For the second time, there was a pre-New Year's Eve party on December 30, 2010, at Lido in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Joining the lineup were, as the year before, BERLINER WEISSE and THEE FLANDERS. The third band was ANTICOPS from Berlin.
After a good five-minute walk from the subway station to the club, one was completely frozen, especially since the concert had to take place on a night that promised to be one of the coldest evenings of 2010. As people are known to emit warmth, the party-hungry audience stood tightly packed in front of the entrance to Lido. However, the need for closeness did not arise from the cold, but rather from the fact that entry was very slow, and everyone wanted to get inside quickly.
Once the first hurdle was overcome and one found themselves in the warm, heated rooms, the next hurdle appeared. The cloakroom! The staff present were by no means the fastest crew members when it came to properly storing jackets and other items. Once this hurdle was cleared, a third one emerged. The drink service! Even when the club was only filled with about 100 people, the bar could hardly keep up. This could turn out to be problematic. And it did. By the time the first band started, the draft beer ran out. The bottled beer was not served any faster either, leading to a significant crowd in front of the bars. The staff should consider undergoing training for faster service at Wild at Heart or S.O. 36. That would probably completely overwhelm them. The club was indeed completely overwhelmed in all service aspects that evening. However, this did not prevent the audience present from celebrating a lively evening.
As ANTICOPS kicked off as the first band, the club noticeably filled up; by the end of ANTICOPS' set, the last ticket at the box office was sold, making the club completely sold out. Some people hoping to snag one of the few tickets at the box office had to be sent home.
ANTICOPS heated things up with their aggressive hardcore, which combines new and old school elements, but the audience consisted less of hardcore fans, resulting in a relatively quiet atmosphere in the hall.
The second band of the evening was THEE FLANDERS from Potsdam. It was one of the rare performances where the band took the stage completely unmade up. Normally, the guys on stage look as if someone had just given them a fresh parting with a lawnmower. THEE FLANDERS played, as expected, atmospherically dense, musically catchy horror punk/punkabilly. The present psychobilly audience did not need much encouragement and dared to dance in their own way to songs like “Transsylvanian Express,” “Handle with Care,” or “Moonlight.” Of course, the psychobilly covers like “Erna P.” and “Romantik” were also included, both of which singer Norman announced as songs from Spandau. This is not entirely correct, as the song “Romantik” was written by Farin Urlaub, who lived in Berlin-Frohnau at the time, but never mind. The setlist was tight, and the Potsdam band's performance went by far too quickly. The audience had a great time, the sound was impeccable, and the songs worked even without makeup, although the zombie-blood-splatter look that the band usually sports makes the dark songs even more atmospheric and fitting.
After so much darkness, BERLINER WEISSE, as the headliner of the evening, provided a proper contrast program. It felt like the entire audience was gathered in the front half of the hall, waiting for singer Toifel and his bandmates to take the stage and kick off the lively Oi party. And it did start. Punks, skins, and regular folks celebrated the band together. Pogo, sweat, and good vibes. It was a good party, but it did not quite match the exuberance of the concert a year prior at Lido. Perhaps it was due to the cold weather of the past few days, or maybe it was because the band was very unspontaneous on stage and there was too little interaction with the audience, which is usually one of the band's strengths. BERLINER WEISSE played their set cleanly, which was still decent as a concert. It just wasn't one of the band's better performances and came across more as a routine gig. However, the audience still had fun with their melodic and captivating Oi. It was a hot and great time right in front of the stage. It’s nice to see how many people now know and love the band. The guys deserve it, and since they also take a clear political stance (e.g., with the well-known song “Thor Steinar”), there are hardly any negative points against the band.
Despite the extreme difficulties at the bar and cloakroom, it was a great evening and a good prelude to the New Year's celebrations.