Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Special: Lord Of The Lost 10 Years Anniversary

Details: Written by: Nastja Iz & Eva Lhum; Published: 19 December 2019

Markthalle & Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg, Germany
6th & 7th December 2019 (rock shows) + 8th & 9th December 2019 (ensemble shows)
Lord Of The Lost - 10 years anniversary - Special guest: Lord 2009, Empire Of Giants, Unzucht, Grey Boulevard, Der Schulz and many surprise guests on Saturday, 7th December

This is not an ordinary review, but a - let’s call it what it is - love letter to a band that just turned 10 this year and looking back, who wrote the perfect soundtrack to our 20ies. So many shows, all of them different and fun, emotional and explosive, from small and intimate Rock Talks or album pre-listening with a few dozens of people to huge, glittery & perfect festival shows - watching LORD OF THE LOST grow and work really hard for their success, release new albums, make new show concepts, gain new fans at home and abroad, going through some changes and also challenges - they are for us one of these bands who worked hard for what they are now and the simple “well deserved” means here the world.

To celebrate their 10 years anniversary, LORD OF THE LOST announced last year in October at first two shows: a rock and an ensemble show for December 2019 (some fans thought at first actually they mean 2018, but no, it was meant for 2019). The tickets were sold out in literally no time, and so another rock show - with the concept of a wish list where fans could later vote for their favourite songs - and another ensemble show were announced. And so when the time actually came it felt crazy and almost unreal to be able to use the tickets we bought over a year ago.

6th December 2019: Wish List Rock Show - Markthalle Hamburg

Lord 2009

What could be a more worthy way to start the 10 years anniversary party than going back to how it all began: LORD 2009 - 5 songs of their debut album performed by the 5 members of the original line up. To me, this was more emotional than I expected. Although I got to know LORD OF THE LOST not in 2009, but in 2010, all five members were still on stage at my first show (plus two more). And as I fell in love with their music already at that evening to me this was a wonderful trip down memory lane, even more as they gave their best to reconstruct the look of those first shows with the original outfits and stylings.

But this was definitely also a most interesting and relatable set for new fans. They started with ‘Till Death Us Do Part’, title song of the collection of best of songs and rarities that came out a few months ago, accompanied by a video for said song. This way, they made sure that most people in the crowd knew this song very well by now before they went on to other songs from their debut ‘Fears’. I really enjoyed hearing again the “old sound” of LORD OF THE LOST which felt much rougher and dirtier and reminded me of how far their style developed during the ten years. LORD OF THE LOST truly is a versatile band which did not just refine their style but also explored new musical facets with every album.

With just five songs, the set was soon concluded with the all-time classic ‘Dry The Rain’ which was actually the very start of LORD OF THE LOST and until this day is celebrated passionately by all the fans. Actually, it gave me goose bumps for me when I looked around the venue packed with 1,200 people who were singing along loudly. What a perfect start!

Setlist
01. Till Death Us Do Part
02. Break Your Heart
03. Last Words
04. Nothing Words Can Say
05. Dry The Rain

Empire of Giants

Founded 2016, EMPIRE OF GIANTS are not unfamiliar to the LORD OF THE LOST fans as none other than Chris Harms produced their debut album ‘Iceolation’, which was released this year. This energetic band from Berlin manages to combine in a remarkable way elements of metal, core and rock, always expanding borders while still delivering a coherent mix. Remarkable was in particular the impressive interplay of both lead singers, Basti’s shouting and growling combined with the clear and melodic voice of Kira. And all this was accompanied by an amazing amount of energy of all six band members. There was so much movement and enthusiasm on the stage!

The setlist also ranged from powerful and loud songs like ‘Day Of Mayhem’ to the much quieter and melodic ‘My Promise’ where many people even used their phones to accompany the dreamy atmosphere with some light. Well, I am sure, we will hear a lot more of those promising and exciting newcomers during the next years.

Setlist
01. Final Call
02. Heroes Of Their Stories
03. Surface
04. Days Of Mayhem
05. My Promise
06. Blinded
07. Born Anew

Lord of the Lost

As we mentioned before, this was an additional show with a setlist based on a voting of fans. Yet, such votings have one huge problem: They tend to yield a setlist with those songs that were already played live very often. Thus, LORD OF THE LOST decided to throw in some rare B-sides in addition. And indeed, the first song already was an unusual start. I don’t think, I have ever heard ‘Lament For The Condemned’ live before, a B-side available from the deluxe edition of the ‘Empyrean’ album. LORD OF THE LOST were greeted immediately with tremendous applause and cheering. To me it felt, like the tension of the long wait for those special concerts was now transformed into loud joy the moment the band entered the stage. After all, most people bought their tickets a year ago. And many people travelled far for this (there even was an Argentinian flag in the first row).

After the first song Chris asked who was not from Germany and I was surprised by how many hands went up. So, he promised to keep his announcements bilingual, English and German. Such a pleasant and thankful gesture. At ‘Credo’ Chris explained that this show was basically working like the charts in TV, going up step by step to the number one song, “which might lead to a strange suspense within the setlist”. Like with ‘Credo’, which was usually the last song of the show and now was played very early in the show. An absolute highlight for me was ‘One Day everything Will Be Okay’, which LORD OF THE LOST never played live before. This song truly deserves the title “rare B-side” as it was released exclusively in a Sonic Seducer issue in 2014. And I loved that song so much while the loud cheering from the crowd told me, many more felt just like me.

It was followed directly by ‘Voodoo Doll’. Those two songs with their strong and positive message combined was really as emotional as it was uplifting. Much more on the entertainment side was ‘Blood For Blood’. Chris recalled, how in China, where they toured one year ago, the fans started jumping to that song and they thought: “We want to have this at home as well”. Then he started joking about how this song should be part of ‘Swan Songs III’, the next orchestral album and then at the concerts we could all sit on hopping balls instead of chairs and jump along on those. I am still laughing while picturing a few hundred goths jumping through a concert hall on hopping balls. Well, during this show we lacked the hopping balls, but the whole crowd was jumping happily during the refrain.

I think at about ‘Six Feet Underground’ I started pondering: If this was number four, which three songs were still missing? Which songs would be the Top Three of the LORD OF THE LOST Fans? Well, I definitely agreed very much with the fan voting and was extremely happy when ‘Raining Stars’ started with the distinct intro that FORMALIN added to the video version. Then, as number two, there was this one song that always makes me jump at the first notes: ‘La Bomba’. Did I already write in other reviews that it’s epic? Well, it is epic! To me this really became a symbol about how LORD OF THE LOST are never afraid of testing the limits and in that process create something that is as unique as it is brilliant.

To raise the tension before the number one song a little bit, they choose to play another song that they never played live before. Chris recalled how during tour they often listen to older material and at some point one of their band members - Pi - always says: “One day, we need to play this”, while Chris said, that is song really is mostly noise. Well, now was the time: For the very first time, Pi and the band played ‘Trisma’, a B-side from the ‘Six Feet Underground’ single. Noisy it was indeed, yet also full of raw energy which was truly captivating. So the song was followed by loud cheering and when Chris asked, who did not like it, just one hand was raised. Therefore, Chris promised to include this song in the setlist of their next tour which led to even louder cheering from the audience. And there was the explosive final: ‘Drag Me To Hell’ was the number one song in the fan voting and of course everyone shouted along loudly to the refrain.

So, a wonderful and unique show ended with a powerful blow. It really was an amazing trip through all ten years and to me it was very exciting to see which songs were the favourites of the fans. And LORD OF THE LOST had proved again why they became so successful within just 10 years. They easily created a very personal atmosphere with a strong bond to their fans while delivering an absolutely energetic show. And while everything on stage was organised very professionally and worked out perfectly, it is absolutely obvious how much passion is put into those shows, how much fun they have playing as a band and how grateful they are about being able to do what they do - celebrating their 10 years anniversary with 1,200 fans from all over the world.

But you know what was - without a doubt - the best part of this evening? It was only number one of four! And I definitely couldn’t wait to return to Markthalle the very next day.

Setlist
01. Lament For The Condemned
02. Morgana (17)
03. Prison (16)
04. Sex On Legs (15)
05. I.D.G.A.F.
06. Credo (14)
07. Die Tomorrow (13)
08. Black Lolita (12)
09. On This Rock I Will Build My Church (11)
10. Dry The Rain (10)
11. One Day Everything Will Be Okay
12. Voodoo Doll (9)
13. Forevermore (8)
14. Full Metal Whore (7)
15. Loreley (6)
16. Blood for Blood (5)
17. Six Feet Underground (4)
18. Raining Stars (3)
19. La Bomba (2)
20. Trisma
21. Drag Me To Hell (1)

7th December 2019: Rock Show With Surprise Guests - Markthalle Hamburg

Still emotionally moved by the flashbacks that the first night released, Saturday turned out pretty short, as the doors already opened at 6 pm and the early afternoon was busy with some other to-dos, but also welcoming a friend who finally could join for the three days ahead. We arrived quite early at the venue and of course, the crowd waiting in front of Markthalle was already there and just continued growing in no time. No wonder, also this evening was sold-out and the crowd already pretty hyped after the first, emotional and intense night. UNZUCHT were invited to open the second night at Markthalle for their long-time friends LORD OF THE LOST. But before they started, someone else came on stage - Dr. Mark Benecke himself - no minute later than 7 pm to welcome the audience and announce the evening.

First things first - revealing his shirt - white with glittery pink font “Fashion Lover” on it - we could have only guessed how the rest of the evening would be like… Mark invited LORD OF THE LOST on stage as he got a letter from UNZUCHT and gave it to Chris to read out loud. Before doing so, he tried to pronounce the band’s name in many different variations; the one that made it throw the whole evening was “UNSUCKED”. The content was - freely remembered - UNZUCHT were complaining about the meme war that both bands were fighting for months now, stating it went too far and so they cannot expect them just to play at the birthday concert as if nothing happened. The last sentence was though, “Can you organize guest list at IRON MAIDEN shows for us?”. Everything just a lot of fun between actual close friends and so LORD OF THE LOST left the stage and UNZUCHT opened the evening with a bang.

Unzucht

UNZUCHT prepared a great best-of set to kick-off the evening that no one who attended will ever forget. ‘Kind von Traurigkeit’, ‘Ein Wort fliegt wie ein Stein’ or ‘Schwarzes Blut’ - just to name a few songs that they played to rock the over 1,000 people in the venue. And the crowd didn’t hesitate to start partying right away. Standing still was not an option. The party started right away here and the catchy UNZUCHT classics helped a lot to make the crowd dance and rock. Not only well-known hits were played. UNZUCHT just released a new song and video, called ‘Nein’, a first taste of the upcoming album ‘Jenseits der Welt’ (release date 7th February 2020) that was performed live for the second time that night and immediately was perceived greatly by the new and old fans. The following ‘Unzucht’, ‘Engel der Vernichtung’ and ‘Nur die Ewigkeit’ were these well-known and loved songs that many people were awaiting anyway.

The madness took all over and should have stayed for the next hours. Daniel used the chance to get close to the audience by climbing up the barrier and having fun with the people. The last song turned out a surprise actually - UNZUCHT played and sang along ‘Credo’ - the fan hymn that LORD OF THE LOST created for their concerts and fans. A heart-warming moment that introduced the upcoming things in the most perfect way.

Setlist
01. ...
02. Allein
03. Kind von Traurigkeit
04. Ein Wort fliegt wie ein Stein
05. Schwarzes Blut
06. Nein
07. Unzucht
08. Engel der Vernichtung
09. Nur die Ewigkeit
10. Credo (Lord Of The Lost cover)
https://www.facebook.com/Unzucht/

Lord Of The Lost

The following was probably the longest concert set that LORD OF THE LOST have ever played, the most surprising and probably also most perfect one. I still feel very impressed about what they offered us. But let’s start from the beginning.

The first song of the night, ‘Raining Stars’, provided all the sparkly moments that a show like this could use for the start - sparkling were also the outfits of the band - a real pleasure to look at them and to watch them perform, as always. ‘Loreley’ from the current album ‘Thornstar’ continued the majestic performance and everyone in there - the international crowd and the band were on fire! With the next two songs the actual fireworks started - first one of many surprise guests was invited to join the band - Rupert Keplinger from EISBRECHER had his special guest appearance on the songs ‘Kill It With Fire’ and ‘Six Feet Underground’, bringing even more fire on stage with his performance and obviously having a lot of fun with the guys, especially Class and Pi! We had a great time watching him play with the guys and the first surprise was more than well done.

No time to lose, the next guest was already waiting behind the scene. No one less than another long time friend and colleague, Matteo VDiva Fabbiani from HELL BOULEVARD, joined the birthday kids on stage for ‘Do You Wanna Die Without A Scar’ and the song became even more intense with this duet of two remarkable voices, Chris and Matteo. Perfection overload. The next guest meant that Nik got a short break and left his drums for Christian “Disco” Schellhorn, something that made me extremely happy as I connect a lot of intense memories with the time when Disco was the drummer in LORD OF THE LOST and of course he played also two songs from that time that mean especially a lot to me, ‘Black Lolita’ and ‘Die Tomorrow’, countless times I’ve heard these songs live by now and never got tired of them. Also memories of a really great time, when we all were a little bit younger and a little bit fuller of dreams. Not saying we aren’t anymore. It’s just in a different way now, also not just dreaming, but also living it. Seeing Disco back on stage was a really great reminder of these times and made my heart literally jump a little bit.

For ‘Epiphany’ Nik took over the drums again. That song and ‘Undead Or Alive’ were performed without special guest, nonetheless greatly and powerful of course. The next three songs demanded for a strong, intense female voice and got it - the talented and enchanting SCARLET DORN was announced by Chris as that voice that they discovered and fell so much in love with that they decided to form a second band which SCARLET DORN actually is. Scarlet joined LORD OF THE LOST for ‘Black Oxide’ and ‘Holy F’ and blew everyone away with her stage presence. Especially ‘Holy F’ was very dramatic and great to watch the performance.

After the song Chris said, “well what a coincidence that our back-liners are also members of SCARLET DORN” (and their keyboard player, but psst!), and so Pi, Nik and Class got a break while Chris suddenly surrounded by SCARLET DORN as band sang together with them ‘I Love The Way You Say My Name’. A highlight for sure. SCARLET DORN left, LORD OF THE LOST guys who left the stage before, came back and with them another surprise guest, ERIC FISH, was there to perform ‘Sin’. Afterwards the mighty ‘Love Of God’ was played that funnily will always remind me of that meme that came up when the song was new, saying “The Love Of Goat” with a picture of an actual goat on it.

Well, if you had put a decibel meter next to us that might have been the point when it reached its high for the evening. The very first tunes were enough to let us totally freak out. The next surprise guest was Dero Goi from OOMPH!, the reason for our excitement was actually that particular song that started. From the very first moment I heard it during the special pre-listening session of ‘Thornstar’ before it was actually released, I was fascinated by that song and wished to have the opportunity to hear it live at least once, ‘Abracadabra’, the duet of Dero and Chris, and it finally happened. The next few minutes were just electrifying. Dero stayed on stage also for the next one and an actual premiere - not only he had guest vocals on the current LORD OF THE LOST album, but also Chris has guest vocals on the current OOMPH! album, and so the OOMPH! song ‘Europa’ celebrated its live premiere.

The next bunch of songs was announced by Chris as the “party block” and was full of wonderful cover versions and party songs. The first one of them became quite sad though afterwards, ‘Sleeping In My Car’ by ROXETTE, not a secret for the fans, one of Chris’ most favourite bands, as just on Tuesday, the day after the anniversary shows, the message that Marie Fredriksson, the female part of ROXETTE, passed away after years of battling cancer, reached the public. The part of the show itself was of course a lot of fun and how could we have managed without one of the most important ones - ‘Bad Romance’ is a classic that I personally think more of LORD OF THE LOST by now than LADY GAGA (though the original version rocks as well). The next one was also a highlight - we are back with the surprise guests - and no one less but FADERHEAD performing ‘Everybody’ by Backstreet Boys. When your inner 10-year-old and 30-year-old personalities meet and just have a great party together - this is how it feels like.

Well, the next one was funny indeed. Chris announced the next guest as he refused to perform with the guys first, but got trapped and is here now anyway. He disappeared shortly backstage and came back with JOACHIM WITT, dressed in a fetish outfit with leather handcuffs, holding him on a rope chain. JOACHIM WITT obviously didn’t look very satisfied with his fortune, I guess they promised him something else. Chris when standing with him in front of the microphone, speaking in a calm, but very dominant voice to Joachim “And now you please join in singing. I mean - do it, no discussions”. And so this a little bit confusing view and JOACHIM WITT performing ‘1000 Seelen’ together with Chris and LORD OF THE LOST.

Joachim was released backstage after that song and Erk Aicrag from HOCICO and RABIA SORDA jumped on stage with all his never-ending energy to perform ‘Marching Into Sunset’ with Chris. For the next one. We got a very special version of the mighty and probably one of the greatest songs ever written, ‘La Bomba’, sang in Spanish by Erk and Daniel Schulz from UNZUCHT. That one was a bit confusing… every time I was about to sing along, my words obviously didn’t fit with what the guys were singing - a great and fun version anyway! The monstrosity of an anniversary concert came slowly to an end with the intro of ‘Empyrean’, ‘Drag Me To Hell’ and the song that everything started with - the song that written in 2007 in Berlin demanded for a new band that we all now known as LORD OF THE LOST - ‘Dry The Rain’.

There were so many highlights and so many guests on that evening, in every tiny bit of the show you could feel the dedication and love for what LORD OF THE LOST do… this one was so impressive, so perfectly done, still so emotional and real. The ‘YMCA’ melody was marking the end of the night - a remake to “L-O-T-L” actually instead of “Y-M-C-A”.

Setlist
01. Raining Stars
02. Loreley
03. Kill It With Fire (with Rupert Keplinger from Eisbrecher)
04. Six Feet Underground (with Rupert Keplinger from Eisbrecher)
05. Do You Wanna Die Without a Scar (with Matteo vDiva Fabbiani from Hell Boulevard)
06. Black Lolita (with Disco; their former drummer)
--Intermission-- (Intro "Die Tomorrow" (short))
07. Die Tomorrow (with Disco; their former drummer)
08. Epiphany
09. Undead or Alive
10. Black Oxide (with Scarlet Dorn)
11. Holy F (with Scarlet Dorn)
12. I love the way you say my name (Scarlet Dorn cover) (with Scarlet Dorn)
13. Sin (Nine Inch Nails cover) (with Eric Fish from Subway to Sally)
14. The Love of God
15. Abracadabra (with Dero Goi from Oomph!)
16. Europa (with Dero Goi from Oomph!)
17. Sleeping in My Car (Roxette cover)
18. This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald cover)
19. The Most Radical Thing To Do (The Ark cover)
20. Bad Romance (Lady Gaga cover)
21. Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) (Backstreet Boys cover) (with Faderhead)
22. 1000 Seelen (Joachim Witt cover) (with Joachim Witt)
23. Marching Into Sunset (with Erk Aicrag from Hocico and Rabia Sorda)
24. La Bomba (Versión Español) (with Erk Aicrag from Hocico and Rabia Sorda and Daniel Schulz from Unzucht)
--Intermission-- (Intro "Empyrean")
25. Drag Me To Hell
26. Dry The Rain

8th December 2019: Ensemble Show - Friedrich-Ebert-Halle Hamburg

After two fulminant and very different Rock shows on Friday and Saturday at Markthalle, we’ve changed the venue and the setting to be at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in the South of Hamburg and to feel the magic of the ensemble arrangements. The first evening started as beautiful as you can imagine.

Grey Boulevard

When Chris and his band mates cannot decide who of their friends to invite to their shows - things like this might happen and not only please the audience, but actually surprise with the intensity of the performance, its perfection, humour and the brilliant interplay of three voices, a guitar and a piano - the melting of HELL BOULEVARD and FLORIAN GREY was pure perfection and joy to be part of. The show started with Fede von Marengo who is an actual member of both bands coming out with his guitar and performing his song ‘Red Cherry’ in a very charming, funny way, acting like a street musician and holding his hat to the audience, asking it to throw in some coins with gestures. That beginning was already so heart-warming and perfect that the mood turned immediately excited and curious about what to come next.

For the next song also Florian and Matteo came out on stage and for the next few minutes blew us away with the majesty of the performance. They changed between originally FLORIAN GREY and HELL BOULEVARD songs performing them together in a very new way, winning the hearts of the audience in a storm of fragile and dark melodies and strong vocals. ‘Black Symphony’ and ‘Bluecifer’ touched and impressed as much as ‘Zero Fucks Given’ or the last song of that performance ‘In Black We Trust’. In between they all have been so entertaining, it was obvious that the guys prepared perfectly for the show and we have had so much fun during this performance that seemed to be not longer than five minutes as the time went by in a rush. In the break between their performance and the start of THE LORD OF THE LOST show tonight, everyone I met was just raving about how perfect and great that just was and rushing to the merch stand to get more of it.

Setlist
01. Red Cherry (by Von Marengo)
02. Black Symphony (Florian Grey)
03. Zero Fucks Given (Hell Boulevard)
04. Bluecifer (Florian Grey)
05. My Dead Valentine (Hell Boulevard)
06. Laudanum (Florian Grey)
07. In Black We Trust (Hell Boulevard)
https://www.facebook.com/hellboulevard / https://www.facebook.com/floriangreyofficial

Lord Of The Lost Ensemble

Those who have been to one of the ensemble shows before, knew how enchanting and beautiful, but also surprising the next more than two hours will be. The ensemble shows are always something very special and touching. They can be as fragile as stormy, calm and funny. The intensity of an ensemble that enriches the music with cello, violin and all the other beautiful music instruments is hard to put in words. But let’s try to review these two beautiful shows as well. Fun fact on the side, like the two days before the shows and in the breaks the music played was DEICHKIND. While it was kinda expectable for the rock shows (yes, I was not surprised and all and actually like some of their songs), it was indeed surprising and funny to hear them during the ensemble shows. After four nights in a row, I guess, I am pretty sure that I’ve learned the lyrics by now.

The LORD OF THE LOST ensemble started the evening with ‘Six Feet Underground’, ‘October 29’ and probably one of the most beautiful and touching songs ever written ‘Beyond Beautiful’. After that, Chris, standing up from his chair, obviously noticed something that he commented with “Shit!”, breaking with the following comment a little bit the quite formal atmosphere that arose from the venue and the set-up of the show. “I am usually not that kind of person who is wearing a suit, well I have colourful socks on and now you can see them because the leggings I am wearing underneath has slipped.” - laughter and relaxed atmosphere in the venue immediately. Following ‘Go To Hell’ and ‘Sober’ brought the thoughtful atmosphere back, enjoyable, very touching. About ‘Sober’ Chris told that the song was written right away on the last evening when the debut album was mixed. The feeling that came up was like on a children’s birthday, Chris said. That sadness that comes over you because it’s over.

Then the song came up, he went to the keyboard, played “something” and gave himself one chance to do the vocals. If it didn’t work, he wanted to delete it and to work further on it. Obviously it turned out great and this kind of attitude that intuition stayed with him and the band. Next one, ‘Dry The Rain’, was announced as another “first timer song” that it really is. And it was touching to hear it this way again. Afterwards Chris commented the atmosphere as “It’s cute how some of you are not sure whether they should applaud or not. Please feel free to do so. It’s gonna get wilder anyway. In the first part of the show we are playing only ‘Swan Songs 1’ songs and the second part is gonna be really cool [German: “richtig geil”]. Wait a moment, I have to flip the page. Since almost every one of our crew is now also playing in the ensemble, I have to do it on my own. Shit…” - loud laughter and some emphatic “ooooh” from the audience before ‘Porcelain’ started. When the song was over, Chris told us a very beautiful, cute story about himself.

“I just found out something about me last night, what I didn’t know yet. I always thought that this just came up in my teenage years, but yesterday my sister Nina told me that the show last night was just like I always have been talking about as a five-year-old with a lot of flashing lights and fog and everything. So already back then something was wrong with me.” That story was so cute and the feeling of being proud and happy for this band and every single one of them grew even more with it. The five-year-old Chris would have been more than satisfied with the show, especially on Saturday. I am very sure about that. ‘Annabel Lee’ followed and received a huge applause from the audience and the crowd choir in between was majestic. The next song was placed by the band intentionally a bit earlier to not go down in between o the more powerful songs that were about to come in the second part of the show.

Chris said that he knows that this song means a lot to other people as well, those who lost someone they love so here was the moment to remember them. ‘See You Soon’ couldn’t have been announced in a better way and the fragile strength of this song is exactly what it stands for. When the song came to the end, Chris stated that the time on stage felt just like ten minutes had passed, meanwhile the 10th song was about to be played and then the first block would be already over. “I see some here are really craving to have a Prosecco, while others want to bring the Prosecco away. If there should be a long queue in front of the rest rooms, we will wait of course.” In between, as a toilet waiting line is called, word by word translated, a “toilet snake”, Chris was wondering, what that snake actually looks like. ‘Lost In A Heartbeat’ marked the end of the beautiful, fragile, sensual and also entertaining first part of the show. As the song was over, Chris just commented, “The ghosts I’ve called. Twenty minutes break.”

After the break Chris came on stage commenting the change of his glasses from the pink ones to the ones with transparent glass with the info that his wife had messaged him that the pink ones made it impossible to see his eyes. Which he didn’t wanted of course. “Not to become one of these sunglasses-wearing asocial bands”, as he jokingly added. The second part started very special indeed. We got the info that the songs for the ‘Swan Songs 3’ album are written and it will be released next year. So now Pi and Chris were presenting us one of these songs in a beautiful, minimalistic set-up ‘Dying On The Moon’. I remember how Chris was talking about the fact at the pre-listening event for ‘Thornstar’ last year that a good song will sound good in every arrangement and style, so it will be when using just an acoustic guitar and the voice. And it did. Thanks so much for another perfect present we got on that magical evening.

Afterwards the rest of the ensemble came back on stage as well and Chris addressing to Bengt “Have you met Jesus? Or why is your water now a wine?” Someone else said something I couldn’t hear and then Chris replied “Ah, he is Bengt - worthy middle name “Jesus” Bengt” - and this is, children, how Bengt got his middle name that stuck to him at least for the next evening as well. We will see how the story will go on. More songs, more energy, the minutes when the ensemble is playing the songs feel so magical, so special and almost sacral at some point, when you literally can feel the excitement of the audience without hearing a single sound in between. When ‘Ribcages’ was played, so we were already almost halfway through the second part, Chris mentioned that it’s a popular phenomenon that people tend to address only the singer when they actually mean the band.

And so that some do not see LORD OF THE LOST as the team they actually are and which is their strongest power. And that LORD OF THE LOST are more people than the five we actually mostly see on stage - Chris, Niklas, Pi, Gared and Class. For example he mentioned that Corvin Bahn might be member of the team for as long as Class has been, too. The other member who has been here for a very long time is Anthony James Brown who is Chris’ co-songwriter as Chris said, he is not a native speaker in English of course and so he is very grateful to have Anthony on his side. The rest of the ensemble was mentioned as well (I won’t translate these as they will lose the puns, just as they were announced by Chris in German - “Bums-Parade”, “Streicherzoo”, Gerard, Pi, Bengt Jesus Jäschke).

We also learned that it’s much more difficult to play standing with a cello as it is a knee-violin and not a chin-violin. And obviously the ensemble was doing something between circle pit while standing and “trip to Jerusalem”, if that is the same in English as well? Slowly coming to the end, while Chris was surprised and grateful to see that the audience was so respectful, without filming all the time with the phone above their heads or talking, he was asking everyone to take out their phones for “another emo song” - the beautiful ‘Lighthouse’, always a moment that creates shivers all over the skin and even more in that beautiful setting. More beauty, more emotions, more magic. Time flew by like seconds and suddenly we came to the end of that 3rd night - ‘Credo’ marked the end, with everyone standing and paying tribute to the wonderful LORD OF THE LOST. What a memorable night filled with all the stories, smiled and grateful moments.

Setlist
01. Six Feet Underground
02. October 29
03. Beyond Beautiful
04. Go To Hell
05. Sober
06. Dry The Rain
07. Porcelain
08. Annabel Lee
09. See You Soon
10. Lost In A Heartbeat
---break---
11. Dying On The Moon
12. Full Metal Ball
13. The Broken Ones
14. Drag Me To Hell
15. Ribcages
16. The Love Of God
17. Fists Up In The Air
18. Lighthouse
19. Waiting For You To Die
20. Raining Stars
21. Credo

9th December 2019: Ensemble Show - Friedrich-Ebert-Halle Hamburg

One more night, one more show. It’s always crazy how fast four days can fly by when you have such an amazing, touching, fantastic time as we did at the 10-years-anniversary. The last night was about to happen and so the feeling of melancholy already started taking over, but first we had another long night of music in front of us.

Der Schulz

The special guest for the last night was DER SCHULZ, the side project of Daniel Schulz who has already been on stage on Saturday with UNZUCHT and as surprise guest co-performing ‘La Bomba’. DER SCHULZ is different, the lyrics are in German, appears quite closer to the “people”, speaking of all kinds of topics that are society-relatable. It’s down-to-earth and straight forward as well. The songs were played with two guitars and a cello played by b.deutung. The atmosphere was relaxed, casual and it was a pleasure to listen to Daniel’s voice and the music. A highlight of the set was announced by Daniel with the story as he “received phone calls several times in his life. You as well. Then a friend asked if he could write a song for him; somehow Cash-like, just with German lyrics.”

And so that song was written for a side-project of Chris Harms - HARMS & KAPELLE. And of course Chris didn’t miss the chance to join for this one the trio of DER SCHULZ on stage and perform ‘Mein Leib’. Also this set, including seven songs, was over in no time and found its great final with a cover of the mighty JOHNNY CASH classic ‘Hurt’, rewritten with German lyrics.

Setlist
01. Frontal
02. Sonne
03. Entre
04. Meine Liebe
05. Asis
06. Mein Leib (feat. Chris Harms)
07. Nicht allein
08. Hurt (Johnny Cash cover with German lyrics)
https://www.facebook.com/derschulz.official/

Lord Of The Lost Ensemble

The last show started, can’t believe how fast it all was and at the same time so much happened during these four days. The setlist for the second ensemble show stayed the same. It was like the fulfilment of the width of “experiencing the same wonderful night all over again”, so the magic of the songs could spread even further and deeper. But it was still not “all the same”. Chris told different stories in between and there was this melancholic beauty of the last show. Chris greeted the audience with “Good evening Hamburg. Hamburg Harburg. Hamburg Harburg Heimfeld. So.” So the last one would know, where we actually are. I know this area actually well, have studied across the street for a few years, actually.

The beautiful ‘October 29’ was accompanied by the story that the song was written in Chris’ early 20ies, after a break-up. He told that he is still friends with that person and invited her to come to the concert. She answered: “Sorry, I just gave birth to my 3rd child. No worries, not from you”. All these stories that life is writing for us. When the ensemble finished ‘Beyond Beautiful’, Chris said, “It is beautiful, that the moment we finished playing this one, the first thing I saw was Manu who always is asking as the very first question, when we announce ensemble dates, whether we are going to play this one. So, you’re welcome!” My personal huge thank you to Manu who seems to love that song as much as I do and asking for it. It was so great to hear it again.

Once more Chris made clear, that ‘Dry The Rain’ is the song that everything started with and so it is a very important one in the history of LORD OF THE LOST. Before ‘Annabel Lee’ Chris encouraged the audience to sing along as loud as possible, and then addressing to some special guests in the audience “You all will know the lyrics. Except for our tax consultants. But, no worries Mr. [...] and Mr. [...], you’ll manage it too.” ‘See You Soon’ became another very personal, special moment. Chris told that his grandmother passed away last year. But music joins us all. At the funeral service I came to talk to the pastor. Talking about the music that is fitting to funeral services. I mentioned that we made a song like this, too. Through this bereavement another door has opened and a friendship was created. Just because of it they were able to film the last video for ‘Til Death Us Do Part’ in a church” and it was so obvious, how much this friendship really means to Chris, far beyond the video, on a very emotional level.

Also the second part of the show was filled with stories and moments that the band shared with us. It felt so close and personal, despite sharing that moment with several hundreds of other people. I’d like to close this letter with the words that Chris’ used almost at the end of the night “thank you so much that you’ve brought the air to vibrating with the pure silence. You’ve all been so terribly good”. Thank you for the music, this present that you guys gave to all of us with your music throughout the decade and the incredibly amazing four nights of anniversary celebration. Couldn’t wish for more. Thank you!

Setlist
same as on Sunday