On Saturday we went to see the Trio Riessler-Levy-Matinier and the Trio Madeira Brasil with special guests. A friend recommended this concert at the Berliner Festspiele as part of the JazzFest Berlin ’07. We had setas in the second row so we could literally here every single breath and note they played. Both bands were just amazing and Yamandú Costa — a young guitar gaúcho — just blew our minds!

Buss Kondukteur — the music project of a friend of mine — played at the Zentrale Randlage in Berlin. The show was part of the osaka label night with Hannu (Helsinki) and Hulk (Dublin). Those of you who know Apple computers recognize that Roy’s Macbook covered with stickers that let the Apple logo appear like a cross. And it’s a small world. Roy’s brother used to play in Gemma Hayes’ band of whom I am a huge fan (as you can see here).

Longtime friend Elke Brauweiler of the music project PAULA played at the Roter Salon in Berlin. She presented songs from her current french pop cover songs album “Twist A Saint Tropez”. I really liked the songs from the album and I was impressed how fresh and cool they sounded played live. If you want to listen to her songs which are perfect for summer time, go check her Website and her myspace page. There’s also a very interesting feature on arte TV which you can find here.

I know the band PAULA for more than 7 years now (since I designed their website), and I can’t remember how often I saw them playing. It was always fun but tonight was very special at the Magnet. For the first time I saw Elke Brauweiler and Arne Gosh play all the songs by themselves which sounded very cool and for the first time ever Elke’s twin sister Anke joined them on stage singing the background vocals on “Schlaflied”. What a great Valentine’s Day concert!

The Dears played at the Mudd Club in Berlin last friday. They were a bit theatric but did a great show.

On Sunday afternoon Marc played with his band Mondo Fumatore in Kreuzberg. It was a really quick ‘unplugged’ gig in the sun. I hate to say that there are no current show dates. But go and check the MP3s!

Gonzales played two gigs in a row at the Babylon in Berlin on Tuesday. The first show was sold out within a few hours, but I was lucky to get a ticket from a friend. Gonzales is a great piano player and his current show “From Major To Minor” is very entertaining. If you get the chance to see him — go and get a ticket quickly. You can find some videos of his shows on the label’s website.

The Knife played their only Germany gig at the Maria in Berlin last night. It was one of the most crowded shows I’ve seen at the Maria in years. And it was one of the most boring ones, as well. The songs were great, but I think 90 percent of the music and vocals were playback and the songs sounded exactly like on the album. My friends — and I think most of the audience — agreed with me. The only interesting thing was the light show and the videos that were projected onto a semi-transparent black curtain in front The Knife.

I watched Art of Fighting last night at the Bastard. It was a nice concert and I enjoyed one or two songs a lot. Altough there were only a few people in the audience, the atmosphere wasn’t very intimate.

After eight years of being a fan of Juliana Hatfield I finally had the chance to see her live! She did a solo show and played a repertoire of her songs (only a few from her current album ‘China’ ). It was very intense and she’s an amazing singer.

Update 2006-03-29:
I met a guy at the Gemma Hayes in-store gig who went to the Juliana Hatfield gig, as well, and here are his pictures.

I went to Camden Town where Gemma Hayes had an in-store gig at FOPP Records. There were only a few people there which made the performance very intimate. I had the chance to have a little chat with Gemma and asked her if there were any plans to tour in Germany. She said she’d love to, but nothing planned yet. She was pretty impressed when she heard that I came all the way from Berlin and signed me her current Single ‘Undercover’ with a special note. (I’m not a geek, just a huge fan… ) I asked her how she feels when so many people in the audience took pictures like during the concert last night and she said it was a bit uncomfortable, but she couldn’t stop people from doing it.

Update 2006-03-29:
Here are some pictures by a guy I met at the in-store gig.

So, here I am, finally, at the Scala in London, looking forward to see Gemma Hayes playing live. It was a brilliant show and her voice was really amazing, though I have to say, that the current band — compared to her last band during the debut tour in the US (saw her in Seattle, 2003) — wasn’t that exciting. I didn’t have the feeling that they worked as a band at all. The whole focus was on Gemma, which was alright, but I really enjoy it when I see a band having fun on stage. That wasn't the case here.
And I have to complain about all the people with their cameras in the audience! They were so annoying holding their cams up in the air in front of my eyes. They were shooting all the time. People, listen to the music! It's all about music, please!
But again, apart from that — I was enjoying a great performance by Gemma Hayes.

Update 2006-04-18: I’ve found two short movie clips from the concert online. Watch clip 1 and clip 2 (QuickTime).

Sunday night I saw Annamateur and her Guitarists performing in the Café Zapata in Berlin-Mitte. She originally comes from Dresden where she’s pretty popular. A friend of hers — Ines Rosenholm — highly recommended Annamateur as a fantastic singer / entertainer with a slightly foul-mouthed and vulgar attitude — and yes, Ines was right!

Yesterday I went to a PAULA show. They played at the Maria in Berlin – the final gig of their fall 2006 tour. I’ve known these guys since 2000 and create the website for them. It was a pretty good rock show with front singer Elke Brauweiler who really enjoyed the evening with the band and the fans. The venue was pretty crowded and the fans liked the new interpretations of their hits like Jimmy and Als es passierte as well as their new songs from the current album Ruhig Blut. I only had my cell phone with me, so the video and sound quality is very poor, but watch this if you like to get an idea of the show.
I met Berend who was formerly the so-called mastermind behind PAULA (together with Elke), too. He’s just finished a small Germany tour with his band and is back in Berlin producing the album for guther (morr music) - a project he’s doing together with his steady Julia Guther. Wonderful music! I had the chance to listen to a few songs last night and I’m really looking forward to the release of the new album. You can listen to the last album I Know You Know here.