Noise Transmissions: Baltiless is Baltimore: KMFDM Review

Having not paid attention to KMFDM in a while, I was excited to see them live this time because of the many older songs being played. While Hau Ruck is better than the previous two albums they've done since regrouping in 2001, it can't be compared to the work coming from the KMFDM of the previous century. Having never been to Sonar before, I wasn't sure what to expect. After the experience with seeing Covenant at Envy (shitty new DC club), I was hoping that it would be decent. The only thing not so great about the club was the low ceiling, it didn't help the sound, but it wasn't that bad. I met up with Joe, a fellow employee of CS, which was

cool, cause going to shows alone isn't as exciting. I hadn't heard of the opening band Combichrist before, but I was given a CD of their stuff by Joe a few weeks ago. I gave it a listen, but I wasn't really into it for whatever reason. Then I saw them live. Now I've been playing that CD non stop.

KMFDM chose to go with the classical music playing preshow, which works quite well. It was something quite famous, but I don't know the name. I'm going to have to look into that. They opened with DIY, which is elite as always. Highlights of the show were Son Of A Gun, Adios (the live drums and guitars owned) and Megalomaniac. More and Faster was a nice treat too. I wish they had played Waste, because the live version on the

20th Anniversary DVD is awesome, but the show was good enough without it. Sasha was pretty talkative, but a lot of it was lost in the sound system. One rambling in particular stood out as quite hilarious, "Baltiless is Baltimore!". It makes no sense at all, but was just really funny. To sum it up, the best KMFDM show I've seen thus far.