13-12-2009 Combichrist

Venue: Batschkapp, Frankfurt (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Tonight we went to the Batschkapp where many Goths and electroheads were waiting outside ready to get in. It was a Combichrist headliner show. Combichrist is currently on tour with Rammstein and on their off days the band decided to play their own shows. Tonight they did not have an opening act.

Combichrist was formed in 2003 by the Norwegian Andy LaPlegua (founder of the band Icon of Coil) as an aggrotech project. The venue was crowded and everybody was urgently awaiting the band to enter the stage. At 9pm they finally came on. The beats got everybody moving. The band, especially Andy, animated everybody to keep on going. Combichrist’s performance was extremely energetic and thriving. There was a lot of fog on stage that made it hard to see. Andy was walking up and down on stage singing to everybody. Sometimes his face expression looked like a demon inside of him. He talked a lot with the audience and they appreciated it. Both drummers gave everything on stage and you started sweating already by only looking at them and how much they moved. During their performance there was no second to relax or breathe. Each song was even more energetic and thriving than the one before. The audience sang along, jumped and even moshed to the music. The cheering was loud if the band even left time for cheering in between the songs and did not rush to the next one. Combichrist played a good mix off all albums, old and new ones. The venue was heating up quickly with everybody moving. The electro beats were getting not only the electro heads in the audience. Even people who were just “forced” to come along enjoyed it after the third song at the latest. The lights sometimes added a somewhat creepy touch to it, but the music made up for that. It was not a gothic show and not trying to be creepy, this Combichrist show was a big party, everybody joined in and had a blast. Combichrist is definitely one of the best live bands and their shows are always a pleasure to be at. They push your hard and keep you up no matter what. So go and get your body beat!