My 2023 reading recap

2023 was somehow a special year because I finally found back to reading books. I also started buying more books (and of course I haven’t read that many of them, that’s the law. Maybe I’m more of a book dragon than a book worm). Actually I bought so many new books that we had to get a third bookshelf (and then I had to buy even more books so that the shelf wouldn’t look super empty). Yet, my reading list of 2023 isn’t super impressive. Under the cut you’ll find out a bit more, but be prepared: My impressive count of books read in 2023 is 17 (actually 19, but I couldn’t add the two volumes of Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne to Storygraph, but that’s fine, because 3 out of those 17 are the Concrete Jungle comics which literally have 20-25 pages each…).

My 2023 concert recap

Last year, when I was asked how many concerts we go to on average within a year, I excused the 14 concerts and 2 festivals as an exception because there were so many shows that had been postponed because of the pandemic. Little did I know. I didn’t anticipate what would happen this year, after I quit 2 time-consuming hobbies, out of which one was fairly expensive as well. Things escalated. I went to concerts. I enjoyed it. Join my concert recap of 2023 🙂

Concert review: Eisheilige Nacht, PLWM Dortmund, 22 December 2023

For me, it was the first „Eisheilige Nacht“ ever. On the one hand because I had „forgotten“ about Subway to Sally until they released their new album Himmelfahrt this year, which was an absolute banger. On the other hand, the dates never really fit my schedule. This year though, the date fit, the location fit and the line up made my heart beat faster, as it included Fiddler’s Green, one of my favourite bands for several years now, and Letzte Instanz, one of my teenage loves that I’ve never seen live before. So off I went to the PLWM in Dortmund for my last concert of 2023. … Continue readingConcert review: Eisheilige Nacht, PLWM Dortmund, 22 December 2023

Concert review: Future Palace & Envyyou, Helios 37 Cologne, 03 December 2023

Second to last concert of the year. We’d seen Future Palace as support for Electric Callboy three times during their TEKKNO tour and I was blown away by the energy of this band. And I really wanted to go see them afterwards, but if I remember correctly, their Cologne show was sold out. Good thing they added a bonus show I got tickets for. And I didn’t regret it.

Concert review: TVINNA, Eivør & FAUN, Phantastischer Lichterweihnachtsmarkt Dortmund, 2 December 2023

The medieval christmas market in Dortmund is truly something else. For several years now, the phantastic atmosphere of Germany’s most beautiful christmas market attracts the big names of the German medieval rock scene (as well as other artists from other genres). As a visitor, you get an exceptionnal experience both market-wise as well as concert wise. To be honest, the line up for each weekend is one of the longest awaited revelations every year for me. Because I can be sure that there will be bangers and that there’ll be must-see shows for me. The only question remaining is usually „How many?“ This year, when FAUN were announced with a special guest, I started a weekly prayer circle that it would be TVINNA. I’ll elaborate more on that a bit further on, but in short: I kept updating the PLWM website every few weeks and actually discovered that TVINNA had

Continue readingConcert review: TVINNA, Eivør & FAUN, Phantastischer Lichterweihnachtsmarkt Dortmund, 2 December 2023

Concert review: Saltatio Mortis & Alestorm, RuhrCongress Bochum, 25 November 2023

So this show was a double first timer. One I had been waiting for for several years (roughly since 2007 or 2008) and one that I hadn’t known until now that I needed to see them. Given that I came with a „Let’s see what happens, I have no expectations“-attitude, that concert was a very damn good one. … Continue readingConcert review: Saltatio Mortis & Alestorm, RuhrCongress Bochum, 25 November 2023

Concert review: Self Deception – You’re Only As Sick As Your Secrets Tour (with Awake The Dreamer, Those Without)

This is basically a combined review. If there’s a band that I love from the deepest bottom of my heart, it’s not unlikely that I’ll visit more than one show of their tour. This applies to Self Deception, a Swedish alternative rock / metalcore band that is my absolute favourite Spotify discovery so far. When they announced their headline tour in Germany, I couldn’t buy tickets fast enough. … Continue readingConcert review: Self Deception – You’re Only As Sick As Your Secrets Tour (with Awake The Dreamer, Those Without)

Concert review: Fall Out Boy, Pvris & nothing, nowhere – Rudolf-Weber-Arena Oberhausen, 06 November 2023

It really teleported me back into my teenage days when they played songs like A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me or Sugar, We’re Going Down. Those songs remind me of my Myspace era – and how many bands I discovered through Myspace before it went down … Continue readingConcert review: Fall Out Boy, Pvris & nothing, nowhere – Rudolf-Weber-Arena Oberhausen, 06 November 2023

Concert review: Smash Into Pieces & Cyan Kicks – Resonanzwerk Oberhausen, 02 November 2023

Boom. First time I’ll actually post about a concert here. Don’t take the „concert review“ too seriously, I guess it’s just a bit of rambling. So last night we went to Oberhausen to see Smash Into Pieces. To be fair, yesterday wasn’t exactly my day. I was super tired after work and I wasn’t really too excited about the show either. I like Smash Into Pieces, but it’s not a band I listen to excessively. They were one of my Spotify discoveries that kept popping up in Mixtapes and such and somehow stayed. I was convinced that they would deliver and that the show would be great and I didn’t want my exhaustion to ruin it for me (after all, I’ve been just as tired at other shows and I still managed to enjoy them to the fullest). I told myself „This is probably going to turn me into a

Continue readingConcert review: Smash Into Pieces & Cyan Kicks – Resonanzwerk Oberhausen, 02 November 2023