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It was July 2019 when D.I. made a triumphant return to Hamburg, thanks to Covid it took them another 4 years to be back. The Hamburg lot was eager to see them, even folks who where in London on Saturday to see Generation Sex came down to the Hafenklang to see D.I..

Whilst i had high hopes for another sold out show the post-Covid reality is still that a percentage of guests seems lost, on this lovely Sunday evening it was “only” about 170 good people at the Hafenklang.

Support was for Youth Of Altona with the first show in the new reformed outfit, playing favorite Wipers songs … these actually.

They lured most people in front of the stage but actually repelled some. I can only guess that was either for generic dislike of the cover band concept per se (which i could buy) or because of the nervousness hick-ups in the first couple of songs.

Here is “Let’s go”:

I still like their concept and i do like that they allow me to listen to some neat Wipers songs, all done in a complete unpretentious fashion. As Greg Sage won’t be on tour soon, where else would you get the chance?

And the more they got into it, the less hick-ups where around. And smiles appeared on stage and with those in front of the stage – as it should be.

Youth Of Altona (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 02.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

I also took note of the D.I. folks coming out from backstage and having a decent look into Youth Of Altona, up to nodding along to the sound. And given that they kept the set crisp and avoided length it was a fitting lead-in into the evening.

Here is “Return Of The Rat”, their closing song:

I continue to give them credit for what they do and i am damn sure they will also develop a little more groove along the set, the more they play together. It is one of the better cover ideas and executions, trust me (if you dare).

D.I. sure would speed up things and would give us more of of a Southern O.C. sound than the northern sound from PDX. And this was what they set out to deliver:

And lets be frank, a band that kick into “Johnny’s Got A Problem”, “Imminent War” and “Hang Ten In East Berlin” after an instrumental intro … wins over the audience at anytime, anywhere. Really fast.

Here is “Johnny’s Got A Problem”:

Bang! This time round they came with two guitars and that added to an overall near perfect sound. And boy, they where fucking tight from the first chord. And sure thing the audience went sing-a-long from the first chorus onward.

It was less crowded compared to last time, the average age in the audience was significantly higher … but D.I. made all up for it by leaning in even stronger.

D.I. (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 02.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

The only item of moaning was that it was over so much quicker, 19 songs clocked in within 50 minutes (my wild guess), here are the finishing chords:

The one item that stood out for me was that they delivered simply a near perfect show, with near perfect sound. And even the sometimes very visible staged chats, banters and acts came all naturally and added to the show.

With this setup (top twin Guitars and them Tatar brothers on Drums (providing more grins, more tricks) and Bass (with even more singing, more fun making of Casey)) D.I. is a mighty force that is able to take over any place, anytime. And provide more than a decent punk fucking rock experience.

Thanks largely to D.I. there was an upbeat feeling after the show, plenty of talking, bantering (up to and including a proposal to burn down me mate Lukes car) and drinks. I ended up with two mates still chatting when the Hafenklang switched on the lights for final clean out. The good feeling of

#thereaintnuthinbetterthanlivemusicamongfriends

Isn’t that what it is all about, despite an alarm bell on Monday reminding you of the treadmill?

PS: The video sound ain’t as desired and does not do the good sound justice, i ended up too near to the stage, under a ceiling mounted PA speaker. The pics are extra shitty as for both bands the stage was flooded with rather stupid red light only. I guess there was no light man around/booked. But you get to see what i got to see, unedited.