Einstürzende Neubauten, Copenhagen, April 17th

[lectrix_lecti]

I've seen Neubauten live two times before. Sadly, this was the not the best gig. Not even the second best. Still, when Neubauten is not up to their best, they're anyway so good it's scary.

Blixa Bargeld announced that there would first be one hour-long set of their greatest hits, and then another hour-long set of, err, their greatest hits. It was, after all, the 25th anniversary tour. They kicked it off with Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego), from the album 1/2 Mensch and one of my absolute favourites, and I was in heaven. An industrial, avant-garde, dada, noise heaven.

The Neubauten was as always one mean machine, grinding and hammering out Haus der Lüge, Perpetuum Mobile, the truly beautiful Sabrina, Selbstporträt mit Kater and Sehnsucht. I, who discovered Neubauten at 15, was finally treated to Z.N.S. live, they got everyone to sing along to Was Ist Ist (several hundred people screaming "Was ist ist/Was nicht ist ist möglich!"), and ended the second set with the song meant to round off all concerts ever; Ende Neu.

Oh my fucking gods it was great.

Blixa seems to become more talkative every year - this time around he told the Kango hammer anecdote ("Andrew did some architectural criticism with power tools"), bantered a lot with Alexander Hacke and told the story about the film they wrote Sabrina for and how it turned out that the song wasn't used for it's original purpose (including a wonderful Blixa-comment on "a boy losing his virginity for the first time").

I'm fairly easy to please when it comes to Neubauten. Still, I've seen heroes of mine live before and become truly disappointed (a big fat fuck you to Lou 'I don't wanna be here but I'll do a bit of guitar wanking if you insist' Reed). The reason this isn't the best gig of theirs is probably that the audience wasn't all that responsive, dampening down the band the tiniest bit. It was still impressive, as concerts go.

And, woo absofuckinglutely hoo, I got my hands on a copy of their anniversary celebration book, No Beauty Without Danger by Max Dax and Robert Defcon. Out of 500 copies made, I actually own one.




Blixa!



Andrew Unruh plays the shopping cart


Photographs by wasteman_r, a terrible but enthusiastic photographer who was in charge of the camera because I am too small. Being a recognised fan I could get a photo pass, but I didn't dare get one and then show up with a tiny Minolta thingy among the well-equipped photographers.

If you're curious enough and don't know Neubauten, visit their web site.

Comments

[blue-chris.livejournal.com]

The last time I was in Copenhagen (summer of 2003, I went there with my friend Gemma to see Suede, yes I know, that´s incredible, but I hadn´t been there in years, gem had never been so we decided touring), I bought lots of orange lovely things for the office (I discovered after buying them they were all swedish but I still keep them as my orange phase hasn´t left me yet) and lots of things for the flat that I saw 2 weeks later in a shop in Madrid, and cheaper!. That´s life!Anyway, I like Denmark so it was worthy, oh and for the first time in my life I was in second row of a Suede gig

I have noticed already that wasteman suddenly needs food and leaves abruptly, btw hehehehe, I am jealous of that kind of skinny people