Journal

Sun 30 Mar – Down

This time I didn't have to travel to Hamburg to see the southern metal supergroup Down, just to Berlin Kreuzberg. Just like at the previous gig, there was no support act, but the same band movie was shown on a screen on the stage.

After an hour of waiting the guys appeared behind the screen, it was lifted and they started off. The set list was written down here: http://www.last.fm/user/h4RC0n/journal/2008/04/1/689444/

In the beginning there was just cautious resonance, but it increased steadily 'til the end of the show, which was perfect in a way done only by old time metal musicians who have played arenas with their previous bands. There was posing, hand clapping and even a guitar solo duell. It ended only after long applause and the classics as encore.

Fri 28 Mar – Rotten Sound, The Ocean, Victims, Trap Them
I always attend the Berlin shows of The Ocean, because they are exciting and they play with other good bands, this time they were supporting Rotten Sound. Just like them, the other support bands are from different genres like grind or crust.

It all started with the punks Trap Them, dirty and fast grind stuff. Then Victims, oldschool crust punk, a first highlight of the evening and the band with the most pogo dancers in front of the stage that evening.

After a longer break a show by The Ocean. As I wrote before, no two shows of them are the same, this time the lineup was reduced to drums, bass, two guitars and two singers. The show suffered a bit from the bad K17 sound and the uninterested part of the audience that wouldn't honour the highly complex songs of the Berlin collective. In my humble opinion it was still good but not as good as the record release gig at Pirate Cove.

Finally Rotten Sound with a very short set of fast pogo songs. It was fun, but I had expected more from a band that sounds on their records so much like Nasum, the best grinders ever.

Fr., 14. Mär. – Chimaira, Maroon, The Sorrow, Dead Shape Figure

It was my spontaneous decision to attend this show, that's why I was a bit too late and missed the first band completely. I had to wander around the hall and wait for the second band The Sorrow. While waiting I've noticed that the people in the only half filled hall managed to smoke that much that I could hardly breathe. So much for the Berlin smoking ban. Not much to say about The Sorrow, they just sound like many many other groups.

But then there was Maroon, who were in Berlin not even two months before. They played a routine show with their hits, I had fun but I guess I'm a bit sated.

Chimaira are very low in my charts, but I heard good things about their live performance, so I was curious. It was true, they are great musicians, I like the catchy mosh grooves that remind me a little bit of Soulfly, but with some more technical finesse. The sound at the SO36 was bad though, for instance, you could hardly hear the keyboard. But overall it was a good show, I guess my charts will get some higher numbers from Chimaira soon.

Fri 7 Mar – The Dillinger Escape Plan, Poison the Well, Stolen Babies

I was waiting for a very long time for this show, especially as the previously announced tour with Meshuggah was cancelled. But the day came, I even left my Mother's birthday party early to get to the Kato. Good thing I had an advance ticket, the show was sold out.

It started with Stolen Babies featuring TDEP's new very good drummer. Optically death rock, musically hardcore with some elements from cabaret music, unusual but not bad.

Just like four years ago in Hamburg, Poison the Well were the support band. I'm afraid I will not become a fan, they are just too average for my taste.

But The Dillinger Escape Plan, they fulfilled my expectations. With new members and their old crazyness, they made the club a steam bath. There's simply no band of this genre that combines technical skills with raw aggressions and still real songs with a bit of melody. I just had to jump into the pit, although it meant a complete change of my clothes after the show as everything was wet. Still, the show could have been a little bit longer, there was no encore.

Sun 2 Mar – Dismember, Hatesphere, Fall of Serenity, Lay Down Rotten
Quite a few death metal fans were at the K17 that Sunday, but the hall was far from being full. The atmosphere was very good nonetheless. We missed the opener Lay Down Rotten almost completely, but the last song made me think that this was a pity.

I remembered Fall of Serenity differently, but they became a 100% death metal band in the meantime. My fellow metal heads were mostly reserved, but I could warm up my neck. In my opinion they have good songs and very catchy melodic riffs. Also, they were in a very good mood on this last day of the tour. The (now ex-) bass player was surprised by the cake in the face and a shower of whipped cream and ketchup, some of which hit my white Hatesphere shirt.

Speaking of Hatesphere, they were the next band with a heavy and melodic set and some of the good old songs, but performed mostly by new members. I think the lineup changes did no harm, but let's see how the next record will sound like. Well, maybe the singing was a bit weak, but I don't know if this was the singer or the sound person.

Finally Dismember, good old veterans of Swedish death metal played. There was no playing around, this was serious in your face death metal, but it was played by grinning musicians. The singer was husky, but he kept singing and really deserved to relax after this tour. The temperature in the hall was the highest with Dismember, but in my opinion, their performance was tied with Hatesphere's.

Sat 16 Feb – The Cure, 65daysofstatic
I started listening to The Cure when my aunt brought me the "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" tape - through the iron curtain. But it took quite a few more years 'til I finally got to a show.

The huge arena was sold out, that's why it took us a while to find a seat. That's why I heard 65daysofstatic only in the background. That's a pity, because it was a really good support band. I hope I can see them when they headline the next time.

This show was one of the very few concerts were I wasn't in the first few rows but hat a seat. This is something I hopefully won't have to do next time, although I had a good view of the nice light show.

Anyway, the most important part of the evening was the music. What can I say, they are all brilliant musicians, they play almost perfect and they have so many hits, they cannot even play all of them in over three hours. I especially enjoyed the old punky tunes like "Three Imaginary Boys" and I like Robert's clumsy way to move. I couldn't stay concentrated for such a long time, that's why I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed myself.

I really like about The Cure that they live for their music, they manage to play such long shows despite being not the youngest and hopefully they will stay innovative, write new and good songs but don't forget the old hits either. That was my only complaint, just one song from the self titled album.

After about one year Misery Index came back to Berlin. I was excited for weeks, as there aren't too many bands that are so uncompromising and stand outside of the current trend in extreme metal. I wouldn't say that about the support bands, although at least one of them was decent. But let's start at the beginning, with Man Must Die. I think they had the worst sound of the evening. It was all quite monotonous. The first movement in front of the stage started with Beneath the Massacre. It was the usual brutal sound with the typical slow parts inbetween. I liked them better on CD.

It became clear that most of the young kids came for Despised Icon. I don't understand how they became that popular, but they really played a good show, two singers, lots of movement on stage and an aggressive and very dynamic sound, I quite liked it. I just couldn't stand watching the dance of the capped monkeys.

The sport metal fans left after Despised Icon and then it was time for some serious brutal stuff. And it was great as expected. I haven't seem many bands that are as tight as Misery Index, the precision of the drummer is amazing. Maybe they even got better, at least more diverse. The death and grind fans looked quite all quite happy to me but couldn't get enough. I have to agree, the set was a bit short. Still, it was a great show, I had lots of fun and I hope that some more bands got inspired by this.

Sat 9 Feb – Die Krupps, Philiae
About ten years have passed since my last show of Die Krupps. But now they are reunited and they came back to Berlin. Golem 101 had a hard start, they were ignored by the audience and had to play in front of a half-empty club, mind you, it was a sold out show! But it was quite boring, so I wasn't angry about the audience's ignorance.

Philiae was definitely more interesting, sounding similar to the headliner, with a nice video show and an oratorical singer, they are a band I'd see again.

As I said before, the K17 was sold out and in time for Die Krupps to play, everyone had assembled in front of it. Starting with a few songs from the metal years, a good-humoured band took the stage and the crowd started to dance immediately. Was it for the cameras that filmed the gig or the long time since the last gig, the mood was good, there was pogo and stage divers, not that usual for this kind of music. The set had some lengths, especially during some of the old electro tracks, but the band was celebrated enthusiastically. I'm really curious on how this show will look on DVD.