In 1984 in Hamburg, Germany, an aspiring musician in his early twenties embraced the dark, harsh sounds of thoroughly underground bands like Throbbing Gristle and Skinny Puppy. Distancing himself from mainstream rock and pop music, Sascha Konietzko formed an art-rock project that would become KMFDM, one of the pioneers of the industrial-metal movement. Forty consistent years later, Konietzko, the sole remaining member of the original lineup, is celebrating KMFDM’s 23rd studio album, Let Go, released on February 2 with yet another concert tour that brought the band back to Irving Plaza.
KMFDM presently consists of Konietzko and his wife, Lucia Cifarelli, on vocals and sequencers, Andy Selway on drums and Andee Blacksugar on guitars. At Irving Plaza, the four musicians worked well together, energizing the audience with macabre vocals and pulsing, coarse dance rhythms. Konietzko and Cifarelli, who joined the band in 2000, fronted the band dynamics. Selway and Blacksugar were equally animated; Selway, who joined in 2003, helped power the driving rhythms. Blacksugar, who joined in 2017, worked the audience with flashy poses while soloing on his guitar.
Konietzko and Cifarelli sculpted the overall sound of the performance. Behind a pair of metal-framed pulpit-shaped carts, they twisted knobs to create the throbs and squeals that were the root of KMFDM’s industrial sound. They frequently moved away from their stations with their microphones to the edge of the stage to enthuse the audience. Konietzko’s deep and gritty commando-like vocals contrasted with the lighter delivery of Cifarelli.
Starting with the tongue-in-cheek “Sucks,” with the audience loudly repeating the final line, “No doubt about it, KMFDM sucks,” the band squeezed 22 songs into a little more than 90 minutes. The retrospective set reeled back to earlier days with three songs from the 1990’s Nihil album and ran the span to three songs from the 2024 album. Thirteen KMFDM albums were represented at the concert.
While KMFDM’s musical artistry proved that industrial and EBM (electronic body music) remain valid and exciting in today’s music world, the show’s exhaustive use of brightly strobing lights on stage proved excessive. Fans, particularly those enjoying the concert from the balcony, frequently had to shut their eyes repeatedly throughout the entire concert because the lights were blinding them. Well-conceived lighting enhances the concert experience but annoying overplay kills its purpose.
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Setlist
- Sucks
- Light
- Hyëna
- Freak Flag
- Beast
- Airhead
- A Drug Against War
- Rebels in Kontrol
- Godlike
- Liebeslied
- Blindface
- Megalomaniac
- Last Things
- Terror
- Touch
- Adios
Encore
- Professional Killer (guest vocals by Annabella Konietzko)
- The Creeps (Lucia Cifarelli cover)
- Push!
- Rock’n’Roll Monster (guest vocals by Andrew “Ocelot” Lindsley)
- Juke Joint Jezebel
- Paradise
