Oomph! in Russia
24.3.2017 St. Petersburg, Cosmonaut Club
Gastautorin: Varvara Murasheva / Photo Katie Bird
Sometimes you don’t need any special reason to visit someone. The same can sometimes be true for bands as well, the ‘special reason’ being a promotion tour for the new album. And this was the case with Oomph! starting their Russian tour with the gig in St. Petersburg on Friday 24th March at Cosmonaut club.
The band emerged on stage almost without keeping the crowd waiting – only 20 minutes after the doors opened. The first thing Dero Goi declared from the stage to the happily cheering fans was that the band is happy to perform again in “their second home”.
The fans who have not seen the Germans for 1,5 years welcomed the band with louder-than-hell-shouts and screams, jumping that made the dancefloor vibrate – literally, banners and paper fireworks. And of course singing along most of the band’s complicated lyrics in German language.
Oomph! were great as usual at compiling setlists – the heavier songs were mixed with those perfect for dancing, the good ol’ hits with lesser known oldies and fresh songs from the latest albums, songs for romantic slower dances and those perfect for slam- and moshpits. All of those created the incomparable pattern of pulse and rhythm which is something that dedicated Ooomph! fans like about their live performances.
What should be mentioned is that the gig was fully live: not doubting that Dero Goi was actually using his mike – there were no samples or drum machines on stage. As fans would know, the band consists of three people: Dero Goi, Robert Flux and Andreas Crap. For this tour they had invited supporting musicians for drums and percussion, keys and bass as well. All this created really warm atmosphere (if not to say ‘hot’) and showed certain well known songs from a different angle.
Such usual but not less awesome elements like slam circles and Dero’s jump into the crowd were also present. The major madness of the event peaked when someone in the middle of the crowd had lit a torch usually used in football stadiums fan ranges.
The evening ended on a much more lyrical note, though – the Oomph! song Auf Kurs. So the band is on course to the next gigs on tour, but if you don’t know where to catch them live, we know for certain where they will come back to in another year or two.
