As part of their long-announced double DVD "The Anti-Archives", BROILERS from Düsseldorf held some exclusive concerts. On this day, the Düsseldorfer honored the iconic Bassy Cowboy Club.
The Bassy can hold about 250 people, and when it's full, it's really packed. Remembering that the last concerts of BROILERS in Berlin were always very crowded or sold out, I was surprised that there were still some tickets available at the box office. Maybe it was the day, or perhaps many people thought the concert was already sold out.
We arrived at the Bassy around 10:00 PM. By this time, the band was supposed to have already started. However, the band was still exploring Berlin and had not returned yet.
So we relaxed with one of the good long drinks from the Bassy and took in the situation.
The club was well filled with 150-200 people, but everyone still had enough space. The audience was very mixed. There were psychobillies, skins, punks, and also a lot of regular folks. The atmosphere reminded me of the club concerts of DIE ÄRZTE that I had experienced in the past. People were standing around, chatting, drinking, and consciously keeping calm and relaxed, well aware that they were attending a very exclusive concert.
Around 10:30 PM, the band finally arrived. After another 30 minutes, the band took the stage. Where was bassist Ines? There was no Ines to be seen on stage. Even when asked, singer and guitarist Sammy did not provide any information, but instead prepared to play the first songs.
BROILERS - unplugged - mostly unamplified. I couldn't really imagine that beforehand. But aside from initial sound problems, the songs were not badly executed. The pressure that the songs usually have was hardly felt, but the intense and charismatic voice of Sammy was present, giving the impression that a small dream was coming true for him. BROILERS mainly played newer songs, especially from the current album "Vanitas". Songs like "Zurück zum Beton", "Ruby Light & Dark", and "Heute schon gelebt" came across particularly well. BROILERS sprinkled the setlist with some cover versions, including one by Bruce Springsteen.
It could have been a beautiful and very special concert by BROILERS. If only the audience hadn't been present. Not because many songs were very intense and more suited for solitary listening, but rather because most songs were pogoed to as if the band had played electrically amplified. Extremely strange. Could the people not stand still, or had the alcohol already gone to their heads? Or did it strike them deep inside that they couldn't help but jump wildly to calm music?
A special gig by BROILERS in an intimate atmosphere will remain in memory, although it has some deductions in the B-note.