Soltero @ Trixtrr on December 5

Next Soltero show: December 5 at Trixtrr with Halfsilks! Doors at 8, we play at 9, Halfsilks at 10. DM for address (near Schlesi).

And I'll be singing with my choir tomorrow at V36!

Nation of Language / Westerman - Live 2025.11.21 Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany

I’ve loved Nation of Language since their first album, but for various reasons relating to the pandemic and my health, I wasn’t able to see them live until now. I’m sad it took four album cycles to make it happen!

Westerman opened the show. He was joined by one backing musician, Daniel McIntyre, who handled backing tracks, synths, and some guitar. Westerman himself played electric or acoustic guitar on most songs and of course sang. His songs felt a bit sparse, and they rarely trascended their singer-songwriter trappings. The highlight was a song where Daniel played with some sort of ebow-like sustain on his guitar for a really cool and noisy swell effect. Their final number was the only one with an actual drum machine beat, which injected some much needed juice into the song. Otherwise I found them to be rather plainly in the middle of the road with little to hold my attention. The cocaine vibes weren’t helping.

[Nation of Language.]

Nation of Language were thankfully another story. They had the benefit of a better light show on top of the stack of synths and a great bassist, and Ian Richard Devaney’s voice was in top form. They opened with the opener of their new album Dance Called Memory, “Can’t Face Another One”, and while it’s obviously an emotionally heavy song and not their most upbeat musically, it still already burst with life and energy compared to Westerman’s set. They ultimately played half of the new album, all of which worked well on stage. I loved the My Bloody Valentine-style glide guitar on “I’m Not Ready for the Change”, although I missed the Cocteau Twins-style guitar of “Now That You’re Gone”. They also played half of their last album, Strange Disciple (2023), and while I find it their weakest album so far, the live renditions were just as good as the rest.

They also played a handful songs from their first two albums, some of which (“September Again”, “Across That Fine Line”) worked like classic synthpop anthems. Just about every song was a winner. Aidan Noell’s programming and synths carried most of the weight, but I loved the pulsing drive of Alex MacKay’s Peter Hook-style, chorus-laden bass. Devaney’s occasional guitar was usually just a bit of extra texture, although on occasion (like “In Your Head”) he let loose with a louder storm of noise, and he also occasionally drifted over to the synth rack and added a part alongside Noell. The biggest (or perhaps only) surprise came during the encore when Noell came to the center of the stage to perform “Sharevari”, a Number of Names cover that she recorded (with LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang) for a single in 2022. Devaney and MacKay operated the synths and offered backing chorus vocals. That made for quite a change of mood into a more straight techno direction. I wouldn’t have enjoyed a full set of that, but for one song it was a welcome addition.

I’ve always accused Nation of Language of drawing heavily upon their forebears like OMD and New Order, and while I like that they’ve brought some new influences to their latest album, their live set still stays pretty true to the mold. I can’t even complain, though, because I love what they do, and they brought such a consistent and solid version of it to the show. The grooves were great and they brought a great energy to the parts that weren’t programmed. The crowd was dancing the whole time, myself included. It was a lot of fun!

Here’s the setlist (with help from here):
01. Can’t Face Another One
02. Sole Obsession
03. Rush & Fever
04. I’m Not Ready for the Change
05. Under the Water
06. September Again
07. On Division St
08. Wounds of Love
09. A New Goodbye
10. Across That Fine Line
11. Inept Apollo
12. Stumbling Still
13. In Your Head

Encore:
14. Spare Me the Decision
15. Sharevari [A Number of Names cover]
16. Weak in Your Light
17. The Wall & I

Scores:
Westerman: C-
Nation of Language: A-
Dance Called Memory: B+

Thanks to Mirah!

Trans Music Feels

Once upon a time I used Twitter, and a lot of my ideas that I never developed into articles or reviews ended up as a pithy line or two in the form of a tweet. (I mean, it’s not like I write a lot of essays, but there are a few here.) When Twitter fully descended into a hellscape, I moved to Mastodon. And while I post even less there, I was still sad when the first instance I signed up for announced it was shutting down this year. I’m now over at tech.lgbt, but my old toots will soon be gone forever. For the most part, I don’t care. But there was one series of toots I made that I want to collect and keep alive here.

I’ve shared songs with the tag #TransMusicFeels that gave me some sort of emotional reaction relating to my transness. Most of these songs are by cis people, as there aren’t many trans musicians in the mainstream of the genres I like best. I don’t usually like it when cis people write or sing about us intentionally, but sometimes they get it right, or get close. Regardless, these songs resonate with me and help me make sense of my trans experience. Some were probably not written with any sort of gender consideration in mind at all, but I’ll read whatever I want into these songs. That’s my right, and besides, I believe that cis people can experience most of the same feelings we do, or at least something similar. But it is a prerequisite to be on the list that I have to actually like the song beyond just feeling seen or connecting with something in the lyrics.

So anyway, here are the songs, in the rough order they occurred to me:

• “Wishes” by Beach House. I doubt it was the intention, but I hear it anyway. This was the first song that clicked for me this way and it still makes me emotional every time.
• “Reservations” by Wilco. Again, I doubt it was intended.
• “Changes” by David Bowie. Of course.
• “Lady Stardust” by David Bowie. There are countless Bowie songs that could be here, but this one hits me the hardest. It brings me back to when I felt more non-binary. The pronouns are confusing, but that might just make it more delightful.
• “Transformer Man” by Neil Young, from the bizarre/prescient Trans (1982) album. I mean, the vocoder!
• “No G.D.M.” by Gina X. My sister ripped this song from vinyl and presciently put it on a mix CD that she gave me when I was about 18.
• “Born a Girl” by Manic Street Preachers.
• “Lose This Skin” by The Clash, written and sung by Tymon Dogg. A bit complicated but I can read it that way.
• “I Want to Break Free” by Queen.
• “Losing My Religion” by REM. I understand it to be about coming out and struggling to explain one’s sexual identity, but it applies just as well to gender identity. I prefer the IRS albums but it amuses me how popular this song is and that it seems to be widely misunderstood to be a statement about religion, which as far as I can tell, it is not.
• “It’s a Sin” by Pet Shop Boys. An absolute banger if there ever was one. I will never forget hearing this blasting down the hall while recovering from surgery on a hospital floor inhabited solely by trans people.
• “For Today I Am a Boy” by Anohni and the Johnsons.
• “Boys” by Bauhaus. I remember hearing this when I was 15 and feeling uncomfortably seen. Quite a statement for the b-side of their much more famous debut single!
• “Candy Says” by The Velvet Underground always hits me hard, even if I’m past the point now of making all the big decisions that cause endless revisions.
• “A Night Like This” by The Cure has been beloved to me ever since I first encountered it via The Smashing Pumpkins’ cover. I can relate to the mess of confusing and conflicting emotions in Robert Smith’s lyrics. The line “The way that you look at me now / Makes me wish I was you” certainly foreshadows “Why Can’t I Be You?”, which frankly is also super transy. I can read lots of Cure songs through a trans lens.
• “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails. A lot of NIN songs hit me in powerful, confusing ways as a teenager. I obviously connected with Trent’s depression and frustrations with capitalism, but the sexual angst was harder to explain. Now it makes more sense.
• “I Want Your Love” by Chromatics. The one guest contribution I got. (Thanks Mirah!)
• “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” by Kate Bush. I’m surprised I never mentioned before! I’ve loved it ever since I heard Placebo’s cover. (Chromatics also did a version.)

I’m definitely open to more suggestsions (here or on Mastodon), and I’ll keep posting them as I encounter them!

1000 Airplanes on the Roof - 2025.11.07 Neuköllner Oper, Berlin, Germany

Earlier this year, a friend took me to my first-ever opera (Richard Strauss’ Elektra at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden) and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. When another friend suggested a trans-centric performance of a Philip Glass theatric composition at the Neuköllner Oper, my curiosity was piqued enough to take the chance. I’m glad I did.

[Sarah Bodle and Mara Snip on stage. (Press photo.)]

There’s a review in the taz that covers the details pretty well and I won’t repeat that here. What I don’t think they covered is how the performance comes across to a trans viewer. Director Paige Eakin Young and co-director/lead performer Mara Snip took this science-fiction work about alien or supernatural abduction and deftly reinterpreted it through a trans lens. As far as I can tell, the original text from David Henry Hwang already explicitly dealt with themes of personal confusion around one’s own inexplicable experiences and the societal disbelief and refusal of acknowledgement that accompany it. As the lead performer says more than once, “It is better to forget, it is pointless to remember. No one will believe you.” While the authors drew on popular accounts of UFO encounters, they also connected it to spiritual and drug-induced experiences as well as psychosis. In all of these situations, the subject becomes even more isolated as they realize that others will not take them seriously.

All of this will be instantly familiar to any trans person. I literally thought I was a space alien as I child; I didn’t know how else to make sense of how I felt. While I’m grateful not to have lost any relationships as a result of coming out, I still worry about how extended family members or friends I haven’t seen in years will react to my changes. I still get anxious that some fresh hell will be unleashed upon me every time I go to a new healthcare professional, or visit a government office, or cross a border. I live with it better than I did a few years ago when I last wrote at length about being trans in public, but everything I wrote there is still accurate, and the politics of both my home country and my country of residence leave me in a constant low-grade panic about my safety.

One of the lessons I’ve learned over the years is that it’s easier if I don’t talk about being trans with cis people I’m not especially close to. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that they don’t understand what I’m talking about, and it tends to make them uncomfortable. The conversation is a dead end. They can’t offer me much wisdom, nor can they respond with their own similar experiences. I mean, they probably could, but they’re too scared that any comparison might offend me. (It wouldn’t!) Of course, I’m talking here about the generally sympathetic people that I would even want to share anything about myself with, not the people that actively want me repressed, outcast, or dead!

So when Snip tells me about her childhood experiences of expressing nascent femininity and learning quickly that that would elicit swift, harsh judgment, I know that feeling. When she describes looking in a window and seeing her girlhood reflected, I’ve done the same. When her mom sent her a picture taken by her grandfather of her as a child in a gown and hair extensions, I remembered a picture a friend in college took and developed of me in my first skirt with my hair finally grown out. When Snip recounted wondering how a lover would react to her trans body, I can relate. When she stopped mid-sentence to ask if someone in the crowd said something, I know that anxiety. When she expressed disbelief that anyone would ever take her seriously as a performer, let alone as a human, well, I’ve been there too.

Snip invested a lot of herself in this performance, and it paid off. I can presumably say the same of Paige. If you’re looking for a dramatic representation of what trans life is like, it’s hard to imagine doing better than this. And on top of that, you get an excellent, otherworldly musical performance featuring some sort of wind synth instrument in addition to Roland keyboard synths and a variety of other woodwinds. Snip was excellent in the role, and I would be remiss not to mention Sarah Bodle’s sublime performance as some blend of alien, spirit, and sexual liberator. I really wonder what the cis people in the crowd thought; I worry that they got an entirely different, confusing, less emotionally moving performance. But maybe for once, this wasn't for them.

Score: A

 

Thanks to Mirah! 

The Chameleons / White Rose Transmission - Live 2025.10.31 Lido, Berlin, Germany

The Chameleons have been back for a few years now. And by “The Chameleons”, I mean singer/bassist Mark Burgess (who strangely is going just by “Vox” lately) and guitarist Reg Smithies. Drummer John Lever died in 2017 and guitarist Dave Fielding has been apparently uninterested in rejoining. ChameleonsVox, which initially included Lever in addition to Burgess, seems to have fluidly become the “real” thing just by getting Reg back in the fold.

I saw ChameleonsVox twice in Berlin before the pandemic in 2017 and 2019 and enjoyed both shows. The Chameleons have played here twice in the last two years, but I missed both. I was excited for this show, all the more so when I saw that White Rose Transmission would be opening. That band was originally a collaboration between Carlo van Putten of The Convent and Adrian Borland of The Sound, another magnificent oft-overlooked 80s band. Burgess had produced the first two Convent albums and performed on a couple WRT albums, so I was kinda hoping I might see something special. Alas, there were no guest appearances. It was just van Putton on lead vocals and Thomas Marcin on acoustic guitar and occasional backing vocals. They mostly performed songs written by Borland. Marcin’s style was dynamic and emotive, and with van Putton’s full voice, they had a sort of acoustic gothic vibe. I loved the EQ on the guitar. The bottom end sounded heavy and haunting. They made a lot out of their minimal arrangements.

[White Rose Transmission.]

The Chameleons did not take long to hit the stage. They opened with the lead single of their new album Arctic Moon, “Where Are You?”, the best song they’ve put out since reforming. Their poetic politics are just as alive as ever. And while several of the songs in their set relate more to affairs of the heart, their socio-political side stood out the most. It’s amazing how brilliant songs like “Soul in Isolation” and “Swamp Thing” are still as relevant now as when they were written, and they rock. They ultimately played five of the seven songs from the new album, wisely skipping two of the more meandering tracks. “David Bowie Takes My Hand” wasn’t my favorite of the bunch, but Burgess said it was the Chameleons song that saved his life (providing no further explanation, other than that it helped him understand when fans tell him that this or that song saved theirs), which is certainly a way to hype a piece of art.

The setlist was a dream, including many of my favorites, even including “Paradiso”, which I’d specifically lamented not seeing when ChameleonsVox did their Strange Times (1986) set in 2019. In fact, it seemed like we got an especially long set, certainly longer than the shows I’d seen before and I think even longer than most other shows on the current tour so far. I’d wondered why they started so early, and it turns out it was probably that they wanted to play for nearly two hours before the local 10pm noise restrictions would go into effect. As is typical, several songs at the end of the show were extended considerably and included a number of teases of other classic rock songs.

[The Chameleons.]

It was great to see Reg playing these songs, and he was in good form. Truth be told, I preferred Dave’s parts, as they tend to be the more astral, sparkling, transcendent ones, but I always liked how they traded parts, and that dual-guitar interplay still defines the new songs. Stephen Rice played Dave’s parts note-for-note and proved himself just as skilled on guitar as he was on drums when I saw him at the 2019 show. Todd Demma’s drumming was great, and while Danny Ashberry mostly hid in the back to play relatively simple keyboard parts, he played acoustic guitar on the first half of “Feels Like the End of the World” (while a superfluous backing track played the string parts) and took Mark’s bass for the second half of “Second Skin” and all of “Don’t Fall”. Mark himself played the acoustic on “David Bowie Takes My Hand” while Ashberry played the bass part on his keyboard. While everyone played well and the show generally sounded great, the bass was oddly low in the mix. As a result, several times when I expected the beat to drop or the energy to kick up a notch, it didn’t really happen.

The Chameleons also released two EPs last year, although neither was especially notable. Of the songs that didn’t also appear on the album, they only played “The Fan and the Bellows”, which isn’t a new song. Tomorrow Remember Yesterday is five rerecordings of some of their earliest songs with slight updates, better production, and reduced tempos, but none are actual improvements over the originals. Where Are You? consists of another redone oldie, an early, alternate but similar version of the title track, and one other unremarkable, low-key new song.

It’s great to have them back at any rate, even if the difference between ChameleonsVox and The Chameleons seems to just be Reg. The new album is pretty good; it starts and ends strongly with their typical shimmering guitars and incisive lyrics, although too many of the songs go on way too long. I’m still happy to have it, and I’m happy that the band still feels alive and relevant. The crowd still skewed older, but there were plenty of people even younger than me. Mark appeared genuinely happy to still be doing it and grateful that we were still coming. If they continue to perform with this level of energy and their genre-defining sound, it won’t be hard to keep drawing a crowd.

Here’s the setlist:
01. Where Are You?
02. The Fan and the Bellows
03. Pleasure and Pain
04. Lady Strange
05. Perfume Garden
06. Looking Inwardly
07. Paradiso
08. In Answer
09. David Bowie Takes My Hand
10. Saviours Are a Dangerous Thing
11. Soul in Isolation [including teases of Buffalo Springfield‘s “For What It’s Worth”, The Doors’ “The End”, David Bowie‘s “Be My Wife”, The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”, and The Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”]
12. Swamp Thing [including a tease of The Beatles’ “Rain”]
13. Feels Like the End of the World

Encore:
14. Indiana
15. Monkeyland
16. Second Skin [including teases of The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” and Bowie’s “Be My Wife” (again)]
17. Don’t Fall [including teases of The Doors’ “Light My Fire”, Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel”, and something else I didn’t catch]

Scores:
White Rose Transmission: B
The Chameleons: A-
Arctic Moon: B-
Where Are You? EP: C+
Tomorrow Remember Yesterday EP: C

Nala Sinephro - Live 2025.10.28 Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany

Nala Sinephro put out one of my favorite albums last year, and considering how rarely I see live jazz, this show was an immediate priority for me. On top of that, she played in the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie, a well-designed, modern venue with nice seats.

[Pictures were not allowed during the performance, so here’s the harp tuner.]

Despite my enthusiasm, I had no idea what to expect. After some delays, Sinephro and three bandmates came out. She went straight to her harp and played solo at length. I was already captivated; she played flawlessly and beautifully. Eventually she looked up and nodded to Lyle Barton (operating a synth bass rig) and a drummer who’s name I didn’t catch. I think it was Moses Boyd but might’ve been either of the drummers who played on the album (Natcyet Wakili or Morgan Simpson) or someone else entirely. They started playing simple parts at a low level and I could feel the energy slowly building. Eventually Nubya Garcia started some slow blows on her sax, more breathy air than harmony, and around the same time Sinephro pushed away the harp, got up, and sat down at her synth rig (a Prophet ’08 with a modular bay on the side). And from there, things really picked up.

They improvised in total for around 45 minutes without a break. It was transcendent. Sinephro stayed at the synth for the rest of the jam, modulating an arpeggiator just about the entire time. She was a deft manipulator of the knobs and kept introducing subtle shifts in tempo, tone, pitch, and effects, guiding us gently but firmly on an expansive journey. The drummer underpinned the rises and falls of the mood, heavily resting on beds of cymbals with shocks of snare for intermittent energetic bursts. Garcia’s sax started as merely texture, but she gradually warmed up to greater and more aggressive attacks as well. She also used effects pedals to wash her instrument’s rough edges out and grant it shimmering trails. Barton’s synth mostly faded into the background, merely underpinning the others’ more expressive performances. But near the end, as Sinephro cut back some of her layers and signaled to Garcia and the drummer to fade out, Barton’s synth stepped up and took a leading role, wildly oscillating in higher registers. I recognized the tone and style from several of the songs on Endlessness. And then, ever so slowly, they too faded out.

After just a brief pause for applause, they started over, again with Sinephro alone at the harp. In fact, they followed almost the exact same pattern. The order of the instrumentation was about the same, as was the general arc of the energy levels. They again improvised for around 45 minutes. The second jam was just as good as the first, only losing some marks due to the familiarity of the format. And after that, Sinephro said thanks, and they left.

I loved the juxtaposition of the serene harp with the wilder, freer synth exploration. I thought I recognized a few motifs from the album, but the structure was much looser and more open than those individual songs. I was amused to see Sinephro occasionally give direction to her bandmates, to which the drummer typically responded rather abruptly. I would’ve expected a more gradual transition, but it wasn’t exactly jarring. There were just a few moments where Sinephro’s synth had some rough transitions where the effects misaligned and caused a brief dropout or a nasty noise, but those were infrequent and quickly recovered from. Otherwise, they performed at an impressively high level.

Score: A

Thanks to Alyssa!

Soltero @ Schokoladen on Sept 9

 

We just back from playing at a festival in France and we're getting right back to it in Berlin. Come see us play with Balm at Schokoladen on September 9 at 8pm!

Patti Smith - Live 2025.07.11 Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany

I’ve seen Patti Smith twice before, both times at the same venue as this time. While the first was a bit tame, I was rewarded for giving her a second shot, as the second show in 2022 was superb. I wasn’t gonna resist another chance to see this aging star, even if she was touring with just one guitarist.

But strangely enough, when the announced quartet appeared on stage, a fifth member was present on keyboards! It turned out to be Oisin Murray, mostly known as a live audio technician. He also played a bit of bass and guitar on a couple songs at the start and end of the show. For the rest, it really was a quartet. However, her longest-serving bandmates Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty were absent without explanation. Her other regular collaborators, Tony Shanahan (bass, keyboards, and backing vocals) and her son Jackson Smith (guitar), were still in tow. New to the fold was drummer Sebastian Rochford.

They opened with “Redondo Beach”, which certainly would’ve suffered if Shanahan had had to pick between bass or keyboards; the song is built on the interplay of both. That was followed by a cover of Steve Earle’s “Transcendental Blues”, which is new to this tour. I didn’t know the song before, but I thoroughly enjoyed their take on it. It was droning yet still had motion, and Jackson’s open tuning served it well. Murray left the stage after that while the rest did a run of Patti’s standard favorites. I particularly enjoyed “Spell”. Last time I saw her, she read the footnote to Howl, but this was a full-band rendition. They built it up to a really high energy (and volume) level, far beyond the original studio version, similar to the live take on Land (2002). She ad-libbed some extra holy places, including Palestine and Gaza (and Berlin). The crowd seemed into it. They also cheered for the extra line declaring immigrants as holy. This might be basic-level rock star activism, but I’d rather have it than not.

“Nine” isn’t my favorite of hers, but she also built that into a much longer and more dynamic piece than originally recorded. And then she said she wanted to try something new but wasn’t quite sure she had it. Finally she sang the opening words: “The world is a vampire sent to drain”. What!? She forgot how it continued and had to check a lyric sheet, but sure enough, they played a weirdly classic-rock rendition of The Smashing Pumpkins’s “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”! It was a strange arrangement with a different melody and lacking most of the aggression and dynamics of the original. It’s not exactly my favorite SP song, but I mean, it was still pretty cool. And this was the debut of her take on it! 17-year-old me might’ve fainted.

The rest of the set was pretty similar to her usual setlists, albeit with the Charlotte Day Wilson cover “Work” (new to this tour) and a reading of “Cry Humanity”. The rest are all good songs, so I can’t complain, but it was a bit predictable. Patti forgot how to do the guitar rhythm at the start of “Beneath the Southern Cross”, but once she got going and the band joined in, it made for another powerful song as it peaked. The “Within You Without You” interpolation by Jackson and Tony was once again really cool. It rained off an on through the night, and I wondered if they played “Pissing in a River” as a bit of a joke in reference to that, but they have been playing it regularly on the tour. Murray came back out for that one and stayed through the end. “Because the Night” and “People Have the Power” predictably got the largest audience response, but I was sad to leave without “Gloria”. She hasn’t been doing it on this tour for some reason. That’s probably the one song I wanna hear every time. Oh well.

Despite the different membership, this show wasn’t particularly different than the past shows I’ve seen. I felt like the performance was a bit tame and Patti wasn’t at the top of her game, but it was still fun. The band was tight regardless, albeit a bit thin when it was just four people. The tempos felt a bit slow and I wish they’d rock out more, but when they did, it was great. I’m glad she still gets political with and between her songs, and I still find her pretty inspiring. I like that she always tries to see the best in people while speaking plainly and directly of injustice. She brings a great energy, even if she is getting old and maybe not quite as sharp as she used to be.

Here’s the setlist:
01. Redondo Beach
02. Transcendental Blues [Steve Earle cover]
03. Ghost Dance
04. 1959
05. Cash
06. Spell [Allen Ginsberg adaptation]
07. Nine
08. Bullet with Butterfly Wings [The Smashing Pumpkins cover]
09. Dancing Barefoot
10. Beneath the Southern Cross / Within You Without You [The Beatles cover tease]
11. Work [Charlotte Day Wilson cover]
12. Cry Humanity [poem]
13. Peaceable Kingdom → People Have the Power [partial]
14. Pissing in a River
15. Because the Night

Encore:
16. People Have the Power

Score: B

P.S. There is a bootleg of this concert, although not of the highest quality. The Hamburg show from two nights prior was also bootlegged, and it’s not only higher quality, but Patti also performed a little better.

P.P.S. Thanks to Mirah!

St. Vincent / Cult of Venus - Live 2025.07.05 Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany

I’ve seen St. Vincent twice. First was at ACL in 2014 on the tour for her self-titled album with a full band, and then in Berlin in 2017 on the Masseduction tour, where she appeared solo. Her only other scheduled show in the meantime in Berlin in 2021 was canceled, so that’s been it. I was a big fan of her latest album, All Born Screaming from last year, so I was looking forward to this show.

Cult of Venus appeared first, alone on stage with just a guitar, a keyboard, and a powerful smoke machine. The highlight was her strong voice. She also produced quite a bit of sound, but I wondered if all the layers were being controlled by her via her synth setup or if it was handled offstage. Regardless, the sum total was very clean and produced, which limited her opportunities to engage and explore. Her songs were fairly short and so was her set. The beats were good and the music was fine, but there was no life to it. It felt too staged and manufactured. Her aesthetic definitely fit the St. Vincent mold, and it felt like Venus had drawn quite a bit from St. Vincent’s solo setup.

But when St. Vincent came out, I was relieved that she was touring with a full band. I wasn’t a fan of the highly programmed solo show in 2017 and much preferred the rawer band performance from 2014. This time she had an even larger band, very much in the rock mode. Notably, the band included guitarist Jason Falkner and drummer Mark Guiliana. Falkner is perhaps best known for playing with Beck and Air; I saw him on stage with Beck on that same day I saw St. Vincent in 2014. Guiliana has a long resume in the jazz world but got a lot of attention for playing on Bowie’s Blackstar (2016). The others were Rachel Eckroth on synth and vocals and Robert Ellis on bass and keyboards. All together, they were a formidable team, and it’s cool that St. Vincent can get some big names to back her up.

[St. Vincent.]

The setlist was great. She played a bunch of songs from the new(-ish) album and a wide selection from across her back catalog. I would’ve gladly taken more from her self-titled album, but even the songs from Masseduction, which wasn’t my favorite when it came out, turned out great on stage and had all the energy I missed when she tried them solo. The sound could’ve been better (the vocals were hard to hear and the bass was muddy) but it still came over really well. I loved the guitar interplay and was happy to have that back. St. Vincent also used a Soma Pipe and a Stylophone Theremin for some extra little effects. And of course she handed her guitar into the crowd during “Cheerleader” and then stage dove during “New York” while continuing to sing as if it were no big deal. During the latter, another woman came out to play Ellis’ synth. She had been bringing St. Vincent her guitars, and she looked a bit like Cult of Venus, which made me wonder if it was the same person.

[At the fence. Note the extra synth player.]

I hadn’t peeked at setlists in advance, but I was hoping she’d play “Candy Darling”. The definitive song about the actress is of course “Candy Says” by The Velvet Underground, but nonetheless, I appreciated St. Vincent’s homage to the trans icon. Sure enough, she played it as the encore, but she played it rather loose and coy. She interrupted it and talked through it in a way that made it feel insincere. I was happy to have any version of it, but I would’ve preferred a straighter (lol) performance or a different arrangement. And then she left. I was hoping for just one or two more bangers to end on a high note, but instead it was just this formless rendition of a short, slow, sentimental song. It wasn’t the best way to end a show. I think I’m picky about this sort of thing. Regardless, the rest of the show was a delight, so I can forgive it!

[Singing while crowdsurfing.]

Here’s the setlist:
01. Reckless
02. Fear the Future
03. Los Ageless
04. Broken Man
05. I Wanna Be Your Dog [Stooges cover tease] → Birth in Reverse
06. Dilettante
07. Pay Your Way in Pain
08. Flea
09. Cheerleader
10. Big Time Nothing
11. Marrow
12. Violent Times
13. New York
14. Sugarboy (with “Los Ageless” lyric tease)
15. All Born Screaming

Encore:
16. Candy Darling

Scores:
Cult of Venus: B-
St. Vincent: A-

Thanks to Keagan!

Nine Inch Nails / Boys Noize - Live 2025.07.01 Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany

Yes, I saw Nine Inch Nails twice in the span of a week. To make a long story short, Keagan and I bought tickets for this show first, and when his friends wanted to see the Vienna show, we weren’t gonna turn down the opportunity to join them. The last time I saw a band twice on the same tour was The Faint back in 2008, for similar reasons. At any rate, I won’t repeat what I already described there and will focus on what made this show different than the last.

[Trent, Atticus, and Alessandro on the second stage for “Ruiner”.]

I skipped most of the Boys Noize set because I wasn’t particularly interested in a second round. No hate, it just felt a bit stifling to be in the seats for a techno set, and I again wasn’t really feeling that vibe. The sudden shift to Trent Reznor at the keyboard was still just as cool, and this time he started with “A Minute to Breathe” from the Before the Flood (2016) soundtrack. The rest of the first half of the show was the same, which had me a bit nervous that there wouldn’t be much further variation. Regardless, it was still just as good, and I had even better seats, so the view was great and I was able to get up and move a bit, which made up for the lack of variety.

[Copies of Trent for “Copy of A”.]

But when Trent and Atticus joined Boys Noize on the second stage, after repeating “Vessel”, they started switching things up. “Only” was on par with the other mid-period remixes, but “I Do Not Want This” was a total surprise. It was certainly a strange choice, but the radical reinterpretation worked. And then “Sin”! That was a delight. The techno version didn’t even feel that far off from the original, and they kept a lot of the original samples and sounds.

[Trent, Atticus, and Boys Noize on the second stage.]

And back with the full band on the main stage, the deviations continued. “Somewhat Damaged” finally filled my desire for something from The Fragile (1999), and it rocked harder than “1,000,000” did at the last show. And while I missed “I’m Afraid of Americans”, “Burn” was a welcome addition, and the live performance was perhaps even more intense. It went hard. The rest of the final set was the same, but also had the same level of focused yet free energy.

[The band on the main stage, with Robin projected in the background.]

In terms of both performance and staging, this show matched the Vienna show, which is to say it was excellent. I was again transported to another place full of memories and associations I don’t always want to access, yet it felt comfortable, safe, and catharctic. I didn’t have quite the same level of immersion as the first time, simply because there was less surprise and pure excitement. But the crowd was more energetic, my seat was an upgrade, and the sound was perhaps even a notch better (perhaps due to the seat). I really appreciated the setlist variations, and this might’ve even been the better overall set. It’s hard to judge. They were both absolute top notch.

[Trent and Atticus on the second stage for the techno set, projected on the curtain around the main stage.]

Here’s the setlist:

Second stage:
01. A Minute to Breathe [Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross song; Trent solo]
02. Ruiner
03. Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Main stage:
04. Wish
05. March of the Pigs
06. Reptile
07. The Lovers
08. Copy of A
09. Gave Up
Second stage with Boys Noize:
10. Vessel
11. Only
12. I Do Not Want This
13. Sin
Main stage:
14. Somewhat Damaged
15. Heresy
16. Closer / The Only Time [partial]
17. The Perfect Drug
18. Burn
19. Head Like a Hole
20. Hurt

Scores:
Boys Noize: didn’t see enough to judge!
Nine Inch Nails: A+

Thanks to Keagan and Dave!

Tangerine Dream - Live 2025.06.29 Volkstheater, Vienna, Austria

While in Vienna for the Nine Inch Nails show, I saw advertisements for this show. Rarely does that work on me, but for once it did! My friends were as excited as I was to see the legendary band in a beautiful venue, so for our last night in town, that’s what we did.

I’d last seen Tangerine Dream in a church in Berlin six years ago, and I loved it. Since then, Ulrich Schnauss left the band, but Paul Frick has gone from being a mere “guest” to a become a full member. Thorsten Quaeschning remains the central figure and Hoshiko Yamane continues to perform violin and pads. This show was apparently originally scheduled for the village of Grafenegg but had to be moved. Too bad for anyone who was excited for that, but I would’ve missed it in that case.

Quaeschning opened the show by announcing the outline of the show: first a main set of old songs, new songs, and really old songs, next an improvised piece, then by a break, and finally another set of old, new, and really old songs. He said the improv would be in the key of D minor because that’s what sounded best in the space, and he played a few deep synth tones and explained their effect: one shook the screws loose of the building, another gave a sense of well-being (“Wohlgefühl”), and so on.

[Tangerine Dream with video of Yamane.]

The show proceeded as planned. The main set was about an hour with very few pauses. I recognized some parts (particularly something akin to the classic synth sound of “Phaedra”) but not most. I let the music wash over me instead of hyperfocusing on the details, which seemed to be the appropriate means for enjoying it. There were distinct sections, but the pieces generally flowed seamlessly from one to the next. Most featured sequencers controlled by Quaeschning, keyboard melodies by Frick, and violin by Yamane, but they all switched it up and played synths, pads, loops, and other electronic instruments of indeterminate nature. Yamane’s violin was often heavily effected, sometimes to the point where I couldn’t even tell what sound was being conjured from the instrument, and while she rarely played virtuosic parts, she consistently played with sharp precision and fluid grace. It was usually hard to see what exactly Quaeschning was doing, but for one song he served up an impressive keyboard solo effected to sound similar to electric guitar. If it had been guitar, I probably would’ve dismissed it as self-indulgent, but on the synth it sounded sick!

The improvisation began slow and dark in the expected key of D minor, but shifted and expanded dramatically over the course of 45 minutes. I hadn’t expected it would be quite so long, and while there were of course some dull moments, I was impressed by how varied and engaging it was for most of its course. Quaeschning triggered a couple voice samples on his laptop that felt a bit out of place, but he manipulated them to give them some extra texture. One sounded like someone recounting a dream, and the other was just wordless vocalization. Otherwise, the band incorporated a wide array of different rhythms, sequencers, and moods throughout the piece. It wasn’t quite as smooth or dynamic as the main set, but it came close, which is remarkable for an improv.

[Note the on-stage disco hemispheres.]

After the break, the band’s second main set was similar to the first, but was a little more energetic, rhythmic, and powerful. In retrospect, the first half was calmer, quieter, and more atmospheric. I again recognized a few parts, but most was a bit of a blur. It grooved more and I felt like I woke up a bit and wanted to move more. They didn’t play an encore, but after two and a half hours, I didn’t really expect more.

I didn’t find this show to be quite as successful as the last one I saw. While this show sounded quite good and was instrumentally solid, I suspect having four members on stage made for a bigger, fuller sound, and I missed a bit of that this time. And while the video and lighting were quite good, the light show in the Passionskirche was on another level. Regardless, it was still a very enjoyable show and a welcome bonus for my brief trip to Vienna.

[The ceiling of the Volkstheater with the reflected disco lights.]

Score: B+

Thanks to Keagan and Dave!

P.S. The weirdest moment of the night was that early in the show, an older man near us in the balcony turned around and punched another man in the face. He was escorted out, and his presumptive partner left with him. I have no idea what the context was, but I’ve never seen something like that, least of all from older men seated in a classical venue. Who would’ve guessed that the Tangerine Dream show would be more violent than a Nine Inch Nails concert?

Nine Inch Nails / Boys Noize - Live 2025.06.27 Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria

Sometimes life’s coincidences seem a lot like omens. Earlier this year, in the midst of dealing with various health concerns and pining for the live music experiences I haven’t had much of since 2019, I told my partner that I’d really like to see Nine Inch Nails if they ever toured again. I was a fan as a teenager but lost my enthusiasm when With Teeth (2005) and Year Zero (2007) didn’t carry the same nuance and impact as earlier albums. Well, just a few days after my pronouncement, rumors started swirling, and soon enough the Peel It Back tour was announced. On top of that, one-time guest author Keagan got in touch, as he got frustrated with Ticketmaster’s antics in the USA and was considering coming to Europe to see me and the band. We ended up getting tickets along with some other like-minded friends for Vienna, where we’d spent a semester studying together in 2007. (That’s when I saw John Cale the first time, which was the show that inspired me to start the blog.) Sometimes, the stars align.

Anyway, suffice to say I was excited. The throngs of Nailers outside the venue were a sight to behold, and the presence of gummy candy and popcorn vendors in the venue made it seem like some sort of goth carnival. I caught the entirety of the opening set from Boys Noize, who performed a solo techno set with plenty of samples, including Kraftwerk’s “Tour de France” and Fehlfarben’s “Paul ist tot”. He was set up on a small stage in the back of the venue, and I was in a seat close to the main stage, but I don’t think there was much to see even if I’d had a better view. He performed for a solid hour, and while the beats were good, my spot wasn’t well suited to dancing and I got pretty tired of it.

[Trent solo at the keyboard.]

But then at just about the hour mark, Boys Noize suddenly stopped and knelt down while the curtains fell around another stage in the middle of the venue, revealing Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails sitting at a keyboard. He performed “Right Where It Belongs” alone, and after starting into “Ruiner”, Atticus Ross eventually joined on keyboards and whatever else he does (samples? electronics? programming?), followed by Alessandro Cortini on keyboards and bass. “Piggy” was the Further Down the Spiral (1995) version with minimal bass and frantic choruses with wild guitar provided by Robin Finck. As the song ended, the high-energy drumming continued while the band members left the stage, walked down a corridor, and then mounted the main stage. Meanwhile, a projection on the curtains showed Ilan Rubin drumming, and he was revealed to be already on the main stage as the heavy curtain rose.

The moment Ilan finally stopped, band launched into an intense set with almost no pause between songs. I was immediately taken in. A videographer ran around the stage, shooting the various members while the feed was projected on assorted curtains on, behind, and around the stage. The videographer must’ve had an exhausting job, but the effort totally paid off. On top of that, the lighting was incredible. It was full of surprises and rarely fell back on just flashing and blinding the audience. There were loads of patterns and techniques I’d never seen before, like lines of red lights moving through the crowd like waveforms, presumably only fully apparent from up in the seats. For “Copy of A”, Reznor’s silhouette was projected live with varying delays across the many curtains for a disconcerting effect.

After six songs, the band walked off while noise continued. I noticed Boys Noize in the middle stage, and Trent and Atticus joined him there for techno remixes of two Year Zero tracks and “Came Back Haunted” from Hesitation Marks (2013). I’ve come to appreciate the latter album (and NIN’s subsequent work), but while those mid-00s albums still don’t do much for me, the live remixed versions gave them vitality that they’d previously lacked. Boys Noize’s dance-oriented sensibility fit right in and the songs were total jams. Again, the lighting was in top form, and the change of pace was a welcome variation. I would’ve taken more, but after the three songs, Boys Noize kept up the noise and then once again knelt and disappeared while the other two rejoined the rest of the band on the main stage.

[Trent and Atticus with Boys Noize.]

The band went right back into the high energy from the first main set. “1,000,000” isn’t a standout song, but all the rest were absolute winners. I mean, we got “I’m Afraid of Americans” and “The Perfect Drug”!? And “Heresy”?  I could always do with more Pretty Hate Machine (1989) and I would've liked anything from The Fragile (1999), but it's hard to complain. “Closer” was done with a little surprise segue into “The Only Time” while Trent sang the outro lines. “Head Like a Hole” went hard even though the band did without the usual bassline. And “Hurt”, I mean, what can I say? I was on the verge of tears.

The band were in top form. There were no flaws, no mistakes, and no technical problems. Despite that level of precision, it didn’t feel restrained or constrained at all. They were raw and full of energy. The sound was quite good, particularly the vocals. My only complaint was that the bass was a bit muddy, but that’s likely due to my position up in the seats. Robin sang the chorus parts of “Gave Up” and “Head Like a Hole”, presumably to give Trent a break from screaming, and he also did backing parts in several songs. Alessandro switched between keyboards, bass, and guitar, and also sang some backing parts, but lower in the mix. Ilan focused on the drums, but occasionally played keyboards, most notably on “Hurt”. Who knows what exactly Atticus was doing.

The combination of the aggressive songs, the constant movement, the pacing, and the brilliant lighting kept the show highly engaging. The stage design felt dynamic, alive, and full of action. There was no encore, but after about an hour and 45 minutes with that setlist, I don’t know what else they could’ve done. It was an emotional ride. Trent admitted to having had a rough day with depression and anxiety, and his thanks for being present and making a connection felt real. The heavy nature of the music is a lot to hold, but it still hit me as hard as it did when I was younger. This was an incredible show.

[Trent on tambourine with the band. Note the projection of Robin in the back.]

Here’s the setlist:

Second stage:
01. Right Where It Belongs → Zero Sum [partial] [Trent solo]
02. Ruiner
03. Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Main stage:
04. Wish
05. March of the Pigs
06. Reptile
07. The Lovers
08. Copy of A
09. Gave Up
Second stage with Boys Noize:
10. Vessel
11. The Warning
12. Came Back Haunted
Main stage:
13. 1,000,000
14. Heresy
15. Less Than
16. Closer / The Only Time [partial]
17. I’m Afraid of Americans [David Bowie song]
18. The Perfect Drug
19. Head Like a Hole
20. Hurt

Scores:
Boys Noize: C+
Nine Inch Nails: A+

Thanks to Keagan, Dave, and the rest of the gang!

Alanis Morissette / Lùisa - Live 2025.06.17 Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Better late than never. I’ve got a backlog after a few busy weeks.

I’ve oddly never had the opportunity to see Alanis live in the city I was living in since 2005, which is about the time I began to be able to see concerts on my own will and dollar. It’s been a while since she’s been at the peak of her popularity, but she’s clearly picked up some steam again and was able to fill (even if not quite sell out) one of the largest venues in Berlin.

Lùisa opened the night. She performed with a three-piece backing band to flesh out her singer-songwriter material into fuller indie pop arrangements. She played a couple new songs from an upcoming album, for which she put down her guitar and let the band and some backing tracks fill in the space while she sang and danced around the stage. Those songs had a distinctively more electronic dance sound. I found her music rather light but enjoyed it well enough, although few other details remain in my memory.

Before Alanis Morissette actually came on stage, a video played a series of clips from interviews and other promotional material to remind us how great she is. The band eventually appeared and then finally the star herself, just in time to dive right in with “Hand in My Pocket” from Jagged Little Pill (1995). That set the tone right there: the setlist leaned heavily on her first international album, with a good dose from her second-best-selling album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998) and a smattering from her work that has come since. She ignored her first two teenage dance-pop albums as well as her most recent album, the ambient The Storm Before the Calm (2022). The newest song she performed was “Rest”, a non-album single from 2021. It’s hard to complain, as her picks largely overlapped with the songs I know and like best, but I appreciated that there were a few here and there from lesser-known albums that I didn’t recognize.

The classics still go hard, and she can still sing the hell out of them. Her voice is just as strong as ever and you’d barely notice that 30 years have passed since some of those songs came out. I was also impressed with how fluidly she would whip out her harmonica and blast out flawless riffs on it. (Definitely none of that loose and freewheeling Neil Young style!) She also played some rhythm guitar, but mostly let her band do the rest of the instrumental work. They were similarly tight, but that pointed to a problem it took me some time to put my finger on: there was no edge in the music at all. It was rather rote and too smooth and clean. They didn’t take any risks. Of course that level of professionalism makes for a solid performance, and I imagine most people got what they wanted, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was predictable and a little too easy.

The other aspect that bugged me was the visuals. After the embarrassing opening video, several songs featured projections that attempted to convey some sense of progressive, feminist empowerment. The messaging was kinda cringe and felt like pandering. The tone was deliberately inoffensive, middling, typical cishet white feminism rooted in 90s politics, and it was fairly clearly put together around 2022 and not updated since. The boldest messages were brief images of protesters holding signs with “Black lives matter” and “my body, my choice”. The lack of mention of Palestine or even Ukraine was telling. I know she’s Canadian, but the omission of anything about Trump, Merz, or any other demagogues was also odd. She barely spoke between songs, and the dissonance between her presence and the visuals made it seem all the more contrived. At best, it was simply distracting. The show would’ve been better without any of that.

About halfway through the set my enthusiasm was waning, but I liked that Alanis switched things up and switched to an acoustic setup for a few songs before returning to the fuller rock setup for the final three Jagged bangers of the set. “Ironic” felt obligatory, as if she knew that her biggest song has been the butt of plenty of jokes, and she tried to distract from that by inviting three people to sing the first verse. I’m guessing they were VIP ticketholders, which is a whole other beast that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, the fans were barely audible so Alanis had to fill in most of it anyway. However, she changed the lyric of the last verse to “It’s meeting the man of my dreams / and then meeting his beautiful husband”, which was on point and the one antidote to my prior complaints.

The encore was also well-chosen, first with the City of Angels (1998) soundtrack single “Uninvited” to build tension and depth, and then the followup single “Thank U” from Junkie as a sweetly harmonious conclusion. It was perhaps a little on the nose, but inarguably the right choice to close out the evening. And then there was just the mad rush to return the cups and then get through the throttled crush to cross the moat and go home. I guess that’s the downside of seeing a band in a medieval fortress. (No bats this time, either.) Still a beautiful experience regardless!

[Alanis Morissette.]

The setlist was as follows, with some help from here. All the partial songs were segued into or from the following or preceding song, but I don’t recall the details.
01. Hand in My Pocket
02. Right Through You
03. Reasons I Drink
04. A Man [partial]
05. Hands Clean
06. Can’t Not [partial]
07. Lens
08. Sorry to Myself [partial]
09. Head Over Feet
10. Everything [partial]
11. You Learn
12. Would Not Come [partial]
13. Smiling
14. I Remain [partial]
15. Rest [acoustic]
16. Flinch [acoustic]
17. Mary Jane [acoustic]
18. Ironic
19. Are You Still Mad [partial]
20. All I Really Want
21. Sympathetic Character [partial]
22. You Oughta Know

Encore:
23. Uninvited
24. Thank U

Scores:
Lùisa: B
Alanis Morissette: B-

Thanks to Alyssa!

Immergut Festival 2025 Day 3

I slept worse than the night before, but took it easy and relaxed until the performances began. First up was Roller Derby, who I’d seen a few years ago at Synästhesie. I decided to give them another shot, but basically had the same feeling as last time. I liked the hints of dream pop and Cocteau Twins guitar, but they were too light and breezy for me to really dig into. The official schedule listed a surprise for the next slot, which turned out to be Laura Lee & The Jettes. They had a pretty generic sound and I didn’t stick around for more than a few minutes.

I came back for Mary in the Junkyard, whose self-description as an “angry weepy chaos rok trio” was rather exaggerated. (Well, they are a trio.) I didn’t find them chaotic or angry at all. There were a few hints of drama but they were mostly chill. Perhaps too chill. A few too many songs lacked percussion and just featured guitar or bass and violin. I saw a lot of opportunity, and they were a good band to listen to while lazily lying on a blanket, but I guess I craved a bit of the advertised chaos.

They were followed by Drangsal, who I knew only as the main project of Max Gruber, whose side project Die Mausis is a collaboration with Stella Sommer of Die Heiterkeit. With seven synthesizers and six musicians on stage, of which four occupied space somewhere in the mid-range, they summoned a thick, heavy wall of sound. The individual instruments were rather indistinct while Gruber’s melodramatic voice was foregrounded. They initially played a dark sort of post-punk that was right on the line for me, and then they switched to a more standard pop-rock style and totally lost me. I left.

[Drangsal.]

After another break, I came back for Erobique. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a solo musician known best as a soundtrack producer, DJ, and remixer. He appeared behind an array of keyboards, accompanied only by a drummer. I was skeptical, but he won me over immediately. He had a casual, laid-back demeanor but played exceptionally well. He built up layers of beats and synths and maintained a fun, chill, groovy vibe the whole time. The live drummer really helped. The highlights were whenever he grabbed a melodica, came out from behind his rig, and played the instrument better than I’ve ever seen it done while dancing around the stage. This was a performer who was clearly optimized for the festival atmosphere. Some songs’ themes, like “Urlaub in Italien” (“Holiday in Italy”), were maybe just a bit cringe, but it didn’t bother me. I was wholly taken in.

[Erobique. Look, I was too busy grooving in the back where there was space to move freely to be bothered to take a better picture.]

After that came Isolation Berlin. They started with an unexpectedly heavy, dark, angry energy, which was a bit intense and almost too much for me. But after a few songs, they suddenly shifted into their more typical new wave indie rock sound, which I found much more charming and sweet. They played most of their classics, as well as some newer songs that were just as good, like “Verliebt in dieses Lied”. Their trademark seems to be somewhat depressing lyrics over good guitar music with a little synth, buoyed by the expressiveness and curious charm of their vocalist. “Alles grau” was great, but it was a little weird that someone crowdsurfed to it. Not much later, two people with signs asking the band to show solidarity with Palestine were escorted out after they shouted something I couldn’t discern between songs. That wasn’t a great look. Other than that and the few bits of unbridled anger, they were very much up my alley.

I was starting to lose energy, and I wasn’t expecting that I would be into Nilüfer Yanya, but she came with a full band, good grooves, and a little more edge than I had anticipated. I’d put her last record somewhere on the more accessible side of the pop spectrum, but her live set seemed like something else. I couldn’t keep up and headed back to the tent, although I continued to like what I could hear while I was brushing my teeth.

And that was that. The next morning I packed up and came back to Berlin. Not a bad experience for my first European outdoor festival! I had a great time, even if I still struggle to deal with people that don’t seem to know how to share space respectfully. I liked that the festival was on the relatively smaller size (I believe around 5000 people), that all the food was vegetarian and every vendor had vegan options, and that prices were reasonable. It shows that it’s organized by an e.V., a nonprofit association.

Scores:
Roller Derby: C+
Mary in the Junkyard: B-
Drangsal: C
Erobique: A-
Isolation Berlin: B+

Thanks to my fellow festival crew!

Immergut Festival 2025 Day 2

Somehow I managed to get some sleep after my first day at Immergut. It was still sprinkling here and there for a bit, but the day turned increasingly pleasant. In the meantime, I walked to the nearby grocery store and soaked in the atmosphere.

At the start of day’s formal activities, I listened to Charlotte Brandi of Me and My Drummer read from her new book, Fischtage, while I sat on a blanket and ate a wrap. The parts she read dealt with coming to terms with the frustrating, difficult, and bizarre aspects of her childhood, which gave me gender feelings but didn’t interest me much. But as a surprise ending, she played a haunting, mesmerizing rendition of a Björk song solo on keyboard. She was quickly followed by Beharie from Norway, who seemed friendly, but played rather tame singer-songwriter pop. I wasn’t inspired to stick around.

I took a break and came back for Sophia Kennedy. I couldn’t really see the band at all, but it seemed she was using samples or backing tracks to augment the drummer, bassist/synth player, and her own keyboard. Instead of being distracting or taking away from the intensity or dynamics of the show, it instead felt like a proper production. The band’s sound was huge and immersive, but neither heavy nor dark. I was totally lost in it, or at least until there was some sort of incident that led to a person getting led away by medics. Not long later, someone in the band missed a cue and they had to start a song over, although they recovered quickly and barely seemed thrown off. Despite the distractions, I was thoroughly impressed. The live set somehow totally eclipsed her studio recordings.

Next up was Dog Race. I was anticipating darkwave, but they were sparser and more foreboding than I’d expected. The singer had a strong, deep voice, but her style was serious and anachronistic, and her band seemed incongruously young and bored. I found their unforgiving darkness unsettling, so I left.

[Dog Race.]

Back outside was Porridge Radio, who are apparently on a farewell tour. They started strong with a lot of energy and reminded me of the early 90s alternative rock heyday. They had that same magic sense of looseness that comes off as raw authenticity, charm, and unbridled emotion. I wanted more of their harmonies and dynamics, but relaxed into their familiar vibe regardless. They gradually slowed down and took things down a notch, and thus I got bored and restless. Sure enough, right as I left to take a break, it sounded like they were picking up again. I wish they’d been able to find a better balance, or that they’d adapted their set better to the festival atmosphere.

[Porridge Radio.]

I came back for Bilderbuch, who seemed to draw the largest crowd of the weekend. My crew wanted a space up near the front, which was hard for me to handle, so I basically squeezed in the middle of them to have a bit of a protective buffer, and that helped. The band came out in full force with walls of video screens and a loud, thick, highly produced sound. They played tight and strong like a well-oiled, efficient engine. Their singer and lead guitarist were showy and played to the crowd. I was fairly well engaged by the experience, but increasingly distracted by their apparently cocaine-fueled cishet masculinity. It occurred to me that that was the same energy that I was getting from the oblivious, obnoxious partiers at the campsite, and once I had that realization, I couldn’t enjoy it any further. I left, although I could still see and hear part of their last songs while brushing my teeth. A setlist has been posted online, but I cannot vouch for it.

Scores:
Sophia Kennedy: A
Dog Race: C-
Porridge Radio: B
Bilderbuch: B-

Immergut Festival 2025 Day 1

At long last, I’m finally through the worst of my health needs that limited my time, energy, and patience for going to shows. Festivals have been entirely out of the equation for a while. I missed the 2023 iteration of Synästhesie and it now appears to be defunct or at least dormant. However, after my partner went to Immergut last year with friends, she encouraged me to join her this year. This was my first outdoor festival in Europe (well, not counting Melodica), and my first ever where I camped on site.

After taking the train to Neustrelitz, catching a short festival shuttle ride on a restored older train, and setting up the campsite, I started my musical experience with Sofie Royer. I was curious about her alleged blend of disco, rock, and synthpop, but the result wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped. Her voice was good, and I admired her violin skills, but she relied on backing tracks to fill out most of her sound, including even guitar solos. Her bassist was funky and the drummer put down some decent grooves, but it was weird to have a lead guitar part and her own harmonies played from tape. It felt too much like karaoke.

[Sofie Royer.]

Immediately following was Mel D of Mischgewebe. I was initially again disappointed, as I was expecting something of a spooky, mysterious vibe based on what I’d heard beforehand. Instead, she played a pretty standard form of indie rock that highlighted her strong voice. I liked her shy bassist and in particular her harmonies. The drummer also added some extra touches on keyboard and chimes and occasionally sang a backing part as well. Mel’s guitar leads were rather simple, but the general vibe was pleasant.

[Mel D.]

I took a break but ended up catching most of strongboi’s set anyway while waiting in an unusually slow-moving line for a burrito. I found their R&B to be much too smooth and clean, and the lyrics were upsettingly clichéd. Thankfully I received and consumed my burrito in time to catch most of Paula Dalla Corte’s set. She was full of energy and drama as befits a TV pop star of her standing. Her voice was even stronger than the preceding women I’d seen, but the instrumentation was rote and absent of surprises. At least she didn’t seem to be relying on backing tracks, or they were subtle enough to not be distracting. Her band offered a tiny hint of harmony that left me wanting more.

My real hope for the day (if not the festival!) was International Music, and they didn’t disappoint. The trio was tight, upbeat, and in a good mood. Their wry, absurd humor was at the fore, and they used their limited instruments, effects, and voices to full effect. I felt like there was still a touch of something missing from the records, but one of my crew said it sounded to him like there was more going on than he could see. The set was fun and I was glad their playful psychedelia still translated to the stage. Their set was a mix from their three albums, with a slight bias against the second (Ententraum, 2021), which was after all their least successful. I was near the front and realized much of the crowd was singing along. I was too when I remembered the words. This was the sort of experience that made me feel like a properly acclimated German (for better or worse).

[International Music.]

The sets were running late by that point, and I was tired from a full day and week. I made it a relatively early night and went to bed, or at least tried to. The nearby bros did their best to piss off the entire campsite with a loud boombox and terrible music. Somehow I eventually drifted off, probably thanks to the rain.

Scores:
Sofie Royer: C
Mel D: B
strongboi: D
Paula Dalla Corte: B-
International Music: A