Yes, we did it. Loom played two extraordinary shows on the legendary A38 ship, Budapest, on the surface of the biggest river in Europe, Danube. Anytime until now, we had been at the position of the outsider music listener, the TD-fan, but now we took an active part: we organised the events that rocked the TD-world all over the Globe. Our subjectivism is burnt into this fact, please note.

The decision about the September shows was born in Berlin in February when all the band members and myself met at an Italian restaurant somewhere near Riet Studio, place of several Loom rehearsals previously. That night was all about planning and joking, mixed, and when we stood up from the table it was clear that we were unstoppable and Loom would play again!

Seven weeks later, on the day of the Budapest TD show, we announced Loom's appearance on A38, which caused serious excitement. Loom T-shirts flooded all the surroundings of the Palace of Arts, the venue where TD played, and the first tickets had been sold to the early birds.

A long list of different operations took place until the day came: Thursday, 27th September late night the bus arrived at the hotel with the band members and their staff. We needed sleep as soon as possible to have enough energy for the next day so after some drink at the hotel bar we went to our beds around 2:00 AM. Here comes Friday with the first show - we had a setup period from 12:00 PM to almost 7:00 PM with various technical difficulties. Nils, Loom's sound engineer was amazed with the gear found on the ship and Jan, responsible for the lighting said that his dream was to work on A38, it was such a cool and cult place!

We just realised after the rush that we didn't have any time to eat so the band played the first show quite hungry... Everything started with Johannes on the piano, and yes, we got Quichotte!

Anybody could manage to follow the show until now, a lot of user videos are available on different video sharing services so we don't stress you with a setlist or a track-by-track analysis. Instead of that, we focus on the musicians' performances, which were really touching, personal and sometimes virtuoso. Johannes played extraordinarily both on piano and on his three synths - one of them was the legendary Jupiter-8, of course. It's so hard to imagine that this perfect stage performer did not use his skills on this territory after leaving TD. He was always in action, jumping between the keyboards, sometimes returning back to the piano, and played such huge solos that Keith Emerson always wanted to.

The leading attraction of Johannes is inevitable - but what about Jerome? Yes, he was with his guitar all the time - and all the time he played it (except the piano solos). His very emotional style had never been so focused like now - he united with his instrument perfectly and became the very soulful part of the music. Yes, he played big solos too - when Beach Scene burst during the rehearsals with Johannes playing the bass and the chord lines, Robert pushed some choir and Jerome took over the whole stage with the very well-known solo, all the outside world stopped for a while it seemed.

But it is only a part of the story. Let's see the completely remorked Le Parc/Streethawk, which was introed by Jerome's soft guitar notes in a way that is very irregular in this kind of music. But irregularities help development and it was proven then, immediately.

Jerome's young friend, Robert is the Chrisfranke within Loom, therefore the most important man as Johannes introduced him everywhere. His two laptops sequenced all the backing for the band - it is enough responsibility even for a DJ performance but Robert went much further. He also played all the time on his vintage DX7 keyboard (no sound was used from this, just the keyboard functionality) and on more contemporary Yamaha gear. He played various parts, even solos, too - the legendary line from Choronzon was coming out of his hand.

The first show started with an audience of 250-300 standing people and lasted until almost 12:30AM - not everybody but the most enthusiastic ones waited til the end. After the show a backstage consilium analysed the weaknesses and later the band went out for giving autographies and meeting the fans.

And all of us were still hungry so the band, the staff and me jumped in a McDonald's - the unit which won the most beautiful McD's prize since it was designed by Eiffel, more than a hundred years ago.

Next day, Saturday we didn't need so long time to setup so we could check some city curiosities and the places where they had played previously! Budapest Sportcsarnok, the place where Johannes played with TD in 1982 to an audience of 11,000 does not exist now - it burnt down in 1999 -, but on the same site an even bigger sports hall is found. Petőfi Csarnok, the venue of the 1997 show of TD with Jerome (3,000 listeners) exists still, and even reopened this year after a long-long break - we checked both places, which was very thrilling for both the band members and the staff also.

In the evening, the hall was already fully packed with chairs when we arrived. Then a full band supper could happen, we had the time for it, and while we were upstairs at the restaurant, the hall went full with people. All the seats were occupied, and around them, standing people were everywhere.

This event was captured by five cameras in HD resolution, and with multitrack audio - the Hungarin state television will broadcast the recording soon. What the musicians did on stage is hard to describe - all the problems were eliminated and they performed a really perfect show.

Just right before the show a television interview was recorded backstage. The content of this event is a secret even to myself so I will learn about it from the broadcast :)

What will happen in the future - we can't know still. But the guys seem very active, Jerome is running a remix contest with us in cooperation and we all hope they will perform again together somehow, somewhere.

The announcement has been out for months and we are at the final stage of setting up the two Budapest shows of Loom, the band of some former Tangerine Dream members.

We will host a concert in front of a standing crowd in 28th September, 2012 while 29th, September will be a choice for those who enjoy this music sitting, eyes closed. The venue is the marvellous ship on the Danube, A38 which won the Best Bar award from Lonely Planet, world's leading touristic site recently. We promise a really exciting mixture of place and program!

Loom's doyen member is Johannes Schmoelling, the creative genius of Tangerine Dream during the eighties; thanks to his work, all the fan's poll result his era as the most popular time of the band. After splitting with Edgar he produced some spectacular solo albums with very good reception like Wuivend Riet, and the perhaps strongest-ever concept work of the electronic field, Zoo of Tranquillity. Johannes is an excellent piano player and he will have his classical Jupiter-8 synthesizer here as well.

Jerome, Edgar Froese's beloved son is the driving force behind Loom, playing mostly guitar parts. He worked 15 years in Tangerine Dream which is the second longest period, just right after his father; his contribution was a total reshape of the band's sound in the 90s when modern dance-oriented electronic music has flooded the music market. His successful integration resulted big achievements - beside long sold-out tours they received seven Grammy-nomination then. Jerome is a master of creating contemporary rhythms and sounding moods, and after his departure he developed a completely new style with strong guitar use and vibrating electronic drum tracks. Oh, not to forget the classical TD-style sequencing art which is also his native language...

Third Loom member, Robert Waters is relatively unknown for us since he never played in TD at all - but his musical and producer skills are proven to be exceptional since he has worked in the Berlin scene since many-many years. Let's hear his wonderful track called Magicoscope:

In Budapest, the band will play classical TD pieces - some of them were debuted in Eindhoven, their previous concerts, but there may be surprises as our sources say. In addition we will get some solo stuff also, and a very new, Loom-composed track - the group's very first joined composition. See you there, order tickets here!

Andreas Müller presented a series of stunning, unbelievable photo shots at Művészetek Palotája, Budapest. These photos are must seen all, since they present such level of realism mixed with a real unique artistic approach that can't be matched with any TD live photograph before. Click here and enjoy.

There was no curtain at all but it is lifted now: TD's 2012 tour started yesterday evening in Budapest, at the exceptional concert hall Palace of Arts. A full house of almost 2,000 people (some of them came from all around the world) received quite well the band's new show and gave a standing ovation at the end.

The stage was organised in the way we got used to last year but it put an even much better overall impression on the watcher. Video projection could be seen on a half-transparent screen which left some sight of the big organ of the hall. Four traditional big balloons were waiting for the encore to be freed and reach the hands of the audience.

The first 30-35 minutes of the program was mesmerizing; a smart selection of meditative tracks from last years' albums was a brave step to take. Musicians onstage played only atmospheric sound paintings on the monotone but powerful sequencer lines - no tunes, no tricks disturbed the inner processes of the listeners. A very TD-ish solution!

After this section, a newly arranged Song of the Whale was the first structured track which we want to be released as soon as possible. This song was the first clear sign of Bernhard having a good day for music making - what this guy offered during the night was never even approached during his whole career. Good luck for us. The very new and rocky Logos caused the first big applause, and soon perhaps the very best song from today's era, The Silver Boots of Bartlett Green came.

The second part started with Edgar's live piano solo - on a short synth. He played a Ricochet variation, but the real surprise only followed this: a real, resequenced Ricochet Part Two waved out from the speakers, covered by an improvised texture of all the members. Five-six minutes of pure youth and memories.

Some peaks from the second part: Lady Monk's advanced version, Long Island Sunset, Blue Bridge with a duet of Linda on saxophone and Edgar on guitar (played in his trademark style with strange, Mozartian rhythmics), Alchemy of the Heart, Homeless (Bernhard has beaten Zlatko?), Warsaw in the Sun (with the not-so-lucky choice of Linda playing the lead on sax), and finally Madchen Auf Der Treppe/White Eagle. (The setlist is not full of course.)

For the encore we could play with the balloons while the virtuoso Hoshiko played a very capturing pop version of Vivaldi's Summer from the Four Seasons. One Night in Space always rocks the hall and this event wasn't an exception, and the very final track, a remix from the Star Wars themes somehow shocked everybody. But it wasn't the last happening: while Edgar started to prepare for his closing words, Hoshiko grabbed a traditional Japanese sword, and held a short ritual ceremony with cutting his instrument into two pieces! Not everybody noticed this intermezzo but half of the crowd acknowledged it with a big laugh.

To sum it up, it is perhaps the best concert program and show of the last years, played very live, very rocky, with carefully selected parts of music. Two energy bombs, Bernhard and Iris are bearing the show while the synth boys are doing their task quietly. Hoshiko is a nice add-on (_really nice), and she has become a real TD member with her perfomances in the encore.

The projected video program is also probably the best of all kinds until now, and the screen's interesting texture plus the big organ gave a very monumental feeling for the whole time.

Meet and greet was also a part of the story with a huge attack of domestic and international fans. The band received it very well with full of energy, only Edgar seemed a bit tired. Hoshiko was a newbie during this section, it was clear but she will get used to this rush, we suspect...

It seems to be a strict rule: Tangerine Dream plays in Budapest in every 15 years. For he first time, in 1982 they played a memorable full house Logos concert in the then-fresh venue, Budapest Sportcsarnok in front of 11,000 people; second, in 1997, Goblins Club was the supported album in Petőfi Csarnok (also crowded heavily with 2,500 people).

Now we write 2012 and it was sure we will have a TD show somewhere, somewhen. But what a gift: Edgar decided to start this year's extensive touring program here, at perhaps on of the best place TD ever played. Művészetek Palotája (shortly: MüPa, means Palace of Arts) is a widely controversial, eccentric new building of the city, offended on both the design side and on the high costs (it was built in a very strange public-privat partneship construction). On the other hand the building has won serious international architectural prizes.

What was never an issue for debates is the acoustical perfection of its main concert hall which is often said to be the best of Europe. Now we can test it with Tangerine Dream's ultra-loud, crystal-clear live music in 10th April, 2012, Tuesday at 20:00pm.

Last Sunday Edgar Froese, a talented keyboard and guitar player, took his first solo concert in Eindhoven, Holland.

Yes, it is true: while Edgar composed and published many-many solo album during his career, he never played not a single concert of them. Now this era is over: with his fellow musicians in TD, he played more than two hours of material that composed exclusively by him. The event took place in Eindhoven, Holland, at the TU Auditorium, where TD already played a successful concert in 1976.

The city provided really extraordinary circumstances for the evening: their football team , PSV Eindhoven was going to win the Holland championship exactly that day - they only had to win a significantly weaker team at home to have the title. (PSV's top scorer, Balazs Dzsudzsak is a Hungarian guy so we also supported them a lot.) The whole city was flagged by PSV, and every people weared PSV's colors during the whole day. And nearly everybody was drunken in the morning :)

Unfortunately they played only draw, so the decision had to wait until the next weekend.

During the afternoon, the main supporting act, Ron Boots started the line of the performances with his band. Ron is really a nice guy, he let us to record the show with two cameras in HD, and supported us with his positiv personality. His program was very energic, groovy, and was worth of attention.





















But what we were waiting for is Edgar's concert, which featured a small sensation: after almost a 30 years break, Edgar played a real Mellotron again. The classical vintage instrument, which heavily characterised TD's music during the seventies, was used in an old Edgar song, Maroubra Bay, a favourite track of most of us. The piece itself was not a vintage gear: the company that responsible for making them has released a brand new Mellotron model last year, and that was the one that Edgar played.





















The visual design of the stage was very simple but elegant: a constant, uncoloured lighting was used during the whole night, with no any additional light effect, four coloured, programmed LED columns were the only attraction, together with the projected animations and some smoke sometimes. Musically the selection was very wide, from the very old tracks to the very new ones. All the musicians were working heavily while the instrumentation gave all of them jobs almost permanently. Some old tracks got new, modern rhythmic accompaniment from machines, and from Iris, too. And Edgar played most of the lead lines himself.

Bernhard was not on the lucky side since he successfully killed his guitar amplifier in the first minutes, and after it he heroically recabled his system real-time during the performance. Edgar also played a guitar solo, Hamlet, and slightly quoted the very recognisable guitar sound from Talking to Maddox in the middle part.





















Shortly after the performance, the whole band, lead by Edgar came out to the hall for a public photo session and chat with the fans. On the picture you can see the result of our small game with Bianca - who can take more photos on the other party.





















This sexy pose from Iris was not a matter of random-catching - she performed it consciously, you can believe me. After the shot she examined the photo with care and found she seems to be drunken. Guess, is she right?

By the way, the band played the classic track Drunken Mozart, of course.

More pictures from us on the web can be found here.

The entry process of the official Eastgate photo contest for fans is closed 31th, October - and now the voting for the best pictures is up and running. You can check the photos at TD's official MySpace page with a nice slide show. I also have an entry (in the right you can see it) which will not win definitely - the distance of our seat prevented me to take much better pictures but I felt we have to throw in something for everyone's sake.

Anyway, it's very entertaining and a big joy to see all the great pictures and it's really a very-very hard task to select from them. The contest was a great idea, Edgar, we are looking forward to your next turn! :)

The day started with a funny moment in the Hungarians' headquarters. As always, I now choosed the old historical city found some 30 kilometres far from Frankfurt, Seligenstadt. My favourite hotel is situated here at the wonderful main square, and was established in 1490 as hotel. In Sunday while having breakfast, Peter Lion suddenly discovered some familiar tunes coming  quietly from the kitchen. Is it TD? - asked me and I started to listen thoroughly. No, the radio station played the new album from Ulrich Schnauss (formerly known as Ethereal 77...).

My complete Flickr photoset can be found here.





















Funny things were going on thru the days, but the biggest joke was the opening set of Tangerine Dream - a wurlitzer was playing the tune of Yesterday... Why it was so silly for us? Because in the afternoon we had a pleasant hour in the inner city of Frankfurt in a cafeteria working nine levels high, at the top of a building. While we was there our musical background was presented by a saxophone player performing on the street. His main attraction was Yesterday - he played it at least ten times while we was sitting there so we were perfectly getting used to it...





















Almost forgot to mention that we were lucky not to miss the visit of Linda and Iris at the place of the fan meeting... we have arrived in time, while they were photod heavily with various fans.

Back from Frankfurt, having good time at a fantastic place, Alte Oper. Perhaps the best acoustic environment TD ever played, we enjoyed a show that was really extraordinary. The setlist was very curious, containing several rare or never-played tracks again - perhaps Edgar wants to play everything that released under the TD brand.





















In the next days we share some photos taken at the hall. Unfortunately the event wasn't to lighty, and the laser show needed megatons of fog so the circumstances were far from the ideal for taking good pictures - my place was in the middle of the hall, but most of the time my professional Canon teleobjective couldn't gather enough light to make real professional photos.





















You can enjoy more pictures and better resolution at my Flickr page.





















And finally, of course: the ticket.

We promised a surprise for the Frankfurt pre-concert meeting and now we finally roll up the curtain: the lucky fellows who will fill our "TD in Hungary" quiz sheet best will receive not only out legendary :) td.hu T-shirt and the original Hungarian booklet with the long TD interview inside but - we made a special CD release for you.

The disc contains a live TD material previously not available in any acceptable quality - no Tree, no Leaves, no Bootleg Box and so on... We have a fan recording - taken by Laszlo Kovacs and Ferenc Filep - of the first part of the first TD show in Hungary, performed in 1982 and now we share it with the worldwide TD community in this form.

The quality of this recording is quite acceptable - by the standard measurement it could get a strong 6 or 7. It was taken by an open reel recorder brought inside the big hall, with two decent-quality microphones with long cables which were placed hard left and right of the audience.

The sex appeal of this show was the technical failure within a Keep track - the playback tape of the backing has broken and the music suddenly stopped - the band was forced to improvise freely for some minutes. This happening is accurately preserved on our recording. We wish the winners of the disc - and all of you since we suppose the recording will be shared shortly after its launch - a nice time while listening!

After a long break we are here again and planning the Frankfurt trip to have a Night in Space with Tangerine Dream at Alte Oper. Probably Frankfurt is the city where I spent the second longest time in my life - if I add all the weeks I've been there for world's biggest musical instruments show, Musikmesse, the sum would exceed a half year. So, I could easily drive there with eyes closed without any problem and I will bring some of the friends from here - a total of 6 people at least.

We will not arrive with empty hands - in the pre-concert fan meeting we will share some rarity with you. For example a lucky mate will receive this unique piece of Hungarian newspaper from 1983 which features a 14-page long interview with TD and Klaus Schulze, taken after their big concerts in budapest, 1982. This issue has been never circulated in any known fan's and worldwide, and is also a very special item even here, in Hungary. The interview is written in Hungarian of course but someone should find the English translation I made 10+ years ago and posted in the cs.uwp.edu mailing list. A scanned version can be found here.

We will also have some spare td.hu T-shirts for you, and, hopefully, an additional surprise which should shock you all... :)

For those who cannot attend the show: please enjoy the leader of the Hungarian delegation, Maby's video sniplets. Quality: acceptable!

https://www.youtube.com/Mabygabi

Official news from the official site: two more special live appearance of TD has confirmed - first is 1st July, 2007, an open air concert with no admission fee at the city of Eberswalde. (This city is about one hour far from Berlin by car.) The show will celebrate the opening of the Wunderlich-House - the well-known surrealist painter and sculptor was born in Eberswald, 80 years ago.

The second show is perhaps even more exciting: TD will perform together with minimalist superstar composer Terry Riley at the Alte Oper of Frankfurt, 7th October, 2007.

Yes, we are way behind the news... Unfortunately we couldn't manage such a huge group to London, Astoria like last year, Tempodrom, Berlin, but a few of us were there and will report soon.

Until then, you can read a very detailed report on The Archive Plus written by Andy with a special kind of feeling, or join the Yahoogroup debate - tell us whether it was a Karaoke night or not.

What we surely know is that the show consisted of a vocal block at first until approximately half time, then an instrumental, "regular" TD set was performed on stage. Setlist is still not known. (Thx Andy for the photo!)

Update: setlist has arrived, thx Chris!
Read more...

Jerome has promised it, Jerome has done it: his label Moonpop has opened a complete webshop for Jerome-related products at cybersounds.org. The professional surface works very fine and quickly and the news section has some interesting information. The first surprise: Jerome will soon release a TD album called Dream Mixes 2.1 in te beginning of May - it will contain the best tracks from DM1 and DM2, plus two unreleased tracks which will make us buying this CD without any doubt. Second info is Jerome's own new solo album called Shiver me timbers which will be released 14th, May.

Jerome is a bad son this is very clear now - he offers a brand new T-shirt family with the following text: "Dante is dead". I think it will fit the taste of real lots of oldschool TD fans plus a legion of lovers of TD's latest, dance and dnb-oriented era trademarked by Jerome. A very funny coalition... :) We are waiting for Edgar's immediate response... :)

Two new DVD releases are really worth to mention: at first, Voiceprint announced the long-awaited Phaedra 2005 show held at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, 2005. Act quickly at this page and you will be in the lucky 750 who receives their disc with Edgar's signature. A second argument: the initial release contains two disc - one for the show and the second with interviews with the band and fans and there is some secret soundcheck recording also.

You can preorder the already mentioned Madcap DVD/CD release from 24th, March at the Eastgate shop. The video plays the full album performed at TD's studio environment.

Smart viral marketing or Madcap has leaked out unintentionally? Check this site and make your choice: there are streamed audio segments from TD's upcoming sensational album.

If you have fifteen minutes at least, check this very new interview of Edgar at getreadytorock.com.

Concert tickets for a TD-fan work as virtual time machines - you can travel back to different places and relive the events with them.

Let's see what we have in our vaults. At first here is the ticket for the Shepherds Bush Empire show, London, 1997. Wish I had a time machine really - because I could attend the show with no problem, this ticket is still valid. I did not attend the show because of a vis maior but kept the ticket...


Read more...

Nobody can beat Andy: he brought up to us the very new info from the official site. TD will release a new special project 23rd March called Springtime in Nagasaki which was composed for a Japanese businessman last year. Yes, the topic is the terrible nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945 - in terms of seasons. It means the disc is the first part of a five-pieces collection - four seasons and the final stage: "endless season", the time after.

Don't hesitate to place your order soon here, supplies will be really short because of the contract.

All the information is public now about the upcoming London premiere show of Madcap's Flaming Duty: you can read it on the official promo poster.

What is sure now: you will find people in www.tangerinedream.hu T-shirts again, but we still unable to tell our exact number.

For all who would buy tickets online here is a direct link to the ordering page. Be quick, the venue will be full with Pink Floyd fans.

The semi-official pre-concert fan meeting is organized by Andy at his wonderful blog here. There is a list of 51 prominent fans already from all over the world who will attend and the list is growing constantly!

Edgar and the company take surely a series of a heavy rehearsal session now - it is not easy to have a vocal concert again after such a long time you can believe me... Good luck, TD!

TD's official site has announced the exact date and place of the London show. The official world premiere of the new album, Madcap's Flaming Duty will take place at the Astoria Theater, London, in April 20th, 2007. TD promises a very special show for the event, coloured with old tracks that never performed live. There will be no more concerts around so the rumours of the three consecutive concert dates are false. Tickets will be on sale next week.

Editor of The Archive Plus invite everybody for a pre-concert drink at Jack Horner Pub in Central London. We will be there with a massive group of people!

Today Voiceprint placed a webpage at a special domain:

www.tangerinedreamnewcd.com

where you can preorder Madcap's Flaming Duty for 10 GBP + shipping. The page also streams the free interview CD with musical examples from Madcap.

It seems very clear now: after 17 years of collaboration, Edgar father and his son will manage their lives separately. Jerome's label, Moonpop revealed its new, redesigned website at www.moonpop.org, where we can read about the agreement between the Froeses - Jerome has got back all the exclusive rights of some 80 songs from TD which were composed by him. Jerome will soon remix and re-release a lot of them under Moonpop together with some unreleased tracks. A complete list of the old songs is available at Moonpop and we caught there some real surprises.
Read more...

A sensational DVD release has just announced: Tony Palmer's legendary film of TD's famous gig at Coventry Cathedral is very close to be shipped to our hands in much better quality than the YouTube version we all got used to. Groove starts to ship this wonderful surprise 19th, February for 26 USD, you can preorder now.

Although it is clear that the video sequences were overdubbed with Ricochet Part I and II fakely, it is still a great step: we still did not have any official, decent-quality video recording of TD's classic years when they set the standards of electronic music for the next 30 years.

Click tangerinedreamcoventrydvd.com for more info.

Some of you will be disappointed, others will be glad: now it is official that Madcap's Flaming Duty, TD's next official studio recording will be a vocal album. The promo disc has just arrived from Voiceprint and features a long interview with Edgar and excerpts from the album.

The overall sound of the new tracks are very different from anything you ever experienced from TD - the structure of the songs are heavily pop-oriented, there are really great songs on the promo disc which promise an incredible album. The vocalist man's name is Chris Housle and he did a great job I have to tell you.

It is said at Yahoo Groups' tadream list that TD will perform the new material on three concerts at London, April.Still to be checked...