Carlswerk Victoria, Cologne, Germany4th November 2019
Thrice, Refused & Petrol Girls
With THRICE and REFUSED, two energy-laden bands visited Cologne for a double-headliner show full of energy. As support, PETROL GIRLS opened the evening at the Carlswerk Victoria.
Petrol Girls
As opener, the PETROL GIRLS first entered the stage of the Carlswerk Victoria, which was already very well filled at 8 pm. The quartet played pure Punk Rock for almost 30 minutes, which was well received by the crowd. The intervals between the songs singer Ren Aldridge used to campaign for feminism and to draw attention to the situation in the North Syrian Rojava. https://www.facebook.com/Petrolgirls
Refused
Since the release of their 2015 album, ‘Freedom’, REFUSED are back at full capacity. As you know, after release of the milestone, ‘The Shape of Punk To Come’, the band around singer Dennis Lyxzén took a longer timeout and since 1998, no new song was released. How to top that genre-detonating monster, that gave them the status of legends at a single blow, seemed the Swedes asked themselves. Now it looks like that the old live fascination returned. The old fire is burning again, and after 17 years, with ‘Freedom’ the quartet presents an adequately exciting follow-up, and the live performances of REFUSED are still intensive, explosive and dangerous like a volcano eruption. https://www.officialrefused.com / https://www.facebook.com/RefusedBand
Music & Performance
Dennis Lyxzén, singer of REFUSED, did not wait too long for political announcements. He explained several times between his dance and singing deposits on the problematic aspects of finance capitalism. Dennis met almost every sound and both, screams and vocals, were perfect! The band did the rest and supported their singer precisely like a Swiss clockwork. Finally, REFUSED then brought the classic, ‘New Noise’, and the audience sang with enthusiasm.
Setlist
01. REV001
02. Violent Reaction
03. Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull
04. Elektra
05. I Wanna Watch the World Burn
06. Rather Be Dead
07. Coup d’état
08. Malfire
09. The Shape of Punk to Come
10. The Deadly Rhythm (Raining Blood section)
11. Turn the Cross
12. Economy of Death
13. New Noise
Thrice
THRICE gave their debut on the Epitaph label with their new album, ‘Palms’, and celebrated their 20th anniversary with an official album. Standstill was never an option for THRICE, surprises are taken into account and so here again the Californians convince with their new musical turns. While the experienced producer Eric Palmquist took the vocals and percussion part, the band provided the guitars. That released the guys from their duty to play perfectly every single note: “For us, it was more about the right feeling of tones”, said lead singer Dustin Kensrue. From a stylistic point of view, that approach resulted in an extremely diversified album, and its ten songs range from piano ballads to aggressive tracks. Passion and intensity are attached not only to the full power, but also to the attitudes. ‘Palms’ is another classic in the career of THRICE. http://thrice.net / https://www.facebook.com/officialthrice
Music & Performance
As THRICE then entered the stage, you could clearly see why the almost 1,300 fans had arrived. Lyric-safe, they accompanied every song and danced and pogoed that it was a joy. In addition to many old songs, there were - in addition to now extremely popular pieces of the comeback record - also songs of the post ‘The Illusion of Safety’ time. Overall, all three bands have delivered a top show. My personal highlight was - I have to admit it - REFUSED, I have not seen such an energetic show this year, the old guys can still convince, clear recommendation!
Setlist
01. Only Us
02. Image of the Invisible
03. Silhouette
04. Just Breathe
05. The Arsonist
06. Hurricane
07. The Artist in the Ambulance
08. Red Sky
09. Doublespeak
10. Black Honey
11. In Exile
12. The Window
13. The Earth Will Shake
14. Beyond the Pines
All pictures by Tanja Schilling
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