Even though there were many reasons against holding RESIST TO EXIST again in 2012, the organizers, led by Thommäs and his team, did not let themselves be discouraged, and so a big punk rock party was celebrated in Berlin once again in 2012. Despite an immense mountain of debt from the previous year, a (forced) change of venue, and all the bureaucratic hassle, the entire festival was successfully organized again. Not least, this was thanks to the many solidarity events to support the Resist and the motivated, friendly helpers at the festival. The entire Resist had a positive atmosphere on the festival grounds, and there were hardly any aggressive, rowdy assholes or openly right-wing figures to be seen. Instead, the audience was a colorful mix of subcultures, seemingly unfamiliar with any kind of scene division that weekend, and I honestly have not experienced such a pleasant, peaceful festival atmosphere in recent years without exaggeration. The security staff were all very pleasant and not stressed out by life. The guys at the entrance did their part to ensure that uninvited guests stayed outside and the mood was more than peaceful! The grueling 9-hour journey in the Dorks' tour bus was more than worth it, and upon arrival, we were welcomed in a relaxed and completely stress-free manner. After a quick check of the situation, we immediately took over the beer stand, and upon discovering an unbeatable fair beer price of 1.50 euros, it became clear to me that it would be a tough weekend, especially since we were also supposed to play on Sunday ;-) By the way, I later heard that all visitors contributed to the best beer and punch sales in the festival's history for Resist to Exist. Respect, you all put in a lot of effort for a proper solidarity drink. Already on Saturday, a resupply of beer and punch had to be arranged ;-). Besides the excellent surroundings like the punch stand and various food stalls with a wide selection from vegan to meaty, the common punk rock ear was also treated to a wonderful mix of music where no genre of punk rock was left out! After we were stuck in traffic on Friday, we unfortunately missed Frei Schnauze!, which I remembered fondly from last year's Force Attack. However, we made it just in time for MISSBRAUCH, who delivered their pogo-friendly, very ska-influenced German punk as always. Nothing to complain about! After a short nap and a few creative pants breaks later, I was ready again for the bands of the later evening. So on Friday, I enjoyed RANTANPLAN, the ska-punkers from Hamburg, who delivered an energetic show on stage, even though I tend to prefer the more snotty German punk sound in the long run. ALARMSIGNAL managed to impress me again, celebrating their absolutely sing-along-friendly D-Punk as always. I also caught a glimpse of FAHNENFLUCHT on the sidelines, but then I quickly lost consciousness; the car ride was just too tough! However, I can remember some gems from Saturday, starting already at noon with our friends from Oberpfalz, MORBUS VITA, who delivered the finest, fast hardcore punk! The fact that there weren't many people in front of the stage was simply due to the early playing time and was certainly not the band's fault. I am sure we will hear more from these guys in the coming years! As always, ABSTURTZ from the far north were brilliant; musically, the guys have a lot to offer and are one of the best bands currently in the German punk scene. It was also nice to hear KASA again, who have remained in my memory with a few beautiful songs from past years. Then came a surprise band called DOGSFLESH from England, where I didn't understand at all why there weren't more people in front of the stage, fast punk rock with a touch of rock 'n' roll that sounded a bit like a mix of Anti Nowhere League and Motörhead. Absolute party mood and fantastic atmosphere were then on display with NORDWAND; I only knew the guys from their recordings and found it simply awesome, forever in the Gay category! I look forward to the next concert with you. The singer of TELEKOMA also had a very cool voice; he seems to be able to blow the whole world away. But the band of Saturday was definitely BRUTAL POLKA from Israel; their musical style is hard to describe, you just have to hear it, and the stage show is simply insane. They sing ironic and very amusing lyrics in English, the guys master their instruments like no other, and as a crowning achievement, there was a destroyed keyboard at the end of the show, and the drummer was just thrown into the pogo, where he had to prove his skills! Incredible band and funny people, who also understood us blindly at night! With a few more drinks in us and already struggling with slight failures of the speech center, we still managed to spontaneously invite the guys to a "Trousers Break" ;-) And after a few more shots, we completely forgot that we still had something ahead of us on Sunday. Quite hungover, there was a rude awakening for all DORKS on Sunday, and I was still searching for my voice until noon. Luckily, I found my voice again, and then it was all systems go. So there we were, just like on the other two days, with all the chaos-makers with whom we had been partying for the last two days, and it was again the same great party, only the difference was that this time we were not down in the pogo but the band and had to get the crowd to pogo. Which we actually managed to do after three days of the festival. That it then completely escalated and Berlin will probably become a pants-free zone was the last straw. We had a lot of fun and were quite fit again after our gig. So we got to enjoy some fine bands, like PIPES AND PINTS - the bagpipe punks from the Czech Republic, the ARGIES, 44 LENINGRAD, and the simply awesome KOTZREIZ, who delivered one punk rock hit after another. A nice conclusion for Sunday, too bad some people had already left in the morning. Those who missed it have only themselves to blame. Because the aftershow party was also quite something, with music from the band, but the liquid supply was more than sufficient. The organizing team made the best of the fact that the city wanted an end to live music at 8 PM! Screw it, still a great party with nice people!
And at the end of this festival, there was really only positive news to report: Countless people celebrating the pants break in a carefree mood, thus coming a little closer to the feeling of freedom, and also the good feeling for the organizers, to be able to approach the planning for Resist 2013 with a small surplus. This was made possible not just by savings, but by the goodwill of the bands and the great thirst and party mood of all festival visitors! Great implementation of the DIY spirit! And exactly this solidarity and support from all sides will definitely make a RESIST TO EXIST possible again in 2013!!! An awesome festival far from the mainstream and any commercial interests needs your support again this time, without which the implementation is not possible. And a way to support can be found very soon: Anyone from the Berlin area should definitely go to the solidarity party on 19.10.12 at K9 in Friedrichshain - For a Resist in 2013!!! For info, just follow the link to the flyer:
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