22-05-2011 Dikta

Supports: Lene Wood; Venue: Oettinger Villa, Darmstadt (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

How could you spend a Sunday night better than to head out to a show? So that is exactly what we did tonight. Dikta was playing at Oettinger Villa in Darmstadt. Surprisingly there were quite many people waiting already before doors opened. Most of them seemed to be from Iceland. I must admit, I have never seen that many Icelander in one spot. But no wonder they all gathered here tonight: Dikta were from Iceland!

Dikta had an opening act tonight called Lene Wood from Bavaria. A female fronted pop-rock band. They had two albums recorded and presented songs of each one. Going back and forth the singer played piano and guitar during the performance. Her voice was clear and the light was dim. People were cheering after each song. During the songs it was very quiet, everybody was listening closely to the music. In between the songs the band always announced the next song and tried to break the ice between audience and band – there was a huge gap between stage and audience – but the audience felt comfortable the way they were. Not all could understand German so you could hear their friends translating the band’s announcements. After about thirty minutes Lene Wood and band cleared the stage after a nice performance.

After a short change over Dikta entered the stage. All the sudden the room was filled with a familiar atmosphere mixed with positive vibes. People began coming closer to the stage. You could tell that everyone was there to see Dikta and was a true fan. The audience could sing along to all the songs of Dikta. Even the new ones off their latest album “Get It Together” which was released in March in Germany. The guys made a lot of fun on stage, told their fans about the latest eruptions of another volcano that might cause them to spend more time in Germany than originally planned and of course also said that since Iceland was broke, they would need out money so we have to buy their CDs and merchandise. Also they announced that the drummer would be for sale at a price of 30 Euros for 30 minutes, a fan actually handed him 20 Euros later throughout the show! You couldn’t help falling in love with the kindness and looseness of the guys. Their music was simply amazing, dreamy and catchy, taking you away from time and place off into their own little world. The audience danced and laughed with the band. Dikta mostly talked in English, only little words about something going wrong on stage or it being to hot were in Icelandic – despite the fact that most of the audience were able to understand Icelandic. Just like the previous band, Dikta’s singer played guitar and piano in a mix. For “Goodbye” the drummer played bass. Also did the bass player sometimes play piano along with the singer. You could tell that the guys were getting along very well and always joked around on stage. Dikta’s last song was called “Thank You” where everyone in the audience sang along so loud that the band let them sing it instead. After that an encore was demanded so Dikta came back for another two songs. As the second song was coming closer to the end the guys went crazy on stage and almost trashed their gear – at least it looked like that. As final goodbye Dikta told the audience to go home to bed since it was a Sunday night. Dikta is such an amazing band, you just have to love them, their jokes and their music. Dikta definitely is a must-check-out and I can’t wait to see them again.