Westfalenhalle 1, Dortmund, Germany19th August 2014
Blink-182 & Zebrahead
BLINK-182 are back! After the re-union in 2009, the 6th album of US Punk Rockers, ‘Neighborhoods‘, was released in September 2011. After world-wide hits like ‘All the small Things’ or ‘I miss you’, the new album goes more a progressive way. Marc, Tom and Travis developed further and sound now much more experimental. This year, the band is playing several festivals and in-between, there are also a few concerts planned, one of them in Dortmund, where about 7,000 fans gathered to see their stars.
Zebrahead
ZEBRAHEAD, based in Orange County, California started their career in 1996, because the future band member’s former bands all shared the same practice space at that time and during sound exploring sessions they became friends eventually. After the release of their self-titled debut EP in 1998, the band signed to major label Columbia Records to release their first full-length ‘Waste of Mind’ later the same year, followed by their sophomore ‘Playmate of the Year’ in 2000. Another EP was issued before the band embarked on a European tour with GREEN DAY. Equipped with a new vocalist following their former one’s departure, they put out their fifth album, named ‘Broadcast to the World’. In 2009 the band released a cover album with the title ‘Panty Raid’ and just this year the new album 'Get Nice' followed. The latest album is called ‘Call your Friends’ and was out in 2013. ZEBRAHEAD is Ali Tabatabaee (vocals), Dan Palmer (guitar), Ben Osmundson (bass), Ed Udhus (drums / beer) and Matty Lewis (vocals / guitar). http://www.zebrahead.com / https://www.facebook.com/Zebrahead
Music & Performance
It is a while ago since I saw this band at a festival. This year, they are of course present on several Open Airs too, doing their own headliner dates and in-between, also supporting BLINK-182. ZEBRAHEAD entered the stage at 20:00 and from the very start, they had the audience on their side, their melodious songs inflicted with a lot of audience interaction. The songs on stage were presented flawlessly from a technical point of view and in-between, there was quite some interaction with the audience. Quite at the beginning, ZEBRAHEAD introduced their two stage hands who were dressed in typical “German” outfit and were of course drinking like “real” Germans. There was also close contact to the audience, just like when Ali was coming down from stage to the pit and standing on the fence while singing… much to the joy of the fans. For an opening act, the band played quite long with 45 minutes and delivered overall a solid show.
Setlist
01. Hell Yeah!
02. Call Your Friends
03. Rescue Me
04. Postcards from Hell
06. Drink Drink My Germans
07. Hello Tomorrow
08. Who Let the Dogs Out / Girlfriend
09. Mike Dexter Is a God, Mike Dexter Is a Role Model, Mike Dexter Is an Asshole
10. Can Can
11. Mental Health
12. Public Enemy Number One
13. Sirens
14. Anthem
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7 / 10
Blink-182
BLINK-182, formed in 1992 as BLINK and renamed in 1994, rose to fame in 1999 with the release of the single ‘All The Small Things’ and the accompanying album ‘Enema Of The State’, being already their third full-length until then. The album spawned two other very successful singles. The next album ‘Take off Your Pants and Jacket’ came out in 2001 and became their most successful to date. In 2005 and after another, self-titled, album the band members announced to send BLINK-182 into indefinite hibernation to have more time for their private lives and stuff, but also internal conflicts were reported. Anyway, BLINK-182 announced their reunion through their website in 2009, saying they were also working on a new album. This new album, ‘Neighborhoods‘, was released in September 2011 finally presenting the band now live back in Germany as well. There was no new album in the last years, but the band is still present on festivals and also doing live shows here and there. BLINK-182 is Tom DeLonge (lead vocals, guitar), Mark Hoppus (lead vocals, bass) and Travis Barker (drums, percussion). http://www.blink182.com / https://www.facebook.com/blink182
Music & Performance
It was a quarter past nine when finally the intro of BLINK-182 sounded through the speakers. The audience was on fire already before the band even entered the stage. The front rows were squeezed and soon, the security had to start getting people out of there who could not stand the pressure anymore. And besides that, right from the beginning there was also a lot of crowd surfing, keeping the security guys busy during the whole show. The set finally started with ‘Feeling This’. Bright lights and fast moving white spots illuminated the stage perfectly and you could see how much fun those three guys had on stage. The hall was not sold-out by far, but the audience made such a noise and had so much admiration for the band that you had the feeling the hall was packed. Just like in Essen two years ago, BLINK-182 delivered a really good show with an extraordinary mood in the audience. Besides crowd-surfing, you could see several circle pits, people were moshing, jumping, screaming and constantly you could see their hands in the air.
The trio chose a lot of songs from their history, not disappointing anyone. People were just freaking out during their favourite songs, such as ‘All the small Things’ or ‘First Date’. The latest album dates back to 2011, but of course there were several songs out of it presented during the show as well, just to mention songs like ‘Up all Night’ or ‘Wishing Well’. Tom and Mark drew a lot of attention in the front when jumping around and moving all over stage, but special eye catcher for me was drummer Travis who made a great performance behind is instrument, especially convincing during his solo track, before the first song of the encore, ‘Violence’, started. The whole set moved between extremely fast songs and some calmer ones, showing the musical craftsmanship of all three band members. In-between the songs, the band of course had some vocal interaction with the audience and, who wonders, made some quite silly and flat jokes, also with some sexual content.
At the very end, you could see a burning “fuck” in the back of stage and the obligatory confetti rain at the end was not missed either. So, to sum it up: the band delivered a great energetic show with an exciting setlist and an impressive stage show supported by great lights and good sound.
Setlist
01. Feeling This
02. What's My Age Again?
03. The Rock Show
04. Up All Night
05. Down
06. I Miss You
07. Dumpweed
08. Wishing Well
09. Always
10. Stay Together for the Kids
11. Asthenia
12. Happy Holidays, You Bastard
13. First Date
14. Easy Target
15. All of This
16. Hybrid Moments (Misfits cover)
17. Man Overboard
18. Ghost on the Dancefloor
19. All the Small Things
20. Carousel
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21. Violence (preceded by drum solo)
22. Dammit
23. Family Reunion
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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