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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…)

April 19, 2012

Amphi Festival News: Second Theater Headliner, Conjure One, Ticket Info

Amphi Festival organizers are happy to announce the second headliner for the theater stage. Reading performance and concert ‘Henke Plays Goethes Erben’: on Saturday, Jul-21, Oswald Henke takes over Theater am Tanzbrunnen. First hitting the stage with his current reading performance “Die Zeit Formt“, he will make a second appearance later that day, playing one of the most definite concert highlights of the Amphi Festival 2012.

Amphi The Orkus Open Air 2012 Festival will take place between Jul-21-22 at Tanzbrunnen, Cologne.

 Amphi Festival 2012 program to date includes:

The Sisters of Mercy, And One, Eisbrecher, Blutengel, Project Pitchfork, Apoptygma Berzerk, Combichrist, Camouflage, Mono Inc., Corvux Corax, The Cruxshadows, DAF, Conjure One, Nachtmahr, 18 Summers, Coppelius, [:SITD:], Haujobb, Stahlzeit (Rammstein Tribute), Spetsnaz, Assemblage 23, Solar Fake, Henke, mind.in.a.box, Love Is Colder than Death, Spiritual Front, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection, A Live Divided, [X]-RX, Tyske Ludder, Whispers in the Shadow, The Other, Eisenfunk, Lord of the Lost, Schoengeist, The Wars, Eklipse, Dr. Mark Benecke

Front Line Assembly cancels all shows this summer, therefore there will be no FLA show at Amphi. Here is the official band statement: “After much thought and considering we regret to inform our fans that we will be unable to perform at any summer shows we are currently booked for. After an extensive tranche of shows supporting our last record we have to decided to spend next year focusing on writing and delivering new albums; an instrumental of tracks that will be featured in the videogame AirMech from Carbon Games, a new full length LP, and possibly a new Noise Unit record. Our apologies to any promoters/fans this may affect in a negative manner, we look forward to releasing new material and playing shows further down the road. All the best, FLA

Conjure One/Rhys Fulber will perform a special live set at Amphi Festival. Rhys Fulber, known as long-time member and producer of many classic FLA tunes will perform a unique set, including Conjure One and Delirium tracks, as well as a selection of Front Line Assembly classics that have not been played live in recent years.

Original festival tickets can be booked in advance exclusively on the Amphi Ticketshop at www.amphi-festival.de/tickets. Festival tickets are further available online at www.protain-ticket.de and at all nationwide CTS/EVENTIM box offices. For further information please visit the festival site: www.amphi-festival.de and the official festival Facebook page: www.facebook.com/amphifestival.

 

March 21, 2012

In terms of musical variety, Amphi Festival 2012 stands out a mile

Amphi Festival 2012 news keep on coming, and we are very happy, since it’s one of the events we are really looking forward to this summer. Musical diversity gives the extra finishing touches to the superb lineup of the festival. Already announced, The Sisters of Mercy, And One, Eisbrecher, Blutengel, Apoptygma Berzerk, Project Pitchfork, Combichrist, Camouflage, Front Line Assembly, DAF, Mono Inc., Corvus Corax, Nachtmahr, Assemblage 23, Solar Fake, 18 Summers, Coppelius, [:SITD:], Haujobb, Stahlzeit, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection, A Life Divided, [X]-RX, Tyske Ludder, Whispers in the Shadow, The Other, Eisenfunk, Schoengeist, Lord of the Lost – and many others. Today’s news? Three more acts, and what acts, if we may say so: mind.in.a.box, Love Is Colder than Death and Eklipse – the latter being the name of the seductive quartet, which loves to clothe contemporary pop music and soundtrack elements into a fascinating dress of compelling classic string sounds on our Theater-stage. Without vocals, yet even more emotional and spiced up with an extra portion of sex-appeal, the four ladies interpret songs by Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Hurts, Depeche Mode and many more, cunningly flavored with a magic note of dark-lascivious romanticism, wit and dreamy melancholy.

Also in the news today:  Amphi Festival warmup parties – they are numberless! and great occasions to meet other Amphi enthusiasts, plan your trips and get in the mood for the festival, if need be. Apr-07: Paris, Apr-08: Amstelveen, Apr-14: Brighton, Apr-28: Stuttgart, Apr-28: Thessaloniki, Apr-28: Antwerpen; Apr-28: Karlsruche, May-04: Manchester, May-05:  Northampton, May-09: Wuppertal, May-12: London, May-16: Heidelberg, May-19: Krefeld, May-19: Zuerich, May-19: Vienna, May-24: Duisburg, May-25: Bonn, May-25: Bielefeld, Jun-02: Frankfurt, Jun-02: Essen, Jun-02: Augsburg, Jun-03: Dresden, Jun-09: Bonn, Jun-09: Bremen, Jun-16: Siegen, Jun-21: Oberhausen, Jun-22: Athens, Jun-29: London, Jun-30: Ingolstadt, Jul-20: Cologne.

Tickets are available via the Amphi ticket shop under http://amphi-festival.de/tickets and also from http://protain-ticket.de, as well in all German CTS/Eventim box offices. For further information please visit http://amphi-festival.de and http://Facebook.com/amphifestival.

February 29, 2012

More Great News about Amphi Festival 2012!

Great news from the organizers of Amphi Festival 2012 – the Orkus Open Air festival – the list of confirmed acts is getting an irresistible contour. Band suggestions were volunteered by festival fans as well, and in the end the new and replacement bands that make Amphi Festival the event to be at on July 21&22 at Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen.

Apoptygma Berzerk, The Cruxshadows, Spiritual Front, The Wars, and Spetnaz are some of the new names that are added to the already gorgeous list of acts that will keep you beaming for two days: The Sisters of Mercy, And One, Eisbrecher, Blutengel, Project Pitchfork, Combichrist, Camouflage, Front Line Assembly, DAF, Mono Inc., Corvus Corax, Nachtmahr, Assemblage 23, Solar Fake, 18 Summers, Coppelius, [:SITD:], Haujobb, Stahlzeit, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection, A Life Divided, [X]-RX, Tyske Ludder, Whispers in the Shadow, The Other, Eisenfunk, Schoengeist, Lord of the Lost – and many others.

Tickets are available via the Amphi ticket shop under http://amphi-festival.de/tickets and also from http://protain-ticket.de, as well in all German CTS/Eventim box offices. For further information please visit http://amphi-festival.de and http://Facebook.com/amphifestival.

August 8, 2011

Autumn Ball 2011: Dortmund, Berlin and Hannover Dates! Lineup and Ticket Info

The Autumn Ball 2011 comes not with one, but three dates!

The Autumn Ball Festival will take place this year in three locations: in addition to the Capitol in Hannover, Dortmund and Berlin were added to the Autumn Ball map.

FZW in Dortmund will open the party season on Friday, Sep-30 with an incredible lineup meant to attract magnetically fans of gothic, medieval and folk-rock fans: Letzte Instanz, Tanzwut, Coppelius and of course Staubkind!

Berlin’s Huxley’s Neue Welt comes up next on Saturday, Oct-01 with the same Dortmund lineup, but then Hannover’s Capitol brings you a slightly different lineup, made up of Letzte Instanz and Staubkind, but also Zeraphine and Corvux Corax, an ideal mix between charming autumn melancholy and exuberant joy of life on Sunday, Oct-02.

Tickets for each evening are available on pre-sale at Eur 26,- excl. tax and can be bought on www.protain.de, www.ticket.de, www.amphi-festival.de/tickets, as well as on the 24h hotline at 01805.568200 (14c/min. for German land line calls), as well from country-wide Eventim ticket counters and website.

More information is made available frequently on www.autumnball.de.

March 2, 2011

Coppelius Zinnober Album Review

Filed under: Album Reviews — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 12:08 pm

The German chamber metal band COPPELIUS returned in 2010 with their 3rd studio album entitled “Zinnober”. If you are not yet acquainted with the likes of kammercore innovators COPPELIUS, you should run out and buy their first albums and listen to this mysterious blend of chamber music and metal as soon as possible. What “Zinnober” brings to the table is a more commercial sound than its predecessors which is not a negative trait as in this particular case, it makes their music easier to listen to thus easier to hold close to your heart.

One can find a generous attribute of COPPELIUS in the way they decide to market their music. Everything is neatly thought out to the very last careful detail: cases, artwork and message. This 3rd full length studio album also comes in a digipack as the ones before it and once again we are not talking about just any digipack, but one vigorously dusted, shined and ready to grab some sights. Although the band has gracefully showered us with elegance in their work so far, this particular release seems to be the most tasteful one yet. We draw this conclusion primarily from their choice of color, a typical one for the virtuosi composers of COPPELIUS: black, red and neutral tones ideally quantified to ensure an elegant finished to an outstanding work of art.

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February 25, 2011

Coppelius “Tumult” Album Review

Filed under: Album Reviews — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:35 pm

To the cultured listener, COPPELIUS is the name of the character you love to hate from E.T.A. Hoffman’s 1816 short story “Der Sandmann”. This short story is more than just a tale to scare young children as the father of psychoanalysis himself Dr. Sigmund Freud based his theory of the uncanny on the controversial writing. Uncanny is also the feeling you get after listening to an interesting kammermetal band named also COPPELIUS. If you’re a German speaker, the term “kammermetal” might sound like a very odd combination, de facto COPPELIUS’ music is an odd combination of calming chamber music and an intense raw metal sound by employing classical instruments such as cello, clarinet and double-bass instead of guitars and bass-guitar.

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August 11, 2010

Amphi Festival 2010 review: Day 2

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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