Berlin / Berghain / Colin Stetson + Holger Hiller

Posted: October 24, 2013 by vals81 in Avantgarde, Berghain / Panorama Bar, Berlin, Jazz
Tags: berghain, berlin live music, colin stetson berghain, colin stetson berlin, colin stetson live report, holger hiller berghain, holger hiller berlin

Holger Hiller (5/10)
Start 21:05 / End 21:50
Holger Hiller is one of the most important members of the “Neue Deutsche Welle”, which developed during the 80s in Germany. Former member of the Palais Schaumburg, Holger Hiller was one of the first people in Europe to use the sampler as main instrument in his music. What Holger Hiller proposed on stage while standing behind a desk, using his instrumentation is quite hard to define: almost spoken songs with German lyrics on an electronic base. The audience responded coldly to something that, honestly, had nothing of extraordinary. Maybe too avant-garde for a vast group of people.

Colin Stetson (8/10)
Start 22:15 / End 23:25
With the new album “New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light” freshly released, Colin Stetson presented his work at Berghain, probably the venue in Berlin with the best sound system.
Master of bass saxophone in his solo career, experimenting the dark sides of Jazz, Colin Stetson worked as touring member for Rock Pop bands as Arcade Fire and Bon Iver. These contacts had maybe mitigated the most experimental edges of his music style, as it’s possible to listen in his last effort. But not last night, where Colin Stetson performed solo, standing on stage with just his two saxophones thru which he expressed his wild sentiments. Every time he took in his hand the bass saxophone the result was overwhelming, like a herd of elephants coming towards you running from far away. Although being scolded for photo flashes and smoke in the venue, the audience followed the performance completely kidnapped by this primitive and ancestral sounds. A 70 minutes show is just too short for such a live experience, which you would like to be never-ending.