KMFDM: Kein Mitleid Tour #3

Oct
3

KMFDM: Kein Mitleid Tour #3 - Cleveland, OH

Posted by: Trubie Turner

KMFDM, one of the oldest and most prolific industrial acts of all time, took its show on the road to celebrate the band's 25th Anniversary and brought young upstarts Angelspit along to share in the merrymaking. Following their conquering of Toronto, Canada, the Kein Mitleid tour stormed back over the border and mercilessly marched into Cleveland to give the House of Blues a taste of the Ultra Heavy Beat.

Even though it has only been two years since Angelspit's last North American tour in which the band opened for The Crüxshadows and Ayria, in that short time, it has grown substantially in its fan base, musical repertoire, and stage performance. Wielding custom made arcade stick styled instruments and backed by a custom lighting rig synchronized with the music, the duo has strongly expanded on its live performance. With ZooG's tweaking of their pulsing electronic equipment, he comes across like a diabolical mad scientist, and DestroyX flanks him like his lusty, petite, singing and dancing creation.

With two additional full length albums under their belt since last tour, as well as a much more generous amount of set time, Angelspit was able to present a solid sampling of the band's library, but still left plenty to be discovered in the discography. Soon to be favorites from the recently released Hideous and Perfect such as "Channel Hell" and "Fuck the Revolution" easily intermingled with work going all the way back to the debut EP Nurse Grenade.

Most telling about the growth of the group over the last two years, or at least showing how much more fitting a tour this is for the young group, the audience was not only familiar with Angelspit, but many would cheer for the first few notes of their favorite songs and the audience in general seemed a bit mesmerized by the auditory and visual treat that lived up to the promise suggested by Angelspit's exemplary album artwork. The only negatives to their performance were an occasional over abuse of vocal distortion not present in the original recordings and a somewhat anti-climactic wrap up to their set. However, these are minor issues compared to the band's wonderful, energetic presentation that, when they were done, obviously left the audience hungry for more - a hunger that KMFDM was more than willing to satisfy.

Exploding onto the stage in a flurry of beats and guitar, KMFDM immediately sent the audience into a state of exultation. The stoic Sascha Konietzko and the fiery Lucia Cifarelli traded vocal duties throughout the evening with Konietzko showing his uncanny ability to hold the audience in the palm of his hand with little effort while Cifarelli offset his stoicism with her energy and impressive stage presence. Guitarists Jules Hodgson and Steve White and drummer Andy Selway add the spark of live instruments to KMFDM's show and each brought their considerable experience and skill to the stage. Together, the most stable KMFDM lineup in many years is also one of the most impressive. Taking full advantage of the adept setup, KFMDM largely focused on the more guitar laden work of recent years, as well as the heavier work of the past. With the recent release of Blitz, it had strong representation with "Davai," "Potz Blitz," and "Bait and Switch," but tracks from over half a dozen other KMFDM albums were strategically selected in an apparent effort to find the perfect combination of music to drive the audience into a twisting mass of flailing appendages and colliding bodies.

KMFDM's performance felt like a true celebration of the band's 25 years of existence. Even though largely focused on the heavier work to take advantage of the band's most recent incarnation, KMFDM still reached deep into its catalog, playing many gems to satisfy longtime fans. The only real disappointment in the set was the lack of Blitz's gloriously tongue-in-cheek "Bitches," which would seem to be an obvious candidate for a closer or encore performance, possibly even as part of a medley or follow-up with the equally silly Angst classic, "Sucks." Though, with 25 years worth of material, obviously not everyone is going to hear every song they want, and despite personal set nitpicks, KMFDM did an exemplary job of cherry picking through its history to provide a definitive experience for the fans, whether they've been fans since day one or since the day before the show. With shows like this, it is no wonder why KMFDM has thrived for 25 years. Now let's all hope for 25 more!