International Music / Gregor - Live 2026.08.22 Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

When International Music announced a new show in Berlin without a larger tour announcement, I wondered if this was going to be something special, perhaps a way to introduce new material to gear up for a tour. The former wasn’t the case, and the latter doesn’t appear to be; but it was Peter’s birthday, which received significant musical attention from Pedro and the crowd.

I saw the band last year at Immergut when their 2024 album Endless Rüttenscheid was a little fresher, and they unsurprisingly played quite a bit of the album then. To my surprise, at this show it was just a few songs, about as much as from Ententraum (2021). The real focus was on the debut, Die besten Jahre (2018), from which they played almost the entire album. I suppose that is still the crowd favorite, but I missed the psychedelia of Rüttenscheid.

By and large, the songs they chose were great, so it’s hard to complain. The only real dud was “Tür”, a harder and more aggressive song, although it was apparently specifically requested by email. A few others like “Du Hund” and “Mama warum” didn’t speak to me much and felt a bit indulgent, but “Farbiges Licht”, “Metallmädchen”, and the Rüttenscheid songs were all bangers. I enjoyed the harmonies, particularly on “Country Girl” and “Immer mehr”. The latter also had a great open, jammy feeling that let the musicians explore the space, as did “Lass es ziehen”. I was (naturally) entranced by Pedro’s bass, particularly the great tone he got with just fuzz and chorus pedals.

I could tell the band hadn’t played much lately; they were just a bit loose. That said, it kind of worked. They were clearly having fun and were in an upbeat, playful mood. Even when they missed a line or had to restart “Lass es ziehen”, it didn’t feel like a problem, but rather just part of the spontaneity that kept it lively and engaging. They also acknowledged that a certain Ludwig was adding a tape delay effect to the vocals and guitar from the mixing board. It was really well done and never overpowered the mix or went awry. That was a small thing but it added a little extra spice to the songs.

There was an opener, Gregor, but I didn’t like his simple muzak backing tracks or his half-baked melodies. I struggled to keep my focus. He certainly provided a contrast to International Music’s spark!

[International Music.]

Approximate setlist:
01. Pfeffer
02. Fehler
03. Country Girl
04. Mont St. Michel
05. Cool bleiben
06. Nebel
07. Raus ausm Zoo
08. Du Hund
09. Misery
10. Tür
11. Immer mehr
12. Farbiges Licht
13. Daddy Is Rich
14. Lass es ziehen

Encore 1:
15. Kneipe
16. Liebesformular
17. Metallmädchen

Encore 2:
18. Mama warum
19. Für alles

Scores:
Gregor: D
International Music: A-

P.S. Thanks to Tim!

John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt - 17th Klangwechsel 2026.08.05

In Halberstadt, a sleepy but pretty town in eastern Germany, an organ is playing a 639-year-long rendition of a John Cage composition. It’s not in the big cathedral in the center of town, nor in the other big churches nearby, almost all of which have mighty organs. It’s a little walk further, past the splendid half-timbered houses, in a former Cistercian cloister that was secularized in Napoleon’s wake in 1810. On August 5th, among election campaign posters that spoke of deportation in openly racist terms, most of the sparse pedestrian population appeared to be tourists. Some were there to admire the parts of the city that weren’t bombed to bits in 1945 when the surrounded Nazis wouldn’t surrender, but most came for the same reason I was there: a Klangwechsel, a chord change. The last one was in February 2024. They don’t happen often. The name of the piece is ORGAN²/ASLSP, where “ASLSP” stands for “as slow as possible”, and that instruction is taken quite literally.

[The Burchardi-Kirche.]

I came early with a couple friends who were there for the last one. The night before, we caught the free concert put on by the John Cage Organ Foundation Halberstadt, the volunteer-led organization that keeps the organ running. The last time around, they did a similar event in the cathedral featuring a shorter version of ORGAN²/ASLSP. This time they assembled a myriad cast of musicians and dancers to “set the mood”, as the flyer announced.

First up was Loré Lixenberg, a mezzo-soprano who performed excerpts from Cage’s Song Books along with a backing track. It was highly unpredictable, ranging from dissonant noise to Lixenberg gurgling water and opening a bag of chips on mic to waving a black flag and chanting “the best form of government is no government at all”. She also did a piece of her own, Bird, which started as her explaining birdsong. She gradually sped up her speech and interspersed it with wild flights of whoops and trills, and a backing track of actual birdsong gradually similarly built up to an ecstatic cacophony.

[Sarah Maria Sun and Clara Hyerim Byun.]

The other highlight was soprano Sarah Maria Sun and pianist Clara Hyerim Byun. First, they used found objects, harmonica, synth, and voice to perform selections from Benjamin Scheuer’s Fragwürdige Fragmente, which was arrhythmic, almost atonal, and very silly. They came back later for a straight piano and voice version of “Meine Stadt”, written by local composer Hans Auenmüller, but then veered back hard left into György Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre. The text was described as “half-nonsense”, but that could be said about almost everything I saw on stage. This piece was more physical and theatrical, including Byun ranting while Sun held her hand over Byun’s mouth, and Byun ripping up her sheet music.

Tanz Harz, a local dance company, performed Moving Silence accompanied by a soundtrack of prepared piano pieces by Cage. They danced with a digital timer on stage, which they frequently stared at in fascination or glanced at in curiosity, although the majority of the choreography was constant fluid motion. They seemed to be expressing tension and anxiety about the passage of time.

Otherwise, Gunnar Brandt-Sigurdsson performed parts 3 and 4 of Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate in an expressive display of human vocal sounds. Moderator Christoph Ogiermann broke the avant-garde flow to sing a set of traditional political songs (Franz Josef Degenhardt, Wolf Biermann, Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht), accompanying himself on piano. The night closed with PSON (Dietmar Gubin), performing a blend of live electronics and pre-recorded material.

[Tanz Harz.]

When I came back the next day for the Klangwechsel, there was excitement in the air. Hours before it opened, there were already people lined up by the entrance to the church, and plenty lounging around the courtyard of the cloister, trying to escape the heat. I could feel the anticipation. Inside the church, video teams set up their rigs, photographers angled for good spots, and I could see I wasn’t the only one recording audio. I could sense something stirring within me, but I was distracted by all the people and activity. The foundation had a little ceremony and thankfully asked everyone to be quiet and just listen for a few moments. I could finally focus and started to feel at peace. Eventually, an elderly organist inserted the new pipe, an A4 (a’). There were already seven pipes in use, including the adjacent A♯4, so the tone was richly complex and mildly dissonant.

[The organ with the pipe to be added.]

After a few more moments, the crowd cheered. I saw lightness, giddiness, and a buzz among the people. Something mystical and strange had happened, and we had witnessed it. Gradually, people filtered out. I stuck around for a while, but there was still too much commotion to fully relax and enjoy it. I sat outside with my friends for a couple hours, listening to the amplified chord projected into the courtyard while we talked to volunteers and other attendees. I heard multiple comparisons to witnessing a total eclipse. Some described it as a religious or spiritual experience.

Eventually, I went back in the church. It was thankfully much quieter. I was immediately transfixed. I was mesmerized. The sound wasn’t particularly loud, but omnipresent and warmly inviting. I stayed inside for about an hour, meditating on the flow of time and the relative insignificance of my existence. For once, I was in no hurry. I didn’t want to leave.

[An installation inside the Cage-Haus.]

I was struck by the playfulness of the entire experience: Cage’s approach to composition, the performances the night before, and the hubris of performing an organ piece for as long as the modern 12-tone keyboard organ has existed. At face value, it’s all comical and absurd. Simultaneously, I found it profound. How slow is “as slow as possible”? Why do we take the passage of time so seriously? What does the future hold? Will humanity even exist in 2640 to see the performance to the end? Isn’t climate catastrophe basically inevitable at this point? Can anarchism (or socialism, or any other ideology) defeat the stranglehold capitalism has on the distribution of wealth and welfare? Why aren’t more disused churches used for fun art projects? What is the meaning of property? What happens if the extremists win the state election?

Okay, you can see how the mind can wander. But one’s environment influences thought. And when I was enveloped by an unceasing, discordant pipe organ drone, I felt on one hand relaxed and deeply connected to the world around me, and on the other starkly at odds and ready to fight. I want to live in a world full of strange and idiosyncratic art. It’s part of human experience, and everyone should have the opportunity to create and witness it. I’m not sure I understood all the music I heard the night before the Klangwechsel, but I don’t care. I think most of the performances would’ve benefited from being about 30% shorter, but can I really complain? It was fun. I laughed. It felt like a set of instructions on how to take things less seriously, while still fighting for what you know is right. Will they still be holding pre-celebratory concerts in a couple hundred years? I hope so. I hope the world isn’t on fire, or underwater, or a nuclear wasteland by then. What other ridiculous things can we get up to in the meantime?

Further Reading and Listening:
My friend Gabe’s piece for The World on PRX
A longer piece by Gabe from the last Klangwechsel
Homepage of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt

The Cure / The Twilight Sad - Live 2026.07.11 Parkbühne Wuhlheide, Berlin, Germany

This was my fourth time seeing The Cure, and my first time since moving to Germany. I missed their 2022 show but decided I couldn’t dare miss another opportunity, even though all three nights sold out before I even caught wind of it. Thankfully I managed to get a ticket from the approved reseller with only a slight upcharge!

I biked the whole 19 kilometers to the venue and arrived just as the first band, Just Mustard, was wrapping up. I liked what I could hear, but based on reports from friends, I didn’t miss much. I did catch The Twilight Sad’s set. They’d also opened the last time I saw the Cure in 2016. Unfortunately, they were a bit drowned out by the crowd. The snare was just loud enough that I needed earplugs, but that rendered them quiet and indistinct. I liked the style of noisy rock but couldn’t quite get into it. I enjoyed seeing them last time around more, but it seemed like it wasn’t their fault.

The Cure appeared without bassist Simon Gallup, who was ill. In his stead was his son, Eden Gallup. If you didn’t look too closely, you wouldn’t have known the difference. He might not have had his father’s exuberance, but he could play all the riffs with finesse! They started strong with the wondrous “Plainsong” and then just started charging through the hits. I was surprised that they didn’t play a single song from their last album, Songs of a Lost World (2024), which I really enjoyed. I was looking forward to seeing how it would translate to the stage and disappointed that they didn’t even try.

[The Cure, with Eden Gallup on bass.]

They did play “The Last Day of Summer” from Bloodflowers (2000), which was a welcome deep cut, but otherwise there weren’t a lot of surprises. I mean, they did give us a trio from Pornography (1982), but that was never my favorite album. “Play for Today” with the traditional audience singalong (to the keyboard part!) was fun to finally participate in. There are always plenty of minor setlist variations, but it generally felt like the same show I saw ten years ago, but more predictable. That time around I got two new (still unreleased!) songs and two great b-sides.

While the mix was generally quite good, Reeves Gabrels was oddly low in the mix when he wasn’t playing his annoyingly flashy solos. I still don’t really like his style, so I wasn’t particularly upset, but I felt like some of the songs were missing something. “High”, “Never Enough”, and “Just Like Heaven” in particular were conspicuously missing riffs that really help to make those songs. “High” and “Heaven” were superb anyway, but at some point I realized that the band has arranged their material for six musicians, and they were making do with just five. Perry Bamonte had rejoined the band in 2022, making the band a six-piece for the first time since 1989, but he sadly died last year. Eden had actually joined to fill his position, and he can be seen on the video of their performance at Primavera Barcelona and others. Impressive that he can fill two very different roles, but unfortunate that one was left unfilled for this night!

Regardless, most of the songs fared just fine. Everything recorded before The Top (1984) was performed with just three or four members, so on some songs, I wasn’t even sure how much all the members were really contributing. And as far as the set goes, it’s hard to complain about two and a quarter hours of 27 bangers. They didn’t play a bad song. They might not be the most exciting band, but they’re still a lot of fun, and I’m glad they’re not done.

[The Cure, with green lighting for “A Forest”.]

The Twilight Sad’s setlist (thanks to here):
1. Dead Flowers
2. Designed to Lose
3. VTr
4. Attempt a Crash Landing – Theme
5. Last January
6. There’s a Girl in the Corner
7. And She Would Darken the Memory
8. Waiting for the Phone Call

The Cure’s setlist:
01. Plainsong
02. Pictures of You
03. High
04. Lovesong
05. Burn
06. Fascination Street
07. Never Enough
08. Push
09. In Between Days
10. Just Like Heaven
11. The Last Day of Summer
12. A Strange Day
13. One Hundred Years
14. Cold
15. A Night Like This
16. Play for Today
17. A Forest
18. Shake Dog Shake
19. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
20. Disintegration

Encore 1:
21. Lullaby
22. The Walk
23. The Lovecats
24. Friday I’m in Love
25. Close to Me
26. Why Can’t I Be You?
27. Boys Don’t Cry

Scores:
The Twilight Sad: C
The Cure: B

Immergut Festival 2026 Day 3

On Saturday, day 3, I was feeling a bit more alive than I had the day before. I made it to the first musical act of the day, Peki Momés, who played a chill, smooth brand of Turkish pop psychedelia. I thought of Khruangbin but with a different language and a few cultural touchstones swapped out. I wasn’t blown away, but it made for great listening while lying on a blanket.

[Peki Momés.]

The next band was La Sécurité from Montreal. I loved what I’d heard in advance, and on stage it was even better. They played off-kilter, fun, ecstatic art punk. The drums and vocals were both strong, I liked the synth touches and the fuzz bass, and I loved that the two guitarists twisted around each other and the other instruments but rarely played chords. I thoroughly enjoyed their set from start to finish. I managed to snag a setlist and then went to the merch booth to buy their album, which they graciously signed for me.

[La Sécurité.]

I caught some of Dressed Like Boys on the Birkenhain stage while I was getting food and visiting the merch booth. They sounded too tame and soft for my taste, so I didn’t stick around. I returned soon enough for quickly, quickly, but they also failed to impress me. They were just three dudes sitting down with a drum machine. They had no passion and nothing to help them stand out. The singer/keyboardist drove most of the sound, including covering the bass parts, but his voice was mellow and plain and the lyrics were generic. The two guitarists played restrained background parts, with the exception of one decent solo that briefly got my hopes up. In the right mood, they might’ve been chill and pleasant, but as it was, it was bland and boring. I left early.

[quickly, quickly.]

I took a break and came back for Brockhoff. They played very mainstream pop rock with a hint of Americana. They had some drive, and I could almost groove to it, but the lyrics were really bad and the vocal style was all breathy pop cliché. When she spoke of her love of Hannah Montana and rom-com stereotypes, I knew it was my time to leave.

Next up was Sprints, who finally offered some relief. Their garage punk was full of fuzz bass, great riffs, and political rage. The drummer and second guitarist were both excellent, and together they kept up a feverous pace. They played a cover of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon” that was quite a thrill. Their penultimate song changed the mood and started slow and acoustic with spindly lead guitar, with something like a Bauhaus vibe. They slowly built it up and sped it up and it ended up as another thrasher, but with all the tension released, it went even harder than the rest. Naturally, there was plenty of moshing and circle running.

[Sprints.]

After an hour of dancing to Sprints, I was feeling psyched but losing steam. I decided I still had energy for Jehnny Beth, erstwhile singer of Savages, who I’ve been sorely missing. She appeared with her longtime collaborator and partner Johnny Hostile on guitar as well as a bassist and a drummer. I’d wondered how she would translate the intense electronic industrial sound of her solo albums to the stage, but they pulled it off without much in the way of backing tracks. They were really hard, heavy, and aggressive. It might’ve been too much if I hadn’t been in the right mood, but I was well-primed, again got a great spot at the front, and was just barely able to keep up. Instrumentally I didn’t find the set as compelling or complex as I’d hoped, but it still rocked. It was more focused on noise and pulsing, seething rhythm. I’m trying not to be disappointed that she didn’t play any Savages songs, but I can understand if she wants to establish herself as a solo artist independent of that band. That said, she covered “In Heaven”, the deranged classic from the Eraserhead soundtrack, notably covered by The Pixies (but also Bauhaus and plenty of others), as well as Björk’s “Army of Me”. That idiosyncratic bassline was immediately recognizable! She ran into the crowd and sang atop them at some point, and did some push-ups (in heels!) during the titular song and invited a woman from the crowd up to the stage to do some as well. First time I’ve seen that. She also explained that “Reality” is about growing up queer and not understanding it. Relatable.

[Jehnny Beth.]

I was thoroughly beat by that point, and it was two in the morning. I caught a bit of Valentino Vivace on my way out, and I liked their sweet Italian disco pop, but it was too thin and insubstantial. It was pleasant to hear drifting through the trees while brushing my teeth and admiring the full moon, though.

Scores:
Peki Momés: B
La Sécurité: A+
quickly, quickly: D+
Brockhoff: C-
Sprints: A
Jehnny Beth: B+

P.S.: A big thank you to my festival crew!

P.P.S.: Here are the setlists for the best three shows of the day. I got the printed sheets from the stage for all three.

La Sécurité:
01. Le Kick
02. Detour
03. Power Snoozer
04. Bingo
05. Waiting for Kenny
06. Deny
07. Trixie
08. Anyway
09. Hot Topic
10. Try Again
11. Dis-Moi
12. Suspens
13. Snack City

Sprints:
01. Descartes
02. Feast
03. Beg
04. Literary Mind
05. How Does the Story Go?
06. Shadow of Doubt
07. Something’s Gonna Happen
08. Heavy
09. Cathedral
10. Up and Comer
11. Pieces
12. Need
13. Deceptacon [Le Tigre cover]
14. Desire
15. Little Fix

Jehnny Beth:
01. Broken Rib
02. High Resolution Sadness
03. I Still Believe
04. No Good for People
05. Innocence
06. In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) [David Lynch/Peter Ivers cover]
07. Push-Ups
08. Reality
09. Stop Me Now
10. Army of Me [Björk cover]
11. Out of My Reach
12. Obsession
13. How Could You
14. I’m the Man
15. I See Your Pain

[Karla Chubb of Sprints with the audience.]

Immergut Festival 2026 Day 2

After a good start on the first day, I slept in late and went to the store for more food and drinks. I wasn’t feeling the talks or the first band (Future Franz), but I was excited for RIP Magic and they did not disappoint. They only have five songs out, but their mix of sampled and synthesized sounds and their hypnotic energy had me curious. Their set was incredibly loud and the mix was dominated by their synths. Their bassist played with thick fuzz and lots of chords, but his parts were mere texture under the heavy low end of the synths. The drummer even seemed bored, which was understandable since they also played with programmed beats that had more complex rhythmic layers. Despite that, I admired their lack of guitar. The whole thing was intense and propulsive. I was fully carried away by it. I later realized the singer is also the keyboardist of Sorry, who played the next day.

[RIP Magic.]

I was feeling charged up by that point and stuck around for Kapa Tult even though I found their recordings somewhat half-baked. I kept thinking I was about ready to leave in search of food or friends, but every song won me over and left me wanting more. They played a fun mix of punky indie pop á la Die Braut haut ins Auge or Ideal, and the lyrics were clever, relatable tales of modernity and relationships, even if they were a bit straight for my taste. I liked the Moe Tucker-style drums and that the drummer got to sing lead on one song. This may have been the first time I’ve seen a band composed of three people I read as women and one man, and the man played bass!

[Kapa Tult.]

The weather forecast had predicted a warm and sunny day, but it started to get overcast, windy, and ultimately rainy, which dampened my mood. I checked out Ebbb but found them contentless and boring. They were dancey but too pop. There was no style, no depth.

There was also a change in schedule announced around then, as Mine dropped out due to sudden sickness. Hence, Kabeaushé played earlier and once we realized it, we rushed to the Zeltbühne to catch his set. It was just the singer, a drummer, and a lot of prerecorded tracks. The drummer was great, and Kabeaushé himself was fully charged up, but the intensity was overwhelming. If his set had been at the originally scheduled time after midnight, I might’ve been better prepared for that level of energy, but as it was, I just couldn’t get into it. The lack of live instrumentation also left me wanting some more variety. I couldn’t hang.

I was also interested in Fuffifufzich and particularly Chloe Slater, but the rain had really picked up and I just wasn’t in the mood to venture back out. Of course, the rain stopped once I’d given up, and I caught a bit of Slater while I was brushing my teeth. She closed her set with a cover of Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag”. Kind of a weird choice, right? I have to admit I do like the song, but I think that’s just because it got stuck in some corner of my adolescent brain. I once saw Wheatus back in 2005 because my freshman year college roommate’s band was opening for them at the Creepy Crawl in St. Louis. Too bad I wasn’t writing reviews back then. I don’t think it was a good one. Anyway…

Scores:
RIP Magic: A
Kapa Tult: B+
Ebbb: D
Kabeaushé: C-

Immergut Festival 2026 Day 1

I had such a good time at Immergut last year that I knew I wanted to come back this year. This time I came better prepared and with an even larger crew.

After arriving early-ish on Thursday and setting up the campsite, I made it to the first show of the festival: Snuggle on the Birkenhain stage. They played a very chill sort of slowcore shoegaze, a bit in the vein of Slowdive or Low. The lack of a bassist struck me as odd at first, but then I realized the drummer had pads for the bass parts and other samples, and I was impressed by how well he held it all down. I liked the guitars and the vocals were fine, but they were just plain too mellow. I like that vibe but I wanted a little more energy.

[Snuggle.]

My wish was granted with the next act, Ellis D. As a five-piece with two guitars, keyboard, bass, and drums, they had plenty of capacity to turn it up and get the crowd going. They started playing fairly heavy psychedelic rock, somewhere between punk and post-punk. In particular, the singer’s androgynous, wild, ebullient energy reminded me of The Cramps. It turns out that he also drums with Fat Dog, who performed last year (although I unfortunately missed them). Their set gradually involved more extended jams including multiple keyboard noise solos. The singer jumped into the crowd three times. I appreciated that they were going hard, but I started to feel a bit repetition. It seemed like every song had a fakeout break that went just long enough for people to start clapping before the band struck it back up. And the second guitarist made quite a contradiction with his stony lack of expression.

[Ellis D.]

They were followed by Gelée, a Pet Shop Boys/Erasure-style synthpop duo in which a man played keyboards and ran the drum machine while a woman sang and danced. Confusingly, their Bandcamp page shows three people, but I only saw the two. I liked the idea, and while the instrumentation and vocals were fairly good, I found the execution rather cheesy. The bad lyrics drove me off. I needed a bit of a break anyway.

[Gelée.]

I came back before long to see Heidi Curtis. What I’d heard before gave me big Neko Case vibes, and while her voice was quite strong and indeed reminiscent of Case, the music was mostly stereotypical pop. Although she hails from northern England, the band sounded like Americana. I liked that the bassist played some keyboard, and then that Curtis moved to the keys herself for a couple songs, including a cover of Patti Smith’s “Because the Night”. I like that song, but I’m continually surprised by how well Germans, even ones younger than me, seem to know and love it too. I got bored not long after that, though. The music was just too predictable.

[Heidi Curtis.]

I was originally going to skip Waving the Guns, but my crew was enthusiastic so I joined them. I’m glad I did. I often struggle to get into Deutschrap (too many cis white guys trying to act hard) but I appreciated the unrepentantly leftist lyrics. I mean, I almost felt like the singer’s requests for FLINTA* moshpits were a little over the top. The beats were solid and I loved the live drums. The three performers were a great match for each other and the whole set worked great in that environment. They brought Martha, the singer of Gelée, up on stage to sing with them as well, which was an excellent addition. I enjoyed myself quite a bit more than I’d expected.

I caught a bit of Die Höchste Eisenbahn immediately afterwards as they were on the way to the camping area anyway. They had a bunch of interesting-looking keyboards on stage, but weren’t making a lot of use of them. Their indie pop was too clean and plain for my taste. I left early and called it a night.

[Die Höchste Eisenbahn.]

Scores:
Snuggle: B-
Ellis D: B+
Gelée: C-
Heidi Curtis: C+
Waving the Guns: A-
Die Höchste Eisenbahn: C-

Dry Cleaning / The Tubs - Live 2026.04.07 Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

I went back once more to the Festsaal Kreuzberg. After being a bit uncomfortable with crowding at the sold-out Godspeed show I saw there just a few weeks ago, I was relieved to go with friends and that it wasn’t as packed. We got a great spot.

First up were The Tubs, who I knew nothing about. I’ve since read that two of the four members (plus one that has since left) once played with Joanna Gruesome, who I saw once upon a time and rather enjoyed. Unfortunately, the Tubs were less exciting and more mainstream. Instead of noise rock and punk influences, I heard a good dose of U2 and R.E.M.-style jangle rock. The Scottish drummer, Taylor Stewart, stole the show, even if most of the crowd couldn’t understand him. This might be the first time I’ve seen a drummer with more presence and humor than the rest of the band. I wanted more of his energy and less of frontman Owen Williams’ fairly standard-issue lyrics and vocals. Lead guitarist Dan Lucas and bassist Max Warren were quite adept, though.

[The Tubs.]

But the reason I was there was Dry Cleaning, who my partner and friends saw at Immergut in 2024 and became enamored with. I missed seeing them open for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds because I didn’t want to deal with the detestable Uber Arena. Finally, I got my chance.

This was the opening night of the tour for Secret Love, which came out in January, and hence we saw the debut performance of several songs from the album. They opened with the debut performance of the new non-album single “Sliced by a Fingernail” as well. They ended up playing the entire album as well as several older songs, but it felt like they were rushing through the set to play as many songs as possible. I wish they’d slowed down and let the songs breathe a bit more. The closer of the main set, “Conversation”, was the only one where they really cut loose and let the song develop into a heavy jam, and it was awesome. That was the highlight of the show.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t appreciate Florence Shaw’s vocals. Her deadpan, ironic spoken word performances elevate these musical workouts into something more. Independently, the music would feel formless and the words would seem unhinged and contextless. Together, they form a space where you can enter into visions of modern life and get comfortable with tearing it apart. Some of the backing vocals from her bandmates made me think of Gang of Four, which certainly makes sense given the socio-political angles and the punk influence. Guitarist Tom Dowse in particular had a hardcore punk aesthetic about him, although his guitarwork was all over the place, ranging from precise, melodic lead lines to heavily-effected swells of sound. Bassist Lewis Maynard spent almost the entire show headbanging, but he had a funky percussiveness and fluidity that endeared him to me. Drummer Nick Buxton surprised me by playing a brief sax part on one song before returning to his kit. The four core members were joined by Josh Eggerton on keyboards and acoustic guitar to further expand their sound.

My other critique is a classic one: the mix could’ve been better. The last couple shows I saw at the Festsaal sounded great, so I was disappointed that the mix was poorly defined in the high end. Shaw’s vocals are what suffered most. I could only understand her vocals about a third of the time. That wasn’t an ideal balance.

But beyond that, they really deliver a punch. Some songs were a bit tame and restrained, but most were full of life and energy. I would’ve loved for them to have more space to develop and flow, but maybe they’re trying a different approach. Although if they were trying to foreground the words, the mix undercut that effort. Nonetheless, it was easy to get into step with them.

[Dry Cleaning.]

Setlist (borrowed from here):
01. Sliced by a Fingernail
02. Blood
03. Gary Ashby
04. The Cute Things
05. Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)
06. Strong Feelings
07. Anna Calls From the Arctic
08. Her Hippo
09. My Soul/Half Pint
10. Cruise Ship Designer
11. Scratchcard Lanyard
12. Evil Evil Idiot
13. I Need You
14. Don’t Press Me
15. Rocks
16. Magic of Meghan
17. Joy
18. Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit
19. Conversation

Encore:
20. Hit My Head All Day

Scores:
The Tubs: B-
Dry Cleaning: B+

Thanks to Alyssa and the rest of our crew!

Godspeed You! Black Emperor / Kristof Hahn - Live 2026.03.16 Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

The night opened with Kristof Hahn, a solo lap-steel guitarist that also plays in Swans. His first number built slowly with layers of effects to create a heavy and engaging soundscape. That was cool and my interest was piqued. After that, most of his songs featured his gravely baritone voice, but they were also so sparse and minimal that there was hardly anything to hold on to. The most notable song was a cover of “Heartbreak Hotel” done in the style of John Cale, but his version rather suffered by comparison. Hahn was fairly reserved, but did at least address the crowd (unlike the headliners). I wish he’d done more pieces like the first one.

At this point, I find Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s staunch refusal to play by the standard rules of rock shows to be endearing. They tuned their own instruments and did not take long to start their performance. Of course, they have their own rituals, among them starting each show with their “Hope Drone”. This one was pleasant, mild, and relatively brief. It transitioned into “Sun Is a Hole Sun Is Vapors” from No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead (2024) and from there into the next two tracks from the same album. This trilogy covered quite a lot of dynamic ground and already had the band reaching tremendous heights.

When they finally paused to breathe and tune while the familiar Murray Ostril tape played, the audience was dearly enthused. “Monheim” was as great as it could be. They returned their focus to the last album, skipping only “Broken Spires at Dead Kapital”. “Pale Spectator Takes Photographs” was devastating and haunting, but it led into “Grey Rubble – Green Shoots” with its triumphal peaks led by Sophie Trudeau’s violin. “Mladic”, from the first reunion album ’Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (2012) but originally performed on the last tour before their breakup in 2003, was incredible. I’d never seen it played live and it was such a powerful, enthralling rush of extremes. The fact that I caught a bit of misalignment in the latter half did not take anything away from the experience. It went hard.

I assumed that after a 20-minute epic that would be the end, but then I heard the “Gathering Storm” sample from “Kicking Horse on Brokenhill” (originally performed by Hazel Dickens for the Matewan soundtrack). However, it led into the beautiful guitar and glockenspiel of “Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven…” and its usual successor, “Gathering Storm”. (I only now realized the guitar melody of the latter is based on the melody of the sample of Dicken.) Again, it was a masterful performance. The band led it into an extended drone, similar to how they ended the show the last time I saw them. The band manipulated their pedals to get it going and then just walked off one by one. It went on for a good while before some of the loops or feedback or whatever wound down and then someone finally turned the rest off.

I can’t say much about the slideshow because I got crowded out of my spot with a view before even the “Hope Drone” was over. I don’t know why I bother showing up early and sitting through openers that bore me just to get edged out by people who don’t care in the slightest about the needs of others around them. I protested people wedging themselves into my space on both sides such that we were in constant contact and I could not adjust my position whatsoever, but they did not care. I got overwhelmed and gave up. I found a chair, closed my eyes, and enjoyed the show in a relaxed, listen-only mode for about an hour. Then I realized some people (including some of the very ones who had squeezed me out!) were slowly departing, so I got up and found a decent spot where I could actually move freely. That was great.

In the end they played for two hours with just the two brief breaks with the samples. They have no real stage presence and just let the slides and music speak for themselves. And that it did. This was another great show, even with my interpersonal frustrations. Amazingly, I hadn’t yet seen them perform a single one of the songs they played.

Setlist:
1. Hope Drone →
2. Sun Is a Hole Sun Is Vapors →
3. Babys in a Thundercloud →
4. Raindrops Cast in Lead
5. Murray Ostril: “…They Don’t Sleep Anymore on the Beach…” [Tape] → Monheim
6. Pale Spectator Takes Photographs →
7. Grey Rubble – Green Shoots
8. Mladic
9. [sample from Kicking Horse on Brokenhill] → Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven… → Gathering Storm

Scores:
Kristof Hahn: C-
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: A

Belle & Sebastian / Music for Your Heart - Live 2026.03.06 Metropol, Berlin, Germany

This was night 2 of 2; I won’t repeat what I’ve already described from the first. This time I wanted to be on the floor, so I showed up earlier. Music for Your Heart again opened and played practically the same set. If she deviated at all, I didn’t notice; the songs again all sounded the same. Raymond McGinley again essentially just doubled her parts with restrained flourishes.

Belle & Sebastian came out this time to a video of If You’re Feeling Sinister cover star Ciara MacLaverty describing her interactions with the band as it formed. Now, this is one of my all-time favorite albums; I once made a tentative top-ten list in 2008 and this was on it. It still would be. Seeing the whole thing on stage was practically transcendent. Or well, it would’ve been if my perfect spot on the floor hadn’t been so encroached upon that I was deeply physically uncomfortable the whole time. I know I’m the weird one, but I don’t understand how anyone can be comfortable in such a densely packed crowd! I did my best not to let it distract me, but I wasn’t able to let the music flow through my body the way I wanted.

[Belle & Sebastian.]

It also seemed like the band was just a bit loose. It was still a great performance, but it wasn’t as tight as the Tigermilk performance, and they didn’t really embellish it or change it up much. I mean, with such a beloved album, I can understand why they didn’t. I wouldn’t have wanted them to. Sarah’s violin felt more at home (it was her first work with the band) and she again sang Isobel’s parts wonderfully. I was disappointed, though, that she played the stylophone solo from “Mayfly” on her synth, but I can forgive that. I particularly enjoyed Chris Geddes’s keyboard parts and the unnamed cellist and trumpeter’s performances. The whole crowd was singing along and it was quite a collective experience, even despite my physical distress. “Fox in the Snow” hit me particularly hard, as it always does, but the highlight was at the end of “Judy and the Dream of Horses”. Just like with the false ending of “Mayfly”, the band picked right back up after the end and went all-out for a big, extended jam. Stuart put on a horse head and danced around while everyone rocked out. It was bizarre and wonderful.

At that point I had to bail from my position and I ended up in the back where the view was worse and I could actually move around a bit. The second set was less hit-filled than the previous night, but I appreciated that the only repeat was “The Boy with the Arab Strap”. This time they drew it out while Stuart ad-libbed, leaned down to the crowd, and asked “the original catastrophe waitress” Alexandra Klobouk (cover star of Books EP (2004) and The Life Pursuit (2006)) how she was doing. “Piazza, New York Catcher” was done in the now-standard low-key band arrangement, and during “If You Find Yourself Caught in Love”, Stuart ran through the crowd, including right past me. “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” was the only song from after Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003), and Sarah took Norah Jones’s lead vocal, again quite successfully. “Sleep the Clock Around” and fan request “Lazy Line Painter Jane” were the real highlights. Both were ecstatic rave-ups.

I was so excited about this show that I didn’t put one thought into whether it was a gimmick. But despite my preference for Sinister, I just barely preferred the Tigermilk show. It might’ve just been my sensitivity to the jostling, or that my expectations were even higher for this show, but I think the band performed just a touch better the prior night. It was still excellent regardless. The band seemed cramped on the small stage, but the mix was great, which is quite impressive for a touring band of nine people. I really wish they’d chosen a larger venue; both nights had sold out quickly and the Metropol’s unusual, long shape made the competition for a decent spot even worse. I wish I’d been able to have a less distracted experience, but it was worth it anyway.

[Stuart with the horse head.]

Set 1 (If You’re Feeling Sinister):
01. The Stars of Track and Field
02. Seeing Other People
03. Me and the Major
04. Like Dylan in the Movies
05. The Fox in the Snow
06. Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
07. If You’re Feeling Sinister
08. Mayfly
09. The Boy Done Wrong Again
10. Judy and the Dream of Horses

Set 2:
11. Dog on Wheels
12. Chickfactor
13. Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
14. If You Find Yourself Caught in Love
15. Piazza, New York Catcher
16. The Boy with the Arab Strap
17. Sleep the Clock Around

Encore:
18. Lazy Line Painter Jane

Scores:
Music for Your Heart: D-
Belle & Sebastian: A-
If You’re Feeling Sinister: A+

Bonus scores:
The Boy with the Arab Strap: A-
Push Barman to Open Old Wounds: A
Dog on Wheels EP: B
Lazy Line Painter Jane EP: A-
3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light EP: A+
This Is Just a Modern Rock Song EP: A+
“Legal Man” single: A+
“Jonathan David” single: B
“I’m Waking Up to Us” single: B

P.S. Yes, I’m aware I gave the “Legal Man” single just an A back in 2008. I was wrong. The C+ for Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant was correct, though.

P.P.S. Thanks to Alyssa!

Belle & Sebastian / Music for Your Heart - Live 2026.03.05 Metropol, Berlin, Germany

Belle & Sebastian are doing a tour with two nights in most cities visited, in which the first show centers around Tigermilk (1996) and the second on If You’re Feeling Sinister (also 1996). I often find full-album shows gimmicky and pandering (see here or here for egregious examples), but I have also seen a few that were fun. And I mean, these are two great albums! Plus, Belle & Sebastian’s shows never disappoint.

Music for Your Heart, the solo project of Sandra Zettpunkt, was the opening act. She appeared with Raymond McGinley of Teenage Fanclub, who was also involved with her only solo record to date, Turning Marvel (2009). She sang and played electric guitar, and he mostly played similar parts on guitar, adding some embellishments and on rare occasion a lead line. Before a few previous nights on the tour, she said she hadn’t been on stage in 18 years, and this was her first time playing with McGinley. Once a drummer in a variety of 90s Hamburg bands (and briefly a bassist in Parole Trixi), she said she used to play with a drum machine, but it stopped keeping time and she gave up on it. With these credentials, I was surprised by how tame and placid her set was. She was sweet and her plaintive melodies had some charm, but there were no dynamics whatsoever, and audience chatter competed with her for volume. I wanted to like her, but I found myself bored.

[Music for Your Heart with Raymond McGinley.]

Belle & Sebastian came out to a recording of Stuart David reciting a description of the recording sessions for Tigermilk, a nice way to include a touch of the founding member who left the band in 2000, and then, as expected, the band played the album straight through. They did a fantastic job of it. “The State I Am In” is such a classic that I was fully into it right from the first note. “Electronic Renaissance” has become such a banger with the higher production values they can afford to give it on stage these days, and I love that five people were playing keyboards (including Stevie Jackson on keytar!), not even counting Stuart Murdoch playing the melodica solo. “I Could Be Dreaming” featured a recording of Isobel Campbell (the other absent founding member; she left in 2002) reciting the lines of Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” as heard on the original recording. “We Rule the School” nearly had me crying, it was so beautiful.

[Belle & Sebastian.]

Naturally, the two missing members were sorely missed, as was Mick Cooke, the band’s trumpeter who was initially a guest performer before joining full-time and eventually leaving in 2013 (right before the first time I saw the band live). Of course, in the meantime the band has been joined by bassist/guitarists Bobby Kildea and Dave McGowan (coincidentally also a member of Teenage Fanclub), and Sarah Martin has grown more confident in her voice. She sang Isobel’s parts while also playing an array of instruments (violin, keyboard, flute, shaker, tambourine), despite that she wasn’t present for the first album and only joined in time for Sinister. The band were also augmented by an unnamed cellist/keyboardist/flutist and an unnamed trumpeter, and since I was up in the second balcony, I couldn’t get a good enough view to discern if they were the same people I’d seen before in those roles.

The band left the stage for a break but came back quickly for the advertised second set of favorites. Other than “Simple Things”, they indeed played several of their best singles and regulars, including “The Boy with the Arab Strap” with the standard tradition of inviting a bunch of people to come up and dance on stage. As it drew towards the end, Stuart jumped into the pit and ran around the crowd. For once they even managed to end the song in a fitting way instead of letting die an awkward death. I could complain about predictability in the setlist, but that feels a bit on the nose. For the encore, Stuart made a show of asking for suggestions, ultimately accepting the one from a Polish guy he’d met before the show, but I could see he’d already pulled up the lyrics for “Lord Anthony” on a screen. “Another Sunny Day” might’ve actually been somewhat more spontaneous.

[Audience members on stage for “The Boy with the Arab Strap”. I love that Dave was drinking a beer while playing the keyboard and that a stage hand had to keep Stevie’s mic stand stable while the stage shook from the dancers.]

Naturally, a full-album performance of a great album is well-primed to go over well (as opposed to a newly released album, for example), but it helps even more when the band can bring something extra to it. The songs were all played in similar arrangements to their recordings, but the additional members and better instruments made for a fuller sound and more proficient performance. And it seemed like they were having fun. That makes a big difference. Stuart told some stories and explained a few songs, most notably that “My Wandering Days Are Over” was about the formation of the band and “I Don’t Love Anyone” was born out of a period of frustration and loneliness, but no longer represents how he feels. I still love the hyperbole of it. I guess that’s the whole deal with this band, or at least their early work: I know some people cringe at this sort of earnestness and playfulness, but I find it charming and welcoming. I want to hang out with the characters in the songs. And tomorrow, I will do it again.

Set 1 (Tigermilk):
01. The State I Am In
02. Expectations
03. She’s Losing It
04. You’re Just a Baby
05. Electronic Renaissance
06. I Could Be Dreaming
07. We Rule the School
08. My Wandering Days Are Over
09. I Don’t Love Anyone
10. Mary Jo

Set 2 (“Favorites”):
11. Simple Things
12. I’m a Cuckoo
13. Seymour Stein
14. A Century of Fakers
15. I Want the World to Stop
16. The Boy With the Arab Strap
17. I Didn’t See It Coming

Encore:
18. Lord Anthony
19. Another Sunny Day

Scores:
Music for Your Heart: D+
Belle & Sebastian: A
Tigermilk: A-

The Last Dinner Party / Sunday (1994) - Live 2026.02.22 UFO im Velodrom, Berlin, Germany

The Last Dinner Party had one of my favorite albums of last year (even if their debut was even better), so when a friend expressed interest in going to this show, I was sold. That said, it was a tough choice considering that Magdalena Bay, one of my 2024 faves, were playing the same night at the Columbiahalle.

Sunday (1994) opened the night. Despite the name, they are not a tribute act for The Sundays, although they do make a version of dream pop. However, they unfortunately leaned a little harder on the pop than the dreamy side. Paige Duddy’s vocals were excellent (as was her dress), but the music was a bit cheesy and uninspired. Despite having four performers on stage, they relied heavily on backing tracks for acoustic guitar, keyboards, and even vocals. That sapped a lot of the energy from the performance. The one heavier song they played was a marked improvement.

The Last Dinner Party took their time coming out but launched right into a strong set. With a sizeable stage setup, they deftly tore through most of their catalog, pausing only for two security incidents until the encore break. They played every song from last year’s From the Pyre, nine from Prelude to Ecstasy, and the unreleased but regularly performed “Big Dog”. With all five members contributing vocals and all but Abigail playing a variety of instruments, they regularly moved around in different configurations to highlight various instrumental and harmony arrangements.

[The Last Dinner Party in peak witchy vocal formation.]

The vocals might be the band’s strongest point, and all five contributed flawless parts. Abigail’s voice may be the centerpiece, but when Lizzie and Aurora sang lead, I was impressed by just how strong and nuanced their voices were as well. I’m a sucker for intricate harmonies, and they provided them in spades. On top of that, their musicianship shone. Aurora moved between piano, synth, keytar, and sax; Emily played mandolin and flute in addition to a variety of guitars; Georgia added some synth bass; and Abigail even sat down at the piano, although I don’t know that she actually played. I saw a stage hand playing acoustic guitar off to the side for one song (I think it was “I Hold Your Anger”), but there was also what sounded like a violin sample. Otherwise I didn’t hear any backing tracks. The drums were played by Dave Adsett, who seemed somewhat relegated to the background. I was pleased to notice that among Emily’s guitars was a St. Vincent signature model.

When the band came out for the encore, they were accompanied by a large choir, who it turned out were the D-Dur Dykes*! They’re Europe’s largest FLINTA* choir and conspicuously more visible than the trans choir I sing in, but I also know them because a friend sings with them, although she wasn’t there that night. They added an especially dramatic flair to “Beautiful Boy” and a brief closing reprise of “Agnus Dei”. That was quite a surprise and a very cool enhancement to the set.

[The Last Dinner Party with the D-Dur Dykes*.]

As a major label band, I expect a certain level of professionalism, budget, tightness, and show. Without a doubt, The Last Dinner Party delivered. I wouldn’t say the same for the openers, but they were pleasant enough. I’m still thrilled by the bonus feature of the choir! Apparently “Beautiful Boy” has not been a regular feature of the sets this year. (They’ve even been debuting new songs on other nights, too!) It’s great to see a relatively young band still at the height of their powers, not yet thoroughly disillusioned by a corrupt industry or cashing in without putting in any effort. I’m excited to see them continue to grow.

Setlist:
01. Agnus Dei
02. Count the Ways
03. The Feminine Urge
04. Caesar on a TV Screen
05. On Your Side
06. Second Best [with false start]
07. I Hold Your Anger
08. Woman Is a Tree
09. Gjuha
10. Rifle
11. Big Dog
12. The Scythe
13. Sail Away
14. Sinner
15. My Lady of Mercy
16. Inferno
17. Nothing Matters

Encore:
18. Beautiful Boy [with D-Dur Dykes*]
19. This Is the Killer Speaking
20. Agnus Dei (Reprise) [with D-Dur Dykes*]

Scores:
Sunday (1994): C+
The Last Dinner Party: A

P.S. Thanks to Ali!

Wednesday / Bleary Eyed - Live 2026.02.09 Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

Wednesday put out one of my favorite albums of 2025. I liked Rat Saw God (2023) but it didn’t rise above the tidal wave of shoegaze albums that have been hitting the shelves lately. (Yes, I’m aware that metaphor is dead.) Bleeds was another matter. The songwriting leveled up and the country touches hit just right and made for a truly unique blend.

Bleary Eyed also put out a solid album last year, Easy, which took their sludgy shoegaze and made it a bit more psychedelic and synthy. I was excited to catch them for free. I didn’t like that they just used backing tracks on stage, but I understand the choice, and it did add some texture. Otherwise, they laid down some heavy, thick layers of distortion. Naturally they didn’t quite have the same depth as on record, but that was easily made up for by the sheer weight of their sound. It felt great to move with their rhythms. However, I found the lead singer’s voice bland, and the second vocalist was unfortunately undermiked. The drummer leaned hard on his crashes, but they both fell over a couple songs in. Karly Hartzman ran out to right them, which was sweet. The Buc-ee’s t-shirt was weird, though. I watched Buc-ee’s take over in my years of visiting and living in Texas and I do not appreciate the owner’s right-wing politics. Anyway, I enjoyed the set!

 
[Bleary Eyed, with Karly Hartzman righting the cymbals.]

Wednesday initially picked up right where Bleary Eyed left off, again playing heavy shoegaze based on lurching, distorted guitars, but with the added touch of most of the lead parts coming from Xandy Chelmis’s pedal and lap steel. I didn’t realize those were his parts! Of course you can use the same sorts of pedals on those instruments, but I’d never seen it done before. But by the time they played “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)”, the country side came out, and I appreciated the shift in style. There was far more shoegaze than country in the set, but I loved the way the two sides bled into each other.

Considering how many end-of-year lists Bleeds ended up on, they unsurprisingly played almost all of it, skipping only “Carolina Murder Suicide”. I suspect I wasn’t the only relatively recent convert in the crowd. They also played several cuts from Rat Saw God and a couple older songs for the more dedicated fans. “Elderberry Wine” and “Townies” both elicited great crowd response.

Karly expressed disappointment at the moshpit the previous night in Hamburg and hoped for a better showing on this night. Maybe she did a better job advocating for it, or maybe the crowd was just in the right mood, but one formed right in front of me and I formed part of the outer ring. They went hard. I rarely can handle being that close to the action, but I didn’t want to give up my perfect spot in the middle of the room, and I was feeding off the energy as much as the band was!

The band played really well. I missed MJ Lenderman, of course, but his touring replacement Spyder (Jake Pugh) was satisfactory. Karly’s voice was in good form, and for once I could hear it exceptionally well. (Maybe my position helped, but I think the sound crew were on point, too.) She said there would not be an encore and that they would just play straight through because the last songs put such a strain on her voice. I mean, they could’ve just done them as an encore, but whatever, it doesn’t matter. Somehow I knew they’d end with “Wasp”, a short, thrashy song that Karly screams through the entirety of. I’d normally find that too aggressive, but in that context, it kind of worked.

I had a great time, and the bands were a great fit together. Well done to whoever organized that!

[Wednesday. Note Karly’s bejeweled guitar as seen in the “Elderberry Wine” video!]

Setlist:
01. Reality TV Argument Bleeds
02. Got Shocked
03. Fate Is…
04. Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)
05. Hot Rotten Grass Smell
06. Candy Breath
07. Phish Pepsi
08. Twin Plagues
09. The Way Love Goes
10. Gary’s II
11. Pick Up That Knife
12. Quarry
13. Elderberry Wine
14. Bitter Everyday
15. Townies
16. Bull Believer
17. Wasp

Scores:
Bleary Eyed: B
Wednesday: A-

Radiohead - Live 2025.12.09 Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany

This was night two of a four-show series at a cursed venue. Since the first two nights last week in Copenhagen were canceled due to Yorke’s throat infection, I was a bit concerned how this would play out. It’s also their first tour in seven years, and there’s been no indication of new recordings. With plenty of solo and side projects, it hasn’t been clear that Radiohead would ever be a functional unit again. Sometimes you have to take the opportunities when you get them.

The band performed on a circular stage in the middle of the pit, initially surrounded by projection screens. After two songs, the screens lifted above the stage to reveal the band, accompanied by an additional percussionist, Chris Vatalaro. I almost couldn’t tell that nine years had passed since the last time I saw them, and the setlist was fairly similar. In fact, they played the same set as two shows prior in Copenhagen, merely substituting “How to Disappear Completely” in place of “Like Spinning Plates”. They’ve made a pattern of alternating between two sets with minor variations as they go along. (Naturally, someone has made a spreadsheet.)

It’s hard to judge whether I got the better or worse variant. “Nude”, “Pyramid Song”, and “Exit Music” were great, even if Colin’s fuzz bass could’ve been more present on the lattermost, but I got the weaker Bends songs. (I would’ve loved “Planet Telex” or “Just”!) If I have a real complaint, it’s just that there was a certain predictability to the song selection. I suppose asking for b-sides or unreleased songs like I got in 2012 would be too much to ask, but, like, why’d they take “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, “Climbing Up the Walls”, and “Nice Dream” out of rotation? What about any of the songs unearthed for the OK Computer or Kid A Mnesia reissues? They didn’t even really play any songs with room for chance or improvisation, like “Everything in Its Right Place”. I was hoping for some curveballs, a little more risk.

That said, they have so many great songs that they can play two sets full of bangers and safely ignore the obscurities. I finally got to see “Let Down”, albeit in a tamer arrangement that somehow lacked some of its usual uplifting energy. “Airbag”, “You and Whose Army?”, and “No Surprises” are always welcome. “Sit Down. Stand Up.”, “Optimistic”, and “How to Disappear Completely” were slightly less obvious choices that I enjoyed, although Jonny screwing up the drum machine threw the first for a loop. “There There” was a strong closing number.

But the mix, at least where I was sitting, was surprisingly bad. The bass was terribly boomy, which turned the mids into mush. The higher-powered, heavier songs like “Ful Stop”, “The Bends”, and “Bodysnatchers” were a mess, and the vocals were rendered inaudible for those. For the quieter songs, the balance was better, and those songs tended to work better. Yorke’s voice was in great form despite the recent cancellations, and I always love Ed’s (and Phil’s!) backing vocals. I was hoping for more analog synth, but Jonny just used it to control a drum machine. Regardless, it’s still cool to watch him run between so many different instruments, particularly the lovely ondes Martenot.

My other complaint was even more situational: I was happy to have a seat, but my section unusually stayed seated for the most part, and for once I really wanted to dance. My position in the venue was such that I mostly just saw Colin’s back as he locked his gaze with the drummers, which also threw me out of the experience a bit. At least Thom came around to the back for some of the acoustic numbers.

Despite the distractions, I was still captivated and sang along with just about every song. The band kept up a brisk pace, blasting through 25 songs with hardly a pause. They hardly spoke to the crowd, but then again, they rarely do say much. Their songs tend to speak for themselves. It struck me during the show just how bitingly critical and politically powerful so many of their songs are. While one can criticize the finer points of the individual members’ politics, how could anyone doubt which side they stand on? Song after song harkened back to past outrages while presciently describing those of the present day.

Maybe I came into the show with too high of expectations. The first two times I saw them in St. Louis were some of the best concerts I’ve seen, and it’s hard to match that. The circumstances did not align to give me another transcendent experience. I wish I’d been able to see and hear the band in more ideal conditions, and I wish I could’ve moved my body more freely. Oh well. I still had a blast.

Here’s the setlist:
01. 2 + 2 = 5
02. Airbag
03. Jigsaw Falling into Place
04. All I Need
05. Ful Stop
06. Nude
07. Reckoner
08. The Bends
09. Separator
10. Pyramid Song
11. You and Whose Army?
12. Sit Down. Stand Up.
13. Myxomatosis
14. No Surprises
15. Optimistic
16. Bodysnatchers
17. Exit Music (for a Film)
18. Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Encore:
19. Let Down
20. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
21. Idioteque
22. Present Tense
23. How to Disappear Completely
24. Paranoid Android
25. There There

Score: B

P.S. Thanks to Mirah!

P.P.S. Kraftwerk played at the Music Hall next door on the same night!

Agitation Free - Live 2025.12.01 Kesselhaus, Berlin, Germany

Agitation Free were one of the premier kosmische or “krautrock” bands of the early 70s, but they never quite reached the same levels of acclaim as some of their contemporaneous peers. (I’ve complained about their absence from the canon more than once.) They were creative, explorative, and skilled such that they made three classic albums with varying levels of experimentation. They might not have pioneered entirely new genres like Can, Neu!, or Kraftwerk, but they reached beyond the standard progressive rock of their time and made a series of mostly instrumental, psychedelic jams of the highest class. They also launched the careers of Christoph Franke (who left for Tangerine Dream), Ax Genrich (who left for Guru Guru), composer Michael Hoenig, and Lutz “Lüül” Graf-Ulbrich, who subsequently played with Ash Ra Tempel, Nico, and 17 Hippies. After breaking up in 1974, they reformed sporadically, releasing two new studio albums in 1999 and 2023, neither of which quite reached their original heights.

After missing some prior opportunities, I wasn’t gonna miss this one. The remaining original-era band members are not young. Guitarist Lüül and drummer Burghard Rausch are the only two left after Gustl Lütjens died, Michael Günther departed, and Michael Hoenig opted to stop touring. Lütjens and Hoenig still contributed to the last album, Momentum, but the live band now features guitarist Axel Heilhecker (from the Food Band) and jazz keyboardist Tim Sund. Bassist Daniel Cordes (who also played with 17 Hippies) has been with the band since 2013.

Although Lüül was positioned in the center of the stage, was the only one to address the crowd, and is the closest thing to a leader of the band, I was surprised how many of the guitar solos and melodies he left to Heilhecker, even on the older songs. Lüül often stuck to purely rhythmic parts, although he also played some joint lead parts and used an ebow on a few songs. Heilhecker played quite well, but his style is quite flashy and lacked some of the subtlety and expressiveness that graced their best work. Sund and Cordes both filled their roles with skill, but neither stood out as much as I might’ve hoped. Sund preferred the digital synth sound of his Korg Kronos rack, which I found a bit too mechanical. I rather enjoyed the warmth of his analog setup when he deigned to use it.

The weakest link was unfortunately Rausch. He might’ve been the one to drum on all their albums, but he had a bit of trouble keeping up. To be fair, he played at a fairly high intensity for the whole set. I can easily forgive losing a stick once or twice, but I was disappointed when they didn’t all hit the big drop of “Rücksturz”, which I attributed to Rausch. That took away a lot of the energy from one of their strongest, heaviest jams.

They played the entirety of Momentum, two cuts from 1999’s River of Return, three tracks from their debut Malesch (1972), and their signature song “Laila” from 2nd (1973). All of the early songs were excellent, and most of the newer ones were good, even if some of them didn’t capture the same psychedelic charm. I liked that all of the songs, old and new, were not set in stone, but rather served as springboards for exploration and discovery. I could see the members regularly exchanging looks and signals with one another. I loved the communication I could both see and hear in how they traded parts.

Agitation Free might not be at the top of their game, but they’re still quite good. They’re all still talented musicians, and I appreciate that they’re still going and putting out new music. I even preferred the live experience to the studio versions of the new songs, and they did justice to their old songs. Their lights and projections helped keep things interesting, too. I wish they varied their setlists more, but I don’t blame them for sticking to a standard they can use as a springboard.

Here’s what I remember of the setlist:
01. Nouveau son
02. Lilac
03. Levant
04. You Play for Us Today
05. In Da Jungl
06. Ala Tul
07. Nightwatch
08. Nomads
09. Shibuya Nights
10. Laila
11. Momentum
12. Rücksturz

Encore:
13. 2 Part 2

Score: B

Thanks to Mirah!