PopKomm

I have been berating myself on a daily basis for getting behind on my blogging again ... Oy. Last week I was sick, although that only covers one week. Oh well ... here is a start at catching up, at least.

From September 19-23 was PopKomm, a conference/tradeshow kind of thing for various kinds of rock, pop, and dance music. Lots of shows were happening all over town.


















In the interest of comparative musicology, I attended two different shows by Henrik Schwarz, a musician whom I have interviewed in the past.


















The first was on Thursday the 20th, at Club 103 in Kreuzberg. It's more or less next door to Watergate. Here is the flyer:






















The second was, I had been told, at Panoramabar on Sunday night. I was really wondering what sort of freaks would be left around there at 8 p.m. on a Sunday! Keep in mind, of course, that
8 p.m. Sunday counts as really late Saturday night here...

As it turns out, the 2nd gig wasn't really in Panoramabar, but next door. Berghain has a "Kantine" next door called Rudersdorf. It is rather pleasant: there is an outdoor area with tables, a restaurant, a fountain (!), and swings. Inside is a decent-size club space.

The audience, as it turns out, looked like they had slept and bathed at some point, so the vibe was actually more Sunday-night-ish. It was quite mellow and pleasant. They were quite into the music, and Henrik played very well.

I had been curious to see how similar or different the two performances would be musically. They turned out to be very different: I recognized only 5-6 tracks shared among them, and they occurred in different places, for the most part.

All of the pics are from the 103 club. I didn't take pictures at Rudow/Panoramabar/whatever. Although they didn't take my camera, considering the ban on pictures at Berghain, I decided it would be like the curse of the Pharaoh or something to take pictures there...