Amphi Festival, Tanzbrunnen Cologne (Germany), 16-17 July 2011
Although it's not a common thing to do, I will start with Friday, the day before the festival started, and with the impressions of the Amphi Festival Warm-Up Party, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I appreciated the fact that the club, where the party was held, had two huge rooms, each with a different type of music, to suit all tastes. The first room was basically Depeche Mode-concerned, spiced with old-school post-punk, EBM, deathrock, darkwave and the related genres. The second room was mainly rotating around industrial and electronic music and was obviously more crowded at all times. Nevertheless, people were dancing and having a good time in both areas, as well as outside the club (to cool off; it gets pretty hot when you’re dancing and having fun!). The whole ensemble left me with a very good impression and eagerly awaiting for the festival itself.
Now, getting back to the more exciting part…
Of course we managed to take the wrong train to Tanzbrunnen, so we only managed to see two or three songs from X-RX. Despite the fact that they were the starting band on the main stage, at a rather early hour in the day, they had a great impact on the public and especially on me! I didn’t have many expectations from the band, yet I couldn’t help moving my body on “Stage 2”. You go, guys!
Mind.in.a.box. I expected more from them. The sound in the Staatenhaus wasn’t great, but nonetheless, there was something missing. They sounded good, but not excellent. I barely recognized “Fear” and “Stalkers”, but the rest was a blur to me. If I get the opportunity, I will probably see them live again, hopefully with a better sound.
Fronzen Plasma. The only thing I can say is…WOW! Much better than I had expected! I danced and sang along many of their tracks and so did the whole crowd! Felix Marc and Vasi Valis animated the crowd with nine songs, including “Condense”, “Hypocrite”, “Warmongers” and, of course, the already well-known “Tanz die Revolution”. How could you not get up and dance?
Grendel. Having some technical difficulties, guys? They started in force just to end up abruptly after a couple of second. This confused the crowda bit. Nonetheless, Grendel saved their show by making a few witty comments and by playing wild music. They started with “Harsh Generation”, continued with “Soilbleed” and definitively conquered the hearts of the public with “Dirty” and “Hate This”! When they began playing “Chemicals+Circuitry”, the atmosphere was ecstatic. I enjoyed every minute of Grendel on stage.
Leaether Strip. Just wonderful! This music never gets old. I deeply admire Claus Larsen because he manages to do such wonderful tracks even after so many years! Usually it’s a one-man show, but this time a new member appeared on the stage, Kurt Grünewald Hansen, and the result was pure EBM at its best. “Japanese Bodies”, “Strap me down”, “Don’t tame your soul” and “Evil Speaks” were amongst the most audience-appreciated songs.
Suicide Commando. One of the best performers of the evening! Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the band didn’t think twice about showing everybody present there what they were worth. Many songs were from their 2010’s album, “Implements of Hell”: “Death Cures All Pain”, “Die Motherfucker Die”, “Severed Heads”, but not only. We were also given the chance to listen to “God is in the Rain” + the much applauded “Bind, Torture, Kill” and “Time”. Overall, I was very impressed with their performance.
Deine Lakaien. After leaving Staatenhaus, we were greeted by pouring rain and an unusually cold weather, but I was willing to stand even in a terrible storm to see Deine Lakaien. And, dear God, I wasn’t disappointed at all! They were brilliant! Their performance was outstanding, exceptional and whatever other big words I could find! We arrived right during their hit “Over and Done” and I was pleasantly impressed by the fact that they had a violinist on stage, who also did the female vocals parts of the song. Their music is quite ethereal: it will not put one in a dance mood, but most certain impress to tears. They were calm, elegant, not forgetting to make several small comments about the weather from time to time. Deine Lakaien enchanted their audience with “Gone”, “Forest”,“Blue Heart” and returned, at the public’s demand, for a few more songs, ending gloriously with “Love me to the End”. Their concert was worth every drop of rain & every shiver and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! And, judging by the number of people withstanding the whims of the weather, I surely wasn’t the only one…
Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio. I think it was our n-th time seeing them, but their music never gets tiring. The only regret I have regarding their performance is that it didn't last too long. Tomas Pettersson kept joking that the room was full because it was raining outside, but I beg to differ. Indeed, the audience here was larger than at any other O.R.E. concert I have been to and it was clear that those present there actually came to see the band. Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio enchanted us with both new songs, such as “A World Not So Beautiful” (my absolute favorite from their album, “Songs 4 Hate & Devotion”) and “IMBECILE, My Idiot Lover”, but also with older tracks, such as “Which Word Confines the Truth? Dancing for Love and War” and “In High Heels Through Nights of Broken Glass”. They gloriously ended their show with “Three is an Orgy, Four is Forever”.
Diorama. I very much missed seeing Diary of Dreams (which I thought it would have been perfect with the festival line-up), therefore I had to content myself with a band that has Adrian Hates’ name attached to it. Although I went to their concert having rather low expectations, I actually had more fun than I had foreseen. Torben Wendt’s voice really impressed me; the band’s songs are very cohesive and well-rehearsed. They managed to achieve an exceptional performance, that was much appreciated by the public, which sang along “Prozac Junkies”, “Erase Me”,”The Girls” and “Synthesize me”.
De/Vision. Pure curiosity drove me to see this band’s performance, having no expectations whatsoever, although they are considered Germany’s Depeche Mode. I mostly enjoyed their performance, though, at one point, it started to sound rather repetitive. They played songs such as “Your Hands on My Skin”, “Try to Forget”, “Rage” and “Flavour of the week”.
Clan of Xymox. Though it wasn’t in our plan, we eventually ended up seeing them live and I don’t regret it at all. Even with the sound issues in Staatenhaus, they still sounded better than when they played in Romania. Even if they were lacking their bass player, they still sounded neat, somewhat flat maybe, but overall good. They played tracks like “Love Got Lost”, “Jasmine & Rose”, “Emily” and a few other ones, which seemed to entertain the audience quite well.
Das Ich. Must I still name the band Das Ich? Regrettably, the absence of Stefan Ackermann was impossible not to miss in their setlist. Though the vocals provided by Vic Anselmo and Bruno Kramm gave an interesting twist to the Das Ich songs, something was clearly missing. I could barely recognize their hit “Kannibale”, which is not so hard to guess under any conditions. Stefan, get well soon, our thoughts are with you!
Nitzer Ebb. This EBM group showed us how they party in Britain, entertaining the public for more than an hour with their energetic style. I mostly enjoyed listening to “Lightning Man”, “Let Your Body Learn”, “Payroll”, “Control I’m Here”, tracks that I haven’t heard in a long time. As much as I appreciate their music, I cannot help but admit that they became a bit boring after a few songs. Nitzer Ebb rarely change anything in their musical line, so their sound tends to become monotone at a certain point.
Covenant. I’ve been waiting all day for this moment and I wasn’t disappointed for a second! They started with a tumultuous intro from their new album, “Modern Ruin”, followed by “Stalker”, “Bullet” and one of the best new Covenant songs, “Judge of My Domain”. They continued with some more taste of “Modern Ruin”, accompanied by outstanding scenic performance and surprising images running behind the band. Further on, Eskil asked the public to always stand up for themselves, of course previewing the song “We Stand Alone”. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they decided to play partially the German song, “Der Leiermann”, and partially the English version, “Like Tears in Rain”, as a tribute to the support showed by the German organizers and fans along the years. Daniel Meyer joined Covenant on stage to perform their newest single, “Lightbringer”. His voice brought the band’s sound to a new edge. They ended with the epic “Call the Ships to Port”, which was followed by a bis, at the audience’s demand, that included “Happy Man” and “Dead Stars”. Overall, their performance was the best I have seen during the entire festival; the energy and the devotion they put in their songs is clearly obvious even on stage. My only regret is that they didn’t perform on the open air Mainstage, where the sound would have been even better.
Overall, the whole Amphi Festival experience was magnificent! I very much appreciated the organization, the Amphi staff, which was always present and willing to help, the selection of stores which were in the location, not to mention the musical line-up!
Next year, Amphi Festival promises to be even more explosive with the performances of The Sisters of Mercy, Corvus Corax, DAF, Mono Inc. and many others!
See you there!
Written by: Simina Cirstea
Bucharest, 29.07.2011
All Amphi Festival photos: copyright Lux Noctis Romania & Gabriel Tudoran (www.analog-sound.com).