Schwarzer Engel

Shortly after the end of their successful tour for their current album, ‘Kult der Krähe’, SCHWARZER ENGEL opened the second festival day on the Main Stage. In the big festival tent it may have been noticed that not all visitors were completely fit yet! Despite this, well over 1,000 fans had come to experience the SCHWARZER ENGEL show. A big backdrop was hung up with the lettering of the band. Singer Dave stood behind a desk. In the gloomy light, the first notes of ‘Krähen an die Macht’ were heard – the opener of the recent album ‘Kult der Krähe’. For a band that has just recently come off a headline tour, it is certainly not easy to omit half of the songs for a festival because of the shorter playing time, but the song selection seemed to have certainly hit the taste of the fans. In the first rows almost every word was diligently sung. Finally, there came one of the band’s classics, ‘Königin der Nacht’ from the album ‘Träume einer Nacht’ to end a great metal concert.

Setlist
01. Krähen An Die Macht
02. Meine Liebe
03. Schwarze Sonne
04. Sinntflut
05. Geister Und Dämonen
06. Ritt Der Toten
07. Traum Einer Nacht
08. Futter Für Die See
09. Himmelwärts
10. Psycho-Path
11 Königin Der Nacht

Absurd Minds

The Dresden Dark Wave / Electro band ABSURD MINDS published their current album, ‘Tempus Fugit’, in early 2017. In the summer of 2018 they will be the support act for VNV NATION at the Wasserschloss Klaffenbach. The club was suddenly full as ABSURD MINDS began their concert. It can be unusual for an electronic band to go on stage with four people, but this was an advantage for them that was very noticeable live. They had a great sound that will definitely work in the summer especially on the big open-air stage at the Schloss Klaffenbach. By the third piece, the great song ‘I’m Dying Alone’, the concert felt like it was already reaching an absolute climax. The performance of this Dresden band was very varied since also keyboarder Nick partly sang along. It was a nice concert in a now very warm club.

Setlist
01. Descent
02. Countdown
03. I’m Dying Alone
04. For Those Who Love
05. Interconnectedness
06. Self Imposed
07. Stop The Fall
08. A Man Received The Answer ’05
09. Dependence
10. Brainwash

Unzucht

The band UNZUCHT was just in the middle of their “Todsünde Total” tour. Specialness lies in the variety of the festival experience and the mood promised something special with this band. A special highlight awaits them as they will play the legendary Gothic Meets Klassik concert series in Leipzig in the autumn. The band took to the stage at 4pm in the now very well-filled big tent. Unsurprising as – after all – UNZUCHT has a large fan base. The atmosphere was great and many hands in the audience clapped along to songs providing a great sight.

The music of UNZUCHT really works on all stages, whether in the small club or at a big festival, as they really captivate the spectators with their melodious Dark Rock. Although if you observe the body language of the band, you realize that they may actually prefer not to present their songs on a stage. The band offered a nice mix of songs from the now almost 10 year old band history. They said goodbye to the audience with their hymn ‘Nur Die Ewigkeit’.

Setlist
01. Sind Wir Allein
02. Engel Der Vernichtung
03. Unzucht
04. Der Letzte Tanz
05. Deine Zeit Läuft Ab
06. Widerstand
07. Lava
08. Ein Wort Fliegt Wie Ein Stein
09. Nur Die Ewigkeit

Johnny Deathshadow

Playing live is what they do best. In March, shortly before Plage Noire, they went out on a big tour with CYPECORE, followed by a slot as support act on the road for DIE KRUPPS. There are already plans for February 2019 as it was recently announced that JOHNNY DEATHSHADOW will make the clubs in Germany quaking together with HELL BOULEVARD. JOHNNY DEATHSHADOW played in the smaller venue “La Rotonde”. It was already well filled at the beginning and further after a few minutes with the people who had previously been watching UNZUCHT. They were all warmly greeted by singer Jonathan. The band was generally very sociable with the audience, which of course was only a few inches away from the band. Jonathan said he speaks to the audience so much because the band doesn’t have so many songs, but they still have to fill up an hour… which of course is only fun. It was an absolutely atmospheric concert where both the band and the audience had a lot of fun. They played the same set as on their recent tour and said goodbye to the fans with the totally cool song ‘Kill the Lights’. JOHNNY DEATHSHADOW is one band that I could really watch live every week.

Setlist
01. Shadow
02. Bleed With Me
03. Black Clouds
04. Sleeper
05. Land Of The Dead
06. The Slow Departure
07 Apocalypse Trigger
08. Forever
09. Ghost
10. Kill The Lights

Lord Of The Lost

A surprise in the house of LORD OF THE LOST as the man behind the keyboard, Gared Dirge, had been simply “borrowed” by no less than world star DAVID HASSELHOFF for his tour. The fans were certainly curious in advance as to how the band will compensate for this “failure”. This secret was aired before the concert for all fans that were at the autograph session. Onto the stage actually came only four. In the dense fog, only the outlines of the musicians were seen at first. Cracking Rock and Metal sounds flooded the tent, which was now very well filled. Of course singer Chris sent a greeting to Gared, who will soon come back to the band. The band also did not use any technique to replace Gared, they simply played the keyboard sounds with the guitar. This sounded a bit unusual for some songs, like ‘Six Feet Underground’ or ‘Dry the Rain’, but also somewhat cool. You won’t get to hear the songs that way often. The whole audience clapped and sang along when asked by Chris.

An insanely great mood was now in “Le Chapiteau” with small groups dancing at the sides. Later, almost everyone was moving along to the music. During ‘Prison’ the entire audience sang “What is heaven for? What is life meant to be?” Wow! A real Goosebumps moment! On ‘Fists up in the Air’, Chris rose to the barrier and was now very close to the emotive crowd – the band and crowd almost existed as one. Especially memorable was Chris’ speech about the peaceful co-existence at this and other Gothic festivals. He said he was very proud of it and if all the people in the world were like us, there would be far fewer problems. A very emotional moment for which he got a lot of deserved applause.

Setlist
01. Intro /Empyrean
02. Drag Me To Hell
03. Miss Machine
04. Interstellar Wars
05. Last Words
06. Kingdom Come
07. Black Lolita
08. Die Tomorrow
09. Prison
10. Kill It With Fire
11. Six Feet Underground
12. The Love Of God
13. Fists Up In The Air
14. We’re All Created Evil
15. La Bomba
16. Dry The Rain
17. Drumsolo
18. No Gods, No War
19. Blood For Blood
20. In Silence
21. Raining Stars
22. Outro ‘Hoff’

Frozen Plasma

FROZEN PLASMA is a German Electro Pop band formed in 2005. They have already appeared at almost all known scene festivals and their appearance at the 2012 Wave Gotik Treffen has been released as a live CD. Following DIORAMA’s cancellation, FROZEN PLASMA – a band worthy of notice – stepped up. Kudos to the organizer for the smooth filling of the gap! The concert began with the song ‘Age after Age’, the opener of the current album ‘Decadence’. A short song but it sparked a fire in the audience.

They announced a new song that had been released only one day before the gig: ‘Safe.Dead.Harm’ with singer Felix dedicating the song to all those who celebrated their birthday on the day. Overall it was a really cool concert with the band also presenting some of their songs in German. Due to the cancellation Diorama is definitely a hot candidate for the Plage Noire 2019.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. Age After Age
03. Foolish Dreams
04. Earthling
05. Safe.Dead.Harm
06. Herz
07. Generations Of The Lost
08. Speed Of Life
09. Maniac
10. Irony
11. Crazy
12. Living On Video
13. Tanz Die Revolution
14. Murderous Trap

Blutengel

The live shows of BLUTENGEL are legendary. Appearing on sale during this weekend is one of their very special live concert DVDs, ‘Live at the Wasserschloss Klaffenbach 2016’, a must-have for every fan. Over the last few years they have become a really great live band with extreme sounds from guitar, keyboards and drums. At first there were some technical problems with radio connection to Chris’ in-ear monitors but it was quickly fixed. The crystal clear voice of singer Ulrike echoed through the tent and sparked goose bumps. The well-known keyboard sound of ‘Lucifer’ was well received. In the song ‘Angel’s Blood’, almost everyone in the audience accepted the invitation to sing along. As always, there were a lot of visuals including dancers with devil’s horns and large paintings on stage. In the set, of course, there was the absolute classic of the band: ‘Bloody Pleasures’. During ‘Save Us’, large columns of smoke rose again and again. It was musically and visually a first class concert.

Setlist
01. Intro – Welcome To Your New Life
02. The War Between Us
03. Dein Gott
04. Gott:Glaube
05. Lucifer
06. Engelsblut
07. Say Something
08. Bloody Pleasures
09. Save Us
10. Children Of The Night
11. Unser Weg
12. Leitbild
13. You Walk Away
14. Seelenschmerz
15. Asche Zu Asche
16. Black
17. Reich Mir Die Hand

Die Krupps

‘Fuck You!’ is the name of the current single of the band DIE KRUPPS. Just like the title, the cover of the single is also remarkable. The Plage Noire event came right in the middle of a string of DIE KRUPPS concerts. For example, the band played a concert in Berlin and Wiesbaden just days before the festival. At first there was a short delay caused by some technical problems in the construction, but after about 15 minutes the concert began. The fans were compensated for their patient waiting with an energetic show. Jürgen Engler and Co. were in an absolutely great mood and the clear sound of the guitars echoed throughout the whole room of the “Salle de Fete”. Classics like ‘Fatherland’ and ‘To the Hilt’ were belted up as well as the current single ‘Fuck You’. An absolutely great show in a completely full club! Despite the delay to the start the band managed to play all planned songs.

Setlist
01. Die Verdammten (Intro)
02. Kaltes Herz
03. Dawning Of Doom
04. Isolation
05. Der Amboss
06. Schmutzfabrik
07. Fly Martyrs Fly
08. Scent
09. Fuck You
10. To The Hilt
11. Metal Machine Music
12. Robo Sapien
13. Nazis Auf Speed
14. Fatherland
15. Machineries Of Joy
16. Bloodsuckers

Florian Grey

FLORIAN GREY will publish his second album in mid-May, expected to be more rocky and edgy than its predecessor. The first single ‘My Babylon’ definitely makes you want more. Some of the new pieces were presented by FLORIAN GREY to the fans for the first time live. The band started the concert with a new song and the audience was in a great mood from the first sound. Everything ran perfectly and the band was determined in the desire to make their mark on this festival. In the middle of the concert there were however a few technical problems. FLORIAN GREY and band had to play three songs without playback but still rocked. The band has proven that it is possible to get along without technology and not necessarily need backing tracks. They played ‘Blood in a Shell’, another song from the upcoming album. “Le Rotonde” was completely full and the atmosphere overwhelmingly positive. The crowd was very loud in their desire for an encore but unfortunately had no effect, although this is common at festivals. A solid live appearance and an unforgettable concert for fans despite the technical glitches!

Setlist
01. Until We Go Down
02. Strange Ways
03. A Black Symphony
04. My Fear
05. Laudanum
06. Blood In A Shell
07. Nocturne
08. Blurry
09. The End
10. In Control

Subway To Sally

For more than 25 years, SUBWAY TO SALLY has endured. Many of their albums have stormed the German album charts. With their Medieval Rock they are an integral part of the annual concert series “Eisheilige Nacht”. This summer, among other things, they will play on the fortress of Königstein. The band arrived on stage a few minutes late and the many fans were waiting impatiently. Even without a band, the great mood in the tent was already felt. As always, SUBWAY TO SALLY delivered a great show. People, who saw the band for the first time live tonight, were in for a treat. Especially eye-catching is violinist Ally with her very long blond hair, who has been part of the band for just a few years. There was a total party mood at the song ‘Julia und die Räuber’, with singer Eric playing bagpipes. Almost everyone sang along with ‘Eisblumen’. A truly great festival appearance from the Potsdam based band!

Ewigheim

The German band EWIGHEIM consists of musicians of the bands of Eisregen and THE VISION BLEAK. Their performance was ending the second day of the festival on the smaller stage “La Rotonde”. EWIGHEIM started the set with the slow piece ‘Drei Punkte’ and the audience was not yet directly engaged with the stage. That changed with the next faster songs and now audience members from the SUBWAY TO SALLY concert also came in droves and the little club was full in a flash. The mood now rose from song to song. The band delivered a great concert with German-language Metal. The audience was thrilled. Unfortunately, some left the concert prematurely, since in the big tent the headliner of the festival was starting. EWIGHEIM are a band that should definitely be seen live again.

Setlist
01. Drei Punkte
02. Nachruf
03. Motten
04. Schneemann
05. Falsches Herz
06. Käfer
07. Leiche Zur See
08. Schatten
09. Der Preis
10. Morgenrot
11. Heimweg
12. Rückgrat

VNV Nation

As headliners and crowning end of a great festival, the fans were treated to the experience of VNV NATION, the Irish Electro-Pop band. Their album ‘Resonance’, which was recorded together with the Film Orchestra Babelsberg which is very well known in Germany, reached the top 10 of the German charts. A big German tour has been announced for the autumn of 2018, and at the beginning of next year they tour across the UK. As the last band of Plage Noire 2018, VNV NATION took to the stage. “Le Chapiteau” was now completely full. The audience experienced Ronan Harris in his top form. As he is accustomed to, he prowled like a tiger from one side of the stage to the other. The concert began with the powerful beats of the song ‘Retaliate’ from the album ‘Transnational’. As always, Ronan spoke in German with the fans and inquired several times whether everyone is doing well and having fun. However, he made the announcement for the song ‘Illusion’ in English.

Ronan continued to sing with this wonderful song, one of the most famous of the band, and left it to the audience to wave their arms, many with the light of the smartphone. A beautiful moment and sight, certainly for the singer! After that the music continued briskly and during ‘Standing’ everyone diligently continued dancing, and again with ‘Nova’, another one of these wonderful, soulful slower songs. The finale was the hymn ‘Perpetual’ and Ronan, together with the audience, brought this truly beautiful festival to an end.

Setlist
01. Retaliate
02. Sentinel
03. Testament
04. Nemesis
05. Further
06. Legion
07. Honour 2003
08. Primary
09. Illusion
10. Standing
11. Space And Time
12. Control
13. Nova
14. Resolution
15. Perpetual