Kissin’ Dynamite - 06.01.2023 - Schlachthof Wiesbaden

The gates of the Schlachthof in Wiesbaden reopened on January 6th this year for the first time after the winter break.

And for this concert, the glam rock band Kissin’ Dynamite was the headliner. But they didn’t come alone, they had three other bands with them in their suitcase. We’re talking about League of Distortion, Formosa and Dynazty.

One or the other reader of this page should already know Dynazty, because I saw them at a concert in Weinheim last April.

Shortly before seven the evening started with League of Distortion. This is still a relatively new band. Founded in 2020 by Anna Brunner, who may sound familiar to some because of the symphonic metal band Exit Eden, and Jim Müller, guitarist for today’s headliner. It was immediately noticeable that he wasn’t on the stage, but was represented by Olli Sattler. The reason for this is not because he was ill, but because he wanted to concentrate fully on his performance with Kissin’ Dynamite.

There was also a replacement on bass. But enough of the trappings, the concert itself is more important. As a first band, you traditionally don’t have that much time, which is why Anna held back with the many speeches and the band showed what they were made of and that it is definitely worth following their path. It was was good Modern Metal, where Anna was able to shine with her clear vocals, while the somewhat heavier passages unfortunately came across as a bit weak. But the 25 minute show was definitely fun, both for the band and the fans.

After a fairly short conversion phase, Formosa surprised everyone by coming onto the stage with the hall lights still fully on and just getting started. For us photographers, this led to an almost panic-stricken bustle to get into the ditch and miss as little as possible. What followed was 30 minutes of hard, honest hard rock, with a lot of movement on stage, a singer who was ashamed of nothing and always attracted attention with his clear dance interludes. The band itself says about their performances: “‘Hard and Heavy’, fast, very slow, sexy, with kisses on the neck, oaths of love and all the trimmings.” I can second that, it’s a pretty good description of what was offered on stage. Of course, the most famous song Fuck up your Liver couldn’t be missing, and with Manic Lover, Nik even wore a kind of feather coat, which gave the whole thing a special touch.

Setlist Formosa:

Living on a Blade
Dynamite
Masquerade
Fuck up your Liver
Katlilla
Rolling High
Light it up
Manic Lover
Bad Boys

Much time wasn’t wasted between Formosa and Dynazty either, so viewers were hardly given a breather. At 20:15 the lights went out again and the Dynazty intro played.

It started with two songs from the 2018 album Firesign. A slightly heavier, less melodic song, followed by one with synths. Just to show how varied the band can be. Of course, something new was also played, with three songs from the current album. Including the ballad Yours, which gave some viewers goosebumps. Then there was something that I now see less and less at concerts, a classic drum solo by Georg. He was able to really show what he could do for a few minutes. It was very impressive and delighted the fans present. After Presence of Mind came the band’s most famous song by far, Heartless Madness (25 million streams on Spotify, Presence of Mind as the 2nd most streamed song has just under 9 million). At first only the first two notes of the song played and then nothing came, but that was enough for some, including me, to recognize it immediately. And it was celebrated. As in Weinheim, the audience was involved. First everyone was allowed to sing a classic “Oooooooooo Heartless Madness” before the hall was divided into left and right to see which side is louder. As is so often the case, it ended in a draw before everyone was allowed to take part again. Before they played the last song, The Human Paradox, they briefly left the stage while the song’s intro music was playing. It was actually clear that there was another song to come, and yet many viewers shouted “encore, encore”, which shows how well Dynazty was able to convince. The 50 minutes of playing time flew by and the band thanked the fans for their support with several bows.

Setlist Dynazty:

In the Arms of a Devil
Firesign
Natural Born Killer
Waterfall
Yours
Power of Will
Drum Solo
Presence of Mind
Heartless Madness
The Human Paradox

What followed was a major removal of tarps, blankets and the like to reveal the setup for Kissin’ Dynamite, complete with podium, stairs and a raised drum kit. Otherwise not much had to be dismantled or rebuilt, only the drums used by all three bands. Nevertheless, it took a while until the music stopped at 9:30 p.m., the hall lights went out, we photographers were let into the ditch and a murmur went through the hall. It was done. The intro music was playing, you couldn’t see anything on the stage and when the lights came on they were all already there, on top of the built-up platform and the show started with No one dies a Virgin. The songs then continued on the same theme, with a lot of show, fun interludes by the band and interaction with the audience.

Be it because Hannes held his microphone stand with the microphone in front of the audience, or because the audience was asked to clap. There were also the choreographed movements of the band members known from classic 80’s glam rock/metal, as well as a lot of nonsense from them. But there was also an emotional moment. The fans, who know the band better, knew what was coming when the piano was pushed onto the stage, but Hannes still talked more about it because he thinks the topic is important. It’s about the fact that he wasn’t doing well mentally in 2019, despite the band’s success and he asked himself the question of quitting. But he got a lot of support from his band and once again emphasized that they aren’t just his best friends, they’re like brothers to him.

During this time, Scars was born, which wasn’t originally intended to be a Kissin’ Dynamite song, but the rest of the musicians immediately said that this song belongs on the record. What followed was a wonderful setting of those emotions. But that wasn’t the only extra moment worth noting. The obvious thing for Ecstasy was that they were touring with the League of Distortion. Anna came on stage to perform her duet from the Ecstasy album with Hannes live. And it was a worthwhile experience. Sure, there were a lot of songs that were known, since some of them are played a lot by Radio Bob, a local rock radio station, but with Six Feet Under the fans were particularly sure of the lyrics. This is the band’s most successful song in terms of Spotify streams. At the end there was an encore of two songs, with the concert ending around 11 p.m. After the obligatory crowd photo, picks, sticks and set lists were handed out to the audience and a fitting farewell was given. In the end it was a worthwhile evening that offered a total of 4 hours of energy, show, fun and good music.

Setlist Kissin’ Dynamite: