Laibach VIII - Love Is Still Alive Tour

Even at risk to become repetitive: Every Laibach gig is surprise and joy. No exception in 2023.

Rating: 5/5

Buddy: David Zimba

Merch: Hoodie

Again? you can bet

If you like gigs that surprise and impress, Laibach are always a safe bet. I do not remember one gig of them that met my expectations. It is always different. Ok, there is one pattern in Laibach gigs since many years: The first part is solely dedicated to the current album, then comes an intermission with a countdown. The second part is then other songs - but never really the same. Even songs that you know from previous gigs are performed differently. Expect the unexpected and
enjoy.

Also pleased to see that this gig saw much more visitors than in recent years. The sound is impeccable as always - certainly with some backtracking going on, but that's ok for this band. The mid section saw some heavy industrial content. The encores then were on the more melodic side with great tunes from the Iron Sky soundtracks.

To be honest, the merch is prohibitively expensive, but come on, it's Laibach and it's not plain vanilla Chinese stuff that you purchase. 

See you again, for sure.

Setlist:

LOVE IS STILL ALIVE

Love is Still Alive I (Moon, Euphoria)

Love is Still Alive II (Venus, Libidine)

Love is Still Alive III (Mercury, Dopamine)

Love is Still Alive IV (Neptune, Oxytocin)

Love is Still Alive V (Uranus, Prolactin)

Love is Still Alive VI (Saturn, Insomnia)

Love is Still Alive VII (Jupiter, Tristitia)

Love is Still Alive VIII (Mars, Dysphoria)

-- Intermission --

WAR

Ordnung und Disziplin (Müller versus Brecht)

Ich bin der Engel der Verzweiflung

Das Nachtlied I

Als Geist

Glück Auf!

Lepo - Krasno

Smrt za smrt

Krvava guada - plodna zemlja

Ti, ki Izzivas

REPENT

The Future (Leonard Cohen)

Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones)

The Coming Race

ENCORE

The Engine of Survival

Laibach VII (Sound of Music Tour)

In another post, I wrote that Laibach continue to surprise me. Also this time it is no different.




Buddy: David
Rating: 5/5
Merch: a Laibach badge
Again? Sure, my NSK passport needs more entires ;-)




I did not expect that much this night, but Laibach is always a must. I am not the big fan of  Laibach's interpretation of"The Sound Of Music" in the studio. These versions are very polished and shiny, thus quite far away from a Laibach experience, it's more or less quite straight-forward pop music.

The live versions of these songs (again) surprise me. Very dynamic and convincing, by far less polite and engaging. Again, I experience the core of Laibach: surprise - very pleasant surprise. Live I basically buy into every single song of the album. The singer is stellar. After part one, I am very happy to be here.

PS: After the gig I listened again to the studio album, and it still does not thrill me a lot.

Intermission. Yes, Laibach now regularly heads for a 20 minutes intermission countdown. I like it.

The second part is another surprise. No all-time-favorites, but rather unknown songs from the Eighties in Slovenian. All convincing and concise. Followed by their most recent contribution to Iron Sky II and their view of 'Sympathy For the Devil'. Setlist below.

Second part - a bit 'no prisoners' mentality - good guitars

So again, it is just right to be with Laibach. And their seventh incarnation brings them back for me at their heights. Puno hvala, Laibach.

The stamp in my NSK passport

The Spectre Badge

Setlist:

• The Sound of Music 
• Climb Ev'ry Mountain
• Do-Re-Mi
• Edelweiss
• My Favorite Things
• The Lonely Goatherd
• Sixteen Going on Seventeen
• So Long, Farewell
• Maria/Korea
• Arirang (traditional)
• ---Intermission---
• Ti, ki izzivaš
• Vier Personen
• Mi kujemo bodočnost
• Smrt za Smrt
• The Coming Race
• Sympathy for the Devil

Laibach VI (Also Sprach Zarathustra Tour)

In its sixth reincarnation on stage, with its rather difficult new album Also Sprach Zarathustra with them, it is the expected difficult performance. My deteriorating health did not help.


Buddy: David
Rating: 3/5
Merch: none
Again? my NSK passport needs more entires ;-)






Setlist:
1. Von den drei Verwandlungen
2. Ein Untergang
3. Ein Verkündiger
4. Von Gipfel zu Gipfel
5. Das Glück
6. Die Unschuld II
7. Das Nachtlied I
9. Als Geist
10. Vor Sonnen-Aufgang
11. Parnassus
12. Cold Song
13. Anti-Semitism
14. Brat Moj
15. Hell: Symmetry
16. Le Privilege Des Morts
17. Ti, ki izzivas
18. Wirtschaft ist tot
19. Bossanova
20. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean

Sounds like a long gig, but it wasn't with approx 90 minutes.

My second entry into the NSK passport - geeky :)

Laibach V

Even in its fifth reincarnation, Laibach surprise and fascinate. Got my first stamp into my NSK passport.

               

  

Buddies: Täubchen, Michael, Werner; further colleagues (Daniel and Viktor)

Rating: 5/5

Merch: another belt (don't ask me where I lost my first one...)

Again: still much room left in my NSK passport

Only one year later, without a new release aside the Specre Remixes, Laibach perform another stellar gig. Spectre being still in its focus, but there was quite a lot of new (or otherwise unknown) stuff with them. Like last year, the first part of the gig was the more experimental one, yet very fascinating Laibach. Everything was much more abstract and demanding. Then came the obligatory 10 minutes break monitored by a countdown, again waltz music. This time the second break began quite experimental as well. Iron Sky was the first 'blockbuster' moment, and this performance made no prisoners, one of my personal highlights of this evening. Then the two speedy songs 'Eat Liver' and 'Bossanova', the heat rose. A rather reminiscent 'Geburt einer Nation' again reminded how strange Queen's 'One Vision' sounds with German lyrics. Near the end, then as always 'Tanz Mit Laibach' - and every year it's my impression that the song gets even more brutal. Eventually 'Leben Heißt Leben', polished up to today's standards, still the old, noisy song. On the downside, Arena was not that full although the hall has slimmed down considerably. And sometimes you had this substances in your nose with very very strange smells.

Whatever, Chapeau Laibach, I did not expect such an intense gig just a year later. If you want to, please visit Vienna every year.

Laibach IV

Even when seeing them for the fourth time, Laibach easily surprise and impress me. Without doubt, this is their best performance so far.

Buddy: David
Score: 5 out of 5 
Merch: a nice Spectre t-shirt
Again? Can I subscribe? Am I already in Groupie mode?

Die Krupps II (Chant, Vigilante)

Got two tickets for this gig - thanks to Michael and Harald (he unfortunately canceled in last minute). It's so good to see Die Krupps back again with two stellar support acts. 

Buddies: Michael and David 
Score: 5 out of 5 
Merchandize: a signed Chant CD
Another Gig? Any time!





The evening starts with Chant, two percussionists that like drumming to industrial electronic music. What sounds a bit strange turns out as a really good act. Very intelligent Industrial music reminds me a bit of the young NIN or My Life With The Kill Cult (at least at first glance). It's very good music, so I buy the 2013 CD and have it signed by Bradley Bills. Keep on going, this is great music.

Laibach III

Monumental Retro-Avant-Garde - you cannot say it better.

Buddy: Michael M-W
Score: 4,5 out of 5
Merchandize: a very cool Laibach belt
Another gig? Yeah, even a fourth one!



This is my third Laibach gig and the band still surprises me. Without doubt, this one is the best gig I've seen of them. I saw Laibach in the old Gasometer and they were great (they should open a Type O Negative gig but the main act cancelled) and then in Szene Wien (see review below), when they were more trendy than these days. So I did not expect much.

I had not listened to anything from their OST for 'Iron Sky' (I do not care that much about soundtracks these days). But the live contributions of 'Under The Iron Sky' and 'America' were impressive. Melodic, but still strong and with that special Laibach industrial flavour. Great analogue synths paired with latest high-end tones. Impressive vocal contributions. Add some stunning visuals (including Iron Sky excerpts) and a good-as-usual sound in Arena, and you have the perfect industrial concert. The Arena floor has been shrunk, which was actually a good idea (especially if I remember the industrial gig before that gig in half-empty Szene Wien...).

Highlights besides the new songs from 'Iron Sky' were (of course) 'One Vision', 'Tanz Mit Laibach' and a fantastic version of 'Alle Gegen Alle'. The second encore, to my big surprise, was 'God Is God' from Jesus Christ Superstar, IMHO one of their most powerful songs (here I missed the guitars from the CD recording quite a bit).

Just half a point deduction for a missing support band - but nothing else was to be expected from this band :-). Thank you Laibach, it was a great evening. And I will honor that belt - must do so for that price *ggg*

PS: If you wanna get an idea about how Laibach sounds live in 2012, I can recommend you the official double-CD recording of the Tate Modern Gig available here: http://abbeyroadlive.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DisplayArtist.html?CatID=236

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Frontline Assembly and others

Another must-see gig of one of my favourite bands of the 90-ies, and Szene would be a perfect location for an industrial metal gig. Unfortunately, nothing turned out as it should be.

Buddy: Harald (thanks for joining, bro :)

Score: 2,5 out of 5
Merchandize: FLA t-shirt 'Tactical Neuro Implant'
Another gig? No

Nine Inch Nails

Finally the gig I've been waiting for so long. NIN captured me entirely since "Pretty Hate Machine", so a gig was a must. Big drawback: just got tickets for the galleries - OMG! Can this work out?

Buddies: Frantischek (thanks mate for arranging the ticket)
Score: 4 out of 5
Merchandize: Tour T-Shirt in military green

Another Gig: Any time, without doubt.

Laibach II - old Gasometer

One of the very special gigs never to be forgotten - imagine the following: 
Venue: Old Vienna Gasometer prior to its revitalization, thus a real Gasometer
Set: Laibach was supposed to support Type'O'Negative, they cancelled, and Laibach took over
Thanks to the archives of laibach.org, I could reconstruct this gig after a very long time.

Buddies: Stolli (unsure about the others)
Score: 5 out of 5

It was Laibach's tour to promote their stellar NATO release.

(to be completed)

Laibach I

If you want to see something completely different, then always consider Laibach. Yes, there has been much playback, but the show is it worth it.




Look at this fancy ticket - back in 1996, Szene Wien even did not produce band tickets!

Buddies: Michaela, Flyingsheep
Score: 3 out of 5
Go again: Might be interesting

Die Krupps & Waltari

Another one of those gigs I will not forget. Die Krupps in very good shape, and yes, they have a massive metal drum pipe with them.

This video, from the same tour, gives an impression of the band's performance and sound. An amazing gem of a video!



Buddies: Mirjam, Flyingsheep


Score: 5 out of 5
Another gig? well, it's history (I guess)