2015-03-28 DE – Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle
 

Main Stage

Main

 

De/Vision - Solar Fake - Frozen Plasma - Solitary Experiments - Torul - Ambassador 21 - Phosgore

:: PHOSGORE :: are probably a term for the fewest and they are really only in my CD collection because I stumbled upon them through Modulate and some cognate stuff years ago. I found the record which features Pain Tutorial not that bad at all back then. But to get away from half a CD review: The band played in front of a small audience in the Turbinenhalle 2. Perhaps 140BPM are not everyone's taste for an opener, perhaps some were still on their way to Oberhausen or one simply looks for the answer in the statement “It's just the opener” for the moderately filled hall. I want to attest the music a high dance potential by this but that is almost always the case for industrial sounds. It was a bit of a pity that Flo and Sonja were more present at the mixer than on stage and thus, the performance came across a bit monotonously. That's a pity because I believe they are capable of more.

Oh homeland! At least something going into that direction swarms my mind whenever I hear the band name :: AMBASSADOR 21 ::. And after all this time I still cannot decide whether I should consider the music of the band noise, pure art or intonated aggression. Since I saw them for the first time they have always left an impression. Front woman Natasha with her bikini top was really nice to look upon, that's what probably some in the audience thought as well until the lady started to sing, or much rather to scream. After almost 40 minutes of screams in English, probably also in Russian (that wasn't that easy to identify with that shout level), the show was over. What remained was a tinnitus as always, a bit of confusion and again the contemplation whether that's fantastic or only absolute noise...
Setlist: Fuck All Systems, Turn Yourself (V.2015), Riot Generation, Power Rage Riot Death (V.2015), In Love (V.2015), Russian Roulette, Face Your Future Killers (V.2015), Fick Alle Systeme, Coda

The Slovenians were already absolutely great the day before in Frankfurt and so my A21 stricken ears were already looking forward to what was about to come. I think the whole audience felt like that because it got noticeably fuller and behind me were some women in band shirts who were talk shopping about :: TORUL ::. The setlist consisted besides Try also of The Fall and numerous new songs from the record The Measure. Like on the night before, singer Jan Jenko casted a spell on the audience through pure existence and with the help of his hypnotic, simply fascinating voice. Mentally, I was somewhere in nowhere (and that must be understood in an absolutely positive way). TORUL make absolutely music to dream and let one really zone out from everyday life. After forty minutes the stroke for ears and soul was over again because the band had to make room for Solitary Experiments and their label colleagues Frozen Plasma.
Setlist: Lonely Night, The Balance, Difficult To Kill, Hearts, All, Try, The Fall, Show Me Your City, The Sun

:: SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS :: are full-time professionals and have the audience always down pat. Even the small technical dropout didn't cause too much confusion and was completely forgotten during Delight at its latest. Not only Dennis Schober provided for clap-alongs with his vocals but also drummer Frank contributed to the enchantment of the ladies and animated maximally to join in. Maybe all of that only functions because of the mix of good music, a lot of professionalism and the good mood that the band members resonated with. Stars was celebrated almost more than the classic Delight and thus, the pleasant band whose members had arrived from different parts of Germany were released with a great applause.
Setlist: Trial And Error, Immortal, Point Of View, Game Over, Steering Wheel, Delight, Epiphany, Rise And Fall, Stars

I almost wrote that singer Felix Marc would have almost gotten a plus point simply because of wearing a glittery :: FROZEN PLASMA :: logo on his shirt (for all of you who didn't know I am known to many people as “glitter fairy” and that not without reason), but he gets it for his entertainer qualities, of course. As on the day before in Frankfurt, no one could withdrew from his demands to clap along. The setlist was a perfect one with classics and of course songs of the new record Dekadenz. Friend point of the evening goes to Vasi Vallis in this case. Why? He chuckles or laughs so rarely when he's on stage, looks always strained or deeply concentrated. But at the E-TROPOLIS his face was drawn by a smile several times. I am not sure which song was celebrated more: Murderous Trap or the Living On Video cover but that's actually unimportant as the Turbinenhalle 2 was turning into a party hall. Not only the audience looked very satisfied after the set, Felix and Vasi hugged each other at the end, smiling.

I could begin with the ladies in the :: SOLAR FAKE :: audience again, how they always sigh and yearn but I think I will leave it at that with this report without going into more detail. There was no maximal ladies scream alert but rather melancholic bopping, sighing, and suffering. Entertainment highlight was of course André Feller again who played his keyboard excessively, deserving applause only for that. Going into the cuddling factor of the band now… that one was also on a high again. I have grown fond of some of their songs (and let's remember how often I emphasized in the last reviews that it's not my kind of music). Would I have to choose one of them, then it would be Here I Stand on that evening but that's only to be noted in the margin.

:: DE/VISION :: definitely didn't profit from the overlap with the Project Pitchfork’s show because the hall was unfortunately only filled moderately. Steffen Keth and Thomas Adam played their danceable synth pop in front of less densely packed rows what didn't object to the mood, however. On the contrary, there was dancing and clapping along nonetheless, maybe also because of the hypnotic voice of the singer. A further pity for DE/VISION was that VNV Nation played as headliner on the main stage subsequently and thus, most visitors were pushing towards the main stage at the end of the show.
Setlist: Brothers In Arms, mAdroids, Binary Soldier, Strange Affection, I’m Not Dreaming Of You, Love Will Find A Way, I’m Not Enough, What’s Love All About, Try To Forget, Rage // Your Hands On My Skin

 

story © Josie Leopold • pics © Dani Vorndran & Black-Cat-Net