Review: Aimée Argote, Birthmark, Burian Family Band, Petethepiratesquid

How do you spend New Year's Eve? A dinner with friends? A crazy house party? A ticket to the most exclusive club night in town? Well, we just do what we always do: hang out at Schokoladen with a group of friends, watching a gig.

It was an early one. Rumour had spread that the show was going to be sold out early on and at 9pm, when we arrived, there were already people queueing to get in. The doors hadn't even opened yet. Talking about building up excitement. It was going to be sold out but not until around half past ten.

Aimée Argote

The night commenced at 9:45pm with the Burian Family Band. What? You've never heard of them? That's because it was a premiere. Al Burian (American-German writer and musician who resides in Berlin) and his mother, Frau Burian, played mountain songs of their native home, North Carolina. I dare say people got into the mood, even though I doubt too many had been to North Carolina. It was a very sweet performance and I sincerely hope it wasn't a one-off.

Next up was Aimée Argote. To my surprise the promoters had put the performances in order of loudness. What a good idea! Aimée played mostly songs she also performs with her band Des Ark, most of which are melancholic tunes that tell tales of her life. She has got a beautiful voice and it somehow doesn't seem to make that much of a difference to me whether she plays with or without a band. An accoustic guitar and her voice seems to suffice.

Birthmark definitely managed to top their gig from the night before. The same songs but more time, more light, more sound. Schokoladen is the very perfect venue for this group.

Birthmark

After our "Happy New Year's" at midnight, Petethepiratesquid  came onstage at 12:45am, dressed as senior citizens. Wigs, shirts and slippers to match. The four-piece from Berlin have been going for 9 years and are therefore solid live, even if they don't perform that often. Post HC math is what they play but for the occasion of New Year's Eve they ended the set with a dance number. And oh we danced! It was a great performance in all but the 10 minute dance song topped it all.



Schokoladen stayed packed until the next morning and when I fell into my bed at 6:30am, the year 2011, futuristic as it sounds, had started with the familiar: friends, music and dancing to retro songs from the 80s and 90s. What a start to the year!