Amon Duul II - Krautrock sixties style comes to London!!!

***1/2

The Village Underground went all Psychedelic!!!

Amon Duul II ***1/2 There was a time in the late sixties when people who wanted to change the world were making music. And that has produced probably some of the best music ever made. Amon Duul are one of these artists who have kept making incredible underground nuggets over the years with this aim in mind. The seventies German Krautrock legends Amon Duul 2 have pioneered and experimenting with so many genres, from Psychedelic to Folk, Jazz, Heavy Rock, Post Punk and World music.

Amon Duul II have really explored all the genres with a constant free spirit and spontaneity during the whole seventies decade, before falling off of our radar. It have to be said... Amon Duul is still alive! And it was very intriguing and exciting for me to see them performing this month at Village Underground, London... a venue that got this slightly squat design looked perfect for a band who have always been ahead of the counter culture. The venue was seriously packed that night and it was very hot inside the audience as well as on stage. Blame the June 2015 heatwave and maybe some air conditioning issue.

My first surprise was that the core of the original member were still their... the two guitarists Kris Karrer and John Weinzierl, as well as the female singer Renate Knaup-Krotenschwanz. The drummer Danny Fichelscher, who contributed to the albums 'Wolf City' and 'Carnival in Babylon' and did impressive albums with Popol Vuh was there, with another drummer and they both brought that special tribal vibe we were expecting from Amon Duul II. The band delivered a very tight set and musicians were at the top of their game. Karrer in particular played electric guitar, violin and Spanish guitar with impressive dexterity.

That was very obvious during their renditions of songs like 'Wolf City, Jail house Frog' or 'Kismet', possibly the highlights of the concert. The Setlist was interesting, though lots of my personal favorites haven't been played ('Lemmingmania' is one of them) but they gave an honest overview of their carrier from the Psychedelic tribal beginings. 'Eye shaking King' though the different genres they embraced, and showcased their last output from 2010 'Duulirium', that sounded very inspired for a fourty year old band. That was a good news to notice they were endorsing all their repertoire and changes of styles though their career.

On the other hand, this decision couldn't avoid some serious of jumps of styles from a song to another, witch is acceptable, even enjoyable, on albums, but less pleasant for a live gig. I Personally think that some free form band improvisations would have glued the set better than these solos we've heard that night from the drummer,bassist and guitarist. Anyway, That's probably the charm of Amon Duul II, surprising its audience all the time and not going for the obvious.

Beside these disappointments, we saw a generous and exigent band on stage. With Renate joking with the audience, saying at some point “During all these years, we played a lot,we loved a lot, we kissed a lot”. This was a very hot night at Village Underground was a bit more than a gig, that was a sort of time travel.

Review and Photo's by Ludo Chem

Check Out! the Video for 'Between the Eyes' Below...