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K17, Berlin, GermanyMarch 9th 2008
Blutengel, F.O.D., Shadowminds
BLUTENGEL’s invocation of all possible gothic clichés and mediocre musical quality has given BLUTENGEL an ambivalent position in the Goth scene; for one part of the scene, creative centre and singer Chris Pohl is a major Goth idol and style icon, and for another part of the scene BLUTENGEL is nothing more than a bad joke. Still, they play for long sold-out venues, as was the case in the Berlin K17 at the last night of their major 4-day tour. Remembering their highly theatrical, spectacular and sexy show in Eindhoven in 2004, I was up for a night of entertainment to be taken with a grain of salt.
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Palladium, Cologne, Germany8th March 2008
The Mars Volta
Already after the first release of their project THE MARS VOLTA, both ex-THE DRIVE-IN members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez caused a real hype. To un-orthodox was their sound somewhere between Hardcore, Psychedelic and Enthno, to spectacular and energy-loaded were their live shows. You could not ignore this band. Following three released fulfilled all expectations and support slots for RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS as well as own headliner tours cemented their reputation as brilliant performance artists. During their current tour through Germany, they presented material out off their fourth studio release ‘The Bedlam in Goliath’.
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Europahalle, Karlsruhe, Germany 12th January 2008
KNOCK OUT FESTIVAL: Within Temptation, Helloween, Paradise Lost, Gamma Ray, Axxis, Epica
The winter months usually aren’t the favourite ones for festival junkies who then tend to dream of warm summer nights with great concerts under a starlit sky. As a little consolation there are nevertheless a few nice events during this time of the year, too - as for example the “Knock out Festival” in Karlsruhe. This year, it took place for the second time and came up with a quite unusual, though very interesting billing. Dark Metal band PARADISE LOST would share stage with the old-school power metal heads from GAMMA RAY and HELLOWEEN, and the nowadays very successful Dutch Symphonic Metal/Rock band WITHIN TEMPTATION were to be this festival’s completion.
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Arena Treptow, Berlin, Germany21st February 2008
Nightwish, Pain & Krieger
Over the past few years, I had grown bored with NIGHTWISH. The album ‘Century Child’ never excited me, the clichéd 80s metal references that I perceived even annoyed me, ‘Once’ sounded a lot better to me again, but I had the feeling that by then I had heard it all. Even though NIGHTWISH has always been great live, I would’ve never been bothered to visit one again. And then, in 2005, the news came that singer Tarja Turunen was thrown out and that NIGHTWISH was looking for a new singer.
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Flösserplatz, Aarau, Switzerland1st March 2008
Diorama, Transit Poetry
Sunday evening short past 7p.m. High above the ground I sit in the plane on my way home from Zurich; the lights down on earth look like huge spider webs crossing the land and glittering in the dark. In my ears, there is still the sound of yesterday; my eyes still see the scenery on stage and already in a melancholy mood I think about the great weekend with DIORAMA and TRANSIT POETRY at the “Schwarzes Treffen” (Black Meeting) in Aarau / Switzerland.
