Page 1.

You can't fool yourself. The current trend, « rock for youth »-wise, gravitates around german bands. Tokio Hotel, Killerpilze, La Fée.. and others artists who, after we've listened to them, seem pretty dull and without any interest to us.

Page2.

So, when the project of going on tour with Nevada tan is mentionned, we're startled. If it's the same kind of soup, not for us thank you very much. The magazines introduce them as the « new german bomb »! Therefore we start off with a lot of preconceived ideas about the band, but what we don't anticipate, is that the Nevada Tan guys themselves are going to quickly change our minds!

Sunday, october 21st.
Concert – La Laiterie – Strasbourg

In the early morning and freazing cold, we arrive at La Laiterie, strasbourgese (?) venue where the guys play tonight.

Some fans, only girls, are already here. The fiercest ones have been here since 8am, shivering under survivals blankets. On the right side, three German girls have even made the trip to our country for the youngs musicians' pretty eyes.

The waiting is organized. The first arrived have written on the back of their hand a number granting them a priority order to get in. On the ground are food and blankets for an improvised picnic, while, a bit further, other young ladies are busy finishing the sign they'll proudly brandish during the concert.

The band's bus is parked a few meters away. Grey, with huge pictures of the band members dressed by their sponsor on the one side, « Nevada tan » in fluo green capital letters on the other side, along the whole lenght of the bus. Yeah, they could have been more discreet, really...

We can hear loud music from within the bus. Apparently the driver like to do the cleaning in music!

Some fans are actually here and can't stop taking pictures of themselves with the bus.

But it's time to move onto the serious stuff. We get in through the little back door that leads us directly to the loges (rooms backstage) where Marcel, the band's manager, welcomes us. Very kindly, he explains that we'll be able to follow everything, absolutely EVERYTHING that Nevada Tan will do during the next three days, and this solely for you!

We are then little by little introduced to the guys, first Timo and Juri who run into the loges. Their first words are a joke, it's starting well!

Page 3.

We follow them to the stage where rehearsals are taking place. David, Linke and Jan are already busy with their instruments and welcome us with large smiles. Timo is off again to fill his stomach while Juri starts tuning his tom. He stretches and de-streches the skins to get the sound he wants. Then you have to pound repetitively each drum to test the mics and the sound of each hit.
Because, for everything to be perfect for your little ears during the concert, the band has a lot of work to do beforehand!

David is warming up too. He tests his guitars one by one after they've been tuned by his technician. He finishes with his accoustic guitar and start a rather comical gyspie impro with Linke!

Now, Linke just arrived and plugged his bass in his amp. He quietly plays scales while Juri keeps on hitting his snare drum again and again.

We cross the stage taking care not to trip on the many wires laying around. We then arrive behind DJ Sexy alias Jan's turntables. Very focused, he's enjoying himself with his instrument. Which doesn't stop him from looking up one moment to flash a smile for the readers of Rock-Pics through our video camera, as you can see in our video report!
As the sound of his scratching goes through his earphones straight to his ears, we can't hear anything, and it's rather funny to watch him move like that without a sound in the background!
We leave him for a while to focuse on Linke who's starting to pummel harshly his five strings.

Page 4.

At last, Franky arrives, looking a bit tired. He sits in front of the drums while bass and DJ tune their balance.

Now that all the instruments are set, it's the voices' turn. First Timo, the rapper of the group. This man is a true battery (meaning he has a lot of energy)!! While the others seem to be just out of bed and struggle to wake up, he tumbles in running all over the place, shouting, moving about, bouncing... he climbs on the speakers, climbs down, climbs back on... it's hard to follow him! Facetious, he likes to play the fool and we have a good laugh.

While he (Timo) is blowing off steam, the technicians move David's piano in the middle of the stage. Instantly, the attention is drawn to the instrument. One after the other, all members of Nevada Tan (except Juri) go put their fingers on it. Jan to be silly, Franky in a creative spurt, Timo and Linke to try it out a bit. Finally the undisputed master : David. We are very impressed by the young man's virtuosity! He gleefully jumps from one register to the other, from the childish song to Nevada Tan, to end with a version of his own of My Way. His fingers seem to fly on the keys. At this moment, we realise that the six members of the band are real musicians, and rather talented at that!

The soundcheck ends quietly. The boys play two songs to make sure everything is right into place and adjust each instrument's volume for the returns (no idea how to say that, it's the sound coming back to them so they can hear what they're doing). « A bit more guitar! » Jan asks, while Franky asks that his voice be louder.
Contrary to many bands that use amps turned over at the front of the stage to get the sound back, Nevada Tan prefer using earphones. « It's more practical, discreet, and reliable » David explains, adding « moreover we all get an extra click in the ears with the returns (same as before), it helps to be in place with the rhythm. »

But, aren't we forgetting something? Yes, we are! The samples! Juri just told us all the necessary information. « Look at my setlist, it's different than the others', you see? Next to some of the songs is a number inside a square. It corresponds to the samples. The machine that plays the samples is within reach of my left arm (he shows us a box the size of a briefcase next to his seat). Each sample has a number.

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For example, for the intro of Neustart, it's number 3. At the beginning of the song, I must push the button. Same every time. » We retort that, should there be a mistake, we'll know who to blame, which makes him laugh good naturedly!
The rehearsals are over. It's 6pm. The band then goes to the canteen to have dinner. On the menu : pizza and home-made apple pie with cinnamon!
Dinner is quickly over and the boys are free to wander around the for-now-empty concert hall as they please. David, Juri and Jan fool around the merchandising stand while the others relax in the bus.

The doors finally open and the fans run inside in a frantic race to the first row! We take this opportunity to chat with them and understand a bit better their craze for Nevada Tan. We see the girls we had met outside again, they are more than delighted to finally be where they so wanted to be. « We can't believe we're really going to see them, in front of us, for real, in the flesh!! » they can't stop repeating.
We go back to the loges upstairs. Crossing the catwalk, we notice two admirers (girls) of the band trying to throw little love notes to Linke on the balcony. They jump in the air for a good 15 minutes without result, their note never reaching high enough to get into the bassist's hands.

The guys meet in their loge. The concert is going to begin in a few minutes, they breath out one last time. Then Franky, followed by Timo, Juri, David and Jan, crosses the catwalk the other way and to the stage. Linke quickly joins them.

To access the stage, you must go down a tiny stairway at the bottom of which the band stops. In a circle, they link hands then clap quickly while shouting « Eins, Zwei, Drei!! ». The intro begins, it is time...

Guitarist, bassist, drummer and DJ get in place because the song starts with the instruments, leaving behind the two singers in this kind of ante room where you can feel stage fright. Franky breathes out loudly while Timo moves feverishly his mic and stares at the ground.

Page 6.

Then it's started! Timo runs and arrives on stage to light a fire, while Franky moves with a more measured step. Screams from the audience triple in intensity!

Cap locked on his head, the rapper constantly paces all over the stage from right to left, most of the time running. Moving wildly, he urges the audience to join in and often hold his mic out to them. At some point, it even feels as if we're watching a show of « Timo and friends », he seems to dominate completely the action. « Rise yo aaans! Rez uuur hanana!! » he stumbles with words before shouting « Raise your hands !! » [in english in the text]

Juri then launches a sample before starting his beat so that drums and voices can mingle in the first part of Immer Noch Da, new production of the band. Rather calm at the beginning, the song explodes at the end when the musicians give it all. The « DJ solo » also pleases Jan's fans, as we realise that the musician's face is hidden behind a black scarf. « It's because I prefer to concentrate on the music, and music only » he explains after the show.
The songs play one after the other. Arrives «Geht Ab » and its furious madness. It's without a doubt the most energetic song of the concert!! Franky jumps like a young goat while Timo climbs on Juri's drums' podium and plays with his cymbals . The crowd sings the lyrics by heart and moves along while David ponctuates the beginning of the chorus with a very artistic jump. During the break, the rapper slips away in the back to quench his thirst when he sees our team filming the concert. He borrows a video camera and goes back to the fire of the action. He gives the camera to Franky who starts filming the screaming fansgirls and a wild Timo. Amazing moments as you can see in our video report!

A bit later, the french flag is out, Nevada Tan start their hit « Revolution », screaming « long live the revolution, long live France! ». Pffffiiiuuu! A bra flies through the air and lands at Linke's feet. He doesn't notice it until David comes and ties it to his fingerboard a few minutes later.
Positiv, from their first demo, follows up with its impressive drums solo.
The songs keep on going and the pastel pink piece of lingerie (that we have an inkling comes from the-person-who-threw-it's mother's drawer) stays firmly on Linke's instrument.

Page 8.

Then the guys use the audience as a guinea pig to try out their new song « Jeder » and see the reaction. The guitarist spins while the DJ moves and sings behind his turntables. The couplets are jerky and the chorus energetic. That's for sure, Jeder will be a hit!

The lights fade and David is alone on the stage. Lightspots are turned on again to make a softened atmosphere as he begins to plays a beautiful melody on his piano. The fangirls already know which song is to come but they hold their breath and relish the poetic interlude. From this moment, many will start to cry and keep on crying during the whole song. The little guitarist/pianist has a nice dark romantic man reputation!

Page 9.

A few more chords, an encore of two songs, and the six guys ceremoniously bow to their audience that really doesn't want to let them go!

Drenched in sweat, they go back up to the loges to take a shower. Eveyone relaxes and thinks that the day is finally over, without suspecting what will follow...

Franky is the first one to get out of the shower and to come to talk with us a bit. Then, one by one, the group members go back to their bus, signing a few autographs to the crowd of fans that waits for them outside. David doesn't stay long because he is sick, but Jan, Juri and Linke stay next to the bus to sign some more and take pictures. We are in a small quiet street. Suddenly, a altercation starts between two not really friendly-looking men on the opposite sidewalk. One of them starts screaming that he will « kill us » all, before leaving. But a few seconds later, he comes back running and surges into the sea of fans. We lose him then, all of a sudden, we see his hand above the crowd. The man is brandishing a knife! Everything is deserted around, and the security team is already gone because the show ended almost two hours ago. Panic on board! We run to warn the french official website crew (that is on the other side of the bus) that the end of the world is near... Fortunately, the agresser puts his weapon away and leaves without harming anyone. What a scare! Thus Marcel, Nevada Tan's manager, takes us on board and the bus takes us a bit later to the train station of Strasbourg, so we can go back safely to our hotel. We already knew that the musicians have a heart of gold, their staff is also open and friendly. What a wonderful team!