Tokio Hotel WW132 (Review...news)

A BIT SHORT FOR AN ORDINARY SHOW. (Random review)

The young German sensation, Tokio Hotel, was back in Montreal yesterday evening, hardly three months after their first visit. The craze is far from crumbling.
After the National in February, it was Uniprix's (stadium/arena...whatever) turn to be Tokio Hotel's host.We must say that this time the Germans had an album, which wasn't the case three months ago. (Must be talking about the Scream version for the States.) Several hundreds of fans didn't hesitate to camp in front of the amphitheater for a whole day, under pouring rain, just to be able to be close to the stage. Some teens had even been camping since Friday. Ah! the youth! For their money? Now here's the question: were all those efforts worth 100$?
Let's say this through an objective view: this work of art has already been heard.
The performance was good, but the ballades, such as "Don't Jump" and "Monsoon," along with the dynamic "Ready, Set, Go" and "Scream," the latter being the title of their new album, are just colorless copies of emo predecessors. And on top of it, the show hardly lasted 60 minutes. That's quite expensive when you calculate how much they payed per minute; if you think about how their young admirers (about 6000) must have economized for months ahead of this big event.
But where does this madness come from? Is it the eccentric hairdo this rock star has, or the quality of this pop-rock emo band's compositions?
We must consider the first theory. And just to think that some even compared them to the Beatles!



Tokio Hotel can open the champagne and celebrate! Their new album, Scream, excelles in the USA. It will no doubt end at the top of the CD sales soon. The German group Bill and Tom Kaulitz made, has a resounding success in the ranks of the most selling CDs. The album is direcly at the 5th place only after a week since its release! It's becoming almost historical.
Tokio Hotel supersedes Amy Winehouse and her album "Back to Black" in 6th place, which has been out since 44 weeks. Amy Winehouse is now getting the results of her lack of communication, these last days. Her private affairs, drugs, alcohol, and heart problems, are considerably hampering her career. Amy Winehouse seems to have put aside her album, concerts, and the media.
That's a dark period that the young and vigorous band, Tokio Hotel hasn't experienced. Ah no, these rock stars aimed at teens - not meaning anything pejorative - is working terrifically. Everything Tokio Hotel does is loved by the public. Their music? Their looks? Fans must explain...



Tokio Hotel has been in the US, these last few weeks, for their triumphant tour in New York and Los Angeles; the band took advantage of that to release their English album: and BING! Bill and Tom Kaulitz, accompanied by their drummer
Gustav Schäfer and their bass player Georg Listing, can delight themselves in a success without borders: after Europe, the United States have discovered Tokio Hotel. When will it be Asia's turn?
No doubt you will see the video from Bild showing the crowd of fans waiting to see them in concert. It's crazy!
Tokio Hotel will be going back home Friday (tomorrow) to their native country. In a week they will be in Paris...


Pitiful sales figures for Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel is on a US conquest tour. And the country of endless opportunities lies at the feet of the teen-band. At least, that is what can be read everywhere. Far from it; hardly anyone wants to buy the CDs of Kaulitz & Co.
What to do, when the German market is conquered? Well, it’s clear; on to America. Tokio Hotel is on a US tour. And with “unbelievable success,” as the PR strategists
behind Kaulitz & Co. continually report to the homeland. New York, Los Angeles, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers must receive them warmly. Here comes Tokio Hotel!
Or maybe not? In reality, the facts look gloomier than Bill Kaulitz’s eyeliner: According to current Billboard figures which measure record sales in the USA, 16,000 Tokio Hotel CDs went across the counter straight at once. In spite of this, the band is under costly PR-attacks like similarly unknown artists such as Rick
Ross and Michael Bubble. In any case, the aim of the Tokio Hotel management team for one million sold CDs lies far in the distance.
“America is so big”
Time for a reality check: Success in the USA certainly doesn’t come overnight. Stars like Miley Cyrus or Rihanna also know this. And somehow frontman Bill Kaulitz also seems to have suspicions that the American adventure is no walk in the park: “It is very difficult to win fans in other countries,” he says with a strong German accent in English interviews. “America is so big, so it’s really hard to get known.”

German staying power
Nevertheless, Tokio Hotel has brought a good German virtue across the Atlantic with them: staying power. A concert at a parking lot in New Jersey? Been done!
Entrance into the (today rather unimportant) “Avalon” in Los Angeles? Certainly! 1,500 fans fit in there – over 900 people weren’t allowed in. This is still a long way away from the success of Miley Cyrus, who sold out a concert hall with 10,000 seats in less than 10 minutes.
In reality, German-speaking bands – and also actors – traditionally have a hard time in the USA. Nena and Rammstein are still the only German singing exports who are acknowledged by a fan base today. German stars like Til Schweiger or Franka Potente fail miserably in Hollywood, and at long last pull out grumbling from there.
Following this, the fact that Tokio Hotel – or rather; their management – has the goal to conquer the financially lucrative US market is stopping nothing. It is also a daring manoeuvre for Kaulitz & Co. to even travel there. America is the largest music market in the world. World-famous bands play good locations in LA every day. They come, and they go. Often almost unnoticed. A band like Tokio Hotel could quickly disappear into no man’s land before they’ve properly got going at all. And then “Scream” – the English title of the current album – would remain proverbially lodged in the throat for them…


Tokio Hotel and Money:
From Bild, translations from Narin @ tokiohotel.org.uk:
Who earns off Tokio Hotel? The fans scream wherever Tokio Hotel appears. And the cash is really rolling in because CD and merchandise sales bring in a pile of money. But who actually earns off the commotion? BILD.de explains.
The Magdeburg band earns more than the usual amount in the industry. Other artists receive on average 17% of their CD sale prices, whereas ‘Tokio Hotel’ and their team of producers pocket between 20 – 25%.However, the German high-flyers also lower the costs for the record companies. The band takes over the recording of the CD themselves – and hand over finished songs, as the “Welt am Sonntag” reported. In three years ‘Tokio Hotel’ has gained up to 40 million Euros through CD sales. Furthermore, the merchandise sales bring in sums of over 10 million.
In addition, the boys have helped their record company, Universal Music Deutschland, to "Priority Status." This means that all Universal branch companies must market Tokio Hotel in their country. This special status also allows the German record branch to earn over 10% of total US sales.Since this has never happened before, the band is also allowed to scream in joy.