Fury in the Slaughterhouse on stage in the Zitadelle Spandau Photo: Johannes Malinowski
Von Johannes Malinowski
Bands from Hanover like to be melancholic. The Scorpions have been on a farewell tour for what feels like 20 years, Fury in the Slaughterhouse split up in 2008 and have been on tour again since 2017 – to the delight of 3,500 Berliners on Saturday evening in the Zitadelle Spandau.
Rarely is the opening act on an equal footing with the main act. Singer Thees Uhlmann (49, “The salmon go up the river to spawn and die”) and his band bring a sentimental atmosphere to the old walls.
Then at 7:50 p.m. the main band. For the group around the brothers Kai (63) and Thorsten Wingenfelder (57), the ninth of 17 concerts on their “Hope” tour.
Let’s go! Cut Myself Into Pieces (1991). Music from the party cellars of the 1990s. The fans: mostly early 40s to late 60s. Then “Better Times will come” from the current album Hope. That reached number one in the charts last week – a premiere in the 37-year band history!
To “Radio Orchid” Kai Wingenfelder walks across the audience singing and clapping his fans’ hands. His voice: a little rougher than before. Of course – the life of a Hanoverian rock star leaves its mark.
Best crossover act of the evening: multi-instrumentalist Gero Drnek (63) on “When I’m dead and gone” on the mandolin. In addition, a sea of waving Berlin hands. Otherwise solid, clean guitar rock. E-Western and concert guitar change on stage as quickly as the beer bottles of guitarist Christof Stein-Schneider (61).
Horror messages about climate change run across the LED wall to “Every Generation Got Its Own Disease”. The concert is spared from the rain – apart from a few drops towards the end. Most of the black clouds pass north and south of the citadel.
Later melancholy in “Time to Wonder” and “Won’t forget these days”.
The fans agree: The band is more than a candle in the wind, as ironically suggested in the song “Was wird aus Hannover” about the Scorpions. Thees Uhlmann comes on stage again.
The Fury in the Slaughterhouse reunion certainly wasn’t the worst.
Themes: German celebrities Rock Zitadelle Spandau