Nina Hagen - Avalon (New York) - Monday, October 31, 2005

The second and final part of my Halloweekend was quite different from Mofo. While Mofo satisfied my glam rock side, the Drop Dead Festival appeased my deathrock side. I mean, what more could you want on All Hallows Eve but to drink, shop and see live music with hundreds of perfectly coiffured children of the night in a beautiful 19th Century church? (By now you may have realized that I fully buy into the cheezy hype of this holiday. So shoot me! I DO wish every day was Halloween.) But back to the subject at hand—The Drop Dead Festival, put on by NY Decay Productions, has been going on for a few years now. After I heard NINA HAGEN was headlining the final evening of this year’s event at Avalon, I knew I had to go.

When I arrived at The-Club-Formerly-Known-As-Limelight,
I went in, got some drinks and perused some of the booths selling corsets, records and spooky accoutrements. After a few minutes in the place, my long-held opinion that deathrock scenesters are by far the hottest human beings on earth was indeed confirmed. Seriously, there were so many potential pin-ups I could barely breathe. And aside from the living scenery, there was great decor that included copious cobwebbing and adorable skull wallpaper! I had arrived just at the tail end of the WORLD INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY’s set, so I found a spot on the balcony above the stage and waited.

Around 12:30 Ms. Hagen made her grand entrance amidst shrieks from the crowd while wearing a long white wedding veil. She did a few numbers before removing it, which revealed her hair piled into a high ponytail with an adorable skull barrette holding it in place. The rest of her outfit was simple- a black babydoll dress, black stockings with a lattice design and witchy platform pumps topped off with drag queen-style red glitter lipstick. Only a few songs into the set she began “New York/NY,” one of her bigger hits, which was released as a single in 1983 produced by GIORGIO MORODER and KEITH FORSEY. This really got the crowd going, and although the club name-dropping in the lyrics (AM/PM, Mudd Club, Danceteria) is a bit anachronistic for 2005 and describes a whole scene that is completely non-existent today, it was still fun imagining I was time-warped back into an era that I’ve only heard and read about.

Hagen continued playing hits (“TV-Glotzer,” her cover of THE TUBES’ “White Punks On Dope”), lesser known gems (“LSD” and “Born To Die in Berlin”) and awesome covers (“Just Squeeze Me” by LEE GAINES and DUKE ELLINGTON ). Her version of “Ave Maria” was both frail and powerful, creepy and uplifting- made even more so with her operatic voice ringing through the rafters of the church. When she finished her set, the crowd carried on for what seemed like eternity until they coaxed her back on to end the night with “My Way.”

I much prefer her version to FRANK SINATRA’s, because, sorry Frank, the song is so much more meaningful for Hagen. Born in turbulent East Berlin in 1955, she started out as a classically trained vocalist but eventually went against traditional musical norms when she started playing in punk bands. Hagen practically re-invented what vocal sounds were acceptable in popular music by combining every kind of noise, squeal and groan that a voicebox can produce with strong, supported, perfectly pitched singing. And beyond all that there’s the clothes, the spirituality, the alien sightings – I could go on… My point is, Nina Hagen really did do it ‘her way,’ and her headlining performance at the closing night of the Drop Dead Festival was a reminder of the innovative and riveting career she has carved out for herself over the years.

Check out these spooky links to Halloweekend related stuff:
Motherf***er
Drop Dead Festival
NY Decay

Carpe Noctem!