Scream Album Review!

Todd Spencer from Walmart.com recently reviewed Scream! He also gave them a very good review, well of course he did, there Tokio Hotel!...

About the Album

How hard is it for a German rock band to break it big in the U.S.? For most, even conquering Europe is still no guarantee that label executives here will see and hear anything original, groundbreaking, or just plain good enough to warrant a contract.

German emo quartet Tokio Hotel is the first to do so in a long, long time and they're breaking down barriers in a huge way, making new fans here as readily as U.K. acts have done for ages.

A lot of their success can be chalked up to the androgynous charisma of their teenage frontman Bill Kaulitz, who appears on the album cover with his trademark giant hair, looking like an angry, punk-y, elf.

Their debut single, the angsty, tense-yet-rollicking "Ready, Set, Go!" is not only on the charts, it was incorporated in an episode of The Hills.

The band shows its depth (the degree of which is remarkable when you consider that these are very young men) on their second single, the non-sappy, shimmering ballad "Monsoon," where stacks of processed guitar chords shimmer and throb on the chorus.

Tokio Hotel really writes to the song, allowing whatever they need to stylistically to carry it off. Sometimes they're emo, sometimes more punk, sometimes more bubblegum pop, other times more glam-sounding or even Detroit-style garage. Maybe here or there a flourish of electronica would serve nicely, or a strain of somber cello... no problem. They add it.

But the common denominator is that their music is well written, melodic, and original. Three attributes that will get you noticed in the music world. And Scream has landed inside the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 album chart, and also made them household names across Europe and in Canada.

Kaulitz' voice is fantastic, and adding charm to it is his slight accent. This is, after all, their first English-language album. But there is also no dead weight here. Guitars, drums and bass are handled with chops and maturity of music school grads.

Fans of guitar-based rock and hooky melodies, but who don't want to rot their teeth on overly-sweet confections of many axe-wielding pop ensembles, will love Tokio Hotel: a band that can start an ultimately hummable tune with a blast of ferocity.

Tokio Hotel is surely a band to watch in the future, but more important, a band to hear right now.

By Todd Spencer

Jonas Brothers vs Tokio Hotel..[again], Another Geneva Review

Is there a way to end the "fan war"? The media are picking up on it and it's making TH fans look bad - and the Jonas Brothers too! Also they say "Warring Fandoms Further Prove That The Internet Should Have Age Restrictions!"

They used a fake picture of Bill in the article.

"All this fuss for a band who look and sound like living Anime characters took music lessons from Evanescence. Sigh."
Very Rude!

Click HERE to read the article.

Another Geneva Review:

Tokio Hotel in Geneva: Danger for the fans?

Chaos in Geneva – The Tokio Hotel concert in Switzerland was dangerously cramped for the fans, according to blick.ch. What have you experienced at a Tokio Hotel concert?

Holding out for hours in front of the venue entrance; security causing trouble for the fans; an inadequate building. These are serious allegations raised against the organisers of the Tokio Hotel concert in Geneva by the father of a 16-year-old girl to blick.ch.

The father had already accompanied his daughter to several Tokio Hotel gigs, yet what he experienced in Geneva was truly crazy. “The girls were cooped up for hours. And the crowd got worse and worse.” He continues: “Girls were toppling down in rows. Even I had to gasp for air.”

However, according to blick.ch, the father was especially irritated about the security guards, who allegedly kept water bottles in the parched crowd, but repeatedly took them back as soon as a girl reached for one.

Now an offender is being sought after, the organiser of the Tokio Hotel Geneva concert reportedly has strict restrictions.

Have you had similar experiances at a Tokio Hotel concert?, if so feel free to leave us a comment telling us about them...

Geneva Concert Review

[You have probably read this review from the American Fansite, however the translation was quite odd, so we had to go back to the source and edit basically the whole thing. It should make a lot more sense now] A night of madness - July 14, 2008 Ten thousand fans came to wildly applaud Tokio Hotel Saturday in Geneva. No injuries took place but many people fainted. The singer of Tokio Hotel, Bill Kaulitz, is the favorite of young audiences who invaded Arena. Icon of juvenile rock, the German band, Tokio Hotel performed Saturday evening in Geneva. The quartet played for 90 minutes in front of 10,000 delirious fans, mostly teenage girls. There were no injuries but 375 fainted. “Some 90 people had fainted even before the doors opened on Saturday,” said the organizer of the concert Michael Drieberg. “They felt such pressure … the emotional health staff took care of all these people, putting them back on their feet. Lots of them returned back to the hall. I am pleased that there were no injuries and no evacuations. We had a clinic with 60 beds and three ambulances. ” Suffocating heat Some fans have camped for several days before the Arena to secure places at the front. Since 15:00, almost all the public was already at the gates of the building. In the courtroom, the air quickly becomes suffocating. While the parterre, 6000 people hurrying to the scene, children, accompanied by their parents. All of a sudden, the lights go out and the clamor rises. The hall is then lit with only the glow of thousands of mobile phones. The screams intensify as soon as the young Germans appear. Breathtaking smile Shortly after, the singer Bill Kaulitz removes his jacket, leaving him in jeans and a red t-shirt. Behind him, on a screen, images of clouds were projected. After three songs, Bill addressed the public: “Wie geht’s euch?” (How are you?). In response, teddy bears rain on the scene. The entire evening, the band obviously had much pleasure performing. Their well-functioning performance left little room for improvisation. The contrast was quite surprising between the dark look and makeup and Bill Kaulitz's natural, breathtaking smile. He still seemed surprised at the success of his group. “This is the best thing that could ever happen to us,” said Bill in substance. “Traveling and being able to go to so many cities. Thank you.” Shining faces The fans regularly sing along the songs with the singer. Towards the end of the concert, Tokio Hotel performed “Durch den Monsun” (Through the Monsoon) the title which became a hit in 2005. The band took leave of their fans with “An deiner Seite” (By your side). At the exit of the hall, the faces were illuminated. Several spectators were already looking at their photos taken during the concert, something which will remain a big event for them for a long time. The concert was going to sell out. Originally scheduled for March 21, it had to be postponed because of an operation of the singer's vocal cords. (Source: lenouvelliste.ch)

Concert Review

9,500 people, most of which are teenage girls, went to Tokio Hotel's concert, Saturday at the Arena. If the hysteria of the fans has created problems at the entrance, the concert went along without any notable incidents. The security personnel was one of the largest ever put in place at the Arena.

Tokio Hotel rocked the Arena

Tokio Hotel in the Arena, it's done! Last Saturday, there were 9,500 spectators there to applaud the German band.

In the crowd, a majority of girls aged between 12 and 14, or approximately 80% of the public. And a few boys. And adults. Parents for the most part. "There were about 10%. Some are even fans," says Michael Drieber, organizer of the concert. "We were expecting only teens."

Put all those people in the arena. There, the singer Bill Kaulitz and his companion landed, delivering a set of rock as smooth as effective, in German. An hour and 45 minutes presentation. Now we must interpret the reaction of the crowd present at the concert on Saturday. People say Tokio Hotel triggers extreme reactions from fans. Is that true? There is only two options really. With or without hysteria.

"Eeeeeeeeeeee," the fans, mostly teenage girls, scream at the top of their lungs, almost ready to break your eardrums. A few minutes away from the lifting of the curtain, expected at 19:30, the least sound coming from the stage provoked screams from the public.

Finally the band arrives. We await with anxiety the first ones to faint. There are already 90, we learn with astonishment. Indeed the doors of the hall weren't even open, when the most bold fans start pushing for the best places. In the end, 375 people were evacuated urgently. Leading causes were fatigue and dehydration. However, three ambulances specially reserved for the evening were not used.

During the concert, barriers placed in front of the scene, the same we use for open air concerts with 50,000 people, have moved an inch. "Something never seen! The fans were concentrated in the center, in front of the stage. Imagine 8 or 9 people per square meter! The pressure on the barriers was extreme."

A concert like the others...
If the mass of the fans - one kilometer line - made it hard for security, the picture was different from their conduct during the concert. "We expected worse. Other than uneasiness, the atmosphere was good."

After the first quarter of an hour, the screams were more discrete. We expected constant screams? This wasn't the case. On the bleachers, mainly family space, were happy just moving and pacing, the more confident stood, sometimes imitated by their parents. We raise our arms, put out our hands and sing along. A boy, 9 or 10, mimes with his guitar, seated on the floor. Seated behind him, his mother smiles.

There it is, the Tokio Hotel phenomenon. Tokio Hotel is rock'n'roll without "sex" or "drugs."

(source: tdg.ch)