Monday night at the Hafenklang – a band, a DJ and table-tennis. And for me and a small number of mates it was a great opportunity to see Lost Legion all the way from the South Side of Chicago.
They have done something to that little Oi! niche that maybe only ever the French have done recently: They created something unique, something of their own.
Lost Legion came over for a brief sprint across Germany and neighboring cities. Given the bands initial existence was a mere recording project and their first ever live gig was only in 2023 it was no surprise that they enlisted a local guitar for 2nd guitar – the spot was filled by Valentin (Brutal Bravo, Collaps and many more bands).
Given that they only had like 10 songs rehearsed together and ready, in the end they even tried – forced by the lot – a new one apparently just written on the way from Hanover to Hamburg.
How did it sound? It sounded reasonable well:
And great visual, i love when a band dresses for the occasion. Here it was sunglasses. And sure Ian on vocals sports the neatest business casual persona. Perfect!
From song to song they grooved even better, up to and including some veritable dance hits with a heavy dance rhythm undercurrent.
Pity only that only two handful of people made it, hence no circle pit.
Lost Legion (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 16.06.2025)
(c) gehkacken.de 2025
That Lost Legion are nowhere near the normal breed of Oi! was somewhat clear at the outset. Ian also runs Foreign Legion Records and has released stuff from Fuerza Bruta, Ultra Razzia, Syndrome 81, Urban Savage, Snake Handler, Rogue Trooper and Brick Assassin next to own stuff.
His distance to that normal breed of say humpta-Oi! he voice quite neat in an interview:
I think a lot of Oi! bands claim to be talking about reality, but they all get their model of reality from Hoxton Tom or Mickey Fitz. We got our model of reality from Robert Anton Wilson and Genesis P-Orridge.
Whilst their appearance was brief, most if not all of the audience smiled big time and had a very happy look on their face.
They played their songs, they played an extra and the lot still wanted more.
And got it – here is their final song:
With that, they exceeded expectations also on the timing: They graced the stage for more than 30 minutes!
As ever when a band convinces me live i score vinyl and with Lost Legion i went ALL IN.
“Bridging Electricity” was one of my favorite songs of 2022 and i finally could score the 10″ (anyway the coolest format in the world).
You can get these beauties from eg. locally Sounds Of Subterrania or direct from Mendeku Diskak. But they run in small quantities!
Pity though that the turnout was so small, how great would it have been if they had shared the stage with Rancoeur two weeks back. But even the best booker (and trust me, both shows ran through the hands of the best booker this side of the sun) could not do that trick.
Great evening and i was able to see a band that most likely i will not see again. But hopefully will get even more output to listen to.
PS: Rancoeur T-Shirt count of the night was three. Even more an argument to get the DeLorean fixed and get us and Lost Legion back to the Hafenklang on 30.05.2025.
