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To get straight to the point – almost nothing has changed since the last time I saw TERRORGRUPPE live. That was in January 2002, shortly after September 11, when you could still score points with such a crazy band name (just ask ANTHRAX). But nostalgia aside, they have held up well and haven't gotten fat and stupidly stoned over the years. If you compare them to certain musicians who probably came into the world already wrinkled, these were, as singer Archi announced, middle-aged people. The teenage fans had willingly bought into their youthful exuberance, even though the members of TERRORGRUPPE were certainly already in the midst of their second punk rock career, so it ultimately doesn't matter that much. More importantly, at least the two gentlemen on guitars, to my knowledge, have continued to be actively involved in music since the band's breakup, which means they are not completely alienated from their art and can assess well what is cool and what would be an embarrassment.
And so the band presented themselves well-prepared with a selection of their Aggropop hits that covered pretty much all phases of their work. The compositions should be familiar to any fan of the genre; otherwise, I recommend taking some loud lessons on the occasion of the comeback tour. Personally, I can't relate much to the band's creative late phase due to a lack of nostalgic memories, but almost all the songs invite you to sing along and celebrate. I also have the impression that songs with overly outdated lyrics were omitted or slightly modernized; Josef Ackermann instead of Jürgen Möllemann, no Kellys and no 'W' Bush anymore (hopefully they won't all come back). But you can certainly still sing against Nazis, cops, and bourgeoisie even in 100 years; this repertoire remains entertaining even for those born later. Good vibes from the band and the audience, lively announcements from MC Motherfucker and Johnny Bottrop, and a pressure cooker in front of (and on) the stage. Also, Zip Schlitzer on bass and, NEW: Kid Katze on drums as well as Eros Razorblade on keyboard and tambourine provided a reliable foundation on which the two showmen could let loose. The well-known phenomenon of bands playing their songs live twice as fast was not present here; rather, they carefully maintained a good, steady old-school punk tempo that made the lyrics easy to understand. While I generally prefer it to be a bit faster, this seems to be how the band's style has developed, less black coffee, more pop. What can you do? With the simply structured yet precise songs, everyone could easily join in: "Sabine," "Schöner Strand," "Gestorben auf dem Weg zur Arbeit," "Keiner hilft euch," "Ich bin ein Punk," "Mein Skateboard ist wichtiger als Deutschland"... The band's hit catalog is certainly enough to easily fill an evening, and accordingly, I missed some personal favorites at the end despite plenty of evergreens (not to mention the 'guilty pleasures' that will probably forever gather dust on CD given the more popular songs).
In terms of sound and appearance, this was a typically professional event; the aforementioned man on the keys replaced brass sections where necessary or thickened the choruses, while entertaining photo and video projections completed the stage design. Overall, it was a truly enjoyable experience, and I also felt a general sense of connection in the audience due to this special moment, which for me had a bit of a time travel feel (including crowd surfing, what do you think?). Only an encore could have been included; there was certainly enough time, and the crowd was left standing relatively abruptly in full swing. If I hadn't played with my band for ten years, I would have savored this special moment even more – the routine comes back quickly enough. Since Zip Schlitzer explained to me after the gig that those were simply all the songs that had been rehearsed, perhaps that could have been resolved differently.
Despite the surprising ending, it was still a good start to hopefully more years of musical terror, as this band enriched and somewhat defined punk in its heyday, not least due to their skillful performances – and now it will certainly be determined how the return is received.