The Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam hung for weeks the "Sold Out" to receive Germans Moderat in what would be their second visit to the Dutch capital this year after the spectacular concert given at the end of March at the Paradiso hall because of the presentation of their acclaimed album III. The one in charge of opening the night was David August, with an incredible show in which he was accompanied by drums and guitar for about 45 minutes to offer a concert that was a continual roller coaster of experiences, from those electronic sounds almost liquid to power explosions with drums as the main protagonist. In a continuous mix of styles that surprised the attendance, that perhaps was more avid of the danceable rhythms from the headliners, we could enjoy moments ranging from jazz to techno with surprising ease and in which highlighted the incredible "Ouvert". Thus, well deserved the big applause that the German received at the end of his show.
Photo made by Andreas Terlaak and provided by Mojo.
The stars of the night came on stage with a British punctuality and from the first moment showed that besides music, we were able to enjoy a careful staging, in which highlighted an amazing spectacle of lights and custom projections for each song. Like Kraftwerk´s style, with a module of synthesizers for each of the members, the Germans started with that approach to James Blake which is the delicate "Ghostmother" and the whispering voice from Sascha Ring as cover letter, to later launch the first big hit of the night, "A New Error", with which the audience went wild thanks to the ability of Modeselektor to perform multiple loops with the famous samples of the track.
Photo made by Andreas Terlaak and provided by Mojo.
With the machine already well-oiled, the extra house side of the trio came up in "Running", with which the younger crowd went wild against the fervor shown by those who largely exceeded the thirties with "Abandon Window", original theme by Jon Hopkins genially covered by the Berliners. However, unanimity would come up with their big hit "Rusty Nails", that was the culminating point of a very solid first part where we could enjoy a great variety of sounds and a lot of electro skills that demonstrate why the Teutons are right now one of the major figures in electronic music.
Photo made by Andreas Terlaak and provided by Mojo.
From here on, the show was gradually fading into a too homogeneous one, not exempt from quality but too tedious because of repetitiveness in some rhythms, were especially disappoint a weak performance of the wonderful "Reminder". Luckily the concatenation of "Les Grandes Marches" and "Last Time" returned us the rhythm lost previously, greatly highlighting the first one with some care guitar chords that broke the previous monotony and also served as the perfect prelude to that electro party that is "No 22" which closed the concert.
Photo made by Andreas Terlaak and provided by Mojo.
Nevertheless, there was still time for two sets of encores. The first one started with the hypnotic and endless sample of marvellous "Milk" to then unleash the madness with "Bad Kingdom", showing live that this one is the best song of the Germans thanks to the perfect synchronization between voices and synth bases. After it, the calmed "The Fool" was a bucket of cold water that not even the industrial rhythms of the incredible "Intruder" were able to overcome.. That feeling of excessive calmness also seized the second encore of the show, the subtle "Versions", which was a good closure for a remarkable concert in which perhaps we miss something that would work as a simple link between songs and where the first 45 minutes literally wipe out due to its spectacularity the second half of the show.
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