Oh, Napoleon / The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – FZW Club, Dotmund; July 7th 2011
Hearing Oh, Napoleon play ‘Chicago’ my favorite song on their debut album, made me very happy, especially because I had not even expected to be at this concert.
Actually I was supposed to see them a week earlier, but misinformation had lead to me missing their CD release gig. I emailed them about it and they invited me to this gig. They were not headlining, but I’m not complaining. I was very happy to be on the guestlist and I surely hadn’t expected that.
About 40 people showed up to see them – easy front row. They were just as good as I remembered from the Martin and James gigs in May. I loved the songs, especially the aforementioned ‘Chicago’ and the wonderful ‘27’ that I had almost forgotten about. They were playing as a quintet this time – different from the acoustic trio, but just as good. It gave the songs more power and a bit more drive. They work together well as a band, nobody trying to steal the spotlight from the others, everyone having space to play. I sure enjoyed the drums and bass being there – it fit.
I had a photopass and was only allowed to take pics through the first three songs – I shot so many I missed much of the music. I still managed to sing along a little bit though. 🙂 Katrin is very observant. She saw me right away and smiled at me. It was nice being recognized.
They don’t try to make their concerts a great big show, they just play and they do it well. The Maximilian and Maximilian are the creative core of the band, writing all the songs, but they don’t get much of the spotlight. Yet they are really a band, playing together, sharing the stage. They come across quiet and unobtrusive – very nice. The music is well arranged, everything fits. Katrins voice carries it all, but it’s with the music, not “on top of it”. I sure hope I’ll get to see them as headliners once. I don’t think I’ll follow them everywhere, but they make music I’d like to hear more of.
Setlist:
Save Me
Chicago
I Don’t Mind
Falling Away
27
To Have / To Lose
Good Times
901
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were better than I had expected. My impressions from MySpace weren’t all that great so I had thought I might leave early. Yet I found them very listenable. Nice music and they were much into it too. I only saw the first three songs from the front, but listened to the rest from the back and found it enjoyable. Not a band I need to see again though.
Setlist:
This Love Is Fucking Right
Heart In Your Heartbreak
The Body
Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now
Stay Alive
My Terrible friend
Come Saturday
Young Adult Friction
Too Tough
Everything with you
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Encores
Contender
Say No To Love
Strange
Had a nice chat with Katrin afterwards and had her tell me about the Krefeld gig – looks like I missed something there. She also said touring with Martin and James was their most enjoyable tour ever <3
They’ll play Berlin in September. Maybe I’ll go there.