IAMX – Cologne (18-01-2019)
“Alive in New Light” is another masterpiece in the long list of great IAMX-albums. For some selected dates, he came to Germany with his “Alive in New Light”-tour. Several months have passed and IAMX is back in Europe with his brand new EP “Mile Deep Hollow” and European tour of the same
IAMX-fans went to the concert all covered in glitter.
The tour started in Cologne. Long before the doors opened, many fans had already been there. And with them, tons of glitter – that’s just love! The trademark of IAMX is a lot of glitters, so the fans were covered all over in glitter – hair, face, clothes, everything and everywhere there was glitter. For sure, even if you didn’t have glitter when you left home for this show, you got home with it! Strange, amazing and funny at the same time. I knew about this custom before but I didn’t expect faces all covered in glitter. I really loved it and I really love so much passion and love for an artist!
When IAMX started there was no stopping the fans going crazy.
There was no Support band! So after the doors opened there was long waiting for the beginning of the IAMX-show.
When a tour just starts, there can always be unexpected things. I don’t know if the start time was just written wrong, or if there were some problems for keeping everything in time, but the crowd got troubled and impatient. When the show finally started, however, everything was forgotten and there was no stopping the fans going crazy!
IAMX played “Mile Deep Hollow” for the very first time.
Surprisingly, the setlist was much longer than expected. If you take a look at the past shows in 2018, you can see that an IAMX-show normally consists of about 14 Songs, which is quite short. Without a support band, it would have been a short evening and an early night.
But not on this evening! IAMX played 17 Songs, 2 encores and also the live premiere of ‘Mile Deep Hollow’. When that song started, the people in the hot venue went even crazier. Sure, you can’t call a tour “Mile Deep Hollow” and don’t play that song. Ok, you can but that would be extremely strange. It’s a great song and was played as the last song before the first encore.
The whole setlist was extremely beautiful and well-mixed. The concertgoers just loved every single song! Not many words in-between. But when it came to the end Chris found his voice to announce some things. One thing was the Q&A in Leipzig. The other thing was about the “You Rock Foundation”, which I have to mention more extensively because it’s something people should know more about!
IAMX spoke about “You Rock Foundation” and got loud applause.
The “You Rock Foundation” is about artists telling their personal stories to end the stigma and help to spread awareness. On their website, you can find many videos about artists’ stories and also where you can find help (in the USA). It’s 2019 and people with mental health problems still have difficulties to get help. They are still ashamed and they still get stigmatized in their jobs or in their circle of friends. Mental health problems are still not exactly the same as physical health problems and this is something which must stop now!
The cause is especially important to me since I lost my job (I was actually bullied out of it by my boss) because of my disability, which I have due to mental health problems. And now I can’t find a new one because companies don’t want a disabled person, although I’ve never been at home due to it! It’s a shame for the world. As a sick person, you are worth nothing, this is what my boss showed and my job application efforts now show me, too.
The “You Rock Foundation” is a big step to change people’s opinions about this topic and shows that people with these issues are not crazy, they are just sick, like people with diabetes or migraines. People with mental health problems have a silent inner pain because of how this issue is still treated in the world! So help us to stop the stigma!
For people in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland who feel alone, I can recommend #KeinerBleibtAllein. We did an interview last year, with information about it.
When IAMX came back on stage for the first encore the crowd went wild again.
When IAMX came back on stage for the first encore, the crowd went wild again, like during the whole show. After three more songs, the band left the stage again and there was an insecure mood in the venue. Was it over? Or will they come back and play a second encore? It was the start of the tour so no one could know what would happen next. The waiting wasn’t too long until we all knew: that wasn’t the end – two more songs! After this second encore, the show was over.
The whole IAMX show was just too dark without getting some special light effects.
I have mixed feelings about the show! On one hand, there was this beautiful setlist and this voice of an angel. On the other hand, there was this extreme darkness. Chris‘ voice was clear and loud but the female backing vocals
The darkness killed it a little bit, especially because everything else was just so perfect that you could think it came from tape.
When I attend a show I want to see the emotions of the artists’ faces. I want to see if they’re just “doing their job” or if they’re having fun. Do they smile? But it was just so dark, especially in the beginning, that I couldn’t see Chris‘ face and I stood maybe 50 cm away from him. Sure, it’s IAMX and it’s a lot about the visual aspect but for the visual aspect, it was not enough for making it beautiful.
The LED-screen in the middle of the stage saved the show. But for the whole concert, it was just too dark without getting some special light effects. Certainly, it was a small venue, and space and money were probably limited but if you want to use light as art this was not the way to go!
Complaining about the female backing vocals doesn’t seem fair because it was the start of the tour and the first show is usually the last rehearsal to see what the band can do better next time. Besides, the sound was great and especially CHRIS’ voice was well-mixed and clear. Actually like on CD, which was really impressive.
The fans were out of control during the whole show. So from this point of view, it was a perfect start of the “Mile Deep Hollow”-tour!
IAMX Setlist Cologne 19.01.2019
- Alive in New Light
- No Maker Made Me
- Bring Me Back a Dog
- Happiness
- I Come With Knives
- Exit
- I Am Terrified
- Sorrow
- North Star
- After Every Party I Die
- Spit It Out
- Mile Deep Hollow (Live Premiere)
Encore:
- Your Joy Is My Low
- The Alternative
- The Power and the Glory
2nd Encore:
- Mercy
- Kiss + Swallow
If you want to see all the concert photos, please visit my Flickr.
Have you been at one of the IAMX shows? Tell us in the comments!