www.gehkacken.de

Category: Shows

… i dislike open air festivals, period!
I have a natural dislike for Festivals and i have a much stronger dislike for Open Air Festivals. And i don’t like the big tourist things the city throws. Still, there was a small section of the line-up on the Jolly Roger stage during the annual harbor festival that did stick with me:

The Murderburgers are a top quality Pop Punk outfit from Scottland, the Monkeys Choir is full of friends and the Razors … are the Razors and a mainstay.

For me living on the harbor side it was a short but painful stroll through a zillion tourists, only to realize that them Murderburgers where reduced to a Duo. Their bass player was absent with leave, he was off sick in the Hotel. Still they decided to pull their set through, thanks for that.
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The Murderburgers (Jolly Roger Bühne, Hamburg, 11.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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Though the bass was sure a miss they managed to get the songs across quite nicely. I think this was down to the quality songwriting in the first place, some of them would also work on acoustic guitar only. Not a lot of people in front of the stage but still some decent applause.

Next Oxo 86, Ska influence Oi! with self proclaimed party potential. They had a huge crowd in front of the stage and they sure had a lot of movement in the crowd.
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Oxo 86 (Jolly Roger Bühne, Hamburg, 11.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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For me it was not so interesting, it was just that niche that i like a bit (on the edge) but not really – some songs where ok, most songs just did not work for me. Maybe the singer just talked too much…

What became apparent at this stage was that the concept of selling beer in bottles and allowing bottle onto the concrete is just stupid, most of the bottles ended up broken glass of some form and some even ended up as danger.

Next Hamburg City Punk Rock Singers aka Monkeys Choir with i guess their 3rd official show, now on a big stage in front of a big audience. On the bigger stage they could position their groups well, the only thing that was lacking was a couple of more microphones to capture all participants well – but that would be a too big ask actually i guess.
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Hamburg City Punk Rock Singers (Jolly Roger Bühne, Hamburg, 11.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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They had fun and they emitted fun down into the pit – largely due to the sing-a-long potential. What definitely does not work is the guitar, way too dominant and way to many errors. It spoiled some of the great performances actually. I still like the concept and i do hope at one point in time they don’t need any electrical background anymore and the sheer volume of voices makes it happen.

Whilst the choir was singing there was also some interruption, a contingent of drug-infested street-living and on-the-ground-sitting-whilst-the-band-is-playing “punx” did not behave and physical force was used to explain to them that their behavior was not tolerated. As much as i dislike violence i still believe sometimes it is justified like on this occasion.

By now it was dark and as it was river side it started to get a bit chilly, And i was annoyed by the too many people. But the Razors where still on and they do deserve my support, specifically as singer Klaus had his birthday that day (something that was celebrated in style earlier that day).
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Razors (Jolly Roger Bühne, Hamburg, 11.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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They took the stage, they kicked in with “1977” and where i stood the sound was awful. The bass way too loud and harsh. I retreated to the other side, where the guitar was louder but the total sound was better.

Still, after a couple of songs i gave in to my dislike of the settings, a full week on antibiotics due to an infection and the cold.

Whatever the harbor fest will bring next year, don’t count me in. It does not work for me.
2019/05/15
… labor day: An evening of laborious and painful enjoyment!
Last years triumphant show upstairs at the Hafenklang (one of the top 2018 shows in town) was still making waves in the circuit, as such their April 2019 run passing through Hamburg was given the prime stage – downstairs. But what should have been a prime event turned somehow into a laborious and painful evening.

Kick Off was with Waran from Bremen, an outfit i have never seen before, never heard off and, by the looks of the stage setup, may be slightly different. And different they where: A funny looking bass (who tried to hold back fun to the inside but every once in a while there where giggles and smiles on his face), a drummer from a showband, a non-descriptive guitar and … a vocalist.
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Waran (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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And what they do is quite a concept: Whilst they play complicated Noise-Rock, or Noisecore or Math-Jazz the vocalist sings, speaks or recites word drawn up by a homeless guy (who ain’t no more). Bit of an arty thing, at good moments it was a bit of Victims Family, at better moments it was driving, hard and fast and and most other times it was … painful for my ears.

No clue how booking for this show worked, for me the wrong pairing as a starter.

Next on Dark Web from Philly (as in Philadelphia, US of A) took the stage, unfortunately with a full change of equipment. They looked just different (and younger) and yet again i have never seen them before nor heard any of their mu-sick.
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Dark Web (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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Whilst Waran where painful for my ears it turned out that Dark Web would rather be … not painful, maybe anoying … for my eyes. They had a good twang, a solid beat and maybe too much reverb (specifically on vocals). But they looks did not match their sound and after a mate hinted to me “try to listen with your eyes closed” i tried it … and was surprised that the mu-sick indeed worked better without the visuals.

They played a short set, most like the label “Post Punk” is the right sticker for them. I guess you should check them out for yerself, my mu-sick-al limits may just be too prohibitive (for my humble self):

<a href="http://darkweb2.bandcamp.com/album/clone-age-lp">“Clone Age” LP by Dark Web</a>

And with that it was Johnny Moped time. By now the Hafenklang was well filled, though it lacked the age mix of young and old: It was old farts predominantly. Last years pairing of a young local band (with local supporters) with Johnny Moped just did drive a much more healthy mix.

And to that audience and with a triumphant return from the Rock’n’Roll Butterfahrt Festival on Heligoland (that little high sea rock that them Brits tried to blow up after WWII) Johnny Moped took the stage:

The band excused Paul (and themselves) before he hit the stage as “we are worn out and Paul lost his voice .. but fuck that, let’s do this” and indeed you could barely hear Paul and his voice was cracking. Bit time. You could even see the pains he got through trying to sing. Not good. And thus many feared the worst … either a weak show or Paul having to back out.
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Johnny Moped (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.05.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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But Paul stayed on and actually his voice got a wee bit better during the show. The pit was packed and people enjoyed it big time with loads of sing-a-long and some cracking jokes from the stage.

And thus finally Labor Day came through laborious (sustaining two bands i most likely would not want to see) and painful (for Paul). But still they did a perfect set under these circumstances and they got a lot of appreciation.

Crazed up fans from near (Hamburg) and far (Bremen) actually entered the stage to demand an additional encore:

They ain’t Rock’n’Roll Rookies! ( (c) gehkacken.de 2019)

Well done lads and i do hope that Paul saw a doctor next day, got some medication for his throat and vocal cords (and hopefully he has not destroyed something there) and a good rest before he and the troops hit upon Rebellion this year.

And can someone please explain the math (just to not use the word logic) behind the booking/pairing of the three bands for that labor day?
2019/05/03
… relentless energy: No Problem!
I think it is the 4th time that No Problem graced Hamburg and boy was i eager to see this powerhouse yet again. Be it on record (with that heavy scent of dark wave or whatever you call that) or be it live (aka atomic explosion) they are just a force. And friendly folks on top.

So not only my humble self made it to the matinee show on typical April Sunday but also 5 of me elderly mates (and plenty of younger folks).

Support was from Bad Affair, who played their 2nd show ever and their first in their home town. A chord-strumming wild bass, a guitar that could also play in something more metal and a sturdy drummer paired with a female singer.
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Bad Affair (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 28.04.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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It wasn’t particular my thingy, at times the rather brave vocals annoyed me, sometimes the guitar was just too … hairy. But at other moments their whole thing glued together well, specifically when the high vocals paired with a high and flirty guitar against the wild back line.

They only had a couple of songs but still played an encore: Whilst i do appreciate when a band does a hats-off to a legend it was very very cumbersome to list to Bad Affair slaughtering Civilisation’s Dying from the mighty Zero Boys. Not a good job, sorry. Paul Mahern will not be happy!

But by all means check them out for yerself:

<a href="http://badaffair.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2019">Demo 2019 by Bad Affair</a>

And with little changeover it was No Problem who took the stage. Their bass player could not make this time, so they had a girl filling in. And with quite some great soundscapes they kicked off:

Wham! They hit the audience indeed like an explosion and they take no prisoners. Against their marketing spiel they matched everything:
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Attacking the crowd with catchy choruses, and dark brooding riffs, a No Problem performance will hypnotically pull every member out of the audience and into a war-dance like atmosphere. 

Taking a bit of a hiatus in 2017, No Problem are back with a new album Let God Sort’em Out scheduled for release on June 25th 2018 on Deranged Records and Taken By Surprise (Europe). 

With their most complex material to date, No Problem have created the perfect soundtrack to a world careening into madness. We’re standing on the precipice of a world circling the drain, let’s pray God sorts us out.
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There ain’t no rest, there ain’t no holding back and still it is just not trashed out in speed but beautiful gems of songs and brilliant guitar work. Twin guitar work that is, some of the songs with the single guitar tended to sound imperfect (to my silly untrained ears).
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No Problem (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 28.04.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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It was upstairs at the Hafenklang and about half full but No Problem had the crowd right at the stage and got loads of people moving. It took though one of the elderly to start a circle dance and get additional (and asynchronous) movements in.

I am sold on them. They have killer records out that stand the test of time and they are live just so full of relentless energy that i wonder what fuels them. It may be because they are from Edmonton (home of the mighty Oilers) out there in nowhere Alberta, Canada (and by my guess deep in Canadian redneck territory). They may not get a lot bands traveling through and they most likely get hassled big time day in day out.
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No Problem (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 28.04.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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But here, over in Europe, they treated much better and so good that their short and relentless (can’t use the word on them often enough) set ended with a Viltones cover if it did make it out correctly:

Perfect! And though they only had little merch most of us got something: A missing record, a badge or myself a shirt. They deserved it. And some chatting, starting with my American Nightmare shirt being adored to discussing the great performance this season by Leon Draisaitl for the Oilers (105 Points make him the highest scoring German ever in the NHL). Did i ever note that i love Hockey and love playing Hockey?

Fun was also that me mate Riebe got carried away so much by No Problem that he dodged our “4” taunting (footie inside joke) and exclaimed that “ … us 5 are the last survivors“. This was hinting at the fact that all of us where attending shows together since like 1980 and at this occasion nobody else from those days was around.

That fun moment got some icing on the cake when we realized that one of us sported the original shirt whilst a younger comrade in front of the stage could only sport the copycat version (though the Night Birds have all rights to do so).
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The Copycat Youth vs. The Instyle Elderly (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 28.04.2019 (c) gehkacken.de)
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Great show, good entertainment and an early end – some used that early ending to hop over to the Monkeys to see NYC H/C by Bold, i resorted back home for an early night. Age, you know?
2019/05/01