ArTheater, Cologne, Germany29th March 2018
Lower Than Atlantis - “Safe in Sound European Tour 2018” - Special guest: Flash Forward
UK Alternative Rock sensation LOWER THAN ATLANTIS seemed to like it in Cologne so much during their support gig for ENTER SHIKARI in December, that they decided to return for a headline club tour to play the arTheater, a small nice club in Cologne, which sold out weeks ago.
Flash Forward
Warm up act was the band FLASH FORWARD. The quartet from the German Ruhr Area has been around since 2010, and they have released their most recent album ‘Revolt’ in 2017. They describe themselves as a combination of the energy of ANBERLIN and the songwriting elegance of DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL. https://www.facebook.com/flashforwardband / www.flash-forward-band.de
Music & Performance
At 8pm, the band entered the cosy stage of the arTheater, and immediately kicked off with their song ‘Skyline’ from their third album ‘Who we are’. The four guys from Bottrop displayed lots of energy and found a good way of interacting with the mostly teenage crowd. Singer Stefan Weigel used the proximity to the audience to venture off-stage into the crowd and started off a circle pit in the middle of their 30-minute set list. FLASH FORWARD did a solid job as an opener and raised the room temperature of few degrees. For the four band members, the chance to accompany LOWER THAN ATLANTIS is certainly a perfect warm-up for their own upcoming tour in September.
Setlist
01. Skyline
02. Kickstart
03. Deadline
04. Payback
05. Hold On
06. Perfectionist
07. Old Enough
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 6.5 / 10
Lower Than Atlantis
The quartet from Watford, UK has established a reputation of their own in the recent years in the field of Alternative Rock by touring tirelessly with bands like ENTER SHIKARI, ALL TIME LOW and A DAY TO REMEMBER. Their latest release ‘Safe in Sound’ takes a more polished approach and has them fully established as a more than welcome alternative to bands like JIMMY EAT WORLD or Fall OUT BOY. www.lowerthanatlantis.com / https://www.facebook.com/lowerthanatlantis
Music & Performance
LOWER THAN ATLANTIS entered the stage at 20:30pm accompanied by an intro, and immediately started to perform the opener ‘Had Enough’. The tiny stage was only able to accommodate six Marshall guitar cabs with the special wave band design, but this did not impede the acoustic qualities of their set. The band members and the crowd to a while to warm up, but throughout the set the energy levels clearly followed an upward trajectory. At song number four, singer Mike Deuce requested the creation of one large round circle pit, and the crowd happily obliged. In contrast to their support gig in December, the band played not only their new releases, but also the rougher, older songs, such as ‘Far Q’, or their debut single ‘Taping songs of the radio’.
Singer Mike reminded himself of the fact that this song is now 10 years old. And while grinning at the audience, he pondered that most of them were still ‘sucking their mommy’s titties at that time. For ‘Another Sad Song’, Mike grabbed an acoustic guitar and placed himself right in the centre of the crowd, where he jokingly reminded people to “shut up” and help him sing this song completely unamplified. This created a real goose bump moment. Back at the stage, the band initiated a drink necking competition among the audience, in which every band member happily participated as well. After that the band decided it was stage diving time and invited people on stage to jump into the crowd.
For ‘I Would’ climbed onto the crowd’s hands and shoulders, while continuing to play guitar. After a refreshingly short break it was time for the song gems ‘English Kids in America’ and ‘Here We Go’ for the encore concluding the two-hour set. Summarizing, LOWER THAN ATLANTIS created an evening to remember for their fans, who in turn - as singer Mike put it - would be able to annoy their mates by telling them about this evening at some future time, when they would all go and see LOWER THAN ATLANTIS in some fancy arena. Let’s hope it will come to this. This band deserves it.
Setlist
01. Had Enough
02. Dumb
03. Emily
04. Ain't No Friend
05. Work for It
06. Get Over It
07. Taping Songs Off the Radio
08. Far Q
09. Another Sad Song (Unplugged in the crowd)
10. Love Someone Else
11. Beech Like the Tree
12. I Would
13. Words Don't Come So Easily
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14. English Kids in America
15. Here We Go
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by Christian Beyermann
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