15-01-2011 Unheilig

Supports: Beauty Of Gemina, Apoptygma Berzerk; Venue: Europahalle, Karlsruhe (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

By now, the entire event is not as exciting as it was the first time and as it still is for people who attend it for the first time, but always definitely nice to be a part of: Unheilig on tour. Tonight they had The Beauty Of Gemina and Apoptygma Berzerk along, two great bands that definitely deserve to share such a big stage at the sold out Europahalle in Karlsruhe and play in front of more than 10.000 people! Even though the show time was moved forward an hour, the venue was crowded already. Just in time for the first band to start!

First band of the night was The Beauty of Gemina, a band from Switzerland. Late 2010 they had their third album released, called “At The End Of The Sea”, of which they also presented some songs tonight. A set of 30 minutes performed by this five-piece definitely impressed many in the audience and ended with loud cheering and clapping along. The Beauty Of Gemina went on stage with confidence and strength. Even though the band did not move around on stage but rather stood strong, they impressed with their appearance and strong music. You don’t need to listen to the lyrics closely to get what they are about. Their music went deep. But instead of leaving a downing atmosphere in the venue it rather lifted up the moods. The sound was awesomely clear and the light was just perfect to the stage and the atmosphere.

The second band of the night was one of my personal favorites: Apoptygma Berzerk. Apoptygma Berzerk (commonly abbreviated to APB or Apop) is a Norwegian musical group founded in 1989. They have achieved success with a brand of synthpop, and ballads backed with electronic rhythms, commonly known within the scene and referring to themselves as “futurepop”. Apop has won awards and top-10 spots in Germany and Scandinavia. Apoptygma Berzerk has toured Europe, North America, Australia and Israel with bands such as VNV Nation, Beborn Beton and Icon of Coil. Apop’s set lasted 45 minutes in which they packed old and new songs as well as the cover “Major Tom” where the entire venue seemed to sing along. The audience enjoyed the energetic performance and the thriving as well as catchy music of Apoptygma Berzerk. The audience cheered out loud after each song, danced and clapped along and simply enjoyed the performance. It was a wonderful 45 minutes set, which in my opinion could have lasted a little longer, but considering that most people were here to see Unheilig and already had to wait more than two hours, the show time was just about right.

Last band of the night was Unheilig. Unheilig (German for “Unholy”) is a German pop/rock band. The band founded in 2000 and now consists of principally Der Graf (German for “The Count”), with his live musicians Licky, Henning Verlage and Potti. With a video screen on each side and the boat on stage as well as the lit candles on each side of the stage everything was ready and set for the journey to begin. For two hours Unheilig would play in front of the audience of the sold out Europahalle. Most songs were off the latest album but they also played several songs of earlier albums, long before literally everybody knew Unheilig. The songs performed during the show are like a rollercoaster ride through life with all it’s ups and downs. Happy and thriving song as well as sad and slow songs where everyone was swaying their lighters – or whichever other item they had that would glow in the dark – Unheilig played them all. The video screens showed either videos, the lyrics or the band name. Der Graf ran around on stage getting close to his fans in the front rows and animated everyone to go along. It was an amazing show that no one would forget that easy. Der Graf and Unheilig touched hearts. What a wonderful evening with three amazing bands, make sure you catch them live!

More photo’s of this event can be found at roseofthedevilsgarden.com

Links:
The Beauty of Gemina Official
Apoptygma Berzerk Official
Unheilig Official