Machmalauter (Live)

Machmalauter, the third live album by Die Toten Hosen, showcases one of the performances from the veteran German punk band's 2008-2009 tour in support of In Aller Stille (2008). Their first full-length studio effort in four years and 11th overall, In Aller Stille was a big comeback album for Die Toten Hosen. It returned them to the top of the German albums chart and spawned several singles, including the Top Ten smash hits "Strom" and "Alles Was War." Moreover, Die Toten Hosen hit the road on a long tour in support of the album. Billed as Machmalauter, the tour began in late 2008 and carried on throughout 2009, including both concert and festival dates. Like In Aller Stille, the tour was a major success, drawing big crowds everywhere and earning the band a 2009 Echo award for Best National Live Act. The 29-track, double-disc Machmalauter album documents Die Toten Hosen's live performance from August 28, 2009, at the Waldbühne (i.e., Forest Theater) in Berlin. Starting with the concert opener, "Strom," the band plays several songs from In Aller Stille, among them "Innen Ist Alles Neu," "Disco," "Alles Was War," "Teil von Mir," and "Tauschen Gegen Dich." Die Toten Hosen also perform a bunch of their greatest hits, including the Top Ten hits "Pushed Again," "Sascha...ein Aufrechter Deutscher," "Bayern," and "Zehn Kleine Jägermeister." There are also many old favorites for fans, most notably a seven-minute "Opel-Gang Medley" comprised of several songs from the band's early albums ("Achterbahn," "Schwarzwaldklinik," "Opel-Gang," "Wir Sind Bereit," "Liebesspieler," "Reisefieber"). Moreover, the band performs cover versions of Dillinger's "Cokane in My Brain," Sonny Curtis' "I Fought the Law," and Rodgers & Hammerstein's show tune "You'll Never Walk Alone." The Deluxe Edition of Machmalauter adds two DVDs — an extended 33-track video of the Waldbühne show on one disc, a 35-track performance at the Berlin club SO36 from earlier in the year on the other — and a 216-page photo book. All in all, Machmalauter is an excellent release that should delight fans of all stripes. A quarter century into their recording career, Die Toten Hosen are still an energetic live act, surely one of Germany's best on-stage rock bands, and Machmalauter is a high-quality showcase of them at their latter-day peak. It nicely complements the band's other live albums from previous decades, Bis zum Bitteren Ende (1987) and Im Auftrag des Herrn (1996).