On 16. January 2016 I had the chance to see two completely different concerts in their music style. But somehow they were not really different in their basics.
We can also call this night „my search for snow“, because the weather forecast proclaimed heavy snowfall and ice on the streets, but let’s see.
I first started to drive with my car the 45 minutes ride to Cologne, where I wanted to see Klaus der Geiger (Claus the fiddler), who is the most famous street musician in Germany. I knew him from the mid-90’s when he plaid a song with a local punk-left wing-comedy troupe, where he sung the remarkable slogan: „We don’t want your power and we don’t want you money. We don’t want to listen to your lies, we want to destroy your lies.“
The more remarkable it was, that he was supposed to record a live CD during this night, playing songs by Astor Piazzolla together with Marius Peters, who plaid the guitar. Piazzolla is known for this unique Tango music, where he included elements of Jazz.
I arrived in time and needed to go upstairs for almost five floors to reach the venue. Chairs were seated on the floor, which is an unusual sight to me, because I am used to standing, dancing and pushing during concerts. But this is a classical concert, so people had to relax.
Right in time, Klaus and Marius entered the stage, gave a few instructions to switch off the mobile phones, to not disturb the recording and they started with the „Four Seasons“ by Piazzolla. They were followed by a song, where Klaus was singing for this new-born granddaughter, a Jazz song and one last song, that both musicians brought together.
Klaus der Geiger – Loft, Cologne, Germany – 16. January 2016
During the break I left the venue, because I had to drive for one more hour to the next show. I stepped into my car, gave the directions to my electronical navigation system (not auto-pilot) and drove to Schwerte in the East. During this ride, they announced constantly on the radio that there was heavy snow fall and ice on the roads. I did not see any of this. Not one single snowflake. But I was to experience it later.
I wanted to see f*cking angry in Schwerte, a German hardcore punk band, that I just knew by listening to a few of their songs online, but these songs hit me immediately. They hit me so much, that I needed to see them playing. It is always risky to visit a show, where you do not know the band, but this band was a blast! Klaus and f*cking angry agreed to let me photograph during their shows, so I had to take the chances and not disappoint them.
I arrived right in time. The last band just unloaded their equipment and the next band to play was f*cking angry. I grabbed a beer, drank it quickly to have two free hands to photograph and waited for the things to come.
My love are female-fronted bands, either punk, hardcore or rock. I love the mixture of electric guitars with female voices. Beckx, the singer of f*cking angry had an amazing voice, with which I already fell in love just listening to their online songs. Such a raw power with politically motivated lyrics are always appealing to me.
They just started their show and it directly blasted my ears and body. The energy was encroaching to me and I needed to move my legs and feet, while trying to take good photos. Beckx’s voice was raw and deep and fitted so perfectly to what a hardcore, punk band should sound like.
The Rattenloch is a very unique and strange venue, that I never saw before. It must have been a former swimming pool or so, because in the concert hall were steep steps and the dancing ground was two metres below. It had the disadvantage, that the people who were dancing pogo and fell down, sometimes crashed on the sharp edges of the stairs.
F*cking Angry are real kind and nice people and worried for these people who crashed on the stairs and I even saw Beckx cleaning up the stage from empty beer bottles, so that they won’t break. How sweet is that?
They were fast, angry, threw their lyrical stones against the injustice of our society and political system, the informed about the fascist Hooligan gangs roaming around in Dortmund to „protect“ the people against foreigners and they even had a song about Burma or Myanmar. This was another reason why immediately I fell in love with them, because I spent a long time in this country, documenting the civil war and the effects of the military dictatorship with my camera: „I wish I was a punk in Myanmar, so I really had something to rebel against … I would rebel against the war, I would rebel against the law, I would rebel against the German tourists looking to score.“ Great!!
f*cking angry live at Rattenloch in Schwerte, Germany on 16. January 2016.
I bought their vinyl at the end and made my way home, because snow might be coming. And right after I entered the highway and wanted to speed home, snow begang to fall. The Autobahn was covered with snowflakes within a short time and the speed and energy from the show almost disappeared, even though I tried to keep the mood alive while listening to early Bad Religion songs. When you drive through falling snow in night time, it seems like small stones are flying towards you, because of the reflections of the car-lights on the flakes. I had to drive slowly and arrived late at night in my home.
I wish to see f*cking angry again to get back this mood and energy from such a kind and lovely band, that I have rarely seen. Thanks a lot to all the musicians during this night!!!
One song from the f*cking angry show as video:
Setlist f*cking angry:
intro & f+cking angry
Unterwegs
Lone Wolf
Destroy
Doin Alright
Hashtag
Myanmar
Blackout
Hardcore
Battle the Bottle
Bad Neuenahr
Fuck off
Atomstrom
Skatesong
Born Angry
……….
Was übrig bleibt
Nicholas Ganz 