Taubertal Open Air 2000
The Taubertal is a site in Germany which lies in the Main region, called after the tiny river Tauber (120 km). Since 1996, there has been an openair festival in Rothenburg (12000 inhabitants), a beautiful mediavel looking town. This festival has grown bigger year by year and in 2000, it lasted three days, longer than ever before. The festival consisted of two parts. 23 bands were playing on the main stage. There was also a smaller stage in a tent used for finding the winner of the European Emergenza band award and for the late night aftershows. Each day, there are about 8000 people attending those events.

Some of Rothenburg's old houses The conditions and surrounding for the 5th Taubertal openair were optimal. The weather was hot and sunny on this weekend, the camping was the best I ever saw at a festival. It was just across the Tauber, so lots of people used the little river to cool down a bit. As it was lying in a valley, you had a marvellous view up to the old towers and houses of Rothenburg. My only problem was that some Germans were drinking too much and after a short while, they got quite annoying. The result for our team were three stolen chairs and one damaged tent. Some security people told us that they had more problems this year than ever before. Drunken people were jumping or falling into tents or scrawling ketchup and other dressings all over them. On the festival site itself, there were not only two stages, but also lots of little shops and snacks. The toilets and showers close to this site were very clean, much better than at other festivals.

The opening act on Friday was a regional contest winner, but as it was so hot, I preferred staying a little longer in the Tauber. They were followed by EAT HER EYES, probably another regional band. They were sounding too much like Placebo which didn't help to make their gig more interesting. First real highlight were the FARMER BOYS who will soon release a new record. Without disappointing, they were playing a cool combination of straight Rock and Neo Metal, with space for some melody. Although the new single edit 'Here Comes The Pain' was the highlight of their set, there was a killer atmosphere during each song. Several thousand people were already standing in front of the stage and showing that the future of the Farmer Boys may be very bright.

Those people vanished when the next band entered the stage. UNCLE HO weren't able to reach the same fan reactions than the Farmer Boys did just before. Douglas Adams may have called their Crossover combination of Pop and Rock 'mostly harmless'. Uncle Ho don't kick at all and most fans were just watching without showing great interest. Uncle Ho must have realised that their songs aren't spectacular at all. They began making stupid remarks about the audience and stopped their gig ten minutes earlier than planned. Sorry boys, but the audience has paid its entrance fee and has the right to decide if a band rocks or sucks.

Next band were OOMPH! which I missed because I still have bad memories about their awful gig at Dour '99. Although the next band IN EXTREMO were not the headliner of the evening, they were the fans' favourite band on this Friday. During one hour, they were mostly playing songs from their last two albums 'Weckt die Toten' and 'Verehrt und Angespien'. The seven 'Spielmänner' were not only fascination because of the medieval costumes (which were looking great in Rothenburg) and the pyro effects, but their Metal versions of songs from the last centuries are just great. The only sound problem was that the singer's voice wasn't loud enough. In Extremo played a lot of hits like 'Spielmannsfluch', 'Herr Mannelig', 'Rotes Haar' or 'Merseburger Zaubersprüche' which is the oldest known German song. They already presented a song from their new album which will come out in late autumn. It's called 'Vollmond', a suitable title for a nearly fullmoon night. As it was already dark, it was possible to watch the wonderfully lighted old town of Rothenburg behind or through the stage.

After this fascinating and charming event, it was time for some comedy. J.B.O. entered the stage to play their last gig in Germany under the actual band formation. Their gig wasn't very different from that I've seen in 1999 in Bettendorf. They were covering lots of known songs (Ein bißchen Frieden, Gimme Dope Joana, Walk With An Erection,...) and also playing some own songs (Schwanzvergleich, Ein guter Tag zum Sterben,...). J.B.O. were able to fulfill my expectations and their gig surely was big fun, but musically not very precious.

Die Happy's gorgeous Marta J :-)
Since I've been reading the Taubertal2000 guide, I was counting the minutes to the gig by DIE HAPPY. On the picture, there were three boys with a Czech singer called Marta J. On stage she was looking gorgeous, although she's not very tall and even a little molly. She's an incredible power woman with much more class than Sandra Nasic from the Guano Apes. She chose to pose and the huge audience liked it. Musically, Die Happy are a more melodic and diverse kind of Guano Apes, but the live performance was bombastic. Marta was communicating with the public and knew how to animate them, even with a posed orgasm. Die Happy will release their first EP in October.

EATEN BY SHEIKS weren't as successful as Die Happy. Although their last CD was produced by Lothar Meid from Amon Düül, the music was nothing else than hardly exciting Pop tunes containing some Rock and Electro elements. Maybe their problem is that they don't have a fixed style yet and don't know exactly what they want. There's still a lot of work to do for Eaten By Sheiks. I had the same problem with VIVID and considered their music as an undone mix op Pop, Rock and Electro. Most people didn't share my opinion and I suppose that Vivid will consider their gig as a success as they got a great response.

The next band were JAZZKANTINE which I missed on purpose. I was looking forward to see NO FUN AT ALL again as I still had good memories about their gig in Arlon this year. But there's a difference between playing in a small club and on a large stage. The Taubertal stage was just to big for No Fun At All from Sweden. They were standing there, playing there songs, but that's all. Where was the communication with the spectators? So people were just listening to the songs. Even a classic like 'Celestial Q & A' couldn't save the gig by No Fun At All who seemed somehow unmotivated and lost on stage. Unfortunately for them they had to feel the meaning of their band name.

I was too old for the next band, SUCH A SURGE. They have one song, but lots of lyrics. Each one of their HipHop Crossover songs is sounding identical to my ears. In general, what they are playing isn't hard enough for me. They always wanted the fans to jump around and most of them, aged between 16 and 20, followed the rules. In discussions with older people (20+), I heard that they preferred other bands at this festival, like FURY IN THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, Saturday's headliner. I like them very much when they rock, as on their hit single 'In The Land Of Milk And Honey'. They have an excellent singer who is sounding quite a lot like Mark Hollies (ex- Talk Talk). The melody lines kick ass, too, but their ballad and acoustic songs just suck as they aren't exciting at all. Unfortunately, they didn't play my favourite tune, namely 'Der lustige Astronaut', a cover song from Die Ärzte.

On Sunday I missed the three first bands (Stone The Crow, Sportfreunde Stiller, Natural Born Hippies) because I first liked tanning in the sun and then I had to pull down the tent again and bring it into the car. The first band I saw this day was K'S CHOICE from Belgium, a well known band in Luxemburg. Their gig wasn't disappointing and they could fulfill my exceptations. They were playing beautiful and melancholic Pop songs, based on the soft voice of singer Sarah Bettens. Highlight of their gig was their classic 'Not An Addict'. K's Choice seem to be Belgium most known export beer, eh no, export band, but there are still better one's like dEUS or especially Soulwax.

Raemonn, a great newcomer band
Then, HEATHER NOVA came on stage for a more quiet set. She has a wonderful and clear voice, but what she's playing is just to mellow for me. But listening to her was nevertheless quite enjoyable. Last band on this festival were the GUANO APES who didn't have their best day. The sound wasn't clear at all and the voice of the singer was less than convincing. They enjoy playing live and communicating with the public, but again, I think that they reach with their music just younger listeners. Their crossover is too simplistic for most people born in the 70's.

During the festival breaks, 14 European bands were playing in a tent on Friday and Saturday to find out who's the winner of the Emergenza band award. The bands written in red reached the final round which was on Sunday.



My personnal impression was that I was afraid about the extreme low European level. Only five bands were convincing; four of them occupied later on the positions one to four, but I can't understand why Hongkong didn't reach the final round. If you closed your eyes during the gig, you had the impression that Eddie Vedder was standing on stage. A few words about Low Density Corporation. Their start wasn't under a very good sign. First of all, their singer Lynn Kuffer was on holiday until Saturday, so they needed another singer which was the sister of their first singer Patricia Peters. She only participated in three rehearsals, but did a very good job. Another problem for LDC was that they only arrived at 2:30 PM in Rothenburg and had to play already at 4:00 PM. There was not much time for a soundcheck and they had to play in front of few people. It was not a bad gig, but they were already better. But on the final day, LDC had to play much later (8:20 PM) in front of several hundred people and presented themselves much more motivated and in a better shape. Best song of their gig was 'Ode To My Stupidity' which was presented in an extremely intense version.

Here are the final decisions taken by the jury:



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