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Category: Shows

… whilst they are Professionals they do care about the fans!
I do work in London on a regular basis (as in spending the week behind a desk in corp headquarters instead of Hamburg). As such i was thrilled to realize that i was to be in London the week the Rich Kids & The Professionals would play a show at Shepherds Bush Empire. The internet being my friend i was quick to book a ticket (and then two more for Christian & Luca).

Happy as a fuck i forgot about it until a message came through from The Professionals on FB that the show was off (due to unfinished construction work at the 113 years old venue) and moved both in location and date.

Fuck. That. Bad for me, but more bad for others who organised themselves trips from far. A couple of complaints later a message came through from Tom Spence, the new guitar player, that they would like to give those that have travelled something back. And lo and behold – a couple of days later an email came through that gave directions.

…. below Sheperds Bush Market Tube Station (c) gehkacken.de

Not far from the Empire, tucked away under the railway station hides Bush Studios, also hosting rehearsal and production spaces. As per local custom I met Christian & Luca in a pub called White Horse, also Frank and Yvonne from Hamburg where there and where eager to see The Professionals.

A couple of pints later we moved over only to find the email with the location to be a bit wrong on a subtle detail – that actually did cost us and some others the first part of the set the Professionals would throw at their fans from far (us from Hamburg, some Swedes from the band Zooparty – and i think i heard some finish and some swizz-french, but not sure) and from near.

Professionals – Practise List (Bush Studios, London, 19.05.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

Wow. Or in long – (speachless)! That was a once in a lifetime experience – Messrs Cook, Myers, McVeigh and Spencer where super-duper relaxed, smart and took their time to play, joke and not only supply fun but have some. And once the show was over it was time for pics, signatures, chit-chat, some drinks and then some more. The ~30 Fans all smiled and where more than happy!
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The Professionals (Bush Studios, London, 19.05.2016) - pics by DOS, Frank & Yvonne (c) gehkacken.de)
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And mu-sick-ally? If I can make it to the revised date in London I will be there, if the Professionals make it in this setting to Germany and Hamburg, I will be there. And me and the others will tell you “ … you gonna miss a great show with loads of hits my friend if you do not join the Professionals!“.

Fun moment of the evening: Talking about Hamburg with Tom Spence he said he is a QPR fan but also likes St. Pauli (that one put Christian off for sure, but not Frank, Yvonne and my humble self as we have season tickets) and has St. Pauli gear from his time with the Lurkers in the 90s. He went on to say he has a T-Shirt from when St. Pauli where first in the top flight of the Bundesliga after the first game of the season.

OK, that did ring a bell with me – back then me and Michi Maas gave Arturo and the boys some T-Shirts i made to commemorate the St. Paul 4:2 vs. 1860 Munich on 12.08.1995 (it had a cut from Kicker on the back incl. league table and the top 11 of the day, which included some St. Pauli players). So my reply to Tom was “Mate, that shirt you got from me actually” and we both realised how small the world is!

A 1995 T-Shirt comes all the way back to 2016 ( (c) gehkacken.de)

And with that my promise to Tom stays: Should The Professionals come to Hamburg and play on a day where there is a St. Pauli home game I will get him a ticket and make him enjoy the new Millerntor. And all of you lot will need to be there after the game to the see The Professionals – they are not only worth it by a lot but they also do care about their fans!

Thanks Professionals – you made our life a wee bit more … exiting!
2016/05/24
… a fat old ranting preacher with a background band: PIL in 2016 ain’t not a fully enjoyable gift
I did see PIL on that famous away trip to Düsseldorf in 1983 and it was a highly entertaining setting for me back then. I think i also saw them in 1986 at Große Freiheit but had already lost interest given the mu-sick-al direction they took.

And then i did let go and had no interest in that bigmouth anymore, though i did buy his 1993 autobiography. Still, the first single, the first LP and the metal box are precious items for me – and, on top of that – a very cool bootleg of their 1978 December 26th show at the Rainbow is in my collection and has formed my view of the “perfect” PIL sound.

The show was on for a mere 43€ and i would have been for sure a no show had not a mate been calling in and pointed out that with me in tow and 2 people on the guest list under his name he would go. So i was forced and did not expect a lot.

We came as late as possible to dodge the support, had a couple of chats with fellow oldpunks around (in an audience of ~600 and an average age of 51.7) and knew it was an on time kick-off at 21:00. And so it happend.

PIL (Markthalle Hamburg, 12.05.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

Yep, and that was Mr. Lydon, behind a music stand, pretending to be a singer. With big gestures and dripping of pathos he tried to wind his voice up and down, back and forth and … some more. His backdrop band was thoroughly missing the dub infused bass of Mr. Jah Wobble and the whirly sound of the guitar of Mr. Keith Levene. Instead we had Mr. Walz on bass, Mr. Old Hippy on the lute. And Mr. Fishnet on drums.

It was dead boring for most of the time, it had some good elements when that dub/guitar thing actually did work and come together and it got interesting when they went on to tear apart a song and put it together in a new fashion, eg. like in “Sod in Heaven” (see below for a short snippet of the start, the song was stretched to what felt like 20 minutes):

The crowd did not move a lot, given age, but largely nodded positively. Some of the disco-stompers (the worst elements to me) indeed got like 5 people in front of the stage going. And that was that. With songs stretched to like 15 minutes they did cover a lot of time, i’ll take they where like 90 Minutes on stage and then two encores.

Some people liked it, i did not like it so much – both for the mu-sick-al delivery but also for the habits of Mr. Lydon: He just continues to act, to play a role – and it does shine through, so it is not even well done. Never mind, what do i expect of someone who lodges in the Hyatt Hamburg and demands a taxi for the 350 meters to the venue? Did i mention that on the music stand there where the words to the songs printed in very large font? Yes it was, yes it was! Would i throw money after him? Nope, hence this was a gift, not really enjoyable.

A surprise was waiting outside, a clever street credibility hunting and grass roots marketing executing young band from Manchester had set up their stage on the walk way just outside the Markthalle and blasted full volume their mix of “Rock, Rap and Punk” – and surprised those leaving the venue.

Shoshin (outside Markthalle, Hamburg, 12.05.2016 (c) gehkacken.de 2016)

Quite a number of people stopped right there and listened to them. I am not sure if they would be my kinda music but i sensed that know their stuff and seemed to have fun. Explore them over here. Against PIL they sounded young, fresh and energetic.

And them oldpunks? They had fun at last!
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Oldpunks Frosch, Toni, Thomas and Biber plus Nicole enjoying themselves (Markthalle Hamburg, 12.05.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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And what sound was in me head? Here are two songs from that bootleg, now think yerself!
2016/05/13
… a public rehearsal can be fun & errors in one go: Ukes of Tomorrow and Jam Today, almost live!

Jam Today have enlisted a new drummer (at great expenditure) upon departure of Meng, their long time and sturdy drummer boy. And they have some upcoming shows in Hamburg (on the Hedi) and in Berlin (on just another cruise ship). As such they invited friends and fans into the Pony Bar’s tiny backroom and took the small stage for some warm up.

Ukes of Tomorrow (Pony Bar, Hamburg 30.04.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

As a warm-up to the warm-up Kent Nielsen and Thomas Christian aka Ukes of Tomorrow provided some bona-fide Ukulele version of classic punk (and other) songs. One some songs it works well, on some other not. Some drummin’ on a wooden box might help to get some backdrop variations but hey, who am i to judge?

And that was to the 40 year anniversary of The Damned, well done and in time!

Next Jam Today, in clean suits and brand new polo shirts – they really go the extra mile to make themselves attractive. Though some in the audience with an eye for detail made some comments on the shoes, not really up for a proper suit setting.

And they kicked off like this:

Outsch! Warning: Public Rehearsal! Helge’s Rickenbaker sounded like a tube had gone on his amp, Lui’s bass cable had a break and dropped in/out and his mike also had issues. On most songs. Damn. And the stage lights – god awefull!

Jam Today (Pony Bar, Hamburg 30.04.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

In the end they sounded better and better, the new drummer got cooler and by the last songs they where at it, though they made Kent sing one too. So the choice of warming up was a good one, now make Hamburg proud when you play that cruise ship in Berlin with the Sex Pistols Experience!

PS: Fashion police ctd – that baseball hat needs to get off that drummer, that ain’t Jam Today style!

2016/05/01