Tangerine Dream was founded in 1967 by German electronic music pioneer Edgar Froese. Together with Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre the band was an early adopter of the synthesizer, developing dreamy and cosmic soundscapes that were later picked up by New Age and Electronic dance music. During my Vangelis years I listened to Tangerine Dream and Jarre as well, but they didn’t impress me as much as Vangelis did.
Then in 2022 I had the opportunity to see them live, two times in a row. The first time was in Leipzig at a festival, and it deserves a small retelling of the story. The location was in a concrete dome that I always thought was impossible for concerts. I have seen many concerts there, most of them bad. Tangerine Dream was planned after a 90 minute break. We had great seats for the concerts before that break, but then during the break we were asked to leave the venue.
They left us for 90 minutes outside in the lobby, waiting to be let in. It turned out they were doing soundchecks. They took their time doing it, and all the time we were there waiting impatiently. When we were finally let in, we were running for the nice seats we left. We got them, and the next two hours we got the concert of our life.
The band managed to turn the venue into the best sounding place ever. Gone was the terrible drone and echo that normally was caused by the concrete. Careful sound engineering managed to take all of it away. The result was an incredible open image where every instrument had its place. I will never forget it.
The band has changed many times during the years. After 28 (!) different lineups, even the original founder is no longer there. He died unexpectedly in 2015. So the Tangerine Dream I saw was totally different from the band that is on this recording.