Saturday night, industrial music legends Nitzer Ebb made a welcome return to Chicago once again to headline a show at Metro. It was a three band bill that featured two veteran acts alongside a newer one that may not have been familiar to a lot of people, especially the longtime Nitzer Ebb fans.
First up was Rhys Fulber. Anyone who has been around the industrial music scene since the early 1990s will recognize Rhys as one half of Front Line Assembly. The man is extremely talented and creative, and on the stage this night, he was able to show off another side of his talents. Rhys put together a very interesting set that mixed atmospheric soundscapes with some more traditional electronic music elements so at times you’d sit back and soak it in, and then he’d pick up the pace and at times you could dance to it. Fulber is quite versatile and it was cool to see him outside his usual element of Front Line Assembly.
Next up was DopplerEffekt. This band was likely unfamiliar to a lot of people in the audience, including myself, but man did they win over the crowd. This duo was mysterious, they both wore black masks. Each member stood at the end of a long table with all their gear on it and faced each other while images were displayed on a screen at the back of the stage. The shadows of the two band members on that screen only added to the cool effects. This wasn’t just two people with laptops, they had keyboards too and the lady played some really great keyboard parts on top of the powerful and driving beats the duo were making. The guy also twiddled tons of knobs and layered effects all over the place. The music was fantastic and it got people dancing too. They got a big round of applause at the end of their 45 minute set, which just flew by.
Nitzer Ebb took the stage and the crowd was super excited. What’s interesting was the diverse range of ages of various audience members, there were plenty of old timers there but there was also a considerable amount of people that looked to be in their teens and twenties which was a nice surprise. It’s always great when a legendary band we grew up with transcends multiple generations of people, which is a testament to the timeless music they created.
As many of you know, original lead singer Douglas McCarthy, sadly passed away. For a year or two before his untimely passing, he was unable to perform but gave his blessing and support for the band to go on without him with fellow founding member Bon Harris handling the vocals. Bon does a fantastic job and contributed vocals to various Nitzer Ebb songs over the years. He’s really stepped up and grown into the roll nicely.
The band opened with “Hearts and Minds” and things were sounding good. They did things a bit differently this time out as instead of doing a set of songs that weaved into each other with no breaks, they actually stopped between songs every time. They had a screen behind them that displayed various images that were tailored after each song which was a nice touch. They played “Control I’m Here” second and that really got people moving. A good chunk of the crowd were dancing throughout most of the set, if not all of it.
Speaking of the set, it was pretty much a Nitzer Ebb hit machine. Pick a popular song and they likely played it. Such favorites as “Lightning Man”, “Blood Money”, “Join In the Chant”, “Fun To Be Had”, “Let Your Body Learn”, and “Murderous” were among the many great songs they played and they even did the best rendition of “Cherry Blossom” that I’ve ever heard them do! Bon Harris rarely holds still while singing, he’s always pacing back and forth and dancing around the stage which just adds to the energy the band is hitting the crowd with. Everything sounded great, Bon did a great job delivering the vocals, and people were having a good time through the entire 90 minute set.
When they finished the main set, the band left the stage briefly and then returned for a two song encore. They first played “Down On Your Knees” and then before they played the final song, Harris dedicated it to Douglas McCarthy and they went into a beautiful rendition of “I Give To You”. It was a great way to end a fantastic set and this night proved that Nitzer Ebb is still a must see band. It’s a safe bet they are likely going to be around touring in the near future and they are still well worth seeing.
