Band: Amenra
Date: 09/10/20
Location: JunkYard Dortmund
Promoter: Shogun Konzerte
After having the pleasure of seeing Amenra in all its glory for the second time in 2019 I was glad to see them end this chaotic year with a special acoustic set.
As everyone has noticed, Corona successfully prevented us from having a lot of great concerts and pushed a lot of concert promoters on the brink of bankruptcy. One can’t stress enough how important it is to support special occasions like this one, when they come around and you had to be fast in this case (the show sold within two days, if I recall correctly). I was lucky enough to snatch some tickets with my colleague Roman in order to tell you, my fellow readers, how great this evening has been.
It was a very small stage with a video-screen-backdrop which provided fitting black and white visual scenarios for the songs, from forlorn landscapes to cathedrals. Amenra sat in a circle of chairs, with Colin (singer) having his back to the audience (at least on this one thing you can rely in this year). Added to the band was a female violinist who also provided background vocals on certain songs.
Amenra opened the set with two tracks from their album MASS IIII (“Razoreater” and “Aorte. Nous Sommes Du Même Sang“) and from the first notes on you knew, you were in for a treat. There was a devout silence while Amenra was playing, every step on the gravel-ground of the Junkyard sounded a lot louder than it would normally do.
Amenra already had done acoustic shows in the past, which you can re-live of the great live-album Alive. Amenra played nearly all of the songs of that album (except „September“ if I recall correctly) and added some really beautiful acoustic versions on top. A song like „A Solitary Reign“ really sounded like it was written to be played acoustic.
A personal highlight for me was „Am Kreuz“, which ranks among the top-3 of my favourite Amenra songs. With the support of the female vocals in the finale it was definitely a great moment for me.
The evening closed with „Buiten Datum“ with every band member leaving the circle of chairs one by one while the rain was setting in. It was a chilling conclusion to the last concert of the year.
Amenra proved once again, that they are a very special band in this genre. A lot of people like to say, that they „get“ Amenra and their art, but in my humble opinion it is more like the art of Amenra gets you and leaves you with a feeling of bliss.
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