Freitag, Dezember 12, 2008

October 25, Berlin: In Flames!

In Flames in Columbiahalle (Berlin) am 25. Okt. 2008 – Last.fm

Before I delete:

Setlist IN FLAMES

01. The Chosen Pessimist
02. I'm The Highway
03. Vanishing Light
04. The Mirror's Truth
05. Insipid 2000
06. The Hive
07. Satellites & Astronauts
08. System
09. Pinball Map
10. Delight And Angers
11. Disconnected
12. Colony
13. Cloud Connected
14. Dead God In Me, The Jester Race, Behind Space (Medley)
15. My Sweet Shadow
16. Come Clarity
17. The Quiet Place
18. Only For The Weak
19. Move Through Me
20. Alias
21. Trigger
22. Take This Life

There's mainly three things that kept me from writing a proper review: a) I was distracted from In Flames in a very nice way by Seb, who called me during "Satelites And Astronautes" (one of my all-time-faves) to share a cigarette outside. As I really wanted to meet him and as he had sth. for my man I of course hurried down from our spacy spot with the best view imagineable on the gallery to Seb. So I heard System and Pinball Map from outside. Big loss? Maybe. But worth it.

Secondly I was not successfull in nicking Tom's or Martin's setlist as usual (with handpainted bombs to indicate the pyros), as they both had them in their computers. So I just nicked this list above from an internet board, without guarantee and without the chance to memorize memorable events.

And third I had other things in mind I had to tell Bea, but that's a different kettle of fish...

Maybe I have to credit Tom again, as this was a very special IN FLAMES show with a special mood for me. It already began when he played Sigur Ros as background music during the change-over. And of course he did the brilliant sound again. In which the ballad-esque of the current setlist of In Flames shone through pretty well. So everything began very moody - but In Flames write ballads to dance to, and that we did!

Anders delivered the special announcements again - should it be Berlin which In Flames would remember because of the public or should it be Cologne or one of the other cities? He's the one to give the rockstar necessities the ironic turn which makes his announcements outstanding. And you could see that he was fiddling all the time between songs or when the strings-guys were having their go behind stage together with Biffen. We were already afraid that he had a cold and had to take bronchodilators or something. Biffen said no, he was simply drinking. Well, but not only. Later in Metal Hammer was revealed that he played "Connect Four" with Biffen! Ha!

By the way, GOJIRA ruled, I'm already fixed and got the cd to listen to more of them! So much for one of the concerts of 2008...

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Freitag, Juli 20, 2007

"New Labour" like it could have been

Oh, what a beautiful time!

Ms Smith said she had smoked it "just a few times," had "not particularly" enjoyed it and had not taken any other illegal drugs.

LOL! Great! This reads a lot like the famous "I never inhaled" - and it finally brings some touch of reality to the politics of Britain. Hello! Just a short reminder: The 60s have past (LSD?), the 70s have past (Cannabis, LSD, and whatever natural drug you can imagine), the 80 have past (cocaine, isn't it), and even the 90s have past (I only say "Rave"). And over all those years no one ever confessed he's been young as well?!

Imagine, what the full last ten years might have looked like! With a New Labour true not only to their roots but also with a certain realistic approach. Phh!

(For all lazy bastards, here's what SpOn writes in German: Britische Regierung: Haschisch-Beichte der Innenministerin

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Samstag, Mai 26, 2007

Sing when you're winning!

... and when you play even

Der FC St. Pauli ist wieder in der Zweiten Bundesliga!

Fotos folgen...

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Donnerstag, Mai 10, 2007

Useful info about the Babelfish

Something I didn't know about Babel Fish until now:

It's very good translating Spanish into English - but you can forget about most of the "other way around". And German is crap.

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Dienstag, Mai 08, 2007

Visit Hamburg! It's really nice ;-)

Already plans for your summer holidays? Come to Hamburg!

I really like the Guardian - because of it's British-ness, because of the political analysis - but I hope they are based on a more thorough research than this travel guide to Hamburg: Hamburg | Travel | Guardian Unlimited

And no, I don't mean the fact that it's from last year with lots of plans for last year's Football Championships, but it already starts with the wrong legend to the picture - which is not the harbour but the Lake. Nevertheless, here's the links to the two best cheap accomodations:

Read more about them in the Backpackers Network! And enjoy your stay!

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Dienstag, Juni 13, 2006

WGT 5 and last - Sonja unter Fledermäusen

Meanwhile...
I uploaded all my pics to FlickR, but it's just few snapshots as the mobile cam was not really good enough for the indoor festivities and the weather not good enough for good situations outside: Crowds of blacks in cloaks don't really make a picture.

The summary

Most important lesson learned:

Rider of the weekend

  • Mois Dix Mois: beginning with screws for the drummer's boots in the morning, further on that only one special photographer was allowed to portrait the singer (except for the first song where there was "public shooting", no flash). Most important item on the list: black straws. Matching the water-bottles which all had to be gaffa-taped black as well.

More bands missed, did I?

  • The Old Dead Tree from Italy.
  • Dope Stars Inc.
  • :Of The Wand And The Moon: (as I think that a signing at Prophecy productions can only be outstanding)
  • Theatre of Tragedy: Thanks to Hein and Lorentz for introducing "Ronan the Hobbit" and a short but great party mayhem!
  • Tetris of the weekend

    • Cantus Buranus: How do you fit 80 musicians on the Agra-Stage? Somehow Corvus Corax and their crew managed to. Impressive musical mystery play. Just a shame that everything was too packed for letting the people the space to move.

    Ausbeutung des Wochenendes:

    • Liebe Goten: Wisst ihr, warum eure schnieken Korsagen bei Xtra vergleichbar billig sind? Nein, nicht nur weil Xtra alles gleich im Dutzend billiger fertigen kann und deswegen ganz viele von euch gleich aussehen in ihrer Individualität. Sondern auch, weil ihre Mitarbeiter den Luxus von nur einer Viertelstunde Pause pro Tag haben. Wo habt ihr über's WGT-Wochenende also das Geld hingetragen?

    Short reviews:

  • Saltatio Mortis: Opposite to all the other bands who started "medieval" sounding, Saltatio don't get boring when carrying on with it. "Heptessenz" is still their best record. Unfortunately they want to "develope" as well - please, rather stay with interpreting outstanding songs and music than writing mediocre own stuff. Sad but true.
  • Even though listening to Deine Lakaien is rather like a trip to me than listening to particular songs, it was great to finally see them live. Hey! Here is no "but" in this phrase.
  • Hey, isn't that a cover version again? By OMD? And this? Hey, it's not Madonna, but...
    Ok., that was funny guessing. But, geez: Yes, it was Paul Humphreys of OMD, and the new project is called One Two. So if you are in Eighties pop (and who is not?!) - thanks for the nice time warp back. But... in the end it was really boring... just to mention.
  • How do you say "overrated" in latin?

    • Omnia. Really nice pagan folk. But, honestly: After 3 days of non-stop flute'n'lute you should give the stage free for other artists to freshen the hearing of the audience again. And you don't have to bash the other artists in your myspace-blog afterwards... as I heard no one scream for more Omnium when there was still the encore for Liv Kristine...

    Und außerdem:

    • Danke an die beiden Mädels und den Typen, die mich vom Kohlrabizirkus nach Katatonia zur Straßenbahn mitgenommen haben!

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    Sonntag, Juni 04, 2006

    WGT day 1 - Sonja unter Fledermäusen

    Nee, Alter. Bin jetzt den ganzen Tag auf dem WGT, aber hab noch keine Band gesehen, ehrlich. Erst hat es an der Parkbühne geregnet, dann konnte ich mich nicht entscheiden. Man, und jetzt spielt nur noch eine Band", sagte der Unbekannte, der vor der Agra-Halle auf einer Begrenzung saß, in sein Händi, zündete sich eine Zigarette an und guckte in dieser unnachahmlichen Mischung aus bedauernd und verpeilt.

    Dear international readers,
    I'm at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig for the first time of my life. Most of my impression are so utterly German, I'm gonna write them in my mother tongue. If you're interested in them as well, drop me a comment.
    Second note: Due to several things, the major of it being work, I was only able to get to Leipzig late on Saturday. So this is where it all starts:

    So ungefähr muss es in der Savanne aussehen, wenn eine Herde Nilpferde den Weg einer Herde Elefanten kreuzt: Aus der Tram kommen Trauben von Fußballfans von Lokomotive "Lok" Leipzig, darunter auch der nicht nur hier im Osten obligatorische Anteil von rechtsradikalen Thor-Steinar-Shirtträgern mit Hohlschädel, zur Tram pilgern nicht minder kostümierte Grufties. "Ey gugge mal! Das gipz ja nisch!" sagt die jugendliche Glatze und zückt den Fotoapparat, um das nicht viel ältere Gruftmädel mit Krönchen im Haar zu fotografieren. Währenddessen ist er schon längst von einem dezenteren Gruftie Ende Zwanzig auf der anderen Straßenseite focussiert worden - schön aus der Hüfte mit einer gute Digicam geschossen. Obwohl rein optisch die Tierallegorie nicht stimmt - also: so muss es aussehen, wenn ein Schwarm Fledermäuse eine Rotte Wildschweine kreuzt...

    Wie würde es wohl aussehen, wenn man im Zoo mindestens an Schimpansen, Elefanten und Delfine Kameras verteilen würde? Wen würden die aufs Korn nehmen?!?

    Apropos Zoo - der Zoo von Leipzig soll "wunderschön" und "super-interessant" sein, sagt Sabine. Wird als Tipp vorgemerkt!

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    Sonntag, Mai 28, 2006

    The last and final LORDI: Everything Euro

    OK. So why do I actually care about an event like the Eurovision - where there was no hip music during the last 32 years since ABBA?

    Well, actually there was. At least in some of the last 6 Grand Prix. Ok, I confess now: I did watch Eurovision during at least some of the last years since 2000. And, I confess secondly - I mostly had a favourite. Well, not in 2005, that year way a major downer and the trend was between a major backlash towards the so-called good old times and the division of Europe into the disco-pop and naked ladies-loving countries and those old-school schlager affictionados. Unfortunately neither Wigwam nor Vanilla Ninja were an exception. Only things I could stand that year: Zdob si Zdub.

    Ok, ok - if you're German you couldn't even watch the Eurovision without getting deaf dumb and blind before Stefan Raab took over in 2000. Well, after that it was the turn of the lame again, but it was a start... that there's other music than soft'n'sleazy pop ballads and boring pseudo-entertainment called Schlager. Yes, and there's Anoraks in Germany as well, starting with the commentator of the national television, Peter Urban (Commentary in German about him). These Anoraks didn't even get the humour of Silvia Night or LT United. I think all those Anoraks are fossiles and will not be there for long - the next Eurovisions will be about different musical genres, and the traditional Schlager will be the least of it - like Lordi already commented on their press conference. By the way, I posted my personal best of the last 10 years in Eurovision on iTunes.

    Politics are seeking the sides of the monsters - Matti Vanhanen is cited even in Süddeutsche Zeitung.

    After I already pdf-ed the German tabloids in the past postings, here's the best of the German press: The TAZ was pretty close to it in their prelimenary report:
    "The conservatives are furious, that those Gothics show the world in Athens, what Finland is, too: A strange place on earth."

    And were the most precise in the analysis afterwards. DER SPIEGEL is amused that Lordi still could shock - "when Alice Cooper dreams of Orks and Ozzy Osbourne of Klingons" same to another coverage in the same magazine.

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