Michael Connelly – Götter Der Schuld (Kampa, 2025)
Gelesen: 15. – 27.10.2025 (netto 479 Seiten)
Aus dem amerikanischen Englisch von Sepp Leeb.
Tja, da ich die Lincoln Lawyer Serie im TV gesehen habe und die dritte Staffel (erschienen 2024) auf exakt diesem Buch beruht bin ich dann doch in die Bredouille gekommen: Das durchgehende Gefühl das ich genau weiß wie es weiter geht.
Als TV Serie wird dieses Buch in 10 Folgen per ca. 50 Minuten gepackt, also ein büschen mehr als 8 Stunden. Und natürlich nutzt die Serie die verschiedenen twists’n’turns des Buches als Cliffhänger der Einzelfolgen.
Als ganzes und als Buch funktioniert es aber natürlich auch. Michael Connelly schafft es einfach perfekt eine eigentlich lineare Geschichte (Verteidigung eines des Mordes angeklagten Klienten) nicht nur in spannende Handlungsstränge zu zerlegen sondern diese sowohl was das Prozessgeschehen als die Ermittlungsarbeit angeht relevant und echt zu halten.
Seine Stärke diese Prozesse klar zu beschreiben zieht sich ja durch alle seine Bücher, hier gibt es das von A bis Z.
Und es ist ein Fall wo der Michael Haller nicht nur gewinnt sondern auch Opfer bringen muss. Seine Ermittlungsarbeit kostet einem Mitarbeiter das Leben. Bringt einen ex-Polizisten dazu sich umzubringen. Rettet en passant einen Bösewicht des Kartells und dieser bedankt sich in dem er einen DEA Bösewicht erledigt.
Klingt wild, fügt sich aber logisch zusammen.
Spannend, rund und … vieleicht ein wenig zu gefällig? Egal, ich mag dieses Zeug.
Sonny Vincent had left a lasting impression on Hamburg, ever since eg. Shotgun Rationale graced our shores in the 1990s and he choose to put eg. records out via Hamburgs own Vince Lombardy Highschool Records. And he graced the Hafenklang more than once, last if i recall correctly 2011.
Poster for last show of Sonny Vincent at the Hafenklang (11.10.2011) …
But fate came across his touring life around the world, homebased in the Netherlands. Disaster struck 02.01.2016 and his life as a musician more or less ended right there.
With quite some cheer the lot in Hamburg (and beyond) took note that almost 10 years on he choose to return and selected Hamburg for it.
The show was sold out in record time, also because it was upstairs in the smaller room. And Sonny was a tad bit nervous and afraid of people:
I take it a lot of people took some extra effort to make it happen, up to and including the support (the Spitfire Stevens for some time have a Sonny Vincent cover in their setlist).
Luke and his band took the stage early and kicked off rather mellow:
And then directly moved into one of their signature songs:
From the start they where tight, together and had an almost perfect sound (the only complaint: the guitar on the left was a tad bit too loud for the overall sound).
And whilst they started slow, they also took their faster songs to the stage and overall had a great, balanced, setlist.
Applause from the already packed house was there, a number of people also silently moved along to the sound. I had to miss their last show at the Hafenbahnhof a couple of weeks ago but got word that it was also a near perfect set & sound.
They are getting there it looks, i guess it is time for a 3rd 10″ with some new songs!
Sonny Vincent took the stage soon after and he kicked of like this:
Bäng!
Different territory than Spitfire Stevens and heavy, fast and raunchy! And a very modern sound!
That was My Guitar from 2002 and i guess the whole set was more on the faster side, the fan favorite side of things.
Whilst there may have been a tad bit of a reservation with Sonny before hitting the stage it felt like him being fully back and fully self assured with guitar play, in front of people.
Sonny Vincent (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 25.10.2025) (c) gehkacken.de 2025
Rather, he came for the lot like a Tiger:
Come For You from 2004 that was.
Where Sonny took the center, the rest of the band supporting him stood slightly back and simply proved that they are utmost professional musicians:
Be it Frank Ferrer on drums (with earned badges for a number of bands, most notable Guns’n’Roses), be it Nils Finkeisen with his guitar (a notable stint with Die Krupps but further more co-owner of a well respect Guitar & Amp Retail Store in Hamburg) or be it Christoph Lubrich (Bass in Sidek!ck and long time collaborator with Sonny Vincent under the nickname Billy The Kid).
Sonny Vincent (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 25.10.2025) (c) gehkacken.de 2025
Apparently they had two rehearsal sessions together in Hamburg only and boy, the net result was almost hand-in-glove.
The longer they played, the more the audience was taken along and away, plenty of dancing, plenty of cheers and plenty of beer flying through air!
The encore included Let’s Get Zooed Out:
That’s a song dating back to 1976, the Testors and Sonny playing with them all the early spots in NYC: Max’s Kansas City, CBGB – you name it.
And it is full circle back actually: Sonny always played high octane slash and burn Rock and fucking Roll. And that is what he is hopefully continuing to do (in whatever setup and form).
Sonny Vincent – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 25.10.2025) (c) gehkacken.de
Time being the show looks like a once-off, for the occasion and also for a new movie project by Danny Garcia on Sonny Vincent. He is the film maker that already gave us Nightclubbing – The Birth Of Punk Rock in NYC:
Looking forward to that project too!
It was really an almost magical return with Sonny hitting a yearning audience (and having the most professional backing band you could dream off).
If you want to wander beyond the music i recommend Sonnys small book Snake Pit Theraphy from 2021.
… early show, early end – off to the aftershow party!
As the upstairs of the Hafenklang was needed for something else later the wind-down was rather fast and those who desired took their feet to the after show party.
Being off sick for some days earlier the week i choose to take off to home, i hope Sonny got a few more cheers (and drinks) at the party!
Rarely i had a band hitting Hamburg whilst touring with that amount of positive feedback coming north from others who had seen them before south of the mighty river Elbe.
Dead Bob, the solo venture gone band from John Wright (of No Means No and Hanson Brothers fame), did fly into Hamburg on such positive vibes … that also i was more than eager to get to see them.
For Dead Bob it would be the end of a 5 week tour across central Europe, so i had high hopes that they would finish this obvious triumphant run on the highest possible high.
The evening though started with lowest possible low, as the mighty FCSP choose this sunny Sunday to put a piss poor home game on display. The final whistle still echoed around the Millerntor when i left me mates and took the stroll down to the Hafenklang, using the walk to refocus on #thereaintnuthinbetterthanlivemusic rather than footie.
Dead Bob had enlisted Terra Flop (out of Bremen) for the final dates, a setting that turned out for me as more than fitting.
They are a non-nonsense 3-piece with quite a clever sound: On top of a rock solid backline of drum & bass the guitar does very simple chords (though with clever little variations throwing in what sound to me like “misses”) and vocals that sound nölig (a german word that translates somewhat to whining but more like grumpy whining).
Terra Flop (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.10.2025) (c) gehkacken.de 2025
All together it worked very well for me, they themselves attach punk no wave noise noise rock as tags to their sound. And indeed they mix all of above well, here is a prime example:
As much as i can make out a one chord wonder in the most bare, most simplistic way. I liked them, though not something that i would take home for listening. But live, this evening, it was a perfect uplift following the footie disaster.
Go and check them out for yourself:
They are self-sustained, their recent record ain’t with any distribution but only available at shows or via their Bandcamp page.
The changeover to Deab Bob on stage was fun to watch, as their stuff was already there albeit in a different layout. John resided with his drums 90° angled to the audience on the right side, the rest of the band fronting the stage.
Dead Bob – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.10.2025 (c) gehkacken.de 2025)
The setlist did not ring any bell with me, on purpose i had not checked out anything from them prior to the show.
From taking the stage throughout the set i was having a little itch in the back of me head that i was looking at a theatrical drama and would listening to an orchestra.
Just like in this snippet:
To an extent it was the unusual setup on stage, more so it was the sheer volume, presence and variety of the band that did drive it. And yes, they where fucking loud!
Dead Bob (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.10.2025) (c) gehkacken.de 2025
John has assembled a class troupe to stage his songs live, all fellow Canadians. A hard strumming bass. A small but growling out loud guitar. A smiling frontman with a strong guitar. And his son on keyboard, horn and vocals.
And whilst they where indeed fucking loud (and that worked very well) they also had somber moments of remembering loved ones: This SNFU cover went out to Ken “Mr. Chi Pig” Chinn, this day would have been his 63rd birthday.
Me and some mates around me had almost tears in our eyes. A very fitting memory, people may disappear but they don’t get lost if we remember them and say their name!
Dead Bob (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.10.2025) (c) gehkacken.de 2025
At this point the proceedings where already in extra time, more than once they came back and took another go.
They finished off with the closing song from the album, an almost power pop like song – here is Make Believe World:
Sing-a-long:
Your living in a make believe world. Don’t you know, you gotta believe me. You’re living in a make believe world. Can’t you see. You gotta believe me. Your living in a make believe world. Gonna make, make you believe me. You’re living in a make believe world. Don’t you know? You gotta believe
And go check it out in the recorded version too:
The not completely sold out Hafenklang by now was a dancing, smiling and cheering beauty full of appreciation. And once it was over i heard from more than one (including people who saw them earlier on the tour) that this felt like a “Show of the Year” thingy.
I for sure have this one on my shortlist, it was on all fronts near perfect.
As ever i lured for vinyl, only the 7″ was left:
Dead Bob – Some Bodies b/w We Are The Humans (Alternative Tentacles Virus 538-7 / Wrong Records, 2025)
I picked two, as a mate could not make it due to some nasty medical emergency that ain’t over yet. The gift hopefully will cheer him up, he needs it!
Great show and testament to the simple fact that Oh Canaduh! hosts so many talented musicians, so many great bands.
I took the long ride home happy as a fuck and dropped to bed late, with no memory to footie: Live music cheered me up!
PS: And yet again i was lucky to capture the essence of the show in a single picture. Click for downloading the high-res version!
