Junkyard Open Air, Dortmund, Germany22rd August 2025
Kettcar - “Gute Laune Ungerecht Verteilt Sommer 2025”
Even though their current studio album, ‘Gute Laune ungerecht verteilt’, topped the German album charts upon its release in April 2024 as the first KETTCAR album ever to do so, and was extensively promoted on tour immediately after its release, the Hamburg quintet is not deterred from adding about ten more concerts in Switzerland, Austria and, of course, Germany in the summer of 2025. We were in Dortmund for their open-air performance at the beautiful Junkyard venue to see them once again before the well-deserved break the band will take after completing their summer tour.
The setlist for the gig at the Junkyard differs only slightly from the concerts that KETTCAR performed in April 2024. As previously, the first two albums, ‘Du und wieviel von deinen Freunden’ and ‘Von Spatzen und Tauben, Dächern und Händen’, set the tone and make up half of the 22-song setlist. A handful of songs from the current album, ‘Gute Laune ungerecht verteilt’, are performed during the evening.
Since KETTCAR are touring without support, at least in Dortmund, the Wiebusch brothers and the rest of the band take to the stage precisely at 8 p.m. and start directly with “Auch für mich 6. Stunde” from their current album. The Junkyard, the former waste disposal site, is very well filled at this time, although not completely sold out.
Over the course of the evening, KETTCAR manages to strike a wonderful balance between songs with political content and songs with content focused on sensibilities. Thus, ‘Sommer 89’, ‘Rettung’, ‘Kanye in Bayreuth’, ‘48 Stunden’, ‘Balu’ and ‘Ein Brief meines 20-jährigen Ichs’ follow one after the other, before ‘Der Tag wird kommen’, a song from singer Marcus Wiebusch’s solo work, is presented. The audience, who know the lyrics by heart, sing along, of course. Not only here, but also during some of the previous songs, they take over the vocals and let Marcus Wiebusch step back from the microphone.
What the songs in the first half of the evening have in common is that singer Marcus Wiebusch, who confidently and mostly humorously masters most of the between-song announcements in Dortmund, doesn’t miss the opportunity to mention with almost every song that this very song is the favourite song of Borussia Dortmund player Waldemar Anton or Serhou Guirassy, or the favourite song of coach Niko Kovac, etc. In general, it is noticeable that the 2025/26 Bundesliga season is starting this evening. The singer repeatedly mentions his Kicker team, which he put together as part of the Kicker manager game in the run-up to the start of the league season.
Towards the end of the nearly two-hour gig, the men from Hamburg give it their all once again and deliver a classy performance of their most popular hits, including ‘Landungsbrücken raus’, ‘Money Left to Burn’, ‘Ich danke der Academy’ and ‘Deiche’, all songs from their first two albums, which are now at least 20 years old. The consistently cheerful audience goes wild during ‘Ich danke der Academy’. Suddenly, it gets wild, people start moshing, it gets dangerous. And then it calms down again, because ‘Deiche’ is a bit quieter.
‘Mein Skateboard kriegt mein Zahnarzt’ marks the end of an all-round great concert by a band in wonderful shape, who allow themselves to be celebrated once more before disappearing backstage.
Setlist
01. Auch für mich 6. Stunde
02. Benzin und Kartoffelchips
03. München
04. Sommer ‘89 (Er schnitt Löcher in den Zaun)
05. Rettung
06. Kanye in Bayreuth
07. 48 Stunden
08. Balu
09. Ein Brief meines 20-jährigen Ichs (Jedes Ideal ist ein Richter)
10. Der Tag wird kommen
11. Anders als gedacht
12. Balkon gegenüber
13. Ankunftshalle
14. Einer
15. Im Taxi weinen
16. Den Revolver entsichern
17. Kein Außen mehr
18. Landungsbrücken raus
19. Money Left to Burn
20. Ich danke der Academy
21. Deiche
22. Mein Skateboard kriegt mein Zahnarzt
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Light: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All pictures by André Wilms
