End of Green - Stuttgart 2010

LKA Longhorn, Stuttgart, Germany
30th January 2010
End of Green, Undertow

Southern Germany's “Depressed Subcore” darlings END OF GREEN are playing the last show of their “The Sick's Sense” tour throughout their home country, so I'm not really surprised that the Longhorn in Stuttgart is pretty crowded, especially a lot of emo and Goth kids seem to have made their way there. The five congenial musicians are planning to enter the studio once again during the next months and to work on the follower of their 2008 long-player the tour is named after. So this evening probably provides the last chance to experience END OF GREEN live on stage for quite a while, and given their enormous abilities as a live-band, we will surely miss them and hope to at least see them on one festival or another in summer.


Undertow

The venue itself hadn't announced any support band, but a metal disco after END OF GREEN's gig to keep the party going the Goth'n'rollers had hopefully started. On the band's website though, the local Metal formation UNDERTOW is named as the evening's opener, and so the three guys enter the Longhorn stage just in time at eight o'clock. The band from Ellwangen near Stuttgart was founded in 1993; they have just released their fifth studio album ‘Don't Pray to the Ashes...’ via Prevision Music / Soulfood. http://www.undertow.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/undertow



Music & Performance
UNDERTOW are no strangers to the Stuttgart audience, and so they got a very warm and enthusiastic welcome. Vocalist Joschi seemed to be honestly surprised and happy about such a strong support and so many people in front of him, and the band members did their best to show even the last person in the venue that they can deliver a great performance. It's been quite a while since I last saw them live and I must say that they have really improved concerning their show; they stood in front of their audience with security, and they managed to carry away the fans with their compositions of down-to-earth and very energetic Metal. Joschi’s strong voice gave them a unique sound, and bassist Tom had much room on stage to run and jump around, while Rainer behind his drum set got plunged into beautiful colourful light. Nice work from the three guys, and they left a well-prepared audience, who reward them with calls for an encore.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 5
Total: 6.9 / 10




End of Green

So, now it is time for the melancholic rockers from END OF GREEN to appear on the Longhorn stage. Formed in 1992, the band around singer Michelle Darkness has released six full-length albums and has managed to become quite successful, especially in Southern Germany, where they have a very strong fan base. Their latest release, ‘The Sick's Sense’ from 2008, was published via Silverdust Records and is seamlessly continuing the dark, sad path the five guys are walking on for some time now. http://www.endofgreen.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/endofgreen



Music & Performance
Do I really have to say, that once again END OF GREEN did a fantastic show? Being the last gig of their "Sick's Sense" tour, the band again put all their energy into their performance, and ignited a spark that immediately grabbed all the fans in front of them. Surely Stuttgart always is an easier game for the formation, as they started here and may have their truest fans in this city. Their songs are well-known and sang along, and the Longhorn was very crowded. But the five guys did not relax over such success, they still put their heart into their songs, and you could see how much fun they have on stage, entertaining and carrying away their audience.



We got to hear songs through nearly the whole band history, of course newer stuff like ‘Dead City Lights’ or ‘Killhoney’, but also ‘I Drink Myself to Sleep’ and of course ‘Weakness’ from the great ‘Dead End Dreaming’ long-player from 2005. A good song choice all in all, and as the sound and light show also weren’t bad this evening, the whole Longhorn was having a great party. And when END OF GREEN was releasing their fans with ‘Bury Me Down (The End)’ into the metal disco, most of them are for sure already looking forward to the next gig of Michelle Darkness and his band mates.