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Universal D.O.G., Lahr, Germany
16th December 2006
Dark Dance Treffen 20: Scary Bitches, Welle:Erdball, Die Krupps

The 20th Dark Dance Treffen was a special one because they celebrated their 6th anniversary. Therefore they planned something more than just a concert evening. The photographer and artist Timo Denz of “Hexistenz”  (http://www.hexistenz.de) showed his new book and pictures for the first time. The café was decorated with his photos and his books could be bought at a special stall.

As always there were some dance floors with nearly all different styles of “dark music”, but this time they also made a big raffle and every early guest got a voucher for X-tra-X. As we had expected the location was filled up with people. During the last years the Dark Dance Treffen became the biggest German Indoor Event. Every three month thousands of people are traveling to the little city Lahr. The Universal D.O.G. is a former plane hall. The only thing we missed this time was the big outdoor area, but it was too cold to open this place.


Scary Bitches

The English band was formed by Alma Geddon and DEADri Ransiid in 1999. Until now they released two albums: “Lesbian Vampires from Outer Space” and “Creepy Crawlies”. The band is known for their funny and death rock oriented music and not less for their strange costumes, which were specially made for them. http://www.myspace.com/scarybitches

Music
Their music is a mixture of death rock, gothic rock and also some funny movie influences. So they played their cover of “The Munster’s theme”. Unfortunately this was the last concert with the keyboard player. She is leaving the band. Singer Alma was also playing guitar and she made jokes between the songs.



Performance
Their audition was really interesting. Although their sound is some kind of “oldschool” this was a fresh and different concert, because the Dark Dance Treffen got mostly electronic through the last months. Unfortunately the band is still something like a hot tip. There were only some fans of them in the crowd. We have to wait what the future without the keyboard player will bring.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 6
Light 5
Sound 7
Total 6




Welle:Erdball

They are unique, they are electronic, they are funny, they are special, they are WELLE:ERDBALL. With their preference for the old fashioned technologies and especially for the Commodore 64 they found their own little niche and genre. There are only some bands left, which can be proud to sound like no other band. WELLE:ERDBALL is one of them. They were formed in 1990 and are actually playing with Honey (vocals); A.L.F. (synths), Frl. Venus (vocals, instruments) and Plastique (vocals, instruments). Their last album “Chaos Total” came out in late 2006. http://www.welle-erdball.de/



Music
Their concerts are always a pleasure. Their music is so retro, but also modern, fantastic and special. Their songs are all electronic, but they put so many specials into them. Nearly all songs are made for dancing. Honey has this clear voice. He often speaks more than he sings, but this fits perfect to their music. For their last album they added some 50s melodies, which marked a new note. This all is put together to a rousing mixture.

Performance
They are made for the stage. As always we liked them much more live than on CD. They got so many goodies, accessories and specials on stage, you don’t know what to recognize first. They changed and reworked their live performance since we saw them the last time. Now they are working with huge screens, on which Honey was only projected during the first song. Later he hit the oil tank for “Arbeit adelt!” and as always this was one of the highlights of their auditions.



The D.O.G. is a big hall made of metal and so his hits were reflected by the walls. This maximizes the effect. The two female singers appeared first in 50ies-look-a-like dresses and then changed their outfit into tight black catsuits. The eyes of all male visitors were following them during the changing behind thin curtains. We only missed the song “Nur tote Frauen sind schön”, because they were doing a strange ironing-performance for this one.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 9
Light 6
Sound 8
Total 8




Die Krupps

As one of the pioneers of German electronic and industrial music the band stands like nearly no other band for alternative success and also for the faith of fans. The band was founded in 1980 and since then they are having a solid fan base not only in Germany. The former member Ralf Dörper left the band in 1982 and founded PROPAGANDA, which is also a famous band from the 80s. He returned to DIE KRUPPS in 1989. During the years, they added metal influences and heavy guitars. The band released their last regular album in 1997. Jürgen Engler (singer) formed the band DKAY.COM in 2000. In 2005 DIE KRUPPS returned to celebrate their 25 anniversary with exclusive shows at some festivals. http://www.die-krupps.de/



Music
What shall we say? They are back! Although nearly all songs are at least 10 years old or even older they are so “modern” and actual. Their rough combination of EBM, Industrial, metal percussions and hard rocking guitars is hard to describe. It hits you right in the face and your trousers are nearly blowing away. When Jürgen Engler hits the “Steelophon” he was even surprised himself, because the “D.O.G.” reflected the hits a thousand times. It was unbelievably loud, he even held his ears - but this even motivated him to hit it harder and faster.



Performance
You have to see it on your own! Nearly nothing could describe the atmosphere on and in front of the stage. Jürgen Engler was running all over the stage, nearly never standing still. The whole crowd was moving, stamping, dancing, jumping… We only saw something like that at the audition of DIE KRUPPS at the Amphi Festival 2005. So it must be their specialty to carry them too far. They are making music for 26 years now and obviously their music keeps them young. Also the fans got old during the years, but they gave all in this hour. It was the first concert in south Germany since the band re-formed and the waiting time was over. They used it!



We are sure there were many fans taking power out of this evening to wait years again if they had to. They celebrated every song, whether this was “Metal Machine Music”, “Der Amboss”, “To the hilt” or “Machineries of Joy”. Some “young” electronic bands are still looking for a concert happening like that. It’s sad, but we have to mark one thing. When the band played the song “Fatherland” there was a dancer in the crowd, who raised his right arm in a very know way. It’s so unbelievable, because the band and especially this song are so anti-Nazi! They always mark their statement against racism and Nazis, so he just didn’t understand them right. It’s shameful!

Rating
Music 10
Performance 9
Light 6
Sound 8
Total 8.8





Pictures by Ruth Gräbeldinger
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