The machines keep running - stronger than ever!

DIE KRUPPS – EBM/industrial heroes of my musically belated youth after the fall of the Berlin Wall ;) The Düsseldorf band has now been on stage for 45 years, celebrating extensively with an anniversary tour and making me look old ;)
Okay, joking aside. Respect for this long creative phase. And while many bands don't even last half that long, DIE KRUPPS are about to even open a new chapter in their band history. They recently signed a multi-album deal with Dependent, have a new album in the pipeline for 2026, and have just released the On Collision Course EP, available exclusively on this tour. Now if that's not a reason to celebrate.

So off to Herford to the X Club. Oh wait, nope... that club went bankrupt in 2023. I saw many great bands live there, e.g. Ghost (2016), who fill arenas these days, or Type O Negative together with Opeth – but back then the place was still called Kick ;) The last time I was here was in 2017 to see Mastodon live.
The X is now called :: KulturWerk ::, or KW in short for the lazy ones. Same club with a new name, new people, and a new concept. I'm curious ;)

Since I was on call and had to work all weekend, I didn't really manage to arrive on time. But honestly, a show starting at 5:30 p.m.? That's like a tea dance...
And then it was the end of the holidays somewhere. In any case, the Highway To Hell (A1) was jam-packed. When I finally entered the KulturWerk, the foyer was strangely empty and the doors to the hall were firmly closed. Hmm.
While I was still getting my bearings, I encountered some sweaty musicians... JOHNNY TUPOLEV, as it turned out later. I had already missed the first band.

Shortly afterwards, I met two colleagues from Terrorverlag and was finally enlightened ;) DIE KRUPPS' show was taking place in the club and not in the hall, and the concert was a so-called Sunday matinee: Start early, finish early, so that the fans can get home early on the Sunday evening and be fit for work on Monday. So, it was a tea dance after all. Very considerate, especially since many fans (judging by their license plates) didn't exactly live around the corner :) In fact, even the club was only loosely filled. I think it was packed in Düsseldorf and Oberhausen is sold out.

:: pics :: ERDLING ::

Next up, :: ERDLING :: got ready on the small stage. I hadn't heard of them before. No wonder the genre isn't really my thing. German-language metal/electro/rock (called NDH). Something like Stahlmann, Unzucht, Hämatom, Heldmaschine, and the like. Yuck. Sorry.
It was fitting that even singer Neill didn't know whether to headbang or to dance and tried to do both at the same time in a half turn...
The sound wasn't great – the vocals kept cutting out, and the lighting wasn't much better. The lights and CO2 jets were designed for a larger stage and didn't have the desired effect here. Musically, there were quite a few new tracks from the upcoming seventh album Mana, which will be released in October, and some very old stuff, including their 2016 debut Aus den Tiefen. 10 years – 7 albums... Wow!
The audience was in good spirits and willingly let the band entertain them. Some of them knew the band and some even had their records on their shelves at home. Nevertheless, especially after the singer's demographic digression, it was clear that most of the fans had had their heyday before the ERDLING band members were even born and thus missed their target audience. Never mind ;)
Hats off to drummer Christian, who played at least the slower songs with an injured leg and was replaced by a buddy for the fast ones. So, there was basically a change at the drums for every song. But he pulled it off.

Band: Neill Freiwald (vox), Ole Enders (git), Robin Sem Vedrfölnir (bass), Christian Schäfer (drums)
Setlist: Dominus Omnium, Du bist Soldat, Rabenherz, Der Mensch verdient die Erde nicht, Götterdämmerung, Miasma, Zerspreng die Ketten, Blizzard, Los Los Los, Supernova, Mein Element

:: pics :: DIE KRUPPS ::

The changeover went quickly, everyone moved closer to the stage, and suddenly :: DIE KRUPPS :: were standing in the front row... ready to get on stage. Jürgen Engler didn't need to be asked twice and got straight down to business. Yep, that's exactly why people were here :)
The sound was a bit glitchy at first, as was the Stahlofon. And singer Jürgen Engler had to get used to the limited space so as not to get in guitarist Dylan Smith's way. It didn't always work out... ;)
I didn't know Dylan as a member of DIE KRUPPS (but I did know him as the guitarist for Sisters Of Mercy). Back then (my last KRUPPS concert was in 2018), Marcel Zürcher and Nils Finkeisen were still playing guitar.
However, 45 years of DIE KRUPPS – the band played lots of really old songs, but also two brand new tracks from the current tour EP. The band quickly got into the groove and Jürgen Engler had the audience under control in no time. The atmosphere was exuberant, band and fans were joking, experimenting, jumping, and dancing.
The Stahlofon caused a short circuit at Der Amboss and brought the song to an abrupt end. Engler took advantage of the situation to present his invention in more detail and concluded with: “So that's our Stahlofon, for those who didn't know it yet.”
Fan: “Does it have a name?”
Jürgen: “S t a h l o f o n! I just said that” and added a few more words ;)
Dylan couldn't resist jumping into the audience and continuing to play there, and Jürgen followed a little later. Pure enthusiasm on both sides.
Well, let's put it this way: I hope Ralf Dörper was celebrating and laughing inside. In any case, he didn't show any emotion. If I remember correctly... he never did that. He’s always the cool guy ;)

As my photographer colleague said, small club shows are sometimes the best concerts. He was right. That's exactly what this show was like. The very last song, Machineries Of Joy, was dedicated to Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb, who passed away on June 11 so untimely at the age of only 58 and had sung this song (i.e., True Work True Reward) back in the day.
P.S. The light organ under the Stahlofon failed again, but the steel sound came through and you can obviously climb on it too ;)

What more can I say? This sweaty show was great entertainment. It was a lot of fun, even though my cameras were unusable at the end because of fogged lenses. DIE KRUPPS were also very impressed and clearly enjoyed the evening, promising to come back sometime (it was their first time at this club). It was an extraordinary celebration for me. Thanks to DIE KRUPPS for this fabulous concert evening! Thanks to Bier und Musik Concerts for the accreditation. And thanks for finishing early. I was already back home when other bands were just taking the stage as headliners ;)

Band: Jürgen Engler (vox, steel), Ralf Dörper (samples), Dylan Smith (git), Paul Keller (drums)
Setlist: Nazis auf Speed (intro), Isolation, Schmutzfabrik, Der Amboss (Visage cover), On Collision Course, The Dawning Of Doom, Industrie-Mädchen (S.Y.P.H. cover), High Tech/Low Life, Black Beauty White Heat, Crossfire, Will nicht - Muss!, Fatherland, Metal Machine Music, To The Hilt, Robo Sapien, Bloodsuckers // Machineries Of Joy