E-Tropolis Festival - Berlin, 3rd Sept. 2011 - Review
This week-end the 2nd Edition of E-tropolis Festival took place at the impressive Columbia Hall (C-Hall) and C-Club in Berlin, which gathered fans of the dark electro scene from all over the world. We could hear people talk in Spanish, English, Polish, Portuguese or Russian to mention just a few.
XOTOX opened the festival at 15:00 in the C-Hall according to the event’s motto – “Bässer Härter Lauter” (eng.: a game of words - “better + more bass, harder, louder”), which flew directly into our ears. The public was still kind of static probably because of the early hour, but not for long though. Most of the people listened to the music and heated up their bodies by moving rhythmically. But there were also some people who couldn’t stay still for too long and thus had to give way to the moving force of the music. The band’s set finished after just 7 songs. Due to the lack of air conditioners, the crowd left the hall quite fast after XOTOX’s setlist.
After a short pause in the courtyard, where we revitalized us with some good weather, food and drinks, we went back to see the 2nd band – Solitary Experiments. The Berlin band, together with its front man Dennis Schober, enchanted their fans, who travelled from far away places especially, songs like “Immortel”, “Deja vu”, or the cover version of Kirlian Camera’s “Edges”. The band partied along with the audience as if the band members were part of it themselves, which was of course honored with many applause.
C-Club opened its doors a bit later than the C-Hall. After Formalin (Berlin) played, the industrial band Fabrik C. went on stage. The opening aggro-electric band played their newest album, which was different to their previous work – this time it was a more quiet and calm material. Classic songs like “100% Elektronik” or “Chinese Food” produced a very good vibe among the audience, which was intensified by a small “We Will Rock You” part. All in all it was a good mixture of old and new songs that we really enjoyed. In the end a small crash-course about “how much 180 bmp are” was held that was surely enjoyed by us all.
At about the same time the EBM band Spetsnaz performed. On the dance floor the pogo commenced, which was pretty wild and ended up with some injuries and hematoma – but I suppose the participants accepted it willingly.
In the C-Club the side-project of Project Pitchfork’s front man, Peter PS Spilles, Santa Hates You, went on stage. The duo made a very good impression on the fans through songs like “Sugar and Spice”, “Hexenpolizei” or “Z.O.M.B.I.”. Jinxy and Peter visibly enjoyed playing and this influenced the audience 100%!
While Santa Hates You was still performing, Faderhead (Hamburg) prepared to come up next on stage along with Joel Meyer & Daniel Meyer (Projekt SAM) and Marco Visconti. This was a very special day for Joel also because he was celebrating his birthday. Faderhead, who didn’t disappoint his fans with his performance, connected to the audience and distributed Vodka to the people in the first row and even wet all the others with it. He played some calm songs like “Vanish” or “Escape from The Machine” and rocked the Hall with his hits “Destroy Improve Rebuilt” or “Dirty girls/ Dirty Boys”. It all ended up or course with their biggest hit “TZDV”, when the public went absolutely crazy and danced heavily.
Next was the very much awaited band - the shockers from Agonoize. Columbia-Hall was full to the limit during their performance. All the fans wanted to be in the 1st row as they knew how the performance would be like and they were looking forward to it. Agonoize commence their set with some of their most known songs such as “Koprolali”, “Femme Fatale” and “Staatsfeind”. The audience sang the songs along with the band, shouted, danced, pogo-ed, applause. At one point, Chris, the front man, suddenly left the stage, the curtains fell and the lights turned on. The people looked at each other confused, as it was rather unexpected. After a short moment, the curtains rose. Chris, who was dangling off the ceiling in a straitjacket came back and enthusiastically continued the show. It didn’t take long until the fake blood flowed for the first time. During the song “Sacrifice” the singer sprayed blood from his wrists into the public that yeaned for it like a gulp of water. After the show there were many faces smudged with “blood” and some of the people’s outfits were clearly ruined. Even so there were only happy faces as far as you could see, who were so exhausted that they were laying in each others arms.
The highlight that ended up the E-tropolis Festival was the unique VNV Nation. Despise the late hour and the decimated crowd, the band delivered a grandiose show, from which none of their hits missed.
It’s still incredible that 3800 persons attended the 2nd E-tropolis Festival (according to the organizers’ statement). It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to the next edition of this festival!
Text and photos by: Mattias Buhl
Berlin, 7 Sept. 2011