Four years of waiting, of hoping, of expectation.. Then Tanz 2020 was finally announced. That elation turned in to shock, pain, and despair when Covid struck. After all that, and only the Gods know how much work it must have taken, Tanz 2022 finally brought us all home..
Tanz has always been the U.K's ultimate pilgrimage for Goths and this time around was almost spiritual in the relief, joy, and nirvana many of us found raving away in the dark. This beloved dark temple of bass, sound, and rhythm once again welcomed dancers and music lovers until they could dance no more and the worship of Gothic music once again ceased. These are the celebrations remembered throughout time, and Tanz 2022 will forever go down in history as a defining moment for the event and for our community as a whole.
Putting together all of the photos and interviews between my day job has meant this review has come out a lot later than I would have liked, and my memory is not as fresh one week on but I will try and do all the acts (That I caught) justice!
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Friday
MATT HART
MATT HART has refined his sound in to a really impressive power house of dark harsh electronics and gut grabbing guitar riffs. Matt and Jerome did a fantastic show at Elektro Vox music festival the weekend before but having been busy with running things, I didn't catch half as much as I would have liked; So to see them both tearing a new one in to a very impressive sized crowd as the opening act was a really nice beginning to the glorious house of Tanz.
The two had a great mix of seriousness, genuine joy, crowd acknowledgement, and the sound felt like a seriously upgraded MATT HART 2.0. If you get a chance to see M.H live, do so!
9/10
Stoppenberg
Admittedly, not an artist that I had heard much of, if any before Tanz but oh wow, I'm so glad I got to see this show! For only the second band of the opening day, after I got my initial pit photos, my partner and I RAVED, pretty much non-stop to this incredible set.
'Fearless' really jumped out at me being a big fan of the '40k: Dawn of War' games, this track has samples from that game shouted out by the Librarian unit and if there's one thing that sends shivers down my spine, it's well timed and beloved game samples set to Industrial rave music. Absolutely top class mix from start to finish. My only regret was by the end, I was already exhausted for the day!
10/10
ESA: Electronic Substance Abuse
I'm certainly not afraid to admit that I STRONGLY believe ESA should have been the headline act for Friday.
Fitting one of the most talented artists on the planet, not just in electronic music but in expression, film creation, and much more, in to a 45 minute set was one of the very few things about this event that didn't feel right at all.
Jamie Blacker has a big catalogue of insanely good music, well suited to the Tanz crowds. With his latest album being more experimental however, trying to fit a lot of his new material in amongst the 'bangers' made a set that wasn't as glorious as it should have been and I deeply respect Jamie for what he managed to fit in and the show he put on in that time.
We were treated to an early viewing of the music video for 'One missed call' which sent chills through me the whole time. The 1930's style jive of 'Come And Find Me' went down insanely well with the crowd, especially with the backing images of black and white colour tv dancers to which Jamie said "I want you to all dance like these fuckers!"
Another fantastic moment being the sheer depth, aggression, and focus of the track 'Disruption only' and the soul rending string instruments set amongst the industrial rave beats. This man is a true artist and certainly deserved much more time to play with his audience.
10/10
Promenade Cinema
Emma and Dorian of Promenade Cinema have created some truly epic and beautiful ballads that I love listening to on occasion as do many others when they are in a more relaxed mood. At Tanz after such intense bands however, the placement seemed a little off for the vibe. None the less they put on an admirable performance which sadly did not sound quite as good live as I had hoped. There was also a bit of a sound issue in being able to hear lyrics clearly but they were genuinely enjoyable overall.
6.5/10
Empirion
A nice close to the first set of bands. Empirion were very much enjoyable with their energy progression ebbing and flowing, allowing the audience a good amount of tracks to dance to followed by a calmer set of tracks to take a breather on, and repeat; or at least, so it felt! I will admit that I don't remember much beyond that in detail but I remember enjoying the whole set.
9/10
LEXX
Although I certainly can't go in to reviewing each DJ from the weekend. There were a few that stood out. Matt Hart and Emmerick Gortz on Saturday were particularly enjoyable. I do however need to give a very special mention to Lexx (Until recently known as GOHMA)
Lexx is someone I've seen play live a few times on stage as a bassist, and enjoyed her live stream over the last couple of years, so I was certainly excited to listen to whatever set she had come up with.
Opening up Friday evening's DJ's, Lexx absolutely devastated that dance floor in the best possible way with dark, filthy, intense, and shadow trance-inducing industrial techno.
So imagine my joy when she dropped the entire set on Soundcloud! Lexx is definitely one to keep your eye on in future.
Saturday
Sadly I was not able to watch Vanguard or Antibody due to filming interviews, I have heard wonderful things about Antibody's first ever live show however and urge you all to go check out his music!
Craven
How to describe Craven? A horror synthpop madman perhaps? With a merchandise perfume titled and reportedly smelling like 'Rotting Flesh' then maybe that's the case!
This was one of the most entertaining acts of the weekend. Jumping around the stage with his crazy attire, stroking a doll baby one minute, to rocking out on a guitar and cutting off his (fake) tongue the next, this was a wonderful start to Saturday!
9/10
SIRUS
The wonderful and ever amazing SIRUS, all the way from Australia. I have never seen a room that packed out for a band at 16:00 and this band bring all the feel good vibes and dance floor favourites. There was a huge amount of energy pouring off of Josh, Keeva, and Ryan.
Each track had clear vocals, and they played some true classics like 'Neon Dominion' to my delight because I LOVE Keeva's section in that song. The way Josh was able to distort his voice with that control strapped to his left hip was beyond impressive to a music amateur like myself.
I was lucky enough to catch them after their set for an interview.
9/10
The Gothsicles
