It was the last Sunday before Christmas. On that day, C.O.R. from Rügen and the hardcore band DON GATTO from Hungary invited us to the Wild at Heart in Berlin.
Sundays are often difficult concert days because people either need to recover from the weekend, are too lazy to get off their butts again, or simply have to get up early on Monday. Additionally, this Sunday was not exactly warm, with temperatures dropping to -10 degrees and snow.
So it was not surprising that the Wild at Heart was still quite empty when we arrived around 9:00 PM. We took it easy and chatted with Matze from C.O.R. He shared how the last two days had been on the road. Especially the experiences in Magdeburg brought smiles to our faces.
Gradually, a few more visitors arrived, so that around 10:00 PM, the Hungarians from DON GATTO started playing in front of about 50 people. For the trio from Budapest, it was their first concert in Germany. They went full throttle from the start and were able to excite the audience. There wasn't much atmosphere to report, but there was applause, and people didn't head back to the bar. That's already something. DON GATTO hammered their songs forcefully into the audience. The guitarist jumped around on the small stage like a dervish. Later, he even ventured into the crowd, playing passionately and spinning his guitar and himself around. Despite this, all the notes were hit perfectly. Nothing sounded off. The guitarist also took over the announcements. Often panting, he made sure to entertain the present audience in English without wasting a minute, which was quite amusing.
After about 40 minutes, the band said goodbye, having left a lasting impression on the audience. The very affordable merchandise that the band had brought was eagerly purchased, so much so that some items sold out. With their old-school hardcore, which they infused with modern influences, DON GATTO brought many delighted faces that evening. The band comes highly recommended.
After the changeover, the band everyone had been waiting for that evening, C.O.R., took the stage!
The first songs were blasted into the Wild at Heart powerfully and without announcements. With the first notes, nearly half of the attendees jumped and danced. Hardcore kids and punks moved together and had fun. C.O.R. also enjoyed the gig. Singer Friedemann jumped into the pit several times, sang with the crowd, and moved like one of them. The song selection was pleasing. Many fast and powerful songs were presented in the first third without lengthy announcements. In the second third, Friedemann made an announcement about the gig in Magdeburg the day before, which came across as relatively funny but was a harsh critique of the scene. During the last songs of the set, a few tracks that hadn't been played live in a while were performed. The audience was even allowed to request songs, which the band then played. When does that ever happen? Of course, the band also played some songs from the new album "Herztier." Especially the song "Herztier" was sung along intensely and was very well received, but other songs like "Bastard" from the new album were also worth listening to. After a good hour of trash metal-hardcore-punk rock 'n' roll, the band left the stage, and so did the audience. The Wild at Heart emptied in record time.
It was a great evening, with two bands that were fully committed and gave it their all. The audience was fitting and consisted of fans of the bands, so there really isn't any point of criticism, except that both bands deserved more support.