Tomte (Posted Date: 27 Sep 2008, 00:03)

Tomte / Blackbird

25.09.08 Konzerthaus, Dortmund

Tomte, the most successful German Oasis tribute band, played an acoustic set within the pop_unplugged series at the Konzerthaus in Dortmund shortly before releasing their new album Heureka. So this seemed to be a promising event.
But first came Blackbird, i.e. Holger and Jost from Pale who pleased the packed house with stripped down versions of their usually more rocking songs including a wonderful cover of The Jam's Going Underground.
As Blackbird proved how to breathe new life into old songs due to the acoustic setting Tomte couldn't live up to my expectations that they'd do the same. Bass and guitar were electrified so most of the songs sounded as usual despite using a cello played by Gunnar from Escapado, just a bit more quiet as Thees Uhlmann, singer, other guitarist and mastermind of Tomte, stuck to an acoustic guitar. The crowd liked it nonethelees and Thees also seemed to enjoy the evening very much according to his broad smile on his face throughout the show, but I was a bit bored as the magic of the venue only occasionally seemed to coincide with the music, e.g. the opener Schreit den Namen meiner Mutter or the finale, Schönheit der Chance, sent shivers down my spine.
So it was nearly two hours of solid entertainment but nothing more.