E-Werk, Cologne, Germany 11th November 2026
Against The Current - “Till Death and Back” Tour 2026 - Special Guests: Daydreamers
While the rest of Cologne was out celebrating the traditional eleventh of November kick-off to Carnival season, roughly 1,500 music fans ditched costumes and carnival anthems for guitars and distortion, braving a cold, rainy Wednesday night to pack into the E-Werk for AGAINST THE CURRENT.
Daydreamers
Formed in 2023 and based in London, DAYDREAMERS is a four-piece Indie-Pop and College Rock outfit consisting of vocalist and guitarist Riley (originally from Southampton), bassist Aurora (of Finnish and Spanish heritage), Italian guitarist Marco Bastianoni, and Welsh drummer Jay Lewis. Drawing from nostalgic, sun-drenched Indie sensibilities that the band themselves have described as ‘sad euphoria,” they built early digital momentum before releasing their 2024 debut EP featuring tracks like ‘Beach House’, ‘All I Ever Dream About’, and ‘Don’t Delete My Number’.
Following festival appearances at Reading & Leeds and support slots for acts like KINGS OF LEON and SEA GIRLS, the quartet released their debut full-length album, ‘Have You Tried Screaming?’, in the summer of 2026 via Robots + Humans / Epic Records. https://www.daydreamers-official.com/
Music & Performance
Taking the stage to open the evening, DAYDREAMERS immediately countered the dreary November weather outside with a bright, super catchy set brimming with youthful charm. Frontman Riley led the charge alongside Aurora, Marco, and Jay, delivering crisp, melodic college rock tunes that quickly warmed up the room. 
Despite their growing festival pedigree, Riley looked genuinely wide-eyed, marvelling at the size of the E-Werk stage with an endearing, puppy-like enthusiasm. Between songs, he warmly thanked the Cologne crowd for embracing them so openly, keeping the banter sweet and grounded before wrapping up their brisk opening set by urging everyone to swing by the merch table afterward just to say hello.
Against The Current
Hailing from Poughkeepsie, New York, AGAINST THE CURRENT formed in 2011 and consists of powerhouse vocalist Chrissy Costanza, guitarist and backing vocalist Dan Gow, and drummer and keyboardist Will Ferri (joined on tour by bassist David Whitmore). Blending pop-rock, pop-punk, and alternative rock, the trio gained international traction through early independent EPs - including 2014’s ‘Infinity’ and 2015’s ‘Gravity’ - before signing with Fueled by Ramen.
Under the label, they released their 2016 debut studio album ‘In Our Bones’, the pop-leaning 2018 follow-up ‘Past Lives’, and the 2021 EP ‘Fever’, alongside global gaming anthems like the gold-certified single ‘Legends Never Die’. After parting ways with their label in 2022 and releasing standalone singles like ‘Wildfire’ and ‘Blindfolded’, the trio entered an independent era, releasing their long-awaited third studio album, ‘Till Death & Back’, on October 30, 2026. https://www.atcofficial.com
Music & Performance
When AGAINST THE CURRENT hit the stage an hour after the openers, the energy inside the E-Werk skyrocketed. Fresh off the release of ‘Till Death & Back’, the band played with the hunger and freedom of a group celebrating a hard-won independent milestone. Costanza was a whirlwind of motion from the opening notes, her vocals cutting cleanly over Dan Gow’s driving riffs and Will Ferri’s thunderous drumming. The crowd matched their intensity throughout the roughly 85-minute set, filling lots of pauses between tracks with enthusiastic “ATC, ATC” chants.
Midway through the night, Costanza slowed things down to dedicate the sixth track of the set, ‘Always You & I’, to her husband, Tucker Roberts, bringing a heartfelt moment of vulnerability to an otherwise relentless rock show. That tenderness didn’t last long, though. Before launching into ‘Lullaby’, Costanza called for a massive circle pit stretching from one side of the floor to the other, cheekily pointing out that because the show wasn’t completely sold out, the crowd had no excuse not to use all the extra floor space. Dubbing herself ‘Moshpit Mom’ for the evening, she jokingly laid down two strict house rules: first, if someone falls, you pick them up; second, keep your elbows to yourself. 
Even a minor technical hiccup couldn’t derail the momentum. When a dead battery in one of Will Ferri’s drum devices forced the band to halt and restart ‘Protégé’, the trio took it in stride, keeping the room loose and laughing until the gear was swapped and they could restart into the track. After closing the main set, Costanza surprised the room by appearing completely alone on a side balcony for the first encore song, turning the cavernous venue into an intimate singalong before rejoining Gow and Ferri on stage for two final, explosive encore numbers that finally sent the sweat-drenched crowd back out into the Cologne rain.
Setlist
01. Fortune Favors the Brave
02. Dead Man Walking
03. Talk
04. again&again
05. Blood Like Gasoline
06. Always You & I
07. Voices
08. Wildfire
09. that won’t save us
10. Lullaby
11. blindfolded
12. Gravity
13. Protégé
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14. Legends Never Die
15. Paralyzed
16. Weapon
All Pictures by Marc Junge
