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Finally, August has come and with it some pretty amazing live shows I can't miss. So let us not lose any time and let's leave out all the crap I usually write at the beginngs of my journals and get started.


08/09/2009 - Mad Caddies - Lido

A beautiful Sunday evening, what better day could there be to attend a concert by the masters of Third-Wave-Ska, the Mad Caddies. Unfortunately, it was an indoors concert so we spend half an hour outside the Lido when we arrived, soaking up the last sun beams to recharge our energy reserves (some choose to drink a beer to do so). I was getting a little bit worried if we even get in since there we many people outside, already equipped with tickets. I was told to chill because the Mad Caddies wouldn’t probably fill the Lido with a capacity of almost 600 people on a Sunday. First shock came at the ticket counter; 18 euro wasn’t that easy to swallow. The second shock followed anon as we entered the concert room. The supporting act Multiball was playing and the main room was already bursting at the seams. Since it was pretty hot in there we choose to skip the support (so no review on them, sorry) and went to the outside area, which sadly was the smoking area now. There wasn’t much fresh air to breathe either since most of the space was filled with giant umbrellas and party tents. After approximately 20 minutes plenty people kept streaming in, telling us that Multiball had finished their set. Another 15 minutes later we went inside again and found our preliminary spots in the front, right side of the stage. We wouldn’t keep that spot for long, that was for sure.
15 more minutes of nice blues music to entertain the waiting masses later, a Mad Caddies line-up which I don’t really recall from 2004 (I can only remember the singer who lost more than just a few pounds and the trumpeter) entered the stage around 10:30 pm, giving us the task to “Party”. The audience seemed willing to show, that this would be a piece of cake for them and so there was a nice pogo from the first to the last song, at least for the faster songs (we joined at the third song “Silence”). Whenever the Caddies threw in a slow Reggae or Ska tune, people were just nodding and solely dancing along. The setlist offered plenty of opportunities for that since it was a clever mix of fast and slow as well as old and new songs, although I noticed that I lost my stamina much faster with such a change of Upbeat and Midtempo tunes than a continuous dancing activity with one or two short breaks. Nevertheless, I tried to give my best throughout the whole concert, just taking a step back at the older, faster tunes that I’m not too familiar with (mainly songs from the Honest Don’s Release “Quality Soft-Core”). I don’t recall the whole setlist, but here are some songs they played for sure, not in the order they we’re played but by releases.


The Songs (abridgement):

Road Rash
Macho Nachos
Monkeys
Days Away
Weird Beard
Drinking For Eleven
Silence
Leavin’
The Dirge
Backyard
State Of Mind
Lay Your Head Down
Tired Bones
Coyote

I know that these songs are definitely not the complete setlist since they only comprise 45 minutes and it was almost an 80 minutes set. So please feel free to add embezzled songs.

I must admit I’m glad we skipped the last Mad Caddies show here in Berlin so I could really enjoy this one. Around 12 pm, we left the Lido soaking with sweat and dangerously dehydrated. It was an awesome show, though not the best Ska-concert I attended in 2009 but still a promising opening for what seems to be a great month regarding the live-shows to come.


08/15/2009 - The Flatliners w/ Alert and False Friend - Clash

Second concert in one week, once more a Ska-orientated band and again superb weather to hang outside the location until the first sounds come crawling through the guarded doors. When I arrived at the Clash I was a little bit irritated due to the vast number of free parking lots (I’m not used to that in Kreuzberg). Since I didn’t had to seek for 15 minutes as usually, I was far too early so I checked out the surrounding stores and restaurants. Didn’t really help my boredom, but who cares. After meeting with Thomas at 9.30 pm, we decided to get in because we assumed the first supporting act had already played. Unfortunately, they weren’t up until 10 pm, but we entered anyway because we were told that we still could get out (we had a stamp). So we hang around the merchandise counter and take a look at the variety of t-shits the bands offered. After a very fair admission of 8 Euro, we were pleased to hear that a shirt could be purchased for 12 Euro. An option, we later seized.
Around 10 pm, almost on time, the first support act Alert (German band) started their set. Their sound reminded me involuntarily of Anti-Flag and so did their conduct and announcements. We agreed to skip this act and to come back later, but we were stopped at the entrance, being told that once we left, we couldn’t get back in due to people hanging around in the courtyard of the Clash and pissing of the hypersensitive neighbors (the Clash isn’t the only club in Berlin dealing with this problem, other examples are the SO 36 or the Knaack Club). I smelled a rat since people who hadn’t entered the Clash yet were also hanging round and talking pretty loud so I guess the security personal was just messing with us. But I didn’t really want to try them, so we went back in and watched the rest of the show. There is not much to add, since their songs all sounded very similar and all could have been Anti-Flag outtakes of lower quality. The second guitarist didn’t really fit in this band since he was shaking and dancing around like they were playing Indie or Emo, which looked pretty stupid, because he was dancing to sounds that weren’t there while the singer and bassist were just jumping around. I wonder how long he will remain in this band.
After 30 minutes we were released and no 5 minutes later, the second support band False Friend entered the stage. Their HardCore-Punk style fitted even less in the draft and their set was even more boring than their predecessor’s since their songs lacked of diversion and individuality. There are tons of bands outside playing the same kind of music and most do it better. The brought along fans although seemed to be happy with their show and were chanting enthusiastically and once or twice, a two-person circle-pit was initiated. I don’t want to be too harsh on amateur bands so I’ll better finish my review on False Friend here. They didn’t convince me to become their fan but they entertained a few people and in the end, I guess that’s what counts.
Probably around 11 pm, The Flatlines, the band everyone was waiting for struck the first chord and welcomed us to the show. I immediately was amazed by their live-skills and also their announcements were funny and brightened the already excellent atmosphere furthermore. From the first to the last song, a 15-20 people pogo was taking up the space in front of the stage, though once more, some people felt the need to dance inappropriately heavy, but that’s just something you have to deal with at such small shows. Their setlist was a mix of songs from both their albums and two new tunes from their upcoming record. Since I always have trouble with remembering the setlist, especially when I don’t know the track names (in this case the tracks from “Destroy to Create”) I can only provide a list of played tracks from The Great Awake. Please feel free to add the missing songs.

Songs played (from The Great Awake):

July!August!Reno!
Eulogy
This Respirator
Meanwhile, In Hell…
Mother Teresa Chokeslams The World
Mastering the World’s Smallest Violin
These Words Are Bullets
KHTDR
+ 2 new tracks and approx 4-5 old songs

After a two song encore and maybe 85 minutes overall, they said their last goodbye and started packing their stuff. We left the Clash smiling and vested with new shirts, not only happy about the great show but also the fact, that we didn’t get there by bike.


08/18/2009 - The Real McKenzies - Wild At Heart

It’s been a long time since I’ve last seen the flagship of Celtic Punk here in Berlin, so I decided to attend their show on the second out of three nights they were playing at the Wild At Heart. This show was very different from the one I saw at the SO 36 and even more different from any concert I’ve been to at the Wild At Heart. But first things first. Another warm summer night prompted the majority of the audience to wait outside the club and enjoy the last low-priced beers from the late-selling market (I made that word up from the German equivalent “Spätverkauf”). Amongst them was also Chris Flippin of Lagwagon, whom I asked when to expect a new Lagwagon album. He told me not to put my hopes up, since Joey rather wants to play sad tunes on his acoustic guitar, record another album and play another tour. It was hard to tell whether he was messing with me or telling the truth, since he has a strange way of talking, but the transfer of Chris Rest from Lagwagon to No Use For A Name made his words rather believable. When I looked at my watch, I noticed that it was only 10.15 pm but there were already sounds coming from inside the club so I didn’t dawdle and went in soon.
This might be the first concert at the Wild At Heart that started at the announced time of 10 pm, which was understandable since it was a live show recording. When I approached the stage, the dancefloor was already packed with people, so I had some difficulties getting near the stage. Luckily, the heat inside caused enough people so go back to the bar and order a drink so I was washed further to the front. It seemed The Real McKenzies were inspired by the ongoing World Championships in Athletics here in Berlin since they tried to set a new world record with nine people on such a small stage (one guitarist even needed more space than the rest due to a broken leg). Even if that wasn’t a world record, it was a personal best for me, beating Streetlight Manifesto with “only” seven members. The sheer mass of musicians was necessary since it was a acoustic live show recording that featured not only the seven regular band members but also an additional guitarist who looked like he usually plays in a country band (and therefore didn’t really fit in with the rest of the musicians) and a female violinist. They all tried to get as comfy on the 5 square meter stage, with more or less success. But the space on the dancefloor was just as limited and crowded as on the stage, so the audience and band shared this inconvenience. After one hour of bagpipes-punk and intense pogo dancing by the Real McKenzies supporters, it was time for a short break, which everyone welcomed to cool of outside. No 20 minutes later the show started again, this time with myself in a, what I assumed, better position to watch the show; the fourth row. Unfortunately, they didn’t only record the show but also filmed it for a DVD, so I had to fake singing along. I only know the songs from “Oot and Aboot” but didn’t want to be the only one on film just standing around and nodding along when everyone else around me was enthusiastically singing and bawling along. For another sixty minutes they played the second half of the set before leaving the stage and entering it again due to massive demand for an encore. The last 3 songs caused the show to end around 12.30 am, which wasn’t bad, especially for a ticket price of only 5 Euro. It surely was a great concert, a great atmosphere and a band that knew how to entertain the audience by playing great tunes and talking about scotch, royals and other irrelevant topics. It definitely wasn’t a bad decision to go to this show.


08/23/2009 - The Riverboat Gamblers w/ Baretta Love - TWH

The last two weeks have already been pretty amazing and had yet to be finalized with another great concert. This time at the Tommyhaus, so again a location in Kreuzberg, which appeared to be my second home for the last couple weeks. Since we were promised a strictly scheduled timetable, we arrived at 9 pm sharp and indeed only waited for 10 minutes before the support act started their set.
Just few people were standing outside so I assumed that it probably was already crowded on the concert floor but I was mistaken, because even less people were watching the opening act inside.
Baretta Love, a German act, probably from Saxonia if I got the accent right, played a mixture of street punk with choruses in three voices and nice soli with a little punk’n’roll. They were actually pretty good and so for the first time in months I voluntarily watched an opening act during their whole set without the need of leaving the concert room. Their songs maybe lacked a little bit of alternation, but all sounded very nice and still were pretty catchy. After 30 minutes and no encore, which was demanded by the audience, they left the stage and I was impressed by both their music and the fact that the organizer tried to keep the time schedule in time.
We went outside for maybe 10 minutes to take a lungful of fresh air before we heard the six strings and drums hammering from inside, so we took to our heels and got back in as quick as possible. And what we were about to see was worth the hustling. The Riverboat Gamblers started their highly anticipated set with DissDissDissKissKissKiss, the opener of their latest record and immediately everyone started shaking and dancing, though there was no real pogo (I guess the music just doesn’t exactly qualify for this kind of dancing and the Tommyhaus still was only half-full. Maybe because it was a Sunday evening, I don’t know…). Without long breaks or announcements they played their set with an enormous energy, especially the singer has to be mentioned. Like a hungry predator in its cage, he was running around on stage, climbing up the curtains at the side of the stage and once even went through the audience to the mixing console, climbed up a barstool and waving with a candle, spilling himself with red wax which looked like blood on his vest. He was jumping around, making tricks with his microphone and singing at the top of his voice. He had to pay the price for that since he lost his voice a bit around the middle of the set and he surely was the sweatiest person within the walls of the Tommyhaus. But damn, it was entertaining. The rest of the band tried their best to keep up with the pace the singer was setting and I must admit they almost did it. The two guitarists and the bassist were constantly singing and shouting the choruses and made the best of the limited space the stage of the TWH was offering them. What concerns the setlist, I was almost satisfied with it. Unfortunately, they crossed “Robots May Break Your Heart” of the list in favor of “Sleepless” and “Keep Me From Drinkin'” also didn’t make it on the setlist. But still the set seemed to be inherently consistent and therefore I’ll cut back on criticism. This time I even know most of the setlist in correct order (because I took it):

Setlist:

DissDissDissKissKissKiss
True Crime
On Again, Off Again
Catastrophe
Don't Bury Me...I'm Still Not Dead
A Choppy, Yet Sincere Apology
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Cats
Wasting Time
Sleepless
Victory Lap
Rattle Me Bones
Ice Water
The Art Of Getting Fucked

Well, this is at least the official setlist. But I know they also played

Pilgrims In An Unholy Land
Alexandria
+ one more song as an encore which isn't on the setlist


I still may have forgotten one or two tunes since the duration of named songs is only about 50 minutes and it was a 65 minutes set which maybe 5 minutes of talking and leaving and reentering the stage, so if you know what else was performed, go ahead and tell me.

Over all, it was an amazing show but the atmosphere was rather tame due to the small number of fans. A little more dancing would have been great but I guess I wouldn’t have lasted for half an hour after these two exhausting weeks. A special thanks to the Tommyhaus who kept up with the set timetable which resulted in an end of the show around 11 pm (a time, at what some support bands start their sets at some other locations). After s struggle at the highly absorbed merchandise counter (Shirts were rather pricy with 15 Euro, but LPs with download coupon were only 10 Euro, that’s great) we got back to the car around 11.15 pm, stacked with posters and stickers of the Gamblers which will remind us a long time about this remarkable show.



So much for August (I'm not going to be present at the Toten Hosen show), as you can see a great month which didn't only cut a hole in my pocket but also extorted me from 3 liters of sweat. But would i do it all over again? Sure.

Stay tuned for September. Sadly, The Sainte Catherines canceled their gig but there still will be reviews on Fake Problems (Hooray!!!) and the Cobra Skulls. And of course, the last Orange Distortion show with Alex and Frank. Thank god I'm not american, then I would have to moan two days in a row.

Have a great last weeks on the beaches, everybody

Olli