International Events (Reviews)

September 19, 2012

Nocturnal Culture Night Sep-07-09, 2012 in Kulturpark Deutzen, Deutzen bei Leipzig: Viva Music Review and Photos

Filed under: International Events (Reviews) — Tags: 2012, A Life Divided, age of heaven, agonoize, angelspit, clan of xymox, coinside, cronos titan, dance or die, deutzen bei leipzig, dive, eisenfunk, eric fish, fernthal, festivals, fliehende stuerme, hekate, in legend, kmfdm, kulturpark deutzen, maerzfeld, ncn 2012, ncn festival, nocturnal culture night, nosferatu, nova-spes, opusculum, orange sector, peter hook, pink turns blue, principe valiente, rummelsnuff, sono, spock, substaat, suicide commando, the beauty of gemina, the flood, The Wars, tying tiffany, versus, viva music photos, viva music review — admin @ 6:34 pm

NCN is a festival for the heart. Every time we leave NCN on Sunday night, we leave a piece of our heart in Deutzen bei Leipzig. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as the end of each festival also brings along the thrill for the next one and the feverish curiosity to see what incredible bands are already announced for next year.

More than 35 bands played on three stages, there were fashion shows, after parties, reading sessions and movies. The medieval fair entertained the approximately 2000 visitors with amazing art performances, crafts, games, poetry, joggling and even a girl on stilts and a guy riding a huge dragon (who spoke perfect Romanian). Everyone was relaxed and everything started as scheduled, the food was awesome ranging from the superdonuts at the entrance to the grilled sausages and all kinds of meat and we could buy souvenirs and band merchandise.

NCN 2012 (Sep-07-09) was even more special for us as we met our dear friends and we had the chance to see for the first time live so many new bands! Our special thanks go to the organizers of NCN, very hard working people who really go the extra mile when it comes to the participants’ comfort and entertainment. We feel like home in the Kulturpark Deutzen every year, and we hope we can keep the tradition of visiting NCN from now on. Congratulations and thanks!

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIENCE & ATMOSPHERE PHOTOS @NCN FESTIVAL 2012

Day One | Day Two | Day Three

Day One – Friday – 07-Sep: Kleine Buehne | Grosse Buehne

Day One – Kleine Buehne: Coinside | Dance or Die | Nosferatu | Orange Sector

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July 27, 2012

Amphi Festival 2012: Viva Music Review, Jul-21&22, Cologne

Amphi Festival took over Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen for the 8th time! With a very clever choice of acts, and overall perfect organization, Amphi stated once more its position as one of the central events for the electro and industrial scenes. As it often happens, a sold-out event weeks before its start, Amphi Festival provided quality entertainment, very good facilities and considerable fuel for a crowd of almost two score of thousands. With early starts on both festival days, both on Saturday Jul-21 and Sunday Jul-22, the festival comforted the audience with a solid palette of both on the outdoor main stage and in the nearby Staatenhaus, as well as alternative entertainment in the Theater building. If you add to the set of concerts the wide array of stands, facilities, areas (including the famed beach zone), you could have practically spent a whole festival day just digging through bargains and taking your time in front of quite varied meals and still call it a full day. Or day and night! Because after countless concerts in the various venues of the area, DJ sets went on until the early hours of morn. But as a yearly convention of already sufficient stance, Amphi Festival meant, of course, a probe of temperature and color in today’s scene, and if audience reactions stand for anything, we’re all good, the entertainment is still varied, the ethos of the scene is still valid and vivid, people still feel the urge to dress up and make a stand, and the music sounds as good as ever.

Viva Music would like to take a minute to thank for the opportunity to be there and enjoy Amphi Festival 2012 to: the flawless clockwork organizing team, to the numberless artists and tech personnel who made concerts happen, and to the beating heart of the audience, which keeps our scene alive and kicking. And if you missed Amphi Festival this year, put these two things down on your to-do list: (1) read our act-by-act review and browse the individual photo galleries; (2) book in time your Amphi Festival 2013 experience: with tickets already on sale this coming week on Aug-01, and the first acts to be confirmed on Aug-13. Amphi Festival 2013 will take place on Jul-20 and Jul-21 in Tanzbrunnen Cologne. (more…)

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May 5, 2012

Industrial Booom – ReBoot Festival – Apr-27-29, in Budapest, Hungary: Viva Music Review

Industrial Booom – ReBoot Festival is one event we were definitely eager to attend. To begin with, we are always happy to see the scene evolve and manifest itself in our part of Europe, and the scene of Budapest, especially after last year’s Industrial Booom, was something we were curious to check out. Then this year’s lineup screamed thrill coming our way, and we could not resist it. Guided and welcomed by the extremely helpful and accommodating professionals who organized the Budapest event, Black Head Agency, we attended Industrial Booom – ReBoot Festival in Budapest, Hungary, between Apr-27 and Apr-29 and were simply thrilled. Our thanks go to the organizers, to the nice emerging dark scene of Budapest, and needless to say, to the artists who gave their best on the stage of Barba Negra Music Club, a truly great venue, with everything from a VIP lounge to a kitchen, as well as a great stage and sound system, a welcoming concert hall, and a smoking ban that was appreciated even by smokers.

The event lasted for three days, and each day was given a special name to accommodate the genres and acts who were performing. The first day, Fri, Apr-27, entitled Mechanix Day, was the day in which First Aid 4 Souls, Decoded Feedback, Haujobb, The Neon Judgement, 32Crash and Project Pitchfork went up on stage. Then on the second day, Sat, Apr-28, we witnessed the Electronic Body Day, with acts such as Escalator, Absolute Body Control, Klutae, Spetsnaz, Front 242, and The Juggernauts. Finally, the Dark Side Day, on Sun, Apr-29, meant incredibly good performances from The Arch, Sonar, Dance or Die, In Strict Confidence, Clan of Xymox, and Diary of Dreams. Belgium was the most represented country if you think of the nationalities of bands, with seven acts, closely followed by Germany with five. Local acts from Hungary, two of them, as well as acts from Canada, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, one each, completed the beautiful and clever lineup of the festival.

Detailed festival concert reviews illustrated with event photography can be accessed below by scrolling or by clicking on the days and act names from their respective menus.

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September 8, 2011

Nocturnal Culture Night #6 in Deutzen bei Leipzig – 02-04-September – Viva Music Review and Photos

Day One | Day Two | Day Three

About NCN Festival

Nocturnal Culture Night celebrated in the truest sense of the meaning its sixth edition in Deutzen bei Leipzig between Sep-02 and Sep-04 with a killer lineup and a very appealing atmosphere. With ups and downs due to the times of the shows (some of them took place kind of early for the party fatigue building up especially on the second and third days), the audience topped 2k participants who were in their entirety a big family. Everywhere you went, you found people smiling, ready to help and to enjoy together the shows or the side entertainment that were carefully and laid out smoothly by the organizers. With the exception of the unpredictable, to which the same organizers were able to save face wonderfully (the power cut on the second day), the festival could not have been thought up in a fancier and friendlier manner.

To begin with, the shows – they all started on time making the festival a big Japanese train station. The bands were introduced on stage coherently and with great enthusiasm, but only in German. Even after the power cut had been mended, the shows quickened their pace, so that the expected end time would be the same, and bands and audience alike showed understanding faced with the mishap. The sound was overall good and that’s one thing to credit the venues for: both the mainstage (Grosse Buehne) and the smaller one (Kleine Buehne), which were located within reach, had a great surrounding and accommodated easily the hundreds of participants without impeding access and/or blocking the view of participants.

Participants at NCN Festival 2011 – photo gallery

The participants themselves were friendly, peaceful and really at ease with the festival setup. The family feeling was not given only by the fact that participants greeted one another, were courteous and their merry-making was probably the best example of community, but also by the numerous families with kids as young as 9 months (and who knows, even younger) who participated in the festival. Their spare time was divided between the cleverly arranged stands, food courts, playgrounds, quiet areas, shops and the medieval market that took place in the proximity of the main festival venue. The shopping choice was classy and the food was really good, while the refuse collection showed that having fun and being responsible can go hand in hand.

Medieval Market at NCN Festival 2011 – photo gallery

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July 20, 2011

Amphi Festival 2011 – 16&17-Jul, 2011 – Viva Music Review

Filed under: Amphi Festival,International Events (Reviews) — Tags: 2011, agonoize, amphi festival, amphi festival 2012, amphi festival 2012 info, clan of xymox, covenant, das ich, de/vision, depeche mode, diorama, dreadful shadows, Feindflug, frozen plasma, funkhausgruppe, grendel, hocico, in strict confidence, kirlian camera, klangstabil, leaetherstrip, mainstage, melotron, mind.in.a.box, staatenhaus, staubkind, suicide commando, ticket sale, viva music, viva music review, x rx, zeraphine — admin @ 5:02 pm

Day One | Day Two | The Aftermath

Amphi Festival: Day One, Saturday, July-16: General Review | Mainstage | Staatenhaus

General Review

The fact that this year’s Amphi was going to be a success was obvious from the very beginning: people teemed in large numbers, and arrived to the venue earlier that last year. This meant that the first act, [X]-RX had an impressive audience for a first act on the main stage. A breathtaking experience, the 2011 edition of Amphi Festival made us yearn for next year’s festival already! And, as a side-note, given the enthusiasm and size of the audience, Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen may prove pretty soon to be too small a venue for such an excellent event.

Compared to 2010, the number of 2011 participants was significantly higher – a reason to the point might be the diverse lineup – from electronica to gothic, and from noise to darkwave – add to that the excellent entertainment offered in-between, the 100%-giving, outgoing performances of all acts, and needless to say, the tireless, party-oriented audience – all contributed to the overall success of the 2011 edition of Amphi Festival.

Participants at Amphi Festival 2011 (Day One) – photo gallery (more…)

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July 12, 2011

Nordstern Festival, Hamburg, 08&09-July 2011: Viva Music Review

Filed under: International Events (Reviews),Nordstern Festival — Tags: absurd minds, architect, ascii.disko, blitzmaschine, combichrist, diorama, empirion, festival review, frozen plasma, hamburg, iamx, klangstabil, neuwerk, nordstern 2011, nordstern 2012, nordstern photo galeries, norstern festival, slave republic, sono, viva music, viva music review, vnv nation — admin @ 10:55 pm

Viva Music wants to thank Neuwerk Music Management and all the participants in the first edition of Nordstern Festival for an awesome experience. Let’s do it again!

Day One (below) | Day Two

Day One: July-08, 2011 Nordstern Festival @Markthalle

The venue

Hamburg’s own dark and electro festival debuted with a first evening in the generous venue of Markthalle. With a good club and concert venue layout, Markthalle proved not only to be a very accessible location (in the immediate vicinity of Hamburg’s central train station and with a myriad of means of transportation within reach of the avid concert-goer), but also a plausible choice for the size of the event and the needs of the audience. Bedecked with a no-wait bar, food stand, coatroom and merchandise stands, the venue was impressive, with good acoustics and a wonderful coordination of sound and lighting, thanks to Neuwerk’s team of skilled professionals. Though the 2-day festival passes were sold out before even the event kicked off, the management made a few 1-day tickets available at the front counter, so that late-comers to the festival could enjoy it, too. back to top (more…)

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August 11, 2010

Amphi Festival 2010 review: Day 2

Filed under: International Events (Reviews) — Tags: amphi festival, blitzkid, combichrist, coppelius, depeche mode, diary of dreams, eisbrecher, escape with romeo, ext!ze, frank the baptist, front line assembly, leaves' eyes, letzte instanz, mesh, mono inc., rabia sorda, viva music, vnv nation — admin @ 1:12 pm

Day 2 – July 25, 2010

Photo gallery – participants, venue

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EXT!ZE (Mainstage)

Since 2007, CYB3ERELLA, CYB3RSLUT, IONIC MATRIX, CYB3ERCORE have released 3 albums and their music is very popular with cosmopolitan clubheads. It is very danceable and includes classical pieces such as samples from Carmina Burana. According to side-line.com: “This band can be the next sensation from the dark cyber electro scene!”.

EXT!ZE was the act closest to the hearts of the cyber-goth audience. They stirred the spirits of young cyber fans, and made them dance frantically to electro beats like no other although it was still early afternoon. Their soundscape is redolent of techno, trance, electro and some industrial as well – what’s there not to like?. The cyberaudience was ecstatic with this single 100% cyber band at AMPHI FESTIVAL. More info on: http://www.myspace.com/ext1ze and http://www.extize.com.

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August 10, 2010

Amphi Festival 2010 review: Day 1

Filed under: International Events (Reviews) — Tags: amphi festival, and one, anne clark, ashbury heights, asp, blackfield festival, blutengel, combichrist, concert, cruxshadows, darkwave, destroid, din a tod, eisbrecher, electro, end of green, faderhead, festival, festival in romania, funker vogt, goth, industrial, letzte instanz, lyrics, mainstange, miss construction, nachtmahr, patenbrigar, project pitchfork, samas traum, skinny puppy, solitary experiments, staatenhaus, travis, welle: erdball, zin — admin @ 8:37 am

AMPHI FESTIVAL in Cologne, Germany is the smartest and most convenient festival I have ever attended. It was obvious on July 24 and 25, 2010 that the organizer had definitely worked very hard to make all the 16,000 participants feel entertained and satisfied.

The clout of this festival was made of: the participants (amazing crowd of amazing dancers and party people, donning wonderful outfits – sometimes the audience were better dressed than the band members), the organization, the venue (amazing view of the Rhine, beach bar and lounge, small and large places to sit down, terraces and benches, in the shade or in the sun, vegetation everywhere). The location gives you the feeling of an all inclusive holiday club with another 16,000 people who are also enjoying themselves to the max.

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July 1, 2010

E-tropolis 2010, Berlin: Viva Music review

Filed under: International Events (Reviews) — Tags: amphi festival, AndyK, cologne, combichrist, covenant, cyborg attack, DAF, e-tropolis, Feindflug, hocico, in strict confidence, kmfdm, leaether strip, melotron, Mergel Kratzer, mind.in.a.box, patenbrigade:wolff, rabia sorda, she's all that, viva music, viviana ball, xotox — admin @ 2:37 pm

My review of the first edition of E-tropolis festival (Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany, June 26, 2010) is a festival log and a source of information for people who have not attended an electro festival before (consequently need to know what they are missing), or some other electro fans who did not make it to Berlin, and would like to have a rough idea of what happened there. This review (photos included) reflects my enthusiasm of both participating as an accredited reporter (thanks to the organizer) and seeing some bands for the first time. I strongly encourage every person who likes electro music to take a weekend off from other activities and go to festivals in Germany. The next one I am going to is Amphi Festival in Cologne, July 24-25, 2010.

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October 2, 2009

Blackfield Festival, Germany – June 20 and 21, 2009 – Viva Music review

Filed under: International Events (Reviews) — Tags: blackfield festival, darkwave.ro, viva music — admin @ 11:28 am

On June 20 and 21, 2009 I had the immense pleasure to be a special guest of the Blackfield Festival, Germany. I represented www.darkwave.ro, webzine dedicated to the fans of dark music in Romania. For more info on the festival, access http://www.blackfield-festival.de/ and definitely book your tickets in advance to go to the next one in June 2010!

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