Palladium, Cologne, Germany19th April 2024
Kettcar - “Live 2024" - Support: Shitney Beers
Hamburg Indie Rock band KETTCAR had been very quiet for a long time. Their last studio album ‘Ich vs. Wir’ from 2017 was followed by a tour and the live album ‘... und das geht so’ at the end of 2019, but from then on it was quiet around the band. It almost seemed as if the pandemic had pulled the plug on the band. But that was far from the truth: since the beginning of 2024, the Hamburg band have released single after single and finally a new studio album. ‘Gute Laune Ungerecht Verteilt’ even made it to #1 spot in the German album charts immediately after its release, clearly showing that KETTCAR are back.
Shitney Beers
SHITNEY BEERS kicked off the Cologne concert in the well-filled but not sold-out Palladium. Behind this pseudonym hides Maxi Haug, a young artist who released her second album ‘This Is Pop’ in 2022. She is actually signed to the Grand Hotel van Cleef label. In other words, the label where parts of the KETTCAR team are represented in the management. Marcus Wiebusch and the other members therefore opted for the obvious solution when it came to choosing their support.
I thought SHITNEY BEERS’ performance was okay, but it didn’t really blow me away. Which makes me a bit sad in retrospect, because I really like most of the songs I’ve been listening to on Spotify for days. During the performance, I was probably bothered by the young band’s seemingly artificial good vibes, which left me with the impression that the band lacked some passion. But I’m probably doing the band an injustice here, and I’m sorry about that.
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 7
Light: 6
Sound: 8
Total: 6.5 / 10
Kettcar
Shortly after 9 pm, KETTCAR finally took to the stage to great applause and started their set with ‘Auch für mich 6. Stunde’, the third single from the new album. Over the course of the evening, the Hamburg based band played a total of five songs from the current long-player. With a total of 22 songs on the KETTCAR setlist, this was an almost modest quota. In fact, they also performed five songs each from the previous album ‘Ich vs. Wir’ and the debut album ‘Du und wieviel von deinen Freunden’, which ultimately made for a very balanced mix. KETTCAR were not short on highlights. On the contrary. ‘Money Left to Burn’, ‘Balkon gegenüber’, ‘48 Stunden’, ‘Sommer ‘89’, ‘München’ and ‘Rettung’ alone, all in that order in the first half of the set, were an almost abstruse sequence of hits. And as the evening progressed, KETTCAR picked out songs from their catalogue that they could be sure would make the fans’ hearts beat faster. So, of course ‘Der Tag wird kommen’ (a song written by singer Marcus Wiebusch), ‘Balu’, ‘Im Taxi weinen’, ‘Kein Außen mehr’, ‘Landungsbrücken raus’ and later in the encore ‘Ich danke der Academy’ and ‘Deiche’ were presented. It doesn’t get any better than this.
The audience gratefully accepted every single song. Sure, the new songs were a little less popular in comparison, but a song that had only been released two weeks earlier naturally has a hard time against hits that are over 20 years old. The audience sang along to quite a few of the songs. Not only during the balldesque ‘Balu’, no, also during ‘Landungsbrücken raus’ and other songs, sometimes only selectively like ‘Trostbrücke Süd’: “Wenn du das Radio ausmachst wird die Scheißmusik auch nicht besser.” The guys in the band seemed to be in a very good mood throughout the evening. Bassist Reimer Bustorff in particular did not miss the opportunity to tell one or two funny anecdotes. Frontman Marcus Wiebusch also used the time between songs to make announcements. Meanwhile, Erik Langer (guitar), Lars Wiebusch (keyboards) and Christian Hake (drums) concentrated more on their instruments.
In short: it was a great KETTCAR concert. The band is back. And that’s a good thing.
Setlist
01. Auch für mich 6. Stunde
02. Benzin und Kartoffelchips
03. Money Left to Burn
04. Balkon gegenüber
05. 48 Stunden
06. Sommer ‘89 (Er schnitt Löcher in den Zaun)
07. München
08. Rettung
09. Notiz an mich selbst
10. Balu
11. Ein Brief meines 20-jährigen Ichs (Jedes Ideal ist ein Richter)
12. Der Tag wird kommen (Marcus Wiebusch song)
13. Doug & Florence
14. Ankunftshalle
15. Im Taxi weinen
16. Kanye in Bayreuth
17. Kein Außen mehr
18. Landungsbrücken raus
19. Trostbrücke Süd
20. Auf den billigen Plätzen
21. Ich danke der Academy
22. Deiche
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 9
Light: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by André Wilms
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