Bohren & der Club of Gore - Black, Theatre, Jazz, Smoke and unexpected Encores
The moment I found about about Germany’s finest noir/doom jazz band Bohren und der Club of Gore was litteraly a week after they played the show in Amsterdam, Paradiso, which made me pretty emo. Luckily, 2010 delivered the goods already and Theater de Kikker in Utrecht pleased us with an exclusive one off show from one of the world’s slowest bands ever.
Apparently this was a very exclusive performance as the concert was located in a beautiful theatre and the show was seated with only about 200 tickets being sold. Glad I got my ticket early as the show was completely sold out! Soon after everyone took their seat all the lights went off and Bohren und der Club of Gore entered the stage with only minimal lights targeted on the members of the band. Together with some smoke and the nice theatre the perfect setting for a Bohren gig! The band played a brilliant setlist of about an hour and a half, showcasing new and old material. Besides their new track ‘Mitleid Lady’ that just got released late last year, they also played some Dolores material such as ‘Staub’, ‘Karin’ and ‘Unkreich’, Black Earth material like ‘Destroying Angels’ and the beautiful track ‘Kleine Finger’ from Geisterfaust* just before the encores. Saxophone, piano and Rhodes player Christoph Clöser talked a bit between the tracks, making it an even more enjoyable performance. “So this is going to be the last song of the evening and we already decided before the show to do two encores. So the last song of the evening will be ‘Kleine Finger’ and after that we will stand in the back of the room and you will clap and we will play two encores”. Picture this with the lack of English vocabulary and the German accent said by a sort of business man in suit and you’ll understand the audience laughed their assess off between the tracks. According to some, the set was a bit too long but I enjoyed every minute of it. Luckily the audience kept quiet during the set, unlike some shows I’ve witnessed from other “slow bands”. The perfect setting, a great and varied setlist and the humoristic twist between the tracks made this performance one for the year lists already. Perhaps their performance at Roadburn in April can convince me even more?
* Everyone should pay attention to this last track from Geisterfaust by the way. The fact that there is no sax on the whole album except that it only comes in at the end of this track with such beauty makes it one of the most memorable pieces of musical history! Completely underrated!