This was not a Kruder & Dorfmeister show! It was a Dorfmeister DJ set, followed by a Kruder DJ set. This show may not have been advertised as a ‘live’ show, but neither was it advertised as two separate DJ sets.

I was not aware of this set-up, until I read some feedback about the earlier Sydney show on ITM’s Sydney forums. I was disappointed when I first read those comments, but at the same time glad that my expectations gap was reduced substantially and I pretty much knew what to expect.

Arriving at 8:30, Ennio Styles was soothing the early revellers with a somewhat first gear down-tempo pace of chill factor and house. The advertised “K&D on stage 9:30 sharp” was not to happen as the production engineers toyed with one of the projectors, which seemed to be way off screen.

In the meantime, Ennio Styles picked the pace up as the Forum filled to capacity in preparation for the Kruder & Dorfmeister show …

Dorfmeister graces the stage at 10:00 accompanied by MC Sugar B. Our immediate thoughts were “does Michael Foreshaw have a twin brother?” ... Sugar B. has an uncanny resemblance to him both physically and characteristically. Sugar B proved to be more of a dancer than he was an MC. Great voice, but didn’t really use it for much of the show.

Dorfmeister proved to be one of the most interesting party DJ’s. I say party because he played a style that was highly eclectic and accessible, covering quite a range of styles. Starting with a hip hop flavour … moving along with Aphrodelics – Rollin’ On Chrome [Wild Motherfucker Dub] ... some James Brown samples … The Streets.

Booty was given a good thrashing with a start from Nelly’s – Hot In Herre, then lots of break beats. Latino flavours of all sorts were to follow and K&D very own High Noon was dropped somewhere in there too for good measure.

Fritz Fitzke – the VisualsDJ, must have been forced as a child to watch countless hours of the Beatles ‘Yellow Submarine’ style film clips. Why? Well, among other things, he had lots of psychedelic flavours up on the big screen.

To our delight and joy the distinct sounds of Detroit style techno were thrashed towards the end of Dorfmeister’s set. The driving tech sounds were used as a leaping stage to jump to …. wait for it! ... Girl From Ipanema !!!

I love this kind of mayhem, surprise and chaos in a DJ set. With the lush sounds of this classic song (Girl From Ipanema) used in so many movies of the 60’s and 70’s, and countless jazz compilations the world over, Dorfmeister adds a superb twist to the equation by sampling some raw electro beats over it at various intervals. For our crew and the rest of the crowd, this was a highlight music moment for the night!

Kruder takes control at 12:30 and pretty much takes the momentum down with a lot of bland and flavourless house. I stayed for a good hour, but he failed to pick up the pace and pretty much maintained a one way course of downhill decent (for my taste in music). It was time to go home.


Overall, what did I think?

It was two distinct shows by two very different artists. It was a Dorfmeister show and a Kruder show, not a “Kruder & Dorfmeister” team performance. Many punters were under the impression it was to be a live or even semi-live Kruder & Dorfmeister team effort.

For me personally, Dorfmeister played a far more appealing, interesting and entertaining style of music. Great track selection and mix up of styles. I really did enjoy his 2.5 hours at the Forum, as did the crew I was with!