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donotsStahlwerk, Düsseldorf, Germany
24th April 2019
Donots - “25th Birthday Slam” - Support: Itchy + Samiam

When you as a band manage to turn 25 years, you definitely are in for a true celebration. The DONOTS from a tiny German town called Ibbenbühren have managed to stay together for a quarter of a century, and they seemingly are going full circle by celebrating this in style at the Düsseldorf Stahlwerk with exact the same band, they have opened for 20 years ago at this very place. THE DONOTS have promised to bring everything you need for a feisty anniversary: famous special guests, confetti, lots of green bottles and a hangover on the next day. And lots of fans followed the invitation, as the venue was sold out pretty quickly.


Samiam

The first band of tonight’s birthday slam was the punk rock band SAMIAM from Berkeley, Califonia. The band formed in 1988, and they had modest mainstream success in the mid-90ies, touring with the likes of BAD RELIGION, GREEN DAY, BLINK 182, and MILLENCOLIN. Over their lifespan, they have released eight albums. The last release was named ‘Trips’ and appeared in September 2011. https://www.facebook.com/samiamband / http://www.samiamfancy.com

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Music & Performance
The DONOTS had posted announcements on their social media channels to arrive early and listen to good music, and many fans had heeded the call. So the Stahlwerk was well filled, when the members of the DONOTS walked on stage around 7:20pm to welcome their guests. DONOTS frontman Ingo was super excited to see the audience in the sold-out venue and promise everyone the “best evening of their lives”. The he announced the band that the DONOTS supported end of the 90ies in their humble beginnings. With this introduction the members of SAMIAM walked on stage, and they kicked off their set with ’80 West’ from their latest album ‘Trips’. For the next 40 minutes, SAMIAM played a “best of” from their various albums. However, the performance had very little effect on the audience, as all songs sounded pretty much the same and monotonous.

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With the static positioning of the musicians and the limited attempts of singer Jason Beebout to break the mould, the playtime felt rather long, and it was certainly not the most enthusiastic start into the evening.

Setlist
01. 80 West
02. Wisconsin
03. Sunshine
04. September
05. Capsized
06. Mudhill
07. Dull
08. Ordinary Life
09. El Dorado
10. Factory
11. She Found You
12. Stepson
13. Bad Day
14. Full On

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 5
Sound: 5
Light: 6
Total: 5.5 / 10

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Itchy

Slot number 2 of that evening went to the Baden WurtembergPpop Punk trio ITCHY from Eislingen/ Fils. The band was founded as ITCHY POOPZKID among school friends in 2000, and they released six studio albums. In April 2017, ITCHY dropped the second part of their name, and released their latest album ‘All We Know’. https://www.facebook.com/ITCHYofficial1 / http://www.ITCHYofficial.de

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Music & Performance
At 8:20pm, the DONOTS appeared again to announce yet another band, which they called the “band with the best sense of humour in Germany”: ITCHY. This was the starting signal for the light to fall dark. Then the large letters of the band name in the back of the stage were illuminated, and the trio ITCHY started their set with ‘Why Still Bother’ from the 2011 album ‘Lights Out London’ under the deafening screaming and applause of the audience, where many wore the band’s merchandise. For the second song ‘The Living’, guitarist Sibbi climbed onto a wooden board, which was held by the people in front of the stage, and performed the song from there. The energy level of ITCHY’s performance was a complete different ballpark compared to their predeccessors. The first circle pits and crowd surfers began to appear, and the crowd was singing along enthusiastically to the much more versatile song material of ITCHY.

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The only downside was that the temperature and humidity levels inside the Stahlwerk were rising along with the enthusiasm, which meant it became incredibly hot inside the venue. Towards the end of their 45 minute set, ITCHY took a clear stand against hate and racism for the song ‘Dancing in the Sun’, and appealed to the people to support organizations such as “Hardcore Help” and “Kein Bock auf Nazis”, which was embraced by the audience.

Setlist
01. Why Still Bother
02. The Living
03. Keep It Real
04. Black
05. Knock Knock
06. Fall Apart
07. Day In Day Out
08. Dancing In the Sun
09. Out There
10. Down Down Down

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.8 / 10

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Donots

The band to celebrate their “Silverhochzeit” with this concert tour is definitively a phenomenon in the German punk scene. Found in very humble beginnings in a small town near Münster back in 1994, the DONOTS have steadily grown with every of their eleven studio albums, and every tour they made over the past years. This evolution culminated with their most recent album ‘Lauter als Bomben’, which was released beginning of 2018 and went to no. 4 of the German album charts, where it stayed for four weeks. Check out www.donots.de or https://www.facebook.com/donotsofficial/.

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Music & Performance
At 9:30pm, it was finally time for the headline act of the evening. The stage had been shielded from looks with a giant banner bearing the band’s name and a huge 25, and the speakers began blasting a Western-like movie intro orchestra version of ‘Dead Man Walking’, which got people to wave their arms and scream in anticipation. Then the band began to play the song ‘Ich mach nicht mehr mit’ with people singing the characteristic chorus at the top of their lungs. The curtain fell, revealing the five band members in full effect, and the enthusiasm peaked for the first time. In the first song break the audience sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the band, which put tears of joy into the eyes of Ingo and his band mates.

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The band and the audience worked in perfect unison, celebrating every minute of the set. For ‘Stop the clocks’, the first third of the audience sat down with some rowing motion, and for ‘Kaputt’, singer Ingo jumped into the middle of the crowd, setting off a giant cicle pit, which covered the first half of the room. After this, DIE TOTEN HOSEN drummer Vom Ritchie joined the band for the song ‘Superhero’, and during ‘Problem Kein Problem’, Sammy from the BROILERS was welcomed to the stage and performed the song together with the band. The end of the main part after 90 minutes was marked by the song ‘Keiner kommt hier lebend raus’, for which stage hands distributed thousands of glow sticks, which everyone threw into the air on Ingo’s countdown, making this definitely a sight to behold.

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This did not mark the end of the evening, as the DONOTS returned for an encore of six (!) more songs. One of those songs was played from a bar in the middle of the venue, and the evening ended 50 minutes later with the ballad ‘So long’, after which the audience sang another birthday song. All in all, this marked a worthy celebration of a truly remarkable band, with lots of fridges having been emptied and 2000 guests completely spent and covered in sweat, which definitely is an indication of a good party.

Setlist
01. Dead Man Walking Orchestra Intro (from tape)
02. Ich mach nicht mehr mit
03. Calling
04. Wake the Dogs
05. Dead Man Walking
06. Outshine the World
07. Whatever Forever
08. Rauschen (Auf jeder Frequenz)
09. Geschichten vom Boden
10. Saccharine Smile
11. Stop the Clocks
12. Scheißegal
13. Das Dorf war L.A.
14. Eine letzte letzte Runde
15. Big Mouth
16. Kaputt
17. Superhero (with Vom Ritchie)
18. Whatever Happened to the 80s
19. Problem kein Problem (with Sammy Amara)
20. Keiner kommt hier lebend raus
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21. Dann ohne mich
22. Hier also weg
23. Good-bye Routine
24. Room With a View (Give Me Shelter...)
25. We’re Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister cover)
26. So Long

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10

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All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)

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