Strange one: Off! with a Blitzkrieg like run through Europe – 8 days, 5 countries, 6 shows. Luckily in Hamburg too. Sadly at a place that i just do not dig. The old shed called Logo feels odd on so many fronts that i try to avoid seing bands there.
The show was goddamn early and i could barely get away from home at 1900, be there at 1925 and still missed most of the support band.
The Cable Ties from Australia set their mark as:
Cable Ties are frenetic lead lines tethered to a hypnotic rhythm section. They take the 3 minute punk burner and stretch it past breaking point. Suddenly the garage rock gives way as primitive boogie, kraut and post-punk take things way out to the horizon.
The Logo was already packed in front of the stage and i could only listen to two songs from the back. None of it was frankly a 3 minute punk burner (they would be 2 minutes anyway), it was more of that stereotypical post punk sound from down under that currently is en vogue.
That said, it was at least not offending and had a little twang. What was offending was the rock star setup turned ad-absurdum: They had to setup their drums to the side, as the small stage of the Logo (and the goal post at the middle of the stage) would not allow to set it up in front of Off!s gear.
Once i had made my way to the front, they where already packing up – though with a smile.
I guess you got to check them out yerself, one of my friends liked them and most ignored them. For me it was simply not my mu-sick-al cuppoard.
Off! took the stage around 2100 and it took Keith like 10 minutes to get the setlist untangled from duct tape and then 5 more to place it.
On stage where familiar faces: Keith, his cup of coffee and his dreads. Dimitri with his guitars and extended own sound/mix desk. Absent was Mr. Steven Shane McDonald but he was prominently replaced by Autry Fulbright II (whom i saw on the same stage some time ago with Vanishing Life). A complete new face on drums (and turning out as a real asset) was Justin Brown (as i learned later a seasoned Jazz drummer that graduated from the Dave Brubeck Institute).
They kicked off at 2115, lead by soundscapes created by Dimitri and picked up by Bass and Drums – nice intro. From there it was typical Off! blasts either just above the 01:00 mark of just below the 02:00 mark (“punk burner” anyone?).
Off! (Logo, Hamburg, 02.02.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
They played like 21 songs, grouped into clusters and more soundscapes from Dimitri (and guitar changes) between these clusters. Besides the fact that Keiths vocals indeed did not come through too perfect it was a stunning showcase of music as an art: The drummer was near perfect (and corrected Dimitris intro on two occasions with broad smiles), the bass run up and down the fret was groovy and what Dimitri gets out of his electrified six strings is just stunning.
The damn Internet (damn, never forgets) has Off! down as “… an american hardcore punk supergroup” and like it or not it has a grain of truth (and is a very modern approach at hardcore).
I liked it (specifically the mix of fast paced blasts and soundscapes), most of me mates liked it and a small circle in front of that anoying goal post had some dancing fun too.
Actually, the last record is indeed a stunning effort worth a listen. It comes in the same near perfect way as the mu-sick-al delivery on stage. At 2148 they where done, no encore. At least Keith was not in a chatty mood, so most of the time was spend on mu-sick.
The only one not happy was William, has he was served the wrong beer.
And my disklike for the club? The stage is shitty, the bar service lousy and the floor if full of obstruction. Not my place.
And … they simply played their best ever show, people went absolutely ape shit, bodies flying around from the very start. They did not slip a thing, all go no slow, it just could not have gotten much better than this.
Can’t wait for their 2nd album, they should be HUGE, ideally releasing it on a label like Fat Wreck, ruling today‘s punk rock world beyond their current circle of influence!
Things calmed down just a little bit with the Randells, who seemed very happy and more confident than in Hamburg in front of that wild Puke Fest party crowd.
Perfect bubblegum beach punk, not unlike fellow swedes Psychotic Youth. Austrias No. 1 DeeCRACKS followed up with more hard hitting Ramones style punk.
And from midnight the headliners Travoltas rounded off a memorable night, that has set the bar very high for live shows this year, a real contender for „Best Show Of The Year“, as early as January.
Same as the Randells they really enjoyed playing to a full capacity, enthusiastic crowd, and delivered in perfect style. As if it needed another singalong after glorious hits like „Liv Tyler“ the Puke Fest crowd also got treated to Peter Schilling’s „Major Tom“: „…Völlig losgelöst von der Erde…“, nothing could describe the feeling of this night any better.
Now they only need to give us „Do The Gal-I-Gator“ next time they play, hopefully at Punk Rock Raduno this summer. Daan, je hebt het beloofd!.
Thanks to the Puke Fest crew to make this happen - the Hamburg/Kiel contingent was utmost happy!
See you at Punk Rock Raduno 2023!
Frosch
