That’s how it was with PINK TURNS BLUE

Hamburg, factory on April 04, 2025

Pioneer of the German dark wave scene

Germany’s underground was vibrating in the mid-eighties: post-punk air, raw and exciting. It was precisely at this time that Pink Turns Blue formed in Cologne in 1985 – an alternative to Italo disco glitter and stadium rock à la U2 or Simple Minds. They preferred to draw their inspiration from the early New Wave classics: the mysterious soundscapes of The Cure, the raw intensity of The Sound and the floating guitar landscapes of The Chameleons. Pink Turns Blue immersed themselves in frosty guitar riffs, laid dreamy clouds over them and thus created the dark painting that we celebrate today as dark wave. Their early records laid the foundations: minimalist arrangements, deep bass lines, echoing guitars. Later they flirted with poppier sounds without betraying their dark DNA. Since the success of their album “Tainted” (2021), the Berlin post-punkers are back in vogue and with the new album “Black Swan” in their luggage, they have now embarked on a major tour of Germany. We were there at the venerable Hamburger Fabrik.

Black swans or an uprising against the gray reality

When the first sounds of “Follow Me” cut through the semi-darkness of the well-filled Hamburg factory, it was immediately clear: this is not just music – this is living, suffering and loving. The bassline pumped like a second, dark sun under our skin, while guitar runs poured down on us like cold rain. Michael “Mic” Jogwer stood at the front of the stage, commanding like a dark master of ceremonies. His voice? Still that mixture of hope and doom that goes straight to your guts.

The entire evening revolved around the new masterpiece “Black Swan” – and Pink Turns Blue left hardly a piece of it unplayed. “Can’t Do Without You”, “Dancing with Ghosts”, “Fighting for the Right Side”, “Like We All Do” and “I Can Read Your Name in the Stars” were played live for the very first time. Each of the new tracks felt like a secret pact with the past, always modern but with the heartbeat of the eighties behind it. But the band also treated us to familiar moments. With “So Why Not Save the World”, “Not Even Trying” and “There Must Be So Much More” from the “Tainted” album from 2021, we landed in a warm cocoon of melancholy and energy. Then the title track “Black Swan” took us on another dark journey before “Why Can’t We Just Move On” and “Stay for the Night” continued to unfold the new material. With “You Still Mean Too Much to Me”, again from the album “Tainted”, the newer part closed the gap between past and present.

When the first raw classics were mixed back into the guitar riffs – “Walking on Both Sides” and “Missing You” – you could feel the roots, the pulsating heart of this band. The crowning finale was the monumentally epic “Your Master Is Calling” – an anthem from 1988 that echoed through the factory like a thunderous oath: Guitars stabbed like sharp icicles through dense carpets of sound that cast a spell over you, and Michael’s voice whispered and screamed at the same time. With this epic finale, Pink Turns Blue left the stage in a thunderous fog of applause.

But the Hamburg audience demanded more and the first encore was like a triumphal procession through the early years: “I Coldly Stare Out” and “After All” from 1987 resurrected old ghosts before “Walk Away” from the 2007 album “Ghost” was the well-deserved finale. And because Hamburg can never get enough, there was another encore that finally gave us the rest: with “When It Rains”, “A Moment Sometimes” and the final “If Two Worlds Kiss”, Pink Turns Blue let their musical DNA escape into the night – a moment that released us all into the darkness and electrified us all at the same time.

Conclusion

Those were moments when time flowed more slowly, while Mic’s voice, vulnerable and unshakeable, tore open old wounds and applied healing salve at the same time. We saw songs like dark wings, stretched out against the gravity of everyday life, and celebrated like long-lost friends who finally reappear at the bar and silently press a glass into your hand.

Text & Photos: Thomas Friedel Fuhrmann

Setlist:
“Follow Me” – “Can’t Do Without You” – “Dancing with Ghosts” – “Fighting for the Right Side” – “Like We All Do” – “I Can Read Your Name in the Stars” – “So Why Not Save the World” – “Not Even Trying” – “There Must Be So Much More” – “Black Swan (But I Know There Is More to Life)” – “Why Can’t We Just Move On” – “Stay for the Night” – “You Still Mean too Much to Me” – “Walking on Both Sides” – “Missing You” – “Your Master Is Calling” — “I Coldly Stare Out” – “After All” – “Walk Away” — “When It Rains” – “A Moment” – “Sometimes” – “If Two Worlds Kiss”