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2006-09-21-24
DE – Rosslau - Wasserburg Rosslau |
After
the billing and the supporting program of the last year’s
first edition of BURGNAECHTE ROSSLAU really impressed
me from afar, I tried everything to attend this nice autumnal
event this year. And I made it :) But someone has set work before
play. In this matter work means the journey. For 400 km it took
more than 6 hours over the Moloch called highway 2 and that with
bombastic weather, meaning sun, and sun and around 30°C (86°F).
Finally arrived in Dessau I got the chance to intensively discover
the city, thanks to the directions of the locals. Thank God, I
have a good sense of orientation and so I found the right exit
in direction to Rosslau. :: pictures :: Friday, September 22 … to catch :: MONOZID :: who already played their half set *grmpf*. Other ones experienced the same problem, striding to the castle. Approx. 200 people got together for now. Though, these ones already enjoyed the rocking Darkwave of this Leipzig based band. Unfortunately French PUNISH YOURSELF cancelled their entire tour due to booking problems, including this gig at Burgnaechte. And I was sooo looking for them; they were one of two faves at this festival :( However, :: KATANGA :: from Greifswald stepped in and tried their best to be a worthy replacement, although singer Mario had some health problems with his voice. Singer Doreen tried to bring movement on stage but acted too stereotyped to let the spark jump over. No, this band was no worthy replacement and could not convince me either. With the music in the back I started to explore the castle. Castle Rosslau is a moated castle built up in the 12th century on the rests of a Slavonian colony. The castle itself with its aslope courtyard owned a small stage for the acoustic concerts, while in one of the vaults was a café/wine parlor, in another an exhibition of www.Incestum.de - abstruse sculptures and one vault for the disco afterwards. The castle was halfway enclosed by a wall with a gate lodge used as a gallery and presenting short films during the change over times and another disco. On the yard the open air theater food and drink stands, other ones for clothes, jewellery, crepes, Met and wine and archery. Altogether this castle made quite a scruffy impression. The park was sort of savaged, many windows broken, covered with foils, shelves or blocked up. I guess the owner lack of money to make this castle a gem, as usual. In front of the castle eponymous river Rossel is flowing, behind the meads of the river Elbe begin. Actually a very romantic place that is just lacking of a trimming hand… Ok, next band entered the stage, the :: GOLDEN APES :: with a singer that seemed to be very depressive. Nevertheless the guys from Berlin again served a melancholy-draped and beautiful rock show, captivating me once more and closed with the grandiose ballad Snow. Just beautiful! Afterwards I finally made to see the first short films. On this Friday evening most films came from CHRISTIAN VON ASTER, rhymed nastiness, rife with obtrusive cankered satire, moderate taste and juicy humor. Great! Just the rhymes itself went on me nerves after a while. Six of these films are available on a DVD entitled Kopfbrandstifter – Eine fies vergnügliche Satire (http://www.kopfbrandstifter.de/) Time has come for :: SCREAM SILENCE :: I already experienced at CastleRock in July where they already knew how to convince. Now backed by 500 blackened souls they honored the overwhelming response with a grandiose show performance. For the very first time, two tracks got performed with a string ensemble (2 violins and contrabass) and went down really well. And at the end SCREAM SILENCE presented a brand new track with Harvest, only once rehearsed, but perfectly played ;) Despite of vehement calls no encore :( Great show! Besides the usual raid thru the beer, Met and food stands the sculpture exhibition was magical to me bringing me back for several times. I especially fell for a sculpture I interpret as a dragon, which was even named „drchnflg“ (not a dragon’s fly as I interpreted, but dragonfly *g*) but was actually a dragonfly in a defense pose. Really a mesmerizing sculpture. I was downright fascinated… *thinking*… *pondering* Now I witnessed a band I never heard of before, just saw some live pics :: THE DREAMSIDE :: from the Netherlands. At first I could not do anything with this band around frontwoman Kemi Vita. Her singing was way too quiet and so failed in its effect. But then their songs developed with an immense speed to catchy tunes. Driving rhythms and songs such as Open Your Eyes that is an absolutely smashing hit. But the highlight of this show was without a doubt fire dancer Medusa. With her lascivious and aggressive movements, fire games and her wild and cat-like facial expression she brought the crowd to the boiling point. Men first, of course. Awesome! In the meantime the disco in the vault of the courtyard has started. The level of alcohol of the black nation rose and some guys… erm… made me smile while straying around… As for me I preferred to watch a documentation about Klaus Nomi… Last but not least the headliner entered the stage. :: CLAN OF XYMOX :: are of my all-time faves and I was happy to see them again. The Dutch guys and girls served what I expected: another captivating show to bring the first festival day to an adequate end. I surely like the older stuff a bit more than the modern more electro orientated material that of course had the majority on the setlist. But classics such as Jasmin & Rose and Louise got performed too. Medusa now comparatively stood harmless looking behind her keys, but the energy and wilderness she has inside you could see and sense all the time ;) What more I can tell you? It was a great show. Marvelous! Under a starlit sky people were marching to the courtyard, where the American Gothic/Wave icon :: EVA O. :: started her awesome acoustic performance. This small and aging vampire with spiky canine tooth and dramatic make-up presented bittersweet acoustic songs like The Beauty Of Hell with her guttural voice and captivated the audience. She got accompanied by Le' rue Delashay on the keys (who reminded me of Midnight Syndicate for some reason) At 3am there was the tattoo. Ok, I didn’t hang in there till the end. At half past one I trudged back to my car the cuddle myself into the sleeping back. Not bad, but at 10°C it was quite fresh... Saturday, September 23 … but
for that, the rising sun drove me quite early out of the bag since
my car turned quickly into a oven and announced another sunny
day with a spotless blue sky, 28 °C and a fresh breeze…
;) At 2pm the second day of the festival got kicked off. With :: REPTYLE :: from Bielefeld, old friends entered the stage. I remember a legendary gig in Herford 2 years ago, together with Funhouse… However, it was another show I was looking forward. For band, crew and music it was definitely too bright and sunny. Singer Zulu most time blinked with his eyes but that didn’t keep him from his great gestures and poses. At his singing I again I pricked up my ears, because the one and the other pitch still didn’t seem fit. Everything remains unaffected ;) Musically the audience got well-cultivated gothic rock with superb melodies and two brand new tracks, coming from the already finished album Consequence, which hopefully will be released soon. :: SPLINTER X :: afterwards could hardly convince. But that was not due to a possible bad music, no, the infantry was just too relaxed and sun- lethargic. Anyway, androgynous singer Ben reacted quite displeased and even wanted to finish the gig after the half of running time. Fortunately, some fans pulled themselves together and paid the tribute the band was longing for, making them play the entire set of soft pop rock tunes. In between I bumped into the FUNHOUSE guys. Time for a short hello and some calumnious words about already mentioned show. Singer Mike turned the band name into a “Frauenhaus” for Germans (women’s house, almost the same pronunciation for non-natives) and was joking that they will play many “ex-wife-songs” again… *lol* Before, I had to pay attention to :: COINSIDE :: who seemingly arrived with an own fan club, since many of them were uniformly clothed in the same T-shirt, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the band. With heavy EBM/Industrial and driving beats this duo pleased the crowd with songs such as Hexenhammer (with a hangman’s hood and a red bible) and suddenly the audience was awake ;) By the way, this band has very interesting lyrics… :: AGE OF HEAVEN :: followed with straight gothic wave in the veins of the 80’s. Really well-done so far, but without an own identity. These guys from Leipzig didn’t make it to loose themselves from the idols. At an autumnal rain of leaves various jugglers and a fairy strolled around, while I was watching the one and the other short film again during the change-overs and filling my belly with delicious food and drinks (red soda against the heat and of course cherry Met, beer, Tequila…) Finally it was time for the “Frauenhaus” *lol* :: FUNHOUSE :: are one of my longtime faves and definitely my personal highlight of the festival. These Swedes spread so much fun, energy and good mood that everybody got infected. Despite of a long stage abstinence in Germany FUNHOUSE are still very popular and rocked the festival down to earth. They were joking around all the time and made the fans laughing. Beside many “ex-wife-songs” (mostly from Flames Of Love album) FUNHOUSE also presented a brand new song entitled You Don't Want To Know Me. Just the Depeche Mode cover version Never Let Me Down they could have left aside, that didn’t work sorry guys. Great show!!! With :: STENDAL BLAST :: sun went down again and the entire festival family was inside the castle, frenetically celebrating these guys. By the way, it was the one and only show in 2006 for this band. Singer Kaaja entered the stage in safari-look and sun helmet, telling a story about a known optician trade chain and his slipping “festival specs” , just to throw the glasses away and make the fans happy with heavy pounding electro beats, ironic, even sarcastic lyrics about the human cohabitation. During :: THE INVINCIBLE SPIRIT :: my attention strongly fades. Female bass player and keyborder stand as were they nailed down, while the singer doesn’t stand still for any second, jumping jack-like. Again driving and pounding electro/EBM rhythms got thrown at the audience, but songs like Push just didn’t kick me out of my socks. But I have to be honest; the majority of the crowd was absolutely thrilled by their performance. Next band I like much more ;) British cult band :: INKUBUS SUKKUBUS :: already crossed my way some years ago at another festival, so I knew what to expect from this trio. Frontwoman Candia Ridley still knows how to make men’s mouths watering. She was whirling, jumping, kneeling or lied at the fans feet. She was screaming, singing or whispering her songs into the micro, which got much battered and broke, so that she went on with the upper part only. The male audience of course lied at her feet ;) The following fire show by FAULÉE TAUBÉE I actually missed to get me something warmer to dress. When I was back I only saw the tops of the fires swirling around, because the place in front of the stage was crowded as hell and the fire artists in the thick of it. On the other hand, the aftershow party already started too, so I went to the (warm) gate lodge and enjoyed listening and dancing to some old classics. With the headliners of the second day :: ZERAPHINE :: , the BURGNAECHTE FESTIVAL got successfully finished. I think I don’t need to introduce these guys from Berlin anymore. Of course, the show was great and mainly focused on the songs from current album Still. Fans were densely packed and honored the band with much love and enthusiasm. Those who cannot get enough, ZERAPHINE hit the road end of October for a huge tour through Germany. So watch out! Back to the aftershow party I started finishing my personal festival weekend. On the back “home” to my car I stopped in the courtyard and listened to the acoustic performance of :: SWANS OF AVON ::, looked into the faces of happy (or drunken) festival visitors and with the can of cherry Met I took the stars with me… wonderful I tell you. City persons are not used to see so many stars, although they are shining on us all the time. Next morning I was up quite early again and hit the road back home. This time it just took me three and a half hour ;) Late riser could enjoy another breakfast and, around noon, readings by Christian von Aster and Boris Koch. Summary:
A festival perfectly organized with many interesting details and
supporting program, a great area and a grandiose weather. The
billing was well-mixed, serving many musical styles. Prices were
absolutely ok, grilled sausages, hamburger or steaks in pita for
2 and 2,50 Euro; pan food 3 Euro, beer and juices 2 Euro, soda
1,50 Euro, Met and whine… etc. 3 Euro. Nothing to nag about!
Prices for the tickets are adequate too I think: 32 Euro for the
3-day-weekend ticked (advanced). |
| story & pics © Dajana |
