Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany15th March 2008
Gothic Aid: New Days Delay, Pesticide, On the Floor, Fetisch:Mensch, Cyan Inc., Sono, The Promise, Rotersand, Zeraphine, Project Pitchfork
The second Gothic Aid Charity festival took place on 15th March at the Markthalle in Hamburg for the good of a children’s hospice (http://www.sternenbruecke.de/) and many people were following the call. No wonder as you’ll hardly get to see any band in other places for a price of 20, - EUR. The Markthalle was divided into two separate locations: The big hall provided perfect conditions contrary to the small “Marx”. Basically this separation was a good idea. More of that later. It was planned to switch between the two locations with only minor interceptions. Well, at least it worked out at the beginning. But even if there were smaller technical problems and partly very differing performances on stage, we all should pay all involved respect for their efforts on this evening and say Thank You!!!
This is a German Surf Rock and Indie Rock band founded in Bremen in autumn 1999. Due to their massive concert presence all over Europe, the band made themselves a name very quickly. The discography includes 2 EPs and 1 album partly self-published. http://www.myspace.com/newdaysdelay
Music & Performance
With the first band you could also experience the only woman of the evening on stage, which was a shame in my opinion. It was singer Insa Knapp, who clearly was the chief in the ring, even if the overall performance seemed a bit reluctant. Sound and light were not, what I would call ideal.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 6
Sound 4
Light 4
Total 5
Pesticide (Main Stage)
Even though the involved members were active musicians for quite a long time, it was in 2006, when singer Dominic joined the line-up that the era of PESTICIDE could start. In their music they are merging harsh guitars and samples with an inspiring voice but you can also call it Nu Metal. http://www.planet-pesticide.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/planetpesticide
Music & Performance
Musically surely not what you would expect on this evening, but PESTICIDE played the part of the paradise bird and presented an extraordinary live performance besides their harsh guitar sounds.
Setlist
01. Murder Arts
02. Walking Ghost Syndrome
03. The Letter
04. Tranquilizer
05. Metroid
06. What I feel for you
07. Something Inside Me
Rating
Music 6
Performance 9
Sound 6
Light 6
Total 6.5
On the Floor (MarX)
This band from Hamburg in Germany started in the late 90. Meanwhile they can rely on a continuously growing fan base accompanying them on their 30 played concerts. They already played as support for well-known acts like CATASTROPHE BALLET and GIRLS UNDER GLASS and DIVE. The band released an EP called ‘Waiting for the Summers’ in 1999 and their debut album ‘Under a heart-shaped sun’ was released in 2003.
Music & Performance
So the evening went on with a bit more catchy music with ON THE FLOOR. Meanwhile the audience has grown a bit providing for a better mood on both sides. Still you could neither see nor hear much better but at least the temperature was bearable contrary to the later boiling main stage.
Setlist
01. Heaven
02. 1969
03. Transmission
04. Ocean drive
05. Gone away
06. Everybody kills someone
07. God is a sniper
08. Floorschow
09. Killing queen
Rating
Music 7
Performance 8
Sound 5
Light 4
Total 6
Fetisch:Mensch (Main Stage)
This is the ambitious project of GOETHES ERBEN singer Oswald Henke, which neither produces neither any records nor anything else. It’s focussing on the moment, in which the music sounds. http://www.fetisch-mensch.de/
Music & Performance
If you’ve always asked yourself how GOETHES ERBEN would look like as a Rock band, then you had the chance to witness it in Hamburg. Even if there are some differences between the two projects, the stage presence of Oswald Henke was very intense. As always with Oswald Henke, the lyrics play a major part even if it will be a challenge for some people to memorize them at first listen, because as already hinted above, you’ll never get the chance to read them in a booklet.
Setlist
01. Nicht heute aber morgen
02. Blauer Sonnenstrahl
03. Zwischenseelenträume
04. Erschießen
05. Narbengarten
05. Nicht heute aber morgen
06. Manchmal II
---
07. Pure Aggression
Rating
Music 7
Performance 9
Sound 7
Light 7
Total 7.5
Cyan Inc. (MarX)
This is the trio Per-Anders Kurenbach (Psyche), Singer Cyan (The Eternal Afflict) and Drummer Chains (The Spook). Cyan and Per started the project after an intensive chat in Summer 2006. The first result of that collaboration is the album ‘Better Leave me Dying’ released in 2007. http://www.myspace.com/cyaninc
Music & Performance
Unfortunately the light was completely turned-off at the beginning, what led - in combination with the bad sound - to a slightly angry mood of the singer Cyan, leaving not the best impression on me at first, but the songs compensated a bit for the problems as you could also hear some sounds of the original projects.
Setlist
01. Entrance
02. Children without Amen
03. Midas Touch
04. We Libanon You
05. Turmoil Reigns
06. Leatherbound lil Jesus
07. Abscense of light
08. San Diego
09. Holocaust of Love
Rating
Music 5
Performance 5
Sound 4
Light 1
Total 3.8
Sono (Main Stage)
SONO is an electro pop project based in Hamburg, covering a wide range of styles from Wave to Rave. The best examples for that is the band playing at the Wave Gotik Treffen as well as on the Mayday in St. Petersburg. SONO is: Lennart A. Salomon (vocals, guitars, writing, production), Florian Sikorski (keyboards, writing, production) and Martin Weiland (keyboards, writing, production, DJ). http://www.sono.fm/ / http://www.myspace.com/sonomusic
Music & Performance
One question for the organizers: Why this band had to play that early? This project would have been brilliant as Co-Headliner. At least after the Gothic Aid Festival in Hamburg, there can be no doubt anymore how much excitement can be caused by that rather minimalist way to create music. It was a home game for SONO and singer Lennart with his great mood and vocals always had control over the audience. Sad that it had to be over so early.
Setlist
01. The Brightest Star
02. All Those City Lights
03. Someday
04. Blame
05. Always Something Missing
06. Keep Control
07. A New Cage
08. 2000 Guns / Killer
Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 9
Light 8
Total 8.5
The Promise (MarX)
Sven Einzelmann is already well-known from his job as DJ in countless clubs and as keyboarder of former bands like SCREEMING FOOLS, PHILTRON and SFOR CRIME. In 2003 he joined forces with Michael Bachmeier who is a Techno/House producer to found THE PROMISE. To this date no debut or even an EP has been released but several remixes for other bands i.e. REAL LIFE, OMD, X-PERIENCE, PURWIEN, GITTE HAENNING, LOWE or MASSIV IN MENSCH. http://www.myspace.com/thepromisegermany
Music & Performance
This band seemingly had much fun on stage. Also the light was much better compared to all the other bands performing at the MarX this evening. The bad sound spoiled the fun of this sometimes very catchy songs a bit.
Setlist
01. Intro
02. Rain
03. The rebel
04. No joy
05. Hold on
06. You and me
07. More then this
08. Das Model
09. Der Abgrund
Rating
Music 6
Performance 8
Sound 4
Light 8
Total 6.5
Rotersand (Main Stage)
This German band fuses EBM, Techno, Electro and 80s influences to a very danceable mix. All their releases got high rankings in the German Alternative Charts. The band was also support on the last COVENANT Tour. http://www.rotersand.net/ / http://www.myspace.com/rotersand
Music & Performance
“So beautiful you’ve also opened a concert hall in your sauna”. The heat meanwhile became a big problem. Not only for the joking singer Rasc. But sometimes it was his own fault anyway as the performance of ROTERSAND had the usual effect on the audience: It made them dance, what - in return - caused Rasc to dance along with them for a while.
Setlist
01. Electronic world transmission
02. Almost violent
03. I cry-rework
04. I don’t know
05. Lost
06. Exterminate annihilate destroy
07. Undone
Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Sound 8
Light 5
Total 6.8
After that show, many people made their way to the small hall to see AGONOIZE. Unfortunately too many so we missed that event because there was no chance anymore to get into the room. It was the same thing with KIEW, who unfortunately became a victim of the delayed schedule, what resulted in the band partly playing with the headliner at the same time.
Zeraphine (Main Stage)
The Gothic Rock band from Berlin was founded in 2000 by the former DREADFUL SHADOWS members Sven Friedrich and Norman Selbig and was at first called HELIX in the early days before the project got his current name which hasn’t changed ever since. After 4 successful studio releases, a Best-of called ‘Years in Black’ was released last year. Singer Sven Friedrich is still on the road with the DREADFUL SHADOWS and also has his own project SOLAR FAKE whose album has been released in February. http://www.zeraphine.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/zeraphine
Music & Performance
Nothing but emptiness in the big hall. That was the depressing result of the misconception with AGONOIZE playing in the smaller hall and not the lack of interest in ZERAPHINE. Unfortunately the band somehow got irritated by this fact, as the performance was not very convincing compared to the ones I can remember. Sven Friedrich seemed to be nervous and the band tired, so that even the good songs didn’t get the audience moving. At least there was some applause for the empathic words of Sven Friedrich to the topic of the evening and the fitting ‘Wenn du gehst’.
Setlist
01. Die Macht in dir
02. No more doubts
03. I feel your trace
04. Niemand kann es sehen
05. Nichts aus Liebe
06. Be my rain
07. Die Wirklichkeit
08. Sterne sehen
09. Ohne dich
10. Inside your arms
11. No tears
12. Wenn du gehst
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 5
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 6.8
Project Pitchfork (Main Stage)
This band is of the leading ones in the alternative electronic music, initially consisting of Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber. Later also Jürgen Jansen, Achim Färber and Carsten Klatte joined the line-up. The formation wasn’t just known for critically-acclaimed albums, successful tours and appearances on every conceivable festival but also for some prominent support acts like RAMMSTEIN or COVENANT. After some very successful years at the beginning of this millennium, the popularity decreased with the more introverted albums ‘Inferno’ and ‘Kaskade’ but nothing has changed in East Germany and in Russia, where a Tribute to Pitchfork sampler has been created in 2005. http://www.pitchfork.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/projectpitchfork
Music & Performance
The headliner started very brutal and could hold that level for most of the time. It was especially the guitar player Carsten Klatte - besides a very cheerful Peter Spilles - who gave full speed with a set of mostly older and harsher songs. The highlight was without any doubt a song which is very rarely played live: ‘Souls’ from 1992. While the Dark Storm Festival last year had excellent sound and very sparse light it was the other way around this time. The lightshow was brilliant, but the sound was a bit too loud and not without bugs. Nevertheless I preferred the performance, especially due to the songs and wider dynamics on stage over the one in Chemnitz. At the end Dirk Scheuber expressed his sympathy with the Tibetans with a few words.
Setlist
01. Intro (Drone Assembly)
02. God Wrote
03. IO
04. Existence
05. Carrion
06. Requiem
07. Terra Incognita
08. Revolution Now
09. Human Crossing
10. K.N.K.A.
11. Timekiller
12. Mine
13. En Garde
14. Souls
15. Rescue
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 9
Total 8.8
All the insomniacs, who still weren’t tired at 3:00 AM could either go on celebrating in the party bus of LOLA ANGST - which was waiting in front of the hall - or visit the official after show party at the Kir. This event has also been filmed by Crazy Clip TV so all the one’s who couldn’t be there will also get an impression of the event sooner or later
All pictures by Frank Buttenbender
Written by Frank Buttenbender / Translation by Sebastian Huhn
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