Review of Tokio Hotel Concert Philadelphia

PCM was in the midst of teenage mayhem at the recent Tokio Hotel concert at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Have you ever seen those early clips of Beatles fans going completely nuts screaming and crying? Well, it was something like that for the modern generation. Tokio Hotel is a huge band in their native country Germany, selling out huge arenas and playing for millions, now they are poised to take over in the US as well, already selling out shows and winning the coveted Best New Artist award at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.

While I was completely impressed by the showmanship of this band, meaning they definitely looked like rockstars, the music itself left me wanting a bit more. After all the hype for this show, the band was only on stage for about an hour and played most of the tracks off their debut English language album "Scream". Short of some incredibly sexy smiles, there was very little interaction made with the crowd, but I am wondering if that was the language barrier getting in the way. The band blasted through their hits such as the album's title track "Scream" with lead singer Bill Kaulitz pulling out a bullhorn and urging the crowd to sing along. They also played "Ready, Set, Go", and popular "Monsoon" twice, once in English and again in German as an encore.

I have to say this the first show I have been to where I have witnessed teenage fandom at it's peak, the mostly female audience were singing every word to every song, screeching with joy every time lead singer Bill or his twin brother guitarist Tom looked their way, and tossing all sorts of fun looking trinkets on the stage. You should have seen the tug-of-war that broke out over a sweaty towel that was thrown off the stage, you would have thought their entire being depended on grasping that towel.

After the show was even better, and of course PCM was still there to witness! After the band was escorted out the back door, they headed straight for their bus without stopping to talk to fans; however this is excusable considering they would have been mobbed. About twenty to forty fans went chasing after them to bus and continued the overall pandemonium. 1 can definitely say this band is not lacking for fans, but perhaps I would have been more impressed with a bit more substance. I am looking forward to see what they can do the next time around!