Palladium, Cologne, Germany10th February 2016
The Libertines & Reverend And The Makers
Already THE LIBERTINES' live-reunion last year catered for worldwide storms of enthusiasm and constantly sold out shows whose tickets were partly out of stock within minutes. The critics went head over heels and reported of the best LIBERTINES which one has ever seen live. After an eleven years long break, the quartet comes back with the third studio album ‘Anthems For The Doomed Youth’, which was released on 11th Sept and has been highly praised by critics. And finally at the end of their German tour, the band visits the Palladium in Cologne, supported by REVEREND AND THE MAKERS.
It was 19.40 when the lights went down and my thought was: “oh, the support act is starting much earlier than announced”. It took only a few seconds to realise that it was not the support act entering the stage and stating: “We thought we start a little bit earlier”. Being equipped with acoustic instruments and drummer Gary Powell only with a ring of bells, the performed a few acoustic songs much to the joy of the fans. During the current tour, they did it only in Berlin, and we discussed later that we thought this was a Berlin special. But the band seemed to enjoy it and give a little present to their fans in Cologne. Short before eight they left the stage for the first time this evening to make room for the supporting act, REVEREND AND THE MAKERS, who started their show about fifteen minutes later.
Reverend And The Makers
Indie Rock band REVEREND AND THE MAKERS from Sheffield was founded in 2005. Singer Jon McClure’s nickname is “The Reverend” what might explain the band’s name. Already before founding REVEREND AND THE MAKERS, Jon was playing in other bands and in 2005, he engaged musicians for his current project. The line-up changed over the years though. Beginning of 2006, the band released its first demo for free in the internet, followed by a tour through Great Britain. During the years, they played as support for such bands like ARCTIC MONKEY, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS or THE VERVE. Finally the band signed a deal with a small Indie label and their first single ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World’ reached position eight in the British charts. Their debut album ‘The State of Things’ made it even to position five. Several albums followed. The latest one, ‘Mirrors’, was out in 2015. Today, REVEREND AND THE MAKERS consists of Jon McClure (vocals, guitar), Ed Cosens (bass), Laura Manuel (vocals, keyboard), Joe Carnall (guitar) and Ryan Jenkinson (drums). http://www.reverendmakers.com /
https://www.facebook.com/ReverendAndTheMakers
Music & Performance
The Sheffield band had the task to warm up the audience now between the “two” LIBERTINES gigs. Anyway, the guys were warmly welcomed by the audience and even though the venue was not completely filled, the mood was good from the very beginning. Singer Jon encouraged the audience from the very start to raise their hands or wave their arms. With their first songs, ‘Open your Window’ and ‘Shine the Light’, the made quite a good impression, although it is kind of hard to open for THE LIBERTINES. REVEREND AND THE MAKERS surely have their unique style: a mix of Rock, Funk and Electro, really danceable. But it does not overall fit to the grungy and punky garage rock of the headliner. Maybe another occasion would have been more fitting to discover this band that was not bad at all. And so, the band got good applause when finally leaving the stager after their thirty minutes set.
Setlist
01. Open Your Window
02. Shine The Light
03. Black Widow
04. Makin' Babies
05. Heavyweight Champion of the World
06. Miss Brown
07. Silence Is Talking
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 5
Total: 6.8 / 10
The Libertines
English Rock band THE LIBERTINES from London was formed in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals, guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals, guitar). Within a few weeks, the band recorded first songs. After a few tries with different managers they finally signed a record deal with Rough Trade Records in December 2001. Already in the first years, the line-up changed constantly. But still, the band managed to play support gigs for THE STROKES and THE VINES. Already during the recording for the first album, ‘Up the Bracket’, and during the accompanying tour, the drug abuse by Doherty increased and so he moved away from the other band members. The followings months were marked by many problems caused by Doherty’s drug abuse. But finally, the band tried to leave their problems behind and played three sold-out concerts in London in 2003. The band went on playing shows and worked on their second album.
In 2004, they win the ‘NME Award for Best Band’ even though the single ‘Don’t Look Back into the Sun’ was their only release in the previous year. Doherty several times tried a drug withdrawal, but he failed. Finally, the band played its last concert in December 2004, without Doherty. In the following years, the band members concentrated on their own projects, like Doherty on BABYSHAMBLES. In 2010, the band reunited, first for two festival appearances. Four years later, the band announced their official live reunion. A short tour through Europe followed. Finally in September 2015, the band released its third studio album, ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth’. The current line-up is Pete Doherty (vocals, rhythm guitar), Carl Barât (vocals, lead guitar), John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums). http://www.thelibertines.com /
https://www.facebook.com/thelibertines
Music & Performance
No additional waiting time, no antics… the band entered the stage in time at quarter past nine to start the set with ‘Barbarians’ from the latest album and first beer cups were thrown towards stage. Must be kind of ritual. Pete looks quite good, but a bit old, and with the rest of the band, he spread a lot joy in playing on stage. Besides ‘Barbarians’, several more songs from the new album were played, like ‘Fame and Fortune’, ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth’ of course, ‘Heart of the Matter’, ‘Gunga Din’ or ‘The Milkman’s Horse’. The mood on stage was visibly good. Pete and Carl made some jokes, got into a huddle or screamed together into the microphone. The mainly female audience in the front rows was excited. During the whole show, there was a lot of screaming, clapping, dancing, jumping or crowd-surfing. The band was celebrated and people were finally happy to see them back on stage. The set contained also some early songs of the band. The band excited their fans with ‘The Good Old Days’, ‘Vertigo’ or ‘Death on the Stairs’ from the first album as well as several songs from the second release, like ‘What Katie Did’ or fantastic ‘The Man Who Would Be King’. ‘Can't Stand Me Now’ could not be missed either.
During the encores, among others ‘Music When the Lights Go Out’ and ‘Don't Look Back Into the Sun’, the stage was nearly demolished, microphone stands were flying, the band freaked out and presented itself snotty as always. The band obviously had joy in playing together again and presented a fantastic show lasting nearly two hours (including the special acoustic songs at the beginning). Let’s hope there will be many more shows in future.
Setlist
-Acoustic-
01. France (and more songs)
-Start of the Show-
02. Barbarians
03. The Delaney
04. Horrorshow
05. Heart of the Matter
06. Fame and Fortune
07. Boys in the Band
08. The Milkman's Horse
09. What Katie Did
10. Anthem for Doomed Youth
11. The Man Who Would Be King
12. You're My Waterloo
13. Gunga Din
14. Can't Stand Me Now
15. Vertigo
16. Death on the Stairs
17. Time for Heroes
18. The Good Old Days
---
19. Music When the Lights Go Out
20. What a Waster (first verse and chorus)
21. Up the Bracket
11. Don't Look Back Into the Sun
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 9
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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