Deine Lakaien
Deine Lakaien virtual - concert in livestream 2020 Berlin

We live in strange times at the moment - “vreemd” as a Dutch colleague put it. In many aspects, unfortunately, not in a good way. However, for Deine Lakaien fans it showed at least one good aspect, though the Corona crisis will move the release of the new album into next year; Deine Lakaien gave a premiere of a different kind: a virtual concert. Even for the two musicians, who have been on stage together for more than 30 year, it was a completely new, very strange experience to play a concert without an audience.

No, of course they were not without an audience. Several thousand fans followed the event live on various platforms on the Internet. Most of them had joined the show on YouTube, also some fans from the Colour-Ize forum identified themselves in the chat. At a concert such a chat turns out to be a very practical thing, since one can exchange ideas without disturbing others in their music enjoyment. Unfortunately, it also means that the musicians cannot hear the applause. At least between the pieces they should have it on display somewhere, so that they do not feel like “at a rehearsal”, as Alexander described in between.
In the interview with Kate Kaputto from the Culture Cast team, who can claim the credit for the technical and organizational realization of this evening, Ernst admitted that the unusual setting does lead to a certain tension. They had also “rehearsed particularly well”.

That must have been the case, at least nothing of this tension could be felt as soon as the first key of “Wunderbar” was to e heard. The set list was almost identical to that of the second part of the Acoustica concerts, although somewhat shorter alas. Only the order of was different and instead of “Follow me”, “Love me to the end” was the final song. And there was a surprise. But more about that later.

In fact, the “classic” acoustic set was very well received by the fans. Everyone seems to have a strong need for familiarity. And thus, this concert was once again balm for the soul. And not only for long-time fans. The streaming made it possible for me to finally take a good friend along to his first Lakaien concert - including side-chatting in Skype. VR also makes it possible to be in several places at the same time. He already found the first piece, without knowing the title, “wonderful”. Cliché says hello. But with such well-made music, it’s not always possible to avoid it. Alexander improvised his text hanger on “Gone” so skillfully that the piece got a completely new and quite interesting note. And that means something considering the 11/8 beat.

Said friend then admired the lightness in Ernst’s piano playing on “Without your words”, which always enchants me anew as it did the first time I encountered it. Even when Ernst makes his – according to himself obligatory – mistake in this piece, this does not interfere with this experience.

With the soft-melancholic ballads, “Where the winds don`t blow”, “Return” and “The game”, then “the world stands still for a moment and appears peaceful”, to quote from the chat. The surprise, a piece from the new double album, turned out to be a cover version of “Because the night” by Patty Smith and Bruce Springsteen and was in no way less electrifying or energetic compared to the original.

With “Love me to the end” if not before, Deine Lakaien had a new fan, who also purchased a solidarity ticket afterwards. These tickets were a great opportunity to support not only the band and the Culture Cast team, but also the handforahand project, a solidarity fund that got a third of the income to support all those people who usually support the musicians at their concerts.

Therefore, this concert was an oasis in the Corona cultural desert in many ways. Many thanks for this to the band and to the Culture Cast team. Should this desert turn out to be vaster than we hope for and the concerts planned for autumn have to be postponed to next year, there will be hopefully another concert of this kind in due time. Until then us fans will have to be content with manna in the form of monthly pre-releases of songs from the new album.

Setlist

1. Wunderbar
2. Where you are
3. Over and done
4. Gone
5. Without your words
6. Down, down, down
7. Where the winds don’t blow
8. Return
9. The Game
10. Because the night
11. Love me to the end