More than a decade after taking root in the Ruhr Valley, the E-Tropolis Festival has become an unmissable tradition. Every spring, 4,000 goths flock to the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, a former factory converted into a concert venue that has undergone a transformation over the years. It’s actually a pretty good spot for hosting a festival of electronic and industrial music. The setting is perfect, the parking (though full by 1:30 PM) is fairly convenient, and the layout of the halls is consistent, allowing pretty much everyone to see from just about every angle. But let’s be clear: the acoustics are still those of a former factory. No matter the setups, no concert held at the Turbinenhalle is acoustically satisfying. Some talented sound engineers might be able to make it work by adapting, but it’s generally a lost cause. So we won’t dwell on the sound but rather on the performance.
Vanguard
What do you mean we’re starting with Vanguard? Weren’t there two bands before them? True enough. Zweite Jugend and Synthattack played at 2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., respectively. But like many festivalgoers, we got stuck in a massive traffic jam at the entrance to Oberhausen and ended up staying longer than planned. And to make matters worse, the official parking lot was full. So we had to improvise. My bad.
Vanguard is a Swedish synthpop duo—a trio when performing live—that’s starting to gain some traction and experience. But despite all the energy the band put into it, the show still doesn’t quite live up to the music, which is actually very catchy.
FÏX8:SËD8
We thought goth concerts played in the dark were a thing of the past. Fortunately, FÏX8:SËD8 delivers all the darkness we needed. Like many electronic projects, the appeal of a live performance is always uncertain, since often only the vocals are live and there are just a few sound effects. Some artists remain perched behind their synths without any particular staging. Others, on the contrary, don’t skimp on the set design. This is the case with FÏX8:SËD8, a feast for the eyes. The horror-movie atmosphere reaches its full intensity when Martin Sane emerges from the darkness, pushing a post-war pram onto a stage laden with sharp props. Nails driven into doll heads, circular saws, and an IV drip ready for use. In keeping with the chaotic weather, Sane is masked and clad in a yellow raincoat, wearing a pendant resembling a Simon figure, hidden beneath tatters of clothing, which lights up periodically. No doubt there’s a logical narrative behind all this. But we’ve abandoned Freudian theory to get our ears blown away.
We won’t dwell on the venue’s rather disastrous acoustics. We can barely hear Martin’s voice, buried beneath the saturated bass. Despite that, FÏX8:SËD8’s tortuous universe easily captivates the crowd.
Welle: Erdball
Speaking of stage production, these guys are the kings of it. The band has been on the road for 35 years, and despite having a very distinct style, they’re always brimming with ideas for every tour. There’s always a new aesthetic, and tons of props. We won’t even mention the 2017 tour, where they had to set up Vespas on stage every night...
Musically, too, the band is unique. You’ll never hear a band that sounds like Welle: Erdball. At the same time, their sound is so distinctive that everything sounds a bit alike. Let’s just say you have to let yourself be swept up in this world to appreciate the nuances.
The million-dollar question is: is Honey there? A founding member of the band and a mainstay of their live shows, Honey fell ill a few weeks ago and had to cancel a few concerts. But the band played anyway, in a lineup that was surprising to say the least. André Steinigen, the newest live recruit, handled the synths, while Lady Lila, who had just retired from the band, joined M.A. Peel to share the vocals. The setlist had to be completely overhauled to include only songs where Honey doesn’t sing. While Honey remains the heart of Welle: Erdball and some may have been disappointed by his absence, the experience must have been interesting, to say the least. Because, let’s face it: once you’ve seen Welle: Erdball, you’ve seen them for the next twenty years.
In the end, Honey is there, along with the newest addition, Lady Lila’s replacement, Miss Cherry. And I’m going to give you the same old line I repeat every time there’s a change in Moderatorin—literally, the host. What difference does it make? The women in Welle: Erdball are interchangeable. Their voices don’t matter. Most of the time, they sing over a backing track. They’re props placed on stage to get the crowd going. On the band’s albums, in the member introductions, Honey and A.L.F. are listed as programmer, singer, and keyboardist. The women, on the other hand, are assigned the role of Weiblichkeit, femininity. They are there to embody womanhood, and according to the band’s aesthetic, the woman of the 1950s and 1960s: the housewife. Always a brunette and a blonde. And when Honey gets older, the average age of Welle: Erdball’s singers remains the same.
This is the overall picture at E-Tropolis. On stage, there are almost exclusively middle-aged men who have been performing for decades. Thirteen bands. On stage that day: 32 men. How many women? Five. Seven, since two dancers joined Synthattack... to perform. What percentage of the men on stage are over 40? 100%. Probably 95% over 50, even. What’s the proportion of women on stage over 40? Zero.
It’s wrong to say there’s a shortage of female-led bands in the dark scene, even in the electro-dark subgenre we’re focusing on today. There are actually plenty of them. To name any would be counterproductive, as it would amount to admitting that these bands are few and far between. That’s not true. We promote a wide variety of bands on a fairly regular basis. So why don’t certain festivals see the image of women they’re projecting through their constant invisibilization? How could no one have noticed this monumental gap during the booking process?
Getting back to Welle: Erdball—the only band featuring a female vocalist on March 28—it was obviously great, as always. Everything was perfectly choreographed, staged, and performed. But after 35 years, why not take more risks? Leave the balloons, the Vespas, the wings, and the overhead projectors at home. Bring in instruments, female singers, musicians, adapt your songs, do something new!
Ultra Sunn
They’re definitely a fresh face. Ultra Sunn, whom we’ve mentioned here regularly, is making its debut at E-Tropolis. The Belgian band is starting to make a name for itself with German audiences, who are really taking to them. And you have to admit that the duo (or trio, in this case) brings a breath of fresh air to the festival. There’s nothing particularly new about Ultra Sunn’s sound, but it’s a delicate blend of all the styles we love: aggressive EBM beats, sultry post-punk layers, and melancholic darkwave vocals. The band strikes the perfect balance, and the show is a success, to say the least.
For newcomers once again perched behind big, dreary tables, one might have feared a lackluster performance. Not at all. Sam Huge (whom I’m unofficially renaming Jesus), the singer, has been hiding his skills as a jump-rope champion. He’s constantly hopping around, constantly engaging with the audience, commanding the stage as if he were born there. Mission accomplished.
It’s worth noting—because it’s a first for a goth festival—that he’s smiling. He’s probably the first artist I’ve seen smile in 20 years of attending goth concerts. I’m torn between shared enthusiasm and shock.
Funker Vogt
We kick off the Aggrotech and EBM set with Funker Vogt and his military—even warlike—aesthetic. Camouflage and tanks are on display for what is likely a highly anticipated concert. The performance, however, is rather lackluster, despite the best efforts of drummer René Dornbusch, who single-handedly carried the show for three.
Noisuf-X
We keep dancing with Noisuf-X, whom we haven’t seen on stage since… well, at least all that time ago. It’s been a couple of years since Jan Loamfield returned to the stage, and nothing has changed. The band’s banners reek of 2008, Jan is headbanging throughout the set, and even the lighting effects are the same as they used to be. With the average age of the E-Tropolis crowd hovering around 55, nostalgia is bound to strike a chord.
For those who want it, the nostalgia continues a few meters further with Faderhead. Unfortunately, as hunger set in, we had to wait in line for 30 minutes for a tray of fries—ouch. Old age catches up with us all.
Neuroticfish
Let’s be honest: Neuroticfish are our absolute favorites of the night. The duo, despite having a long career behind them, has never really made a push into the French market, and shows no interest in touring, releasing albums every two years, or all the marketing that goes along with it. So it’s pretty rare to hear about them on our side of the Rhine, which is a real shame. A little synthpop gem with EBM beats, featuring Sascha Klein’s voice—so clear, so distinctive in this scene.
There’s never any frills with Neuroticfish, no staging, just the music, pulsing and making you want to dance like crazy. But this nonchalance—which the band seems to cultivate—dampens the atmosphere a bit that night. Sure, Klein doesn’t like to play the star, but that night, the enthusiasm is really slow to come. Introverted, Sascha Klein stays in his own little world and struggles to connect with the audience. The venue remains packed to the brim, nonetheless.
Combichrist
We’re continuing the 2000s vintage festival with Combichrist’s old-school set. Andy on vocals, Elliott behind a nice big mixing board, no front lights: no doubt about it, we’re definitely in 2005. The mockery is so over-the-top that Andy’s wearing a T-shirt with a kitten on it. The makeup is old-school too. Of course, they’re playing the nostalgia card tonight, and what better way to kick off the set than with “At the End of It All.” Obviously, we can’t escape the classics like “Electrohead” and “Blut Royale,” but sometimes obscure old tracks like “Are You Connected” pop up, even though we never thought we’d hear them live again. Well, “live”… that’s a big word. But Andy gives it his all, both vocally and physically. One of the best entertainers around, he manages to command the stage all by himself. Even Elliot Berlin, stuck behind his synths, gets the crowd going. That’s the kind of nonchalance that wins you over. Two guys in the dark vaguely pressing three buttons, and yet it’s the concert of the year.
Kite
But here are the stars of the night, who now practically feel at home at E-Tropolis. Ten years ago, they were playing way down the lineup. And now here they are, headlining the “small” venue. Once unknown, this year half the festivalgoers were wearing Kite T-shirts.
The German market is definitely theirs. Yet the Swedish duo isn’t the least bit communicative. Completely immersed in their personas, Christian and Nicklas don’t address the audience even once (and don’t even think about a smile). Everything they have, they give through their music. No more is needed, because everything is already there. Each song is reimagined and performed brilliantly.
Yet, right up until the very end, we waited for an outburst that this time never came. It’s hard to admit that the WGT concert at Agra, with its dreadful acoustics and a stage devoid of any charm, actually managed to be better than this March 28th show.
So, what about Project Pitchfork? Well, it was fun, as always. Three drummers—why not?—and a totally wild crowd, just like every Project Pitchfork concert. But we wanted to see the whole Kite set, and since we’re not twenty anymore either, we didn’t want to have to sprint to get there in time for the photos. So we’ll have to do without them for this edition.
