On the way back home after having played a festival Germany’s finest DIORAMA made a stop at Zeche Bochum filling the weekend. It’s a wonderful mild Saturday nosing first spring time fragrances. To make this evening perfect it appears that we will get a DIORAMA single show. For 2 hours! To cut a long story short: fabulous idea! Breathtaking show! I now plead for a monthly D-Day! :) Deal?

:: pics ::

At first I was afraid but with the beginning at 8 pm the Zeche was well filled with fans in high anticipation. Lights out, spot on. With the intro drummer Marquess, axe-man Sash and key wiz Felic Marc enter the stage paving the way for singer Torben Wendt, who gets welcomed with almost frenetic applause. His face speaks volumes while getting in with Erase Me. Right from the beginning :: DIORAMA :: have a great sound, not too loud but with much power to let the fans sway their heaps. I can’t stand still either, which is quite a problem, since I have to manage some twists and turns to get something and someone crossing my lens. There was no photopit and the fans not really willing to “surrender” for any inch of space in front of stage. Next DIORAMA show only attend with high-heels, 3 inch minimum, or plateau shoes with 11”. So! *laughs*

However, crowd is meanwhile in high spirit, cheering and dancing, while DIORAMA go through their entire history, a retrospective with some rarely played songs. The audience is deeply enchanted and I am much surprised how much this band has developed over the last years. These gents play with so much soul and passion. No one suffers as heartbreakingly with its own songs as Torben Wendt does. Great mimic, big gestures made our hearts melt. And absolutely nothing is fake, contrived or just show. That’s pure emotions. A roller coaster of feelings. At the same time DIORAMA spread a vast amount of energy and esprit, act and sound lively and crispy. It’s truly a pleasure attending on of their shows. Really.
After one and a half hour DIORAMA halfheartedly leave stage, for a second, to come back for encores starting with Child Of Entertainment, including a bottle and a glass of red wine Torben cheers to the fans. They play two songs and leave, come back, play more and leave again. After two hours a grandiose show finally sees its end with the wonderfully Piano performance of Das Meer, a track taken from the band’s sophomore Her Liquid Arms. *sighs* Such emotional and touching moment… If we would not have stood anyway, now the band would have had to face standing ovations, for minutes. Surprised and unbelieving yet smiling faces onstage ;)

Setlist: Intro, Erase Me, Exit The Grey, Record Deal, Stereotype, Advance, Home To Millions, LSW, Belle?, Burning Out, The Girls, Definition Power, Why, Ignite, Synthesize Me // Child of Entertainment, Kein Mord // Hla // Das Meer

It’s 10pm, time for the Saturday night fever. Doors open for legions of teens to start into their disco night. With every new song music turns to the worse, driving us quickly off what leads us into another adventure ;) Oh, btw… what about the D-Day now?

story & pics © Dajana