Article from the San Fran concert

They lined up for hours, some even days. Mostly girls. Mostly under the age of consent. Mostly trailed by parents who probably deserve some sort of Olympic medal in dealing with hyperventilating prepubescents. Germany's Tokio Hotel seems to inspire this kind of frenzy everywhere it appears. The Fillmore on Tuesday was no exception. It was a miracle the whole club didn't tip over for the number of squirming bodies trying to cram as close to the stage as humanly possible.

The best way to describe the glam-metal-emo-pop-tween group is like the Jonas Brothers for girls who prefer chipped black nail polish and fishnet stockings to unicorn puffy stickers and purity rings. Because the Magedburg-bred quartet has already dominated Europe in every way possible - selling more than 6 million CDs and DVDs since forming in 2001, playing for 500,000 people beneath the Eiffel Tower, filling their parents' homes with various statuettes - Tokio Hotel has had no recourse but to turn its attention to America.


When they finally walked onstage, you half expected kohl-eyed front man Bill Kaulitz, 18, identical twin brother and guitarist Tom, bassist Georg Listing, 21, and drummer Gustav Schäfer, 19, to be holding Guitar Hero controllers rather than real instruments. The group's songs have a whiff of late-period Smashing Pumpkins, all chugging metal riffs and overheated wailing on metal throwbacks like "Monsoon" and "Love Is Dead." But the lyrics (roughly translated) and carefully studied rock-star poses seem custom-made for people whose primary source of music is "Donkey Kong 18″ or whatever.

Still, it's hard to resist an androgynous singer with extra large hair and extra small jeans. Bill Kaulitz doesn't have much range, but was extremely down to earth and had a way of making teen angst sound downright life-affirming, especially when in his broken English on "Ready, Set, Go!" he sang, "Together we can make it while the world is crashing down."

That song just earned Tokio Hotel a nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards, which is pitting the group against heavyweights like Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and, yes, the Jonas Brothers. The possibility of having to let its secret go mainstream only made the fan base all the more rabid. The girls filling out the front of the venue screamed when Bill Kaulitz splashed them with water from his bottle. They screamed when he held up a megaphone before singing the title track from the group's U.S. debut, "Scream." They even screamed for the black curtain that silently hung onstage before the band arrived at the venue. Accordingly, there was no opening act, because as the group's manager noted before the set, "They would be killed."


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