TOCOTRONIC - GOLDEN YEARS Tour 2026 - Batschkapp

In the organizer's words:

Admission: 18:00

Start: 20:00

Tocotronic are one of the most successful and influential German-language rock bands of recent decades. They were founded in 1993 in Hamburg by Dirk von Lowtzow (guitar and vocals), Jan Müller (bass) and Arne Zank (drums). Their debut album "Digital is better" was released in 1995 and combined powerful and simple guitar rock with lyrics full of slogans that immediately became catchphrases, such as "I want to be part of a youth movement". With the following albums "Nach der verlorenen Zeit" (1995) and "Wir kommen um uns zu beschweren" (1996), Tocotronic made the leap from the small clubs to the big halls; on the fourth album "Es ist egal, aber" (1997), they enriched their boisterous guitar rock with harmonica and strings for the first time.

In the following years, their music became increasingly opulent. On "K.O.O.K." (1999) they play a dark, metal-influenced rock; the "white album" from 2002 is a richly orchestrated, colorfully enigmatic record in which realism and fantasy are reconciled. Since "Pure Vernunft darf niemals siegen" (2005), Rick McPhail has been a permanent member of the band as second guitarist, and his playing, infused with flowery feedback, has helped shape the sound of Tocotronic. The next phase of the band's work deals with the self-contradictions of our existence, the irresolvable dialectic of having to and wanting to, in an increasingly refined musical and lyrical manner. "Kapitulation" (2007) is without doubt a major work of German pop music in the new millennium; like no other band of their generation, Tocotronic are now able to combine political statements and philosophical reflections, the exploration of the self and the world around it, and musically they have also found their very own language. "Kapitulation" opens a work phase that will later be referred to as the Berlin trilogy, which also includes the albums "Schall und Wahn" from 2010 and "Wie wir leben wollen" from 2013.

With the "red album" (2015), the band went through a new skin, their music became simpler and more direct again, and autofictional motifs were added on "Die Unendlichkeit" (2018). In April 2020, the track "Hoffnung" (Hope) was released, which deals with the experiences of loneliness and isolation during the coronavirus crisis - and the hope that "a little bit of lyrics and music / can help against isolation". "Hope" can also be found on Tocotronic's thirteenth album, "Nie Wieder Krieg", which will be released in September 2021; all of the songs on it are about the longing for hope and healing; about the desire to no longer be hurt and misjudged and isolated. The autofictional aspect that defined "Die Unendlichkeit" is once again combined with the typical Tocotronic art of elevating everyday life to the transcendental.

An art that is refined even further on their fourteenth album "Golden Years" from 2025. It is about the journeys that lie behind you and the journeys that lie ahead; at the same time, the songs tell of the longing for homecoming and security, the passing of time and the trust in the future that only love can create. "Golden Years" is both intimate and political; anyone who knows Tocotronic will find it both familiar and completely new at the same time.

Because like no other German band, they have created an oeuvre over decades - an oeuvre in the full and good sense of the word: an oeuvre shaped by an artistic development and a life lived, an oeuvre of music and songs that diverge, that respond to each other and cast doubt on each other; an oeuvre in which leitmotifs remain recognizable, which are constantly varied and renewed and which are constantly questioned anew as to how they fit in with the changing present.

"Golden Years" is about ageing, the happiness of maturity and the fear of death, but above all it is about the incessant restarting out of the spirit of self-reflection, about the utopias of resurrection and endless becoming. It shows a band that knew how to constantly renew itself and at the same time remain true to itself: recognizable in change. Perhaps this can explain why Tocotronic's music is still able to provide so much happiness and so much comfort after all this time and especially in our uncomfortable present.