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2016-03-05 DE – Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle |
Main Stage • And One - Hocico - Frontline Asembly - Welle: Erdball - The Cassandra Complex - Assemblage 23 - Kite - Henric De La Cour Second Stage • Suicide Commando - Diorama - Legend - Winterkälte - Reborn Beton - Harmjoy - Orange Sector The E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL 2016 got opened on time by Swedish band :: HENRIC DE LA COUR :: on the main stage. I was much looking forward to see that dude, because I love his music, a mesmerizing blend of New Wave, Electro and 80s synth Pop, and wanted to finally see him performing live. Unfortunately he started with a lot of sound problems. No singing, no guitars to hear and if there was something to hear than overamplified. HENRIC DE LA COUR got accompanied by the fairy-like Camilla Karlsson on guitar (singer and bass player for It’s For Us – another great band, strongly recommended). Especially opening track My Machine, one of my faves, got totally botched. Anyway, the sound got better after a while. And HENRIC DE LA COUR scored even more with his excellent taste in music, as I could spot patches of Sólstafir, Venom and Mayhem on his jacket. Cool stuff! ;) Yep, despite the sound problems I’m really happy to have him seen playing live. One of the highlights of the festival!
Now it’s up to :: ORANGE SECTOR :: to open the festival on the second stage. Music got much heavier and harsher now. Time for EBM. Time to dance. The German duo (Lars Timm Felker and Martin Bodewell) was in best mood and immediately infected the audience. ORANGE SECTOR will celebrate their 25th anniversary next year, perhaps with a new album? It’s about time for a new one anyway.
Back to the main stage the next highlight got ready to blow us away: Swedish band :: KITE ::. I have already heard of them musically, it’s hard to avoid them if you have fans of them around you ;) Again we all had to face technical problems but it didn’t narrow the pleasure watching them performing. KITE play a very own style of Electro, Experimental and Indie Rock, utmost intensive and mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful. And I love the voice of singer Nicklas Stenemo (plus Christian Berg on the machines). KITE only released EPs so far. Six to be exactly, all of them a must-have! I heard that KITE normally uses a great light & laser show for their performances. Well, not tonight. Damn! Too bad!
:: HARMJOY :: is a quite interesting project by Dan von Hoyel (Titans) and Ølåf Å. Reimers (Tyske Ludder). Out from sunny San Francisco, the duo crossed the pond only for this festival. However, the band did a good job in matter of promotion, there is a certain hype around them that filled the hall fully. All in all I’d say it was a solid show. Nothing special that blew me away. And I did not expect Future Pop here. Unfortunately, HARMJOY was the band with the worst light of the festival. Well… light… light? What light?
Next up is Tom Shear and :: ASSEMBLAGE 23 ::, an often seen and welcome musician on German club and festival stages, playing Electro as its best. Musically ok, visually really boring as Mr. Shear always gets lost on bigger stages.
Running back and forth between both stages it is up to :: BEBORN BETON :: to please the crowd. The band replaces Chrom, who had to cancel their appearance only one day prior the festival. And I have to say, for an unprepared show on such a short notice, BEBORN BETON really did a good job. I didn’t know the band before but meanwhile learnt that they got established in the 80s. Old stagers. Wow! After a really, really long break (13 years) the band has released a new album, entitled A Worthy Compensation, they played quite a few songs from.
Back in the main hall the next surprise is awaiting us: the British Gothic/Electro rockers :: THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX ::! Another band I didn’t know before. The band’s main man Rodney Orpheus spread so much energy and vigor. Pure lust for life. A Gothic paradox, so to say. Even lames now started to dance. Great! Being around for more than 30 years this band displayed, how a vivid live performance has to look like. There are many bands who could take a leaf out of their book. Oh, and we got some lights, finally ;)
Don’t stop dancing! :: WINTERKÄLTE :: is a rather unusual band for the E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL, playing kinda Techno or Industrial-like Drum'n'Noise with a lot of smoke. They are no unknown to the scene and already played the E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL before. So it didn’t wonder that the hall was really crowded now and the fans eager to get in a dance trance. In a Rave trance? Whatever. Fans got to dance!
I actually have no clue, why :: WELLE: ERDBALL :: must play on almost every E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL. Their C-64 sound is fun, listened to it for two or three times but then it’s enough. Same goes for the shows. But I have to admit, they turned a very packed and crowded main hall into a colorful, glittering and twee… popular music event. And the fans freaked out. I guess, most of all due the beginning of the show with singer Lady Lila as a white angel with spreading wings performing the song 1000 Engel. Looked stunning, indeed, and was great to take photos of. Later confetti was “raining” on the crowd turning everything into a glittering room of happiness and joy. Nothing that has to do with EBM, Electro or such kind of music. Nice to see, for sure not a must-be-there event.
Big break, huge contrast. From the bubble gum band up to THE highlight of E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL 2016. We are talking about Iceland’s own :: LEGEND ::. The duo Krummi Björgvinsson and Halldór A Björnsson (plus live drummer Frosti Jón Runólfsson) stir up the scene for quite some time. I learnt about them when Sólstafir covered the LEGEND track Runaway Train, while LEGEND has covered the Sólstafir track Fjara. To me, Runaway Train is the smash hit of LEGEND, a track that let me burst into tears. So emotional, so touching. LEGEND have released only one record so far, their debut Fearless in 2012. But they announced tonight that they are working on the sophomore set to be released in August. I can hardly wait to get my hands on this new piece, I tell ya. Too bad there was no LEGEND merchandise. No CDs, no shirts. What a great show (of course with technical issues, but well…)! Stunning performance! Love the band, love the music! And Fearless is on permanent rotation since then…
I think, there is no need to introduce :: FRONTLINE ASSEMBLY :: anymore. The old stagers Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb still leave younger generations in the dust when it comes to EBM and good music generally. And once again we got a great show delivered. Even with a bit more of light ;) But FLA scored before they even started their show – when the visuals were started and the laptop wanted to do a WIN10 upgrade before *lol*. However, awesome show again!
No rest for the wicked, the next highlight is waiting: :: DIORAMA ::. I love this band and they never disappoint. DIORAMA is a synonym for pure emotions and intensity. And they always surprise musically, offering a wide spectrum, always charismatic, varied, unique, and profound. And so was tonight’s show too. The icing of the cake was the announcement of a new album in the making with a tentative release in September. I’m so much looking forward! But something has changed: Sash Fiddler is not playing guitars for DIORAMA anymore. There is a new guy onguitars but there was no official announcement made yet. Seems, we have to be still patient for more information…
A certain tiredness makes itself felt. And :: HOCICO :: couldn’t fight it. The Mexican guys play the E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL for the third or even fourth time? Dunno. So, known fare. HOCICO presented their new album Ofensor, they played half of the songs from and sho0wn a new stage outfit. But it’s nothing new or innovative musically. HOCICO have two drummers on stage, dressed as devilish black angels. Looking good. But they had problems to drum synchronously. Maybe they could not hear each other. I wouldn’t wonder. Sound and lights during the HOCICO show was a pure disaster. Audible mud and visually blurred redlight darkness. A run off scenery.
It’s about time to welcome the headliner on the second stage: :: SUICIDE COMMANDO ::. Singer Johan Van Roy had to cancel quite a many shows due to health issues. Now he is back. He is still wearing a splint to save his knee but it did not keep him from dancing and jumping. He just did it more careful ;) And it did not do any harm to his energetic live show. The hall was really crowded and SUICIDE COMMANDO mastered the audience in a twinkling of an eye.
And the embarrassment award goes to… :: AND ONE ::. Umpteen times disbanded and still there, playing the 264987851. farewell tour. They never wanted to release records anymore and now announced a trilogy. AND ONE is like a bad joke. A tiny man with a huge ego. Self-glorification par excellence. On the E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL main stage they promoted their own shows on the huge screen, made announcements easily to be misunderstood and picked a quarrel with the audience. Nope, that is no entertainment and this is not any bit professional. This is a childish behavior and not worth a festival’s headliner. A band absolutely negligible…
Lullaby, and good night, in the skies stars are bright. May the moon's silvery beams bring you sweet dreams… That's that. That was the E-TROPOLIS FESTIVAL 2016. I hope, everybody had a great time, enjoying the bands and had a save trip home. And so I vanish into thin air too… |
story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography |
