds in the manner of DEPECHE MODE and alike. They presented quite pleasing sounds, but nothing special. At least singer René tried to animate the audience gathering already in front of the stage and at least in parts he succeeded. Sadly the whole show was a bit too silent, but the lights quite decent for the first band of the evening.
Setlist
01. Your tears are mine
02. Vorbei
03. There´s no tomorrow
04. I feel your pain
05. Führe mich ins Licht
06. Things we like
07. Going nowhere
08. Now and forever
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 6 / 6
Diorama
DIORAMA was founded by Torben Wendt between 1994 and 1996. His long-time friend Felix Marc soon joined him as a co-producer and keyboard player. Some time later, bass player Bernard le Sigue and guitarist Sash Fiddler, who were fellow students of Torben and Felix, gradually grew into the line-up and last but not least drummer Marquess became a member of the band. Unfortunately Bernard le Sigue left the Band in October 2006. The latest album ‘A different life’ was released in March 2007 sadly not followed by a real tour. Currently the band is working on a new album to be released some when in 2009. DIORAMA is Torben Wendt (words and music, vocals, keys, percussion), Felix Marc (Co-production, keys, vocals), Sash Fiddler (guitars) and Marquess (drums). Due to another appointment, he was playing with FROZEN PLASMA in Moscow, Felix was missing at the Glauchau gig. But he had a good replacement: Boris May of KLANGSTABIL. http://www.diorama-music.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/dioramamusic
Music & Performance
This was the band I was personally coming for. Soon, people in front of the stage came much closer and then, the lights were dimmed and the band from Reutlingen started very fast and energetic with ‘Kein Mord’, a song out off the latest album I like a lot. With high speed they went on with ‘Erase me’ which made people dance and scream in front of the stage. The mood was fantastic from the very first moment. You could feel that a lot of people did not come for ZERAPHINE but for this band. As I already know and love it, singer Torben and guitarist Sash dominated the scenery in front while Marquess added dynamic accents with his drum play. On the keys we got today Boris of KLANGSTABIL who did not only play DIORAMAS music very well but also added own accents to the music and also took over some backing vocals. Of course not a permanent replacement for Felix, but a very nice add on this particular evening.
Following ‘Prozac Junkies’ as third song was ‘Howland Road’ and then the energetic ‘The Girls’. Due to its live power definitely one of my favourites. Torben puts always so much power and emotions into this song. It is incredible. After the calmer ‘Said but true’ the band had a surprise for its fans in stock: a very new song called ‘Acid Trip’ which was very well received by the audience. It was really catchy, made people move and got stuck on ones ears. The last part of the set consisted of faster songs containing ‘Exit the grey’, ‘Synthesize me’ and one of the band’s biggest hit ‘Advance’. Under thundering applause, the band left the stage much too soon after about 60 minutes. People in the room were clapping and screaming for more, very loud and very long, but the band was not allowed to give any encore. What a shame!
It should be clear after so many great shows that this band deserves more than just a “support” slot and a poor light show. So, we can only hope that promoters start realising what potential this band bares and give them more time to impress their audience. People definitely want it!
Setlist
01. Kein Mord
02. Erase me
03. Prozac Junkies
04. Howland Road
05. The Girls
06. Said but true
07. Acid Trip (new)
08. Exit the grey
09. Synthesize me
10. Advance
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 9 / 10
Zeraphine
The foundation stone for ZERAPHINE has been laid by Norman Selbig and Sven Friedrich after their former band DREADFUL SHADOWS quit in 2000. Together with producer Tommy Hein, the first album ‘Kalte Sonne’ was recorded and then released in 2002. It was completely sung in German, contrary to second album ‘Traumaworld’ comprising of mixed German and English lyrics and a nice cover of the DEPECHE MODE track ‘In Your Room’. The third album ‘Blind Camera’, released in 2005 left confided territory and turned to heavier guitar riffs and harder arrangements, still the dominating factor was Sven’s charismatic voice. Their fourth album ‘Still’ was the first album, release by their own label, which the band founded after their previous record deal ended. ZERAPHINE is Sven Friedrich (vocals), Norman Selbig (guitar), Manuel Senger (guitar), Michael Nepp (bass) and Marcellus Puhlemann (drums). http://www.zeraphine.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/zeraphine
Music & Performance
ZERAPHINE got about twice the time of DIORAMA for their performance... and twice the light. Might sound a bit unfair. But show-wise you got exactly what you expected, a very nice show, with no specials... except the new song ‘Louisa’ being presented... the warm voice of Sven combined with decent guitars, drums and slight electronics. According the setlist, no wishes were unfulfilled. You got the hits you were waiting for, including i.e. ‘Die Wirklichkeit’, ‘Be my Rain’, ‘In your Arms’, ‘Die Macht in Dir’ or ‘I’m Numb’. The great plus of the band’s performance was as always the charismatic voice of the front man. For my taste, the show was a bit too loud this time. All in all this was again a very good concert, but without real highlights.
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
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