Music Recommendation

I have recently found a song I really liked through a YouTube-compilation. It seems that it was written and performed by a teen band from County Wicklow here in Ireland (where my flatmate is from as well), which makes it even more of a recommendation. I hope you like it as much as I did.

It is a melancholic, beautiful piece of Indie music and you should definitely give it a listen. It'll be in my playlist to shorten the wait for the new Bloc Party and Muse albums.

Concert: Kettcar, Große Freiheit 36, Hamburg

Here is the actual reason for my recent trip to Hamburg. Dominik and I had made the resolution to visit a Kettcar concert together around two years ago. When they finally announced a new tour, we had to go.

This song has a special meaning for me and I am happy that I was able to record it and share it with you guys. It is German Indie Rock, so maybe not so interesting for non-German speakers.

... and Weezer gone lame

So one of my beloved bands did not let me down. Another one definitely did. What happened to you, Weezer? There were some songs on the "Red Album" which made me think: "Ok, maybe that is just filling material" - I still don't understand why you don't let Rivers Cuomo sing all the songs. But at least that album had killer songs like "The greatest man that ever lived", even if it did not come anywhere close my all-time-number one "Blue Album"...but WTF (and sorry for being so explicit) did you think when you recorded "Raditude"? I mean, fine - take some drugs to be creative but please, please, please listen to the songs you have recorded once you are clean before you let them loose on mankind. I used to be one of your biggest fans, but there are three reasons why I just have to hate this album (and stop just buying every new release without listening):

a)You rap in those songs - again. Maybe I only speak for myself, but the majority of people, who enjoy your style, DISGUST Hip Hop. I thought it was a one-off last time, but why do you keep doing it. Yeah, crossover was cool for a short while, but when have you heard of Linkin' Park or Crazy Town in the last few years???

b) Your lyrics are so lame, I can't believe you did not produce them by using random rhymes from a machine you found online. What went through you, when you wrote these lines?

"I thought tonight would suck like every other night
I'd party with my friends
But when I saw you grooving on the dance floor
Normal came to an end

We started talking and man, it was so clear to me
There's no one else like you
You got the brains, the body, and the beauty
To top it off, you're cool"

(From: "I'm your daddy")

Well, I suppose even the Blue Album was not without it's flaws, but this is just the mindless babbling teeny bands or hip hoppers call their lyrics.

c) Do not bring out an album every year. I have waited for ages for some of your records. I bought them all. The Red Album was not great, but I still liked it. But if you don't have better ideas than those you show on "Raditude" leave it be until 2011...

I know Weezer won't care about what I think, but maybe I can prevent you from buying their worst album so far. So enjoy some quality music and buy the Blue Album instead. :)

MUSE at the O2...

Ok, as I actually wanted to wait with my next Blogpost until I got some nice pictures from the Dublin Octoberfest and our great Octoberfest TGIF, I haven't blogged in a while.

Even if this will totally destroy the time-space-continuum - well, or at least mess up the chronological order of my posts - I will now share my experience at the MUSE Concert at the O2 in Dublin with you.

In short: It was an amazing show. The stage setting was just mind-blowing and they were playing on a whole level of their own - quite as introvert as the Kings of Leon, so not many jokes there - but a fine piece of Indie Rock. "Unintended" and "Feeling good" in a row made me sing "...and I'm feeeling gooooood!" and I even developed a taste in some songs from their newest album. My favorite still was "Time is running out" as well as one of the songs I can never get enough of: "New born". So listen for your self below and see some pictures.

They are not stars (yet!)...

...they are just f***ing planets. Yes, I admit "We are the planet" is not one of the most creative band names and sounds a little like an old Michael Jackson song (and no, they are NOT a tribute band), but my old band - they used to be known as "The Missing Link" - have started some nice little things since they don't have to bear me as a lead singer anymore.

They totally stopped covering and have now created a set of songs that consists of finest Indie Rock. Apart from songs that we used to perform together, like "Madam, honestly", "Something" and "Lethal Poetry", they have added some really good pieces of music. My favorite being "Hail reality" and also the more aggressive "Morning pages" or the ballad "The void stares back" - which I hope to hear on their Myspace-page soon, make them much more versatile. One song - sorry guys, I can't recall the title right now, but help me out and I will add it - even sounds a lot like one of my favorite bands "Bloc Party" - which is definitely a huge compliment.

And now being headliners of a regional band festival, they definitely played the best show in their career. Yes, we had a bigger audience at my goodbye-concert - but you played this totally cool and one did not see any difference between you guys and the much older, more experienced bands that were allowed to be your "support acts" ;).

And if all this is not enough for you guys, I will tell you that I sang every song I could with you. I have got one of the best jobs in the world, but when I was standing in the front row, I knew I would give up all I have for being on the stage with you! If you are waiting for a good newspaper article tomorrow - you will get it - but I hope that these lines - that come from my heart - will mean just as much to you guys. I know you are way better without me, I know you all don't really know what to do with your lives yet, I know that you might never be corporate guys, teachers or anything else - for me, you will always be Rock Stars! I miss you a lot. Don't forget me and when you finally play the big festivals - I will be in the front row, as your manager or your biggest fan - and will tell people that I used to play with these great, creative Indie-guys! And maybe you will let me sing one last song with you, to make me feel the way you will do then, even if it is only for a few minutes.

"I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name"

Keep on rocking!

Yes, Nico...you rock - not only as a song writer - your voice is getting better and better!



My personal guitar hero, Rob!



The show...



...and the work before (soon, you will have rowdies) :)



Backstage.



Now it's "Rockin' Bayreuhth" soon it might be "Rock im Park" :)

OXEGEN Festival - Keep on rockin'

A few months ago, a colleague and I had a difficult decision to make: See one of the biggest rock festivals in Europe with an amazing line-up or keep the incredible amount of almost 250 Euro, which would be enough for two other festivals. In the end, we decided to buy the tickets, buy a tent, buy a decent supply of food, get a third person - our favourite intern ;) - to come with us and just do it. So enjoy my personal festival report, some videos made by me on YouTube and some pictures.

So Thursday night we packed a car with all those things - excluding the intern, who would come on Friday - and went to the festivalground on Punchestown Racecourse, around half an hour from Dublin. After having pitched the tent and making friends with our neighbours - within an hour everyone in a 200m-radius knew, we were "Ze Germans" and had tried their German skills on us - we realized how unbelievably big this was going to be. The campground was huge, including a supermarket, a tremendous number of food stands and camping shops. Apart from this there were two fairgrounds with amazing, yet expensive attractions. And the festival ground was even more impressive.

Friday morning the sun was shining and the first night in the tent had been more or less comfortable. After some German Bratwurst from the small barbecue we had brought, we felt ready to rock and went to the festivalground. Which was about the time it started raining for the first time. This did not keep us from seeing some great performances, starting with Therapy? and Lily Allen. Then we decided to go to the pit and have a better view for The Script (which none of my German friends might know, but let's say they are like the Irish "Wir sind Helden" or "Sportfreunde Stller" - and a real chick flick). Snow Patrol, who were on afterwards and were my personal favourite on Friday had a great show including some cool videos, which we were enjoying from the fifth row, with an amazing view back over thousands of people.



The headliners on Friday were Blur, who were a disappointment to me. Damon Albarn was so stoned, he was unable to remember his setlist, which is not an assumption, but a fact, because he admitted it between two songs. Still, I went crazy for "Song 2", for which we had to wait until the very end of course, although the band seemed pretty bored. Which is somehow understandable if you are always associated with one song, even if you are not a one-hit wonder.



Saturday my two fellow festivalgoers could not be bothered to get out of the tent and trade their afternoon nap against some decent rock music, so I prepared myself a festival bag (a 1,5 litre Tetra Pak with Vodka Orange, turned into a nice handbag by using duck tape) and went off to see The Blizzards on my own. The hardest decision was yet to come, because I was standing in the second row when James Morrison started playing and the next act on the Main Stage were the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - so would I trade my perfect position and the nice female company I had met in the pit for Maximo Park, who were playing at a smaller stage at the same time, or just stay in the pit. I chose the pit, got soaked like crazy as the strongest downpour of the weekend started and also saw Elbow before finally my personal favourite was on: Bloc Party.



Or for an even better video of my favourite Bloc Party-song go to MTV. If you look hard, you can even see me in their footage. In this moment I had been in the pit for six hours without anything to drink or a toilet and no chance to get back to my place if I gave in to my basic needs. So I just went crazy and forgot about my thirst, my bursting bladder and the fact that I was soaked despite my raincoat. And if you are in the pit with a girl who wants to see Kings of Leon and without having heard from you friends in hours (the mobile network had a time lag there) you will stay there and shout "Sex on Fire". After over eight hours in the pit, I still had to skip their encore, because the girl I was with had fainted and I was gentleman enough to accompany her to the first aid tent - also because I might have been close to fainting from pure exhaustion myself.

So my first decision for Sunday was: No pit for me! The second decision was that we were all dying for a shower and a decent bed and so we carried our tent and supplies to the car before we went to the festival. The fist band we saw were the White Lies and then came the biggest surprise of the weekend. After we had gotten a glimpse of Lady Gaga's crazy performance of kneeling on a bench and playing an acoustic version of "Pokerface" on a piano while holding her nearly naked booty into the cameras, we enjoyed a show I would never have thought to be good - so my price for the hottest and most talented female goes to: Katy Perry! Her show was awesome and the crowd went crazy after she had covered Queens "Don't stop me now" and then played "I kissed a girl".





After seeing The Ting Tings, we went off to the main stage to finish our festival experience with Razorlight and The Killers. I have to say though, I liked The Killers better last year on a small German festival called Highfield. They played on Friday night and it was great. Still, I think a festival needs some decent rock to finish off with and not a cool rock band that turned mainstream (no offense guys, I still like you and was to one to shouted his lungs out for "Mr. Brightside"). So think about inviting The Beatsteaks to Oxegen next year! :) All in all the whole festival was fun and I managed to stay pretty clean until the very end when people went crazy in the mud. So let me cite my friend and colleague Florian: "Who needs a mosh pit when you can have a mud pit?"



Snow Patrol



My soaking friends



It is insulting, but at least the owners are German and Bratwurst IS selling



Prepared to rock!



My favourite festival picture



The fellowship of Oxegen



Did I mention the rain?



Decent German beer made our day.



Blur in action 1



Blur in action 2



Shadow play during The Killers



The mud pit...



...and me being a little less enthusiastic about it.



Rain shelters can be found everywhere



Katy Perry and her...umm...little present she got from her fans

Indie-Pop Music Video shot in my "backyard"

I would like to share this music video with you. The song is called "Lisztomania" and is performed by the French band Phoenix. I have to admit that I had not heard of the band before this song, but it seems to be quite well known and my favorite radio channel started playing it too. I haven't quite figured out, what the song has to do with the composer Franz Liszt, but at least he seems to be the reason, why the music video was shot in my beautiful hometown Bayreuth. Apart from the Liszt Museum it features some popular sites like the Festspielhaus and the Villa Wahnfried - which makes me wonder why the song is not called Wagneromania, but I guess that would not have sounded as good.

Minute 2:10 you can see the "Hofgarten", my former backyard and still one of the loveliest places to spend summer days in Bayreuth. Precious memories circle around this park: Walking to university, coming home drunk at night, sitting on the grass making music with the guys, celebrating our A-levels, kissing a certain girl, being dumped by a very special girl last summer, feeding the ducks, listening to Bezza's tunes and a million more.

So see for yourself and I hope you enjoy it. By the way: Does any of you know how I can share a music file, like MP3 with you via this blog? I guess it is not directly possible due to copyright constraints, but I have recorded a song and would like to share it with you. And there are more to come. Music has got me back - for what it is worth.

A tribute to The Missing Link

And by the way: Thank you for the music. I miss you guys!

Long busy weekend 1 - Kaiser Chiefs at the O2

It is monday night and the first opportunity for me to take a very deep breath, think about an amazing weekend behind me and start to share what I have seen, done and heard in the last days.

On Thursday Thorsten, a felow alumni from my exam year at university, arrived and sure enough I already had a good programme for the night. I had booked two tickets for the Kaiser Chiefs about a week after I arrived in Dublin, determined to decide who to take with my on short notice. Thorsten happened to be lucky, when he decided to come to Dublin about a week ago.

So directly after work we hurried to get there by 18.30 because in my German brain a concert starting 18.30 means being there at 18.30 ;-). Which of course was stupid, but at least we had time to see the two opening bands. One of which was worth seeing at least.

The first band "Danananakroyd" played old school hardcore punk. Well, let's say it was interesting. They had two drummers - mostly to allow them to take turns in standing up from the drumset and jumping around like crazy. The guitar riffs weren't bad, but the two singers - or rather shouters were just awful.

Opening band number two was pretty good. The "Black Kids" consisted of two women behind keyboards and an androgynous guitarist. They played a mixture of rock, funk an seventies disco - at least from my interpretation. Hear for yourself on http://www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock. What I learned from them is that women can look aesthetic when they dance even though they are standing behind a keyboard and singing in high-pitched voices.

Then came the band we had been waiting for. To be honest I have mostly been waiting for one song to go crazy on it. I am not to sure if it was a good idea to have seats booked. In the moment they finally played "Ruby" I would have loved to be in the crowd. So two songs before they left the stage I finally convinced Thorsten to come down with me and jump up and down shouting meaningless bits of lyrics that might not even belong to the song they were playing at the moment. So it was fun! I have seen better concerts. And if Franz Ferdinand would not have been sold out, I might have gone there, but the Kaiser Chiefs were worth their money and we had a good night out!

At the Hard Rock Café

An meinem letzten Abend auf Bali sollte ich noch einmal etwas Besonderes erleben. Ich hatte schon auf der Fahrt über Java Plakate für ein Konzert im Hard Rock Café gesehen. Angels and Airwaves, die Band von Tom DeLonge, einem der früheren Sänger von Blink 182 – dem mit der cooleren Stimme –, spielte dort. Also bin ich heute mittag mit einem geliehenen Roller nach Kuta gefahren und habe mir eine Karte besorgt.

Den restlichen Nachmittag verbrachte ich damit, meinen Zimmernachbarn – mehr oder weniger freiwillig - kennen zu lernen. Bali war früher eine bei Hippies sehr beliebte Insel und Bobbi ist einer von denjenigen, die sie bis heute nicht verlassen haben. Er kommt ursprünglich aus Regensburg, lebt aber schon seit dreißig Jahren hier. Und er erzählt verdammt gern. Dass er früher für die Bee Gees Songs geschrieben hat zum Beispiel. Dass er mit dem VW-Bus bis nach Malaysia gefahren ist um dann nach Bali überzusetzen. Und, und, und... Was davon wahr ist? Keine Ahnung, aber es ist ganz unterhaltsam, sich einmal mit einem solchen „Übrig Gebliebenem“ zu unterhalten.

Abends ging es dann also nach Kuta. Das Konzert fing um zehn an und man muss sagen, dass Angels and Airwaves ziemlich gut gerockt haben. Zumal sie das ganze Konzert nur mit Akustikgitarren gespielt haben. Das hat sehr gut gepasst und die Atmosphäre war toll, da nur wenige Leute in die Location passen und man so ein bisschen Wohnzimmerfeeling wie bei MTV Unplugged hatte. Leider haben die Jungs auch nur eine knappe Stunde gespielt, weil sie danach angeblich ihren Flieger erwischen mussten. Mir hat es jedenfalls sehr gefallen, vor allem die markante Stimme des Sängers zusammen mit den Akustikklampfen. Das war sogar den Rückweg auf dem Roller durch strömenden balinesischen Regen wert. Jetzt habe ich hier also auch noch etwas unternommen und kann mich jetzt auf neue Erlebnisse in Sydney freuen. Euch allen bei 35 Grad eine besinnliche Adventszeit!

Kommentare zu den Bildern:

1) Wieviel Schafe passen auf eine Fahrradrikscha?
2) Buspanne 1.30 nachts
3) Bali - hinduistische Insel im islamischen Indonesien... und das merkt man
4) Das Hard Rock Cafe
5) Tom DeLong in Action

Abschiedsparty

Was wäre eine Reise ohne vorherige Abschiedsparty? Deshalb fange ich auch das Blog chronologisch an und bespaße euch mit Fotos von einem Abend, an dem zumindest ich meine Freude hatte. Ich hoffe ihr hattet ebenfalls Spaß. Ich fand es toll, dass ihr alle da wart. An dieser Stelle liebe Grüße an alle Partygäste und tausend Dank an The Missing Link, den lieben Bene und alle fleißigen Helfer.