Photo report from the concert (photos by Gunslinger)
KMFDM (Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid) had already been to russia in 2004, when they gave a concert at the Tochka. So, a year later they returned — and below I present a brief account of what took place on 9 December 2005 at the CDK MAI.
Not long before, the band — which in recent years has once again been delighting fans with annual releases — had put out their latest album. Hau Ruck: the fifteenth release by the band, no less — this despite the fact that band leader Sascha Konietzko had on multiple occasions essentially shut the project down. The band's sound has grown heavier from album to album. Today's KMFDM would most accurately be described in terms of genre as industrial metal. And for anyone who doubted that, there was the concert of 9 December.
That day on stage, directly before the audience, stood two stands: one holding a small electronic unit, the other a similar but slightly larger unit and a small synthesiser. Microphones were also set up near these stands — and taking their positions at them respectively were Lucia Cifarelli and, of course, Sascha Konietzko himself.
I was personally somewhat surprised to find that as such there was no bass guitar at the concerts; in the studio the bass parts are recorded by Sascha himself and the band's guitarist Jules Hodgson, who sports imposing tattoos on his arms — he occupied the position stage right (relative to the audience) that day, while stage left was taken by a large man: Steve White in a hat, evidently purchased on the Arbat. The first to appear on stage was drummer Andy Selway.
An excellent feature of the concert was the extraordinary friendliness toward the audience on the band's part. Andy and Steve in particular spent a long time before the concert chatting with fans on the ground floor of the CDK MAI. Furthermore, photography was completely unrestricted throughout the entire concert, with not a single complaint directed at the owners of professional cameras.
Strictly speaking, the first to appear on stage was the band's guitar technician — a very cheerful fellow (you can see him in the first photograph of the concert's photo report) who swapped the musicians' guitars throughout the entire show. And then the five I have already mentioned. In the hall at that moment there were around 400–450 people, possibly a little more, but not significantly.
The concert began with the title track of the new album — an electronic intro, harsh metallic guitar sound. Sascha quietly performs the first verse, after which the lighting brightens and the chorus erupts deafeningly, with Lucia joining the performance. Throughout the entire concert she apparently never touched her electronic unit — instead she constantly gripped the tall handles and simply mesmerised the audience with her movements. And when she stepped out from behind the stand and began moving across the stage, the audience's delight knew no bounds — it was something. The embodiment of sexuality, reminiscent of a panther, in an elegant black dress, Lucia delivered her vocal parts brilliantly; in several songs she demonstrated excellent clean vocals (in the majority of compositions the predominant approach is emphatic textual declamation).
After each composition the lights went out completely, with new compositions beginning with bright flashes. Sascha himself almost never left his stand, being constantly occupied with the mini-synthesiser and the electronic elements that have always been KMFDM's calling card. Vocally there is nothing to criticise either — Sascha delivered the entire set list impeccably. What was particularly remarkable was the sound quality that day at the CDK MAI. I genuinely had not thought it possible to set the sound up that well there — so a separate enormous respect to the band's sound engineer.
What can be said overall — the musicians derived enormous enjoyment from their performance, giving everything they had. The emphasis was on the band's latest album: of the 17 songs played that day, 6 came from it, and almost all of them were performed in the first 40 minutes. Two songs from Xtort — one of which was "Son of a Gun" — it came second, and the crowd livened up considerably. From Nihil there was only one song, but it was "Terror" — need I describe what was happening in the hall? The title track "Adios" from the album of the same name, and several more compositions. The main set was crowned by the incomparable and magnificent "Drug Against War... Naïve Again" from the album Angst (1993) — not to be confused with the debut LACRIMOSA release of the same title, recorded two years earlier — for many years it has been, arguably, the band's main hit.
The first encore consisted of three songs — "Megalomaniacal," "Attack/Reload," and of course the title track of the penultimate album could not be forgotten: "WWIII."
But that was not yet the end. A second encore — one more composition — and now the band left the stage for good. The majority of those present, from those I spoke with, preferred this concert over the first visit by the kings of industrial to our country, given at the Tochka in 2004. Well then — we await the third coming.
Report by Alan
Photo report from the concert (photos by Gunslinger)
Special thanks for the accreditation provided.
Setlist:
1. Hau Ruck 2. Son Of A Gun 3. Free Your Mate 4. Every Day Is A Good Day 5. Terror 6. Mini Mini Mini 7. Inane 8. New American Century 9. Real Thing 10. Adios 11. Wasted 12. Last Things 13. Drug Against War... Naïve Again
— encore — 14. WWIII 15. Attack/Reload 16. Megalomaniacal
— encore — 17. Do It Yourself Biaj!!