Berlin / Huxley’s Neue Welt / Devendra Banhart + Rodrigo Amarante

Berlin / SO36 / Neurosis + Dark Buddha Rising

Berlin / Zitadelle / Dead Can Dance

Berlin / Admiralpalast / Iron & Wine + This Is The Kit

Berlin / Volksbühne / Scout Niblett + Ólöf Arnalds

Berlin / Waldbühne / Neil Young & Crazy Horse + Los Lobos

Berlin / Spreepark / NIGHT + DAY: The xx + Jessie Ware + Chromatics

Berlin / K17 / Agalloch + Fen

Berlin / C-Halle / Black Rebel Motorcycle Club + Transfer

Berlin / Bi Nuu / Rome + :Of The Wand & The Moon:

Berlin / Jägerklause / Arbouretum + Caudal

Berlin / Magnet Club / Maps & Atlases + This Town needs Guns + Birthmark

Berlin / Astra / Angus Stone + Tom Freund

Berlin / St. Bartholomäuskirche / Dornenreich

Mystic Places Acoustic Tour 2013
Dornenreich  (7/10)
Start 21:00 / End 22:44
Dornenreich in Berlin: Hmmm, I don’t know. Venue St. Bartholomäuskirche: Hmmm a church, maybe something like Theaterkapelle, not a church anymore, but a place for music and shows. But after a quick online checking I understood that church is a real church!!! Has Black Metal finally won or is it just catholic marketing to attract more lost young people?? I bought the ticket because I couldn’t miss this epic event. Dornenreich from Austria (the name means something as “thorny”) played yesterday as duo (just guitar and violin) for this special acoustic session. To be more precise Dornenreich doesn’t belong to the satanic / pagan current of Black Metal but they moved to folk shores, so this gig in the church is more than understandable. Dornenreich played on the altar supported by proper light effects that made this particular scenography even more admirable. Maybe some white smoke coming from the altar behind could be the plus point to create a mysterious foggy atmosphere. They played in a gorgeous way different old songs and several news pieces from the forthcoming album. Even if we can’t talk about Black Metal, Dornenreich offered us a special show hard to see again in short time. One thing for sure: the next time of a Black Metal band in a church should be with drums, electric guitar and corpse paint!

Venue: St. Bartholomäuskirche
Price: 21,50 € at K17 Webiste
Setlist: Dornenreich from Metal Hammer

Berlin, 25.01.13

Berlin / Festsaal Kreuzberg / Wallis Bird + David Lemaitre

David Lemaitre (6/10)
Start 20:50  / End 21:30
After surprising for the unexpected long queue outside the venue at 20:45, the evening started in a bad mood since I noticed my Spot at Festsaal (one of the best concert venue in Berlin for music choice and structure) has been already occupied! 10 min before the announced 21 o’clock the support band started: a trio with the singer from Bolivia playing a melodic rock with some south american influences. The reference is Jeff Buckley with his high-pitched voice and falsetto, even if the model is long far away. Not that bad but they didn’t realize to warm me up from the snowing weather. Nice to see the strange keyboard equipped with enlightening “wine bottles” and plastic sounding paper!

Wallis Bird (7/10)
Start 21:55 / End 23:35
The little irish elf and her band are pure energy: with their Folk Rock exchange continuously an energy flux from the stage to the public and vice versa. Wallis speaks to her audience, tells dirty jokes, guides him to sing along with her: she enjoys herself from the first minute to the end. The public sees this and he loves Wallis, as Wallis loves him. I had doubts to go to the gig but at the end I completely changed my mind: this is music for live experience and works much better on the stage than on album, thanks to Wallis that sprinkles energy for the whole concert along. I found really interesting the Rap-Reggae break in onomatopeic german performed by the drummer and Wallis playing drums: only live you have the chance to attend this particular mini-shows! If you weren’t here tonight, stand up your ass from the sofa the next time Wallis Bird plays in town and go to see her: you won’t regret it!

Venue: Festsaal Kreuzberg
Price: 17,70 € at Koka36
Setlist: Wallis Bird

Berlin, 21.01.13

Berlin / Naherholung Sternchen / Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat + Tobias Bernstrup + an:idea

an:idea (5/10)
Start 23:05 / End 23:35
Martial dark electro wave from a german duo to start the evening in this post apocalyptic venue obtained from a basement in East Berlin. Nothing impressive, sometimes a bit boring too.

Tobias Bernstrup (6/10)
Start 24:20 / End 01:15
I liked him and I don’t want to sound hurtful but it was as if a Marilyn Manson dressed in red latex had sung 80’s Disco in Raffaella Carra’s style. Something worthwhile to be seen live once. That’s Berlin too.

Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat (7/10)
Start 01:40 / End 02:45
Once the not-smoking audience has been finally completely intoxicated by the smoking ones in the 6×6 m concert area, the headliner band Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat came up to the small stage. The trio offered to his public a great concert, good songs selection among their albums, privileging the aggressive ones so that the singer could pull out  the song words directly from his stomach while raping his guitar. Live you receive better their curse and they are master to create a really “Weltuntergangsstimmung”. Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat played a new song too that has increased my expectation for the next album. After a 3 songs encore they left the stage seeing with a bit of surprise this enthusiastic public asking always for more. We’ll waiting for you again, Kiss the Anus of  a Black Cat! Happy to have sacrificed my lungs…

Venue: Naherholung Sternchen
Price: 8,49 € at Death#Disco

Berlin, 18.01.13