It happened on a Tuesday. It was a warm summer day, and in the evening, the Berlin band BERLINER WEISSE invited THE BUSINESS to S.O. 36 in Kreuzberg.
The start was scheduled for 9:00 PM, which was perfect, as it allowed everyone to enjoy the first beer of the evening outside in the evening sun.
Twenty minutes before the start, I slowly made my way into the hallowed halls. As expected, it was still quite sparse. There were maybe 50 people there.
But when the clock finally struck 9:00 PM, a small migration towards the stage occurred. Suddenly, everyone who had been outside was inside, and even in front of the stage.
After a short intro, during which the band took the stage, the guys immediately got started.
The sound was still quite modest during the first song, but it improved from song to song. Especially singer Toifel tried to get the audience dancing and going wild with his first announcement. When I told him that one shouldn't do that because it's a weekday, he replied as if he were speaking to his girlfriend, “Do you want to fuck?”, “No, it's a weekday.” This became a catchphrase during the set, and there were some good hooks. Next time, you owe me copyright, Toifel!
Toifel's first announcement was also very cool: “Welcome to our public rehearsal. We also invited The Business.” Just don’t undersell it. But there weren’t that few people after all. There were definitely about 250 people, which was okay considering it was one of the first warm days and it was a weekday.
The band really put in a lot of effort. So it was no surprise that the ice broke and a pleasant pogo pit formed in front of the stage.
BERLINER WEISSE thanked the audience with the evergreen “Wir fahrn in Puff nach Barcelona.”
Yes, that's how the guys are. Besides this hit, they also played “Thor Steinar,” “Haltet die Welt an,” and “Schlüpfer.” It was a great 40 minutes that the band used excellently to show that they are a fantastic Oi band. As an encore, they played “Bier und Stulle.”
After a slightly longer setup break, the English fighters from THE BUSINESS took the stage. Behind them, the English naval ensign was hung up. Does that have to be? The band doesn’t really need that.
By now, there were about 300-350 people in S.O. 36, many of them bald and a bit older.
THE BUSINESS played a very good show with a varied and captivating set. Old and newer songs were represented in a balanced ratio.
Despite the relatively high age of the band members, they appeared fresh, fit, musically and lyrically very secure on stage, making it a very good performance by the band. I wouldn't have necessarily expected that.
Overall, it was a great evening with two extraordinary bands and a good atmosphere.