Ok, this post has to start a little off topic with kind of an apology to the venue!
During corona times the owner of Große Freiheit 36 (and a couple of other venues in Hamburg and Kiel) disqualified the venue for post-pandemic visits by turning its closed doors to an embarrassing display of right-wing conspiracy bullshit. Luckily since then there has been a change of ownership and values - and the venue has been accepted as part of Hamburg's club combine again.
However back in November 2023, when a Brutus show I was attending had been moved up to this venue, I hadn't really looked up the recent state of things yet and was still very suspicious. So I wrote my whole review without ever mentioning its name.
So, just to make it clear: Große Freiheit 36 still isn't my favorite location in Hamburg, but it's definitely ok to go there! And for this particular show it actually was a pretty good choice.
Laibach are no strangers to reinventing themselves. It has in fact always been a vital part of the Slovenian group's DNA. From the first glimpses of their recent exaggerated Hyper Pop excess "Musick" on however it was clear that this tour would be a special outlier even for Laibach standards.
And as I've heard fans who had seen them earlier this year tell me, the execution of those over the top cheesy earworms of horror didn't make everyone happy on the first leg of the tour. But as the setlist has been refined and extended they liked the new shape of the show which was presented in Hamburg on Thursday night a lot better. And even without having the ground for this comparison myself, I dare to agree.
As expected a lot of the show was a bubbly nightmare in pink - or at least felt like that, even when the actual colour scheme of the light and video show went into other directions.
During corona times the owner of Große Freiheit 36 (and a couple of other venues in Hamburg and Kiel) disqualified the venue for post-pandemic visits by turning its closed doors to an embarrassing display of right-wing conspiracy bullshit. Luckily since then there has been a change of ownership and values - and the venue has been accepted as part of Hamburg's club combine again.
However back in November 2023, when a Brutus show I was attending had been moved up to this venue, I hadn't really looked up the recent state of things yet and was still very suspicious. So I wrote my whole review without ever mentioning its name.
So, just to make it clear: Große Freiheit 36 still isn't my favorite location in Hamburg, but it's definitely ok to go there! And for this particular show it actually was a pretty good choice.
Laibach are no strangers to reinventing themselves. It has in fact always been a vital part of the Slovenian group's DNA. From the first glimpses of their recent exaggerated Hyper Pop excess "Musick" on however it was clear that this tour would be a special outlier even for Laibach standards.
And as I've heard fans who had seen them earlier this year tell me, the execution of those over the top cheesy earworms of horror didn't make everyone happy on the first leg of the tour. But as the setlist has been refined and extended they liked the new shape of the show which was presented in Hamburg on Thursday night a lot better. And even without having the ground for this comparison myself, I dare to agree.
As expected a lot of the show was a bubbly nightmare in pink - or at least felt like that, even when the actual colour scheme of the light and video show went into other directions.
Bringing the album's meta commentary about Pop music, AI and social-medialized society onto the stage demanded a fine balance between the bizarre and ridiculous and the generously enjoyable meaningful. After all, how do you comment on the uniformity and replaceability of Pop culture in its own language without falling into its traps yourself?
Laibach's first step was putting the whole show into a framework, as a voice-over introduced the performance as not being entertainment, but a simulation of authority, dicipline and mass behaviour, an experiment where the audience's responses would be monitored and analyzed.
Later during the show the voiceover would return, but as an error, a broken glitch in the system. There was also a commercial break for merch and a teaser for an upcoming documentary (for which Laibach still need to find a producer as I've heard a bird whisper after the show).
Another device of framing the show was establishing the "hit singles" as recurring themes, starting with an instrumental extension of the opener "Musick" right at the beginning. Later also "Allgorhythm" would appear in several shapes, really hammering those tunes into your head for good.
The band didn't follow the established routine from many previous tours of first performing the recent album in full in its entirety and original track order, then taking a fifteen minute break and returning with another program for the second half of the night.
Instead the "Musick" material was alternated with added instrumental sections, unreleased songs from the upcoming "Musick : Encore" as well as the aesthetically fitting "Bossanova" and Serge Gainsbourg cover "Love On The Beat" from the "Spectre" era.
Laibach's first step was putting the whole show into a framework, as a voice-over introduced the performance as not being entertainment, but a simulation of authority, dicipline and mass behaviour, an experiment where the audience's responses would be monitored and analyzed.
"Participation is mandatory. Enjoyment is optional."
Later during the show the voiceover would return, but as an error, a broken glitch in the system. There was also a commercial break for merch and a teaser for an upcoming documentary (for which Laibach still need to find a producer as I've heard a bird whisper after the show).
Another device of framing the show was establishing the "hit singles" as recurring themes, starting with an instrumental extension of the opener "Musick" right at the beginning. Later also "Allgorhythm" would appear in several shapes, really hammering those tunes into your head for good.
The band didn't follow the established routine from many previous tours of first performing the recent album in full in its entirety and original track order, then taking a fifteen minute break and returning with another program for the second half of the night.
Instead the "Musick" material was alternated with added instrumental sections, unreleased songs from the upcoming "Musick : Encore" as well as the aesthetically fitting "Bossanova" and Serge Gainsbourg cover "Love On The Beat" from the "Spectre" era.
One of my many favorite parts of it all was the mentioned fifteen minute intermezzo, which didn't came pre-recorded as we know it, but saw the keyboard players, guitarist and for some sections also the drummer staying on stage to perform an Electronic Laibach Medley. That way the show also included fragments of classics like ""Leben heißt Leben" or "The Whistleblowers".
And the whole interlude didn't even happen after the last song of the first half had finished, but was embedded right in the full band performance of the only other older track "Tanz mit Laibach".
Most of the various featured guest vocals from the "Musick" album weren't performed live, but by the respective singer joining the band on screen as we have seen it before with Mina Špiler, who also received the loudest applause in absentia this time.
An extremetly vital part of the show, which of course I absolutely cannot leave out here, was the return of live dancers.
No, there was no drumming or a lot of militaristic attitude like during the "WAT" phase, but a whole surprise bag of costume changes, light saber battles, holiday resort party animation shenanigans, like a long tutorial for the dance routine of "Allgorhythm" before the actual song or the deliberate niveau low point of
It was quiet a range which was co-responsible for a lot of the visual overstimulation of the whole thing. Besides that the two dancers also had a couple of singing duties (for example in "Keep It Reel" or "Yes Maybe No" alongside the snarling baritone of ever-iconic frontman Milan Fras. All in all a very respectible showcase of athletic stamina by these ladies.
The show closed with a quiet rendition of The Will-O-Bees' "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and the uplifting new track "Faith No More", ending an experience, which even though it was partly based on the undoubtly dumbest things Laibach have ever done, developed an enormous psychedelic suction effect and immersion. Yes, even if certain songs and elements will always remain objectively stupid, this was the biggest spectacle and very high up on the list of of the greatest shows of 2026!
Additional contextual bonus points are going out to the pink party stretch limousine I spotted before the show and imagined as Laibach's tour bus, as well as the fact that an completely contrariant experience waited for me only one night later with the dark slow motion Doomjazz of Bohren & der Club of Gore on the MS Stubnitz.
💟 Boy, I'm just sick of live musick! 😻
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