My Top 9 albums of 2018

How many times can you possibly listen to the same album over and over again? 2018 was an amazing year for new music. My three most favourite bands released new music, I basically had no choice but to put them in the top 3 spots on the list. But even apart from those, there were …

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls – Be More Kind Tour (Sporthalle, Hamburg)

"Because there's no such thing as rock stars, they're just people who play music..." In spring 2011 I went to see Social Distortion at the last of four gigs in a row they played at the Docks club in Hamburg. Nothing memorable about their show for me... I enjoyed it I think. The support act …

Ghost – A Pale Tour Named Death (Royal Albert Hall, London)

Asked about festival shows in interviews, 'the man behind the mask' of Ghost often says that they should only be considered a trailer for the real headline shows. And even though some of the festival sets I've seen from Ghost are very close to my heart (actually I consider for example the Tuska 2016 or …

Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending (Mehr! Theater Hamburg, De Oosterpoort Groningen)

I don't like listening to the same kind of music over and over again. Especially I don't need tons of bands that all sound more or less the same. On the contrary, I'm always searching for new sounds and things I haven't heard before, bands that surprise and impress me. Which gets difficult after a …

Muse – By Request (La Cigale, Paris)

If you had told me last summer that only six months after Muse's mindblowing gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London I would see them at another intimate venue for another 'by request' gig, I would have had a hard time believing you. The announcement of this gig at La Cigale in Paris came …

Enter Shikari – In Celebration Of The Spark (Mehr! Theater Hamburg)

"Warning! This escalates quickly!" I have to be honest: My expectations for this gig were really low. Because ever since I got into Enter Shikari around 2011/2012, I enjoyed their gigs a little less and less whenever I saw them, as they tended to get lost in remixes and long interludes instead of keeping the …

Kasabian – For Crying Out Live (Columbiahalle Berlin / Mehr! Theater Hamburg)

Is it still cool to be a Kasabian fan? Or are they too 'mainstream' by now and therefore automatically considered extremely uncool? Not that I'd really care about things like that - I have great memories from their last tours, so it goes without saying that I bought tickets for this tour again. And I …

Leprous, Agent Fresco – Malina Tour (Logo Hamburg)

In the heart of Hamburg's university district, amidst hip vegan cafés, business buildings and the ancient library, there is one very low building surrounded by very high buildings. This litte black shack hosts the Logo music club, with a stage not much higher than 30cm, a ceiling so low that very tall musicians have to …

Muse and others, Reading Festival 2017

(scroll down if you’re here to read about Muse...) Eight days after Muse’s insane ‚by request‘ gig, I found myself at the airport again. Same time (fucking early), same flight number, same destination: London Stansted! But this time, London was just a stop-off on the way to Reading, which is easy to reach by train …

Muse – By Request, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

The band said they'd play whatever songs the fans would vote. The fans voted rarities, oldies, B-sides, songs that have never been played before. The band kept word.... But let's begin in the beginning. When Muse announced a show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire (which is incredibly small by Muse standards with a capacity of only …