Live Review: Ship of Rebels - Cologne 2023

Achterdeck, Cologne, Germany
28th July 2023
Ship of Rebels 2023 with Zoodrake, The Foreign Resort, Black Nail Cabaret and Chrom

One of the most extraordinary events of the year is the Ship Of Rebels. The location is the Achterdeck, a ship moored in Cologne on the banks of the Rhine. In addition to company celebrations and weddings, concerts also take place on board. So the Rebels team chose this ship a few years ago as the location for the Ship Of Rebels project.

Since then, well-known and lesser-known bands from the Dark Wave and Electro scene have been meeting there. This year’s visitors were the German Hilton Theissen with his electro project ZOODRAKE, THE FOREIGN RESORT from Denmark who travelled to Cologne with Post-Punk at the best and BLACK NAILED CABARET who made their way from Hungary. The fourth band and main act of the day was CHROM from near Cologne. In this case, the mastermind of CHROM, Christian Marquis probably had the shortest journey to the Ship Of Rebels.



To get on the ship, the guests had to walk across a gangplank in keeping with their status. On the boat, they could buy fan articles of the artists present directly at the merchandise stand. Those who were thirsty could order a drink from the friendly staff or fortify themselves with fries or a bratwurst. From the railing, visitors could enjoy the view of the Rhine and even look as far as Cologne Cathedral until the first band started.

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Zoodrake

ZOODRAKE kicked off with their powerful Synth Pop, but besides the synthesiser, the electric guitar also plays a big role in the music. You could hear that clearly in songs like ‘Black Out Day’. Singer Hilton Theissen jumped around the small stage with his electric guitar. He was supported on the keyboard by the mysterious Silvveil. The special thing about the keyboard player is that he/she hides behind a silver mask and you don’t know who is hiding behind it. You can look forward to the remix that ZOODRAKE is currently producing for the band BEYOND BORDER. https://www.facebook.com/zoodrake



Setlist
01. Light aspire
02. Success of the snake
03. Black out day
04. Sent to you
05. Upgrade
06. Fighter
07. Death bloom
08. Nothing’s wrong
09. G.o.d.
10. Jackal parade
11. Right back

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Light: 8
Sound: 8.5
Total: 8.4 / 10

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The Foreign Resort

The changing weather, with blue skies or big black clouds, couldn’t spoil the fun for the visitors and bands. At this time, the next band was doing their sound check. With drums, electric guitar and a bass guitar, the trio of THE FOREIGN RESORT also started directly. They started with the song ‘Orange Glow’ and caught the visitors with their music. They played perfect mix of new wave and post-punk. Singer Mikkel Borbjerg Jakobsen used his powerful and dynamic voice perfectly and still possessed a great amount of melancholy. Steffan Petersen on bass was rather restrained, only occasionally swapping instruments and places with Mikkel. https://www.theforeignresort.com / https://www.facebook.com/theforeignresort



Setlist
01. Orange Glow
02. Hearts Fade Out
03. She Is Lost
04. Flushed
05. World Of Fools
06. Overturn
07. Dead End Roads
08. Quiet Again
09. Landslide
10. Dark White

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Light: 8
Sound: 8.5
Total: 8.4 / 10

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Mariachi Band

After FOREIGN RESORT, BLACK NAIL CABARET was supposed to perform. Unfortunately, technical problems arose and a new amplifier had to be procured. This time-out was used to present a Mariachi band. The four guys with huge sombrero hats and their music might not belon to the musical taste of the predominantly black-clad visitors. Nevertheless, the visitors on the ship were visibly enthusiastic and even sang along loudly with the songs. Even with songs like ‘quanta na mera’ or ‘La Cucaracha’, everyone was sure of the lyrics. Shortly after the Mariachis left the stage singing, “Ship in sight” was heard from different directions. This ship was the ship of the parallel event of the Amphi Festival team “Call The Ship To Port”. With great cheering on both ships, the MS RheinEnergie passed the Ship Of Rebels. The “Rebels” greeted the competition with lots of colourful smoke flares.




Black Nail Cabaret

After all the excitement and after the sound system was working again, BLACK NAIL CABARET could finally perform. An instrumental intro served as the opener until Krisztián Árvai entered the stage and played the first notes of the song ‘Black Lava’ from the last album ‘Gods Verging On Sanity’. Emese Arvai-Illes came on stage a little later from backstage, dressed in black trousers and a short leather top. Anyone who has seen BLACK NAIL CABARET live knows their preference for special outfits. On this evening, she wore a silver mask that looked as if it was made of bone and black coloured eyes. Emese and Krisztián played many of their well-known songs like ‘Maelstrom’, ‘Orchid’ or also ‘Rhytm X’. With her powerful and emotional voice, she fascinated the fans. https://www.facebook.com/bncband



Setlist
01. Black Lava
02. My Casual God
03. Sister Sister
04. La Petite Mort
05. Spheres
06. Maelstrom
07. Orchid
08. Rhythm X
09. No Gold
10. To Die In Paris
11. Bête Noire
12. Veronica

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Light: 8
Sound: 8.5
Total: 8.6 / 10

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Chrom

The last band of the day to take the stage was CHROM. After the departure of Thomas Winters, CHROM mastermind Christian Marquis works alone. On this evening, he got help from Jean-Pierre Reuter for the live performance. With their mixture of EBM and Synth Pop, the guys from CHROM appealed to a broad mass of fans. Christian was visibly delighted to be able to perform live again. This was also evident in his performance, as he was very agile on stage. He flirted with the fans in front of the stage. Jean-Pierre stood behind his keyboard most of the time and watched the action through his sunglasses. https://www.chrom-music.com / https://www.facebook.com/chrommusic



Setlist
01. Walked The Line
02. Visions
03. I Don’t Believe
04. Heavenly
05. Only You
06. Regret & Testify
07. Morbid Mind
08. Slave
09. In My World
10. Losing Myself
11. Loneliness
12. Staring At The Sun
13. Memories
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14. The Start of Something New

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Light: 8
Sound: 8.5
Total: 8.4 / 10

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The evening didn’t end after the concerts, because then the visitors could dance to the perfect music. It was a very relaxed atmosphere throughout the whole event and the audience had fun. There is hope that another Ship of Rebels will take place in 2024.

All Pictures by Andreas Klüppelberg