That’s how it was with THE AWAKENING

November 04, 2025, Hamburg, Nochtspeicher
Support: The Last Decade

Gothic rock doesn’t die – it migrates, and today it came from South Africa

There are bands where you can sense from the very first note that they are not just playing – they are conjuring. The South African gothic rock icon The Awakening, founded by Ashton Nyte, belongs in precisely this rare field. A band that has been illuminating the dark paths between wave, gothic rock and melancholic alternative since the nineties with an intensity that is not polished, but honest. Music that flickers like candlelight on a rainy night. Music that lasts. For their “Haunting Tour 2025”, The Awakening returned to Europe – and on November 4, 2025 to Hamburg’s Nochtspeicher, the brick room at the harbour in the middle of St. Pauli that looks as if it had been specially designed for intimate, glowing black evenings. Well filled, warm, ready. An audience that knew what was coming – and was still surprised.

Gloom in motion

Before the main acts took to the stage, The Last Decade opened the evening: modern, edgy, full of energy. A breath of fresh scene air that immediately gripped the audience. The Last Decade didn’t enter the stage – they burst onto it. The first notes of the U2 cover “Comfortably Numb” immediately made the room seem tighter, as if the air had been turned a little darker. This was followed by “Dragons”, “Vigilance” and “Face”, every song a hit, every beat a statement. Later, “Big Black Car” and “Shadowman” ripped the room open further before “Candle” and “War” painted the last spark of seriousness on the faces. This was followed by “Destination Unknown” and “Wasteland”, two songs that not only warmed up the audience, but put them in the state needed for The Awakening: alert, awake, inwardly tense. A set like a dark maelstrom – and the perfect prelude.

A return like a warm shadow

When Ashton Nyte takes the stage, the room temperature changes. Not abruptly. Not loudly. But like the slow opening of a window at night. His presence is not an act – it is a state. Black elegance, calm movements, a voice that comforts and burns at the same time. The evening started with “Shimmer”, an atmospheric intro that plunged the room into a sparkling darkness. Suddenly “Mirror Midnight” followed, cool and direct, a song like an old photograph with fresh scratches. Then “Vampyre Girl” and “Through the Veil” drew the audience deeper into this sound that tastes of the past but lives in the now. Later, “Upon the Water” opened up a warm, almost wistful moment before “Shadow Call” and “Fault” drew darker contours again. “Indian Summer Rain” had the effect of a melancholy wink, a brief glimmer of light in the autumn mist. This was followed by “The Carriage”, heavy and narrative, and shortly afterwards “Before I Leap” in an intimate acoustic version – a quiet highlight. Then came the title song of the tour: “Haunting”. Not a song, but a state. For the finale, “Back to Wonderland”, “Nothing Like the Rain” and “Cabaret” brought the audience to its feet once again – dark, pulsating, lively.

When the evening glows on

The return to the stage didn’t feel like a second round, but like an echo. Something that still needed to be said. “Maree” came first – soft, dark, with that vulnerable elegance that makes Ashton Nyte so unmistakable. Then “The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel transformed the room into something bigger: a cover that didn’t imitate, but breathed anew. No attempt to outshine the original – rather a loving carry on through the night. “The Dark Romantics” followed at the end – a song like a self-description. Dark, warm, full of gestures that you feel rather than see. Perfect for an evening that didn’t say goodbye, but stayed put.

Conclusion

The Awakening at Nochtspeicher was not an easy concert. It was a return to what gothic rock is all about: honesty, atmosphere, presence. Ashton Nyte and his band didn’t play – they told stories. They led us through darkness without drama, through melancholy without kitsch. The evening felt like a conversation between past and present, between scene and soul. A warm shadow that remains.

Text & Photos: Thomas Friedel Fuhrmann – finds words between fog, light and darkness.

Setlist:
“Shimmer” (Intro)- “Mirror Midnight” – “Vampyre Girl” – “Through the Veil” – “Upon the Water” – “Shadow Call” – “Fault” – “Indian Summer Rain” – “The Carriage” – “Before I Leap” (Acoustic) – “Haunting” – “Back to Wonderland” – “Nothing Like the Rain” – “Cabaret” — “Maree” – “The Sound of Silence” (Simon & Garfunkel Cover) – “The Dark Romantics”