80’s/90’s EBM mainstays Nitzer Ebb are currently in the middle of the first leg of a North American tour which runs through May 26th. The second leg starts on September 19th in Austin, Texas. The North American tour will wrap up on October 5th at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles, California. In all, the band will play 20 cities in both the United States and Canada before returning to Europe to play a string of festivals. Originally, the tour was planned to be a 4 piece, including David Gooday and Simon Granger. However, the plans were thwarted by unexpected Visa issues. This is the bands first North American tour since 2010. 

On Wednesday night, the two piece consisting of vocalist Douglas McCarthy and multi-instrumentalist, Bon Harris on synths/drums, played to an enthusiastic and ready-to-dance crowd who packed the Baltimore Soundstage. The setlist each night of the tour has been nearly identical, and draws heavily from their 1989 release Belief.

Nitzer Ebb has been opening the show with the organ shaking bass thump of “Come Alive” from 1991’s As Is EP. The remainder of the setlist is rounded out with an equal number of tracks from 1987’s That Total Age, 1990’s Showtime and 1991’s Ebbhead. During “Hearts and Minds”, taken from Belief, McCartney paced furiously back and forth across the stage shouting “You!” to a sea of raised fists. Mid-set, Harris abandoned his drums on the song, “Getting Closer” to join a stage a roaming McCartney at the front of the stage. Immediately following this song, they broke into what is arguably their most well known song “Lightning Man”.

Each song ran into the next with no down time between songs the entire night. If there could be any complaints about the show, it might be the choice of playing only one song for an encore, “Godhead”, taken from 1991’s Ebbhead. However, the show definitely left fans sweating and wanting more.  You can see the full setlist, here, and check out the remaining tour dates on Nitzer Ebb’s website, here.

Here are some photos of Nitzer Ebb performing at the Baltimore Soundstage on May 15th. All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen.