General

Die Ärzte concert and album “Nummus Cecidit”

14. September 2022 /

Nathalie and I had wanted to go to a Die Ärzte concert for a long time, but unfortunately they had made their last official tour in 2013. But that changed with their new album “Hell” from 2020 (review here), thanks to which the tour “In The Ä Tonight” was announced. Due to Corona, however, this was initially postponed by a year and then ultimately even canceled completely. In 2021, however, Die Ärzte released a second album entitled “Dunkel” (review here), with which they also announced a new tour for 2022, the “Buffalo Bill In Rome” tour. We had gotten tickets for this again, but this time the concert wasn’t supposed to take place in the exhibition halls in Erfurt, but actually on the cathedral square! This location was so popular that the tickets were sold out immediately and a second date was offered not only on Thursday but also on Friday. We were really looking forward to this concert and it took place just a few days after our vacation in Cuba.

The concert

The outward journey was quite pleasant by train, since Erfurt is of course not far from Weimar, and we quickly got to the cathedral square on foot. Although rain with thunderstorms was announced, it was only cloudy, so we actually had the perfect weather. Since no backpacks or other large bags are allowed at the concert, we actually only took our jackets with us, where we had at least a few jacket pockets. We already entered the site for admission at 4 p.m. It was still pretty empty back then, but we were able to go to the merchandise stands undisturbed and also look at the drinks and food on offer. We also bought two t-shirts right away. Nathalie a tour shirt with the Erfurt tour dates and a half-alien/half-Gwendoline design on the front and I a simple t-shirt with the inscription “Alles ist Punk” (from the first single “Morgens Pauken” from the album “Hell”), which I really liked with its simple design. We were able to stow the shirts quite well in the jacket or tied around the waist so that they didn’t bother us. Many guests even put them on there straight away. I also got myself a drink cup that also had the tour theme on it. Despite the deposit, of course I didn’t give it back.

We also noticed that the album “Nummus Cecidit” was sold there exclusively as a record at the concert. Die Ärzte do this more often, for example there was an economy version of the album “Jazz ist anders” on the tour at the time. We wanted to buy this album for ourselves and also for a friend, but since it would take up too much space and we would have to stand for more than 5 hours, we didn’t buy it until after the concert. I’ll come back to the album itself later.

After a long wait until 6 p.m., when more and more people gathered on the square, the program of the support act started. That day “DONOTS” played before of Die Ärzte, which was actually a positive surprise because they had really good songs, too. They played until about 6:45 p.m. and it took until 7:30 p.m. to set up all the stage decorations for Die Ärzte. In addition to the two large side screens on the right and left, it consisted of many hexagonal lamps in the background. The cameras capturing the band’s close-ups for the side screens were practically right next to us as we were also standing roughly in the middle of the plaza. Further ahead was the stage and behind us the grandstand with seats. As we understood it, the grandstand was for invited guests only. We found out later that you could just sit freely there – after all, the seats weren’t numbered either. It was funny that both the DONOTS and the doctors drew attention to the “illegal” spectators sitting on the Petersberg behind the cathedral square. The BUGA was there before and you could sit well on the slope and look at the cathedral square.

The concert itself was really cool and varied. In addition to the comical dialogues between the songs, Die Ärzte actually took turns playing something from every decade of their approximately 40-year band history. We were surprised at how little they played from their current two albums. In between, Farin seemed to have had lyrical dropouts here and there, which they blamed on the fact that they didn’t rehearse enough (quote from Bela B.: “Work? I didn’t become a musician so that I have to play one song more than once a month.”). But Rod also sang along to a few more songs. I was afraid that he had some kind of voice problem because he only had one song on each of the last two albums and the last one he just “screamed” the song. But the concern was over when he, too, performed well-known songs like “1/2 Lovesong”. Nevertheless, the classics were somehow missing. And although the concert was supposed to last until 10 p.m., the doctors wanted to say goodbye at around 9:30 p.m. Of course they came back and did all their classics like “Unrockbar”, “Junge” or as the last song “Zu Spät”.

Of course, by 10 p.m. it was already very dark. First of all we had to squeeze our way out of the crowd and our goal wasn’t directly the exit, but the merchandise stand next to it. At first we thought the album “Nummus Cecidit” was only available on vinyl with MP3 download, but in fact it was also sold on audio cassette and CD. So we bought two copies on CD – for us and for said one friend. Then we went to the exit and you noticed how all the guests of the concert were now walking through the city center to the train station. Then there was a problem that was foreseeable. Of course, many came from the east, where Weimar, Jena or Leipzig is located, but after Weimar there was only rail replacement traffic as the first larger place. There was construction on the line and only during the day did a normal train run from time to time. In the evening only the bus came. This meant that a lot of people were standing at the bus stop and when a bus came, it was stuffed full to the brim. So we only got on a bus that was there shortly after 11 p.m. and were allowed to stand still for the whole ride. The railway could have calculated that better, in addition, the concert dates were known, including the crowds they would generate. We got home shortly before midnight but it had been a really great day.

The album “Nummus Cecidit”

I don’t want to do a detailed review like I did with the albums “Hell” and “Dunkel“, but at least briefly go into the songs. The album is basically divided into two parts and themes (similar to a music cassette). Side A, with songs 1 through 6, has a “Rockabilly” theme, while Side B, with songs 7 through 12, has a “Ska” theme. In the following I have listed all the songs and which actual songs they “parody”.

  1. Kerngeschäft-Bop (“Kerngeschäft (feat. Ebow)” from “Dunkel”)
  2. Krafthaut (“Kraft” from “Dunkel”)
  3. Abends Billy (“Morgens Pauken” from “Hell”) -> not on Youtube
  4. Woodburger Me Tender (“Woodburger” from “Hell”)
  5. Nie Wieder Stereo, Nie Mehr High Fidelity! (“Nie wieder Krieg, nie mehr Las Vegas” from “13”)
  6. Dünkel (“Dunkel” from “Dunkel”)
  7. Warum Bricht Niemand Diesen Gitarristen? (“Warum spricht niemand über Gitarristen?” from “Hell”)
  8. Achtung Billyfeld (“Achtung: Bielefeld” from “Hell”)
  9. Leben Vor Dem Ska (“Leben vor dem Tod” from “Hell”)
  10. Menschenbong (“Menschen” from “Dunkel”)
  11. Rub-A-Dub-Schrei (“Schrei” from “Dunkel”)
  12. Abends Skanken (“Morgens Pauken” from “Hell”) -> not on Youtube
  13. Fazit:

Many songs actually sound better with the new music genre. In “Krafthaut” they sang the opposite of the original, so that it now became “Worte sind egal” (words don’t matter). In “Dünkel” Bela B. sings with a child’s voice. Both “Abends Billy” and “Abends Skanken” are the altered version of “Morgens Pauken” (Everything is Punk). I also really like “Rub-A-Dub-Schrei” because it’s a reggae version of “Schrei” sung by Rod, in which he doesn’t yell the whole song but sings calmly. Overall, the special album is really good and you should definitely check it out, especially if you didn’t like the original songs.