First time I was seeing Ms. Lunch. It was rather funny, she kept insulting men in the audience, and since Italians usually don't understand a word of English, the most clapped at her.
11.04 - Supermarket, Torino
Boring. The venue was almost empty, Lydia kept chatting and chatting, the music was absolutely forgettable. An unfortunate night.
Both performances were great, the second was a bit better because they had introduced a new item to bash on stage. They're always a load of fun to see live.
Alan Vega was completely drunk (or on drugs), and could barely sing, despite that it was a great show. I think I was the only person under 30 in the club! I was wearing a self-painted Suicide t-shirt with the cover of the first LP, and many asked were I had bought it.
The most ridicolous show I've ever seen. Alec Empire was extremely serious and got pissed off because people didn't react enough "revolutionary" to his words. At a certain point, he came off stage and asked aggressively someone in the first row what he was doing there. The guy was the drummer of Larsen who replied he was just enjoying a concert. Alec got totally furious about the reply, the whole band left the stage and came back only after five minutes, completed the show and left without saying a word.
Great expectations, but they remained quite unmatched. EN played most of Silence Is Sexy, of course, and while at the time I enjoyed that album, I now hate it. Fortunately, they also played stuff from Ende Neu and Tabula Rasa. No older hits that time.
03.04 - Teatro Delle Celebriazioni, Bologna 07.04 - Corte Malatestiana, Fano
Awesome shows! The Perpetuum Mobile tour was much better than Silence Is Sexy. The album itself is the last true good album they did. They also played older hits like Armenia, Haus Der Lüge and Neun Arme. I was in a awe.
05.05 - Teatro Della Concordia, Venaria Reale
No need to see EN live anymore after this. It was the 25 years anniversary tour. They played Yü-Gung, ZNS, Armenia, Haus Der Lüge, Durstiges Tier, Kalte Sterne, Draußen Ist Feindlich...
I never liked this band, they played after Les Tambours Du Bronx in a summer open-air festival (strangest bill ever, like putting Sheryl Crow and Anenzephalia one after the other). Boring show for nostalgics, sorry. CCCP - Fedeli Alla Linea was another story.
Finally got the chance to see Mr. Ivens live. It was amazing, I came out as a very happy young man. Previously, I had only listened to Final Report, the day after I went off buying any Dive release I could find.
11.00 - Werk II, Leipzig (Mensch Und Maschine)
The most incredible fight I've ever witnessed broke out in the audience during Dive's set!
07.03 - Totem, Vicenza (Metamatik Festival 2003)
Towards the end of the show the power went off. It was the summer of 2003, 40° everyday and problems with energy supply in Italy. Dirk took it quite philosophically.
03.04 - Jam Club, Mestre 09.06 - Noise, Torino 08.13 - Betriebswerk Schöneweide, Berlin (Schlastrom Festival)
Right after Monolith and Dive, I found Joan's music a bit boring, and I hated his vocals. Not my cup of EBM.
12.11 - BIMFest 2011 - Antwerp
I discovered a totally different artist in this exclusive "vintage" set to celebrate the project's 25 years of activity. Cold, minimal and heavy, miles away from the later developments!
One of the greatest disappointments of my life. I had waited years to see 242 live, and they played a horrible set with completely distorted sound and vocals too low to be heard. One hour of pure noise, I could barely understand that they were playing "Headhunter" because of their gestures...
06.01 - Agra Halle, Leipzig (Wave Gotik Treffen)
Another chance to see 242 in Leipzig shortly after the huge disappointment. This one was far better, good sound and better show. They were forgiven ;)
12.11 - BIMFest 2011, Antwerp
An exclusive "vintage" show for Belgium, with tracks taken mostly from the early albums and classic analogue equipment on stage. Fantastic!!! More than ten years after that bad show in Leipzig, I finally saw the REAL 242 live.
Pure legend! I went backstage and shaked Lemmy's hand. I also had a picture taken with him, but it was the very last one in the bloody film and it didn't turn out...
Was it maybe their first show ever? I really hated them, they had drum machine, a terrible goth guy playing keyboards and shouting from time to time, and songs were plain boring. Fortunately, they have evolved a lot since then.
06.98 - Liceo Carlo Cattaneo, Torino
The sax player was a schoolmate, they played at the end of the year school party lol
It was also the last school year for both of us.