Our short run of concerts came to a conclusion at Hosek Contemporary right in the heart of Berlin. The venue was an old river barge that had been turned into a contemporary exhibition hall and a concert venue for experimental electronic music. The barge was located on the Spree river very close to Alexanderplatz in Mitte, and from the entrance to the venue, there was an unobstructed view of the dome on the tall Fernsehturm. The barge wasn't insulated and the only source of heat was a wood-burning stove, which stood against the wall where the stage and the audience area met.


The night opened with an improvised set by Flemming aka SoundOkapi, who played electric piano and a drummachine that emmitted random notes. SoundOkapi created an atmospheric mood, before it was our turn to get to the stage. It is not the first time there has been a warm-up before one of my concerts, but it has been a very long time since the last time. And I was a bit nervous before SoundOkapi's set, because an opening act can easily create a different energy in the room than the one you're aiming for. But Flemming's electronic sound was perfect. Organic, mystifying and ethereal.

We played a shorter set than the previous two concerts on our tiny tour, and this time we opened with a medley from 'Odyssey' while lasers ablazed the interior of the old barge. I have usually never played anything from my debut album live, as I thought the sound was too far from what I normally play. But on this tour I have focused on the more thoughtful and electronic part of my output, and here Odyssey has fit in nicely.
From there we played a few more instrumentals before Tanja took to the stage, beginning with the song 'Antenna' from the 'Thaw' album. 'Antenna' is a weird song, and it doesn't really work on paper. It starts of with a few minutes of soundscapes and sound collages, before the seemingly random noises makes way for a soft chord sequence and a crystal clear melody line. This kind of music would never have worked with our previous line up.

Just before the end of our show, we were joined on stage by NU Unruh from the band Einstürzende Neubauten.
I cannot overstate how amazing that was.

And since we were in Germany, I felt that I should do the presentations in German. I had written some things I wanted to say between the songs, but there was just the problem that I don't speak German, so everything was written with the help of Google Translate. During the sound check, however, Unruh was kind enough to proofread my text.

Unfortunately, not many had found their way to the venue. But I don't blame them. Despite the very central location, the venue was very hidden, and if I hadn't been looking for it myself, I would have just passed by. So most of the chairs were empty, which brought to mind Pink Floyd live at Pompeii, where the band plays in an empty amphitheater. The people who had found their way to the place, however, got a concert that I hope exceeded their expectations.

Let's see what the future brings from here...