I still did not fully recover from my cold, but I needed to go out and see some music. Maybe music can be healing as well? Of course it does.
Today’s programme was about to see Spidergawd and The Cheaters in Gebäude 9 in Cologne. The last time I had been at that place was 2006 to see Sleater-Kinney before they split. It is a little complicated to get there as far as I remembered, because you needed to make a u-turn to get to the street, where the club was.
Hmm, with my modern-day navigation system it was easy to find. But after I left my car, I still had some problems to find the venue, because it was in a backyard.
Inside, everything looked different than 10 years ago and the bathroom was over and over covered with stickers. The concert hall was not open yet, so we all were squatting inside the entrance hall, drank our beers or other liquids and I could get a good overview on the merchandise of Spidergawd to make my coice for later.
DJ Friese, a long-bearded man was putting up some records with fine rock music on the turntable and someone threw a full bottle of beer on the ground. What a mess! Finally, about 8pm, we were allowed to enter the main concert hall. It took some time until it was completely full, but at the end, the whole room was packed and an estimated 200 to 250 people.
The first trio – The Cheaters – I never heard before. They should not be confused with The Cheaters, that were playing during 1979 to 1987 and coming from New York. There is another Cheaters band from Baltimore, but we are meeting here the three-piece cheaters from Oslo, Norway. They started playing in 2006 and won the Norwegian Grammy Award (The Spellemann) for the best rock album in 2014. They call their music punk rock n roll.
One guitar, a bass and a drumset, split apart due to the massive drumset of Spidergawd’s Kenneth Kapstadt and the guitar player Henrik Width Kristiansen had to stay alone on one side with his equipment.
Their sound was driving, loud and noisy. But it is very hard to play as first band before another great band, that everyone expects.
Their songs were a lot about girls and I sometimes felt like being back in the 1960’s, when the people looked like guitar player Henrik and the sound was a bit similar too. At the end they did a good job, but were not really my cup of tea.
Their last song „She’s a Spider“ they dedicated to the following gods of spiders.
The Cheaters playing live in Gebäude 9, Cologne, Germany on 17. February 2016.
The first disapointment when Spidergawd entered the stage was, that Motororpsycho’s Bent was replaced by an unknown, but similar looking long-haired young man. Later it became clear, that it was Hallvard Gaardløsn named „The Kid“, because Bent had some duties to carry out with new projects of his main band Motorpsycho. Motorpsycho is my most favourite band since I saw them the first time in 1996 in Cologne.
But with the first note they plaid, it was clear, that they will crush the hall to the ground. The most amazing thing about this band is, that they place the drum kit right in the front of the stage and with the first hit, that Kenneth did on the drums, I felt the music in every single cell of my entire body. The amplifiers were turned on loud and everything vibrated and shook with every note they plaid.
Which is good, because you feel and go with every song and at the end you are deaf. Unless you don’t wear any earplugs. It was so loud, that I can’t even upload the video I recoreded with my cellphone, because it is far too overdriven and not nice to listen anymore. So this time, no video. I am sorry.
They plaid songs from all three albums and they were much better than the recorded ones. The bariton saxophone player is one of the best additions, that this band has included in their portfolio and Kenneth is one of the most energetic drum players I have ever seen. They even plaid an encore, that seemed to be unusual for them.
After a long and exhausting concert that was satisfying everyone who had been there, I bought my shirt and a vinyl and left the place on my way back home. Still very paralyzed from the loud sound, I listened to the new Motorpsycho album in my car on my way back, that I just bought this morning.
Altogether a great night with amazing music. I later discovered, that music is not this much healing a cold and the next day my nose was even more clocked and running than the day before.
Spidergawd playing live in Gebäude 9, Cologne, Germany on 17. February 2016.
Setlist Spidergawd:
No Man’s Land
El Carazon Del Dol
The Best Kept Secrets
Get Physical
Crossroad’s
The Funeral
Tourniquet
Into Tomorrow
Lighthouse
Picture Perfect Package
… Is all She Wants
Caerulean Caribou
Master of Disguise
Blauer Jubel
Setlist The Cheaters:
Just Like U
20,000 Miles An Hour Girl
Stay On Your Mind
Voodoo
Everybody Must
Keep Walking
Hooked
She’s A Spider
Nicholas Ganz 