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POD Essigfabrik, Cologne, Germany
20th February 2019
P.O.D. - “Full Circle” Tour 2019 - Special guests: Alien Ant Farm, ‘68

P.O.D (Payable on Death) is a Christian Nu-Metal band from San Diego, California, who ventured their first musical steps as a so-called garage band in 1992. Over the years, the four-piece band quickly developed into a major player on the scene. They signed their first contract with Atlantic Records (later moving to Columbia Records in 2007). Their singles reached high chart positions in several countries, Grammy nominations and platinum awards for their albums followed suit.

After the huge success of the album ‘Satellite’ released in 2001, the quartet went on a world tour, performed in Australia, New Zealand and England, among others, played at festivals like the Download Festival, Hellfest, Rock on the Range, River City Rockfest, Carolina Rebellion or Aftershock Festival and shared the stages with famous names like IN THIS MOMENT, PROPHETS OF RAGE, SHINEDOWN and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH. The mix of different styles like New Metal, Hip-Hop, Hardcore, Reggae and Rock was also very successful in Germany. P.O.D. won the German record award Echo in the category “Best international alternative act” in 2003 and were represented in the German charts for weeks. Their records have sold more than 12 million copies since the band was founded. Six years after their last visit to Germany in 2013, P.O.D. is finally coming back to promote their tenth album CIRCLES, which has been released end of 2018.


‘68

’68 is a Noise Rock duo that formed in Atlanta, Georgia back in 2013. So far they have released two albums, their debut ‘In Humor and Sadness’ in 2014, and the follow-up ‘Two Parts Viper’ in June 2017. https://www.facebook.com/theyare68 / http://www.theyare68.com

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Music & Performance
Exactly on time at 7pm, the two members of ’68 appeared on stage dressed in black suits, white shirts and black ties, assuming their positions, facing each other. Singer and guitarist Josh Scogin made extensive use of his effects pedal board on stage and together with drummer Niko Yamada performed the opener ‘Whether Terrified or Unafraid’ from their latest album. The audience, which had not yet materialized in full due to the early hour, watched the show the duo created with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. While the guitar-oriented parts definitely were quite charming, both musicians gleefully tore apart the more comprehensible parts with ludicrously long parts of silence and seemingly randomly changing rhythm patters. Clearly, the band members have severely overdosed on THE WHITE STRIPES and ROYAL BLOOD during their formative years. However, both members seem to be determined to take an even artsier approach, making their music less accessible for their listeners. At the end of their 30-minute set, Josh looped a guitar riff and then deconstructed Niko’s drum set, while the latter was still playing, leaving him to finish only with the snare drum. This clearly made for an interesting watch, but it felt more like a theatrical performance.

Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 6 / 10

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Alien Ant Farm

The roots of the Punk Pop band ALIEN ANT FARM reach back into the year 1996. In 1999 the band released their first album ironically titled ‘Greatest Hits’, which also contained the first cover version of MICHAEL JACKSON’s ‘Smooth Criminal’, landing them a worldwide smash hit. For more about the band go to www.alienantfarm.com / https://www.facebook.com/alienantfarm

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Music & Performance
At 8pm, ALIEN ANT FARM entered the stage to play the song ‘Bad Morning’ from their 2006 album ‘Up in the Attic’. In the middle of the set, Singer Dryden Mitchell dedicated his next song, ‘Attitude’, to both his mom and Chester Benningfield from LINKIN PARK, which he both missed very much. Generally, the quartet delivered a solid performance, as they played a good selection of their song history. However, ALIEN ANT FARM’s performance felt a little bit lacklustre and bloodless, if it was only the slight lack of interaction with the audience. So after an hour of playtime, the band finished with their uber hit ‘Smooth Criminal’ at the very end, during which Dryden managed to squeeze in the lyrics of ‘Finally’ from CE CE PENISTON, which surprised the half-warmed up audience.

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Setlist
01. Bad Morning
02. What I Feel Is Mine
03. Movies
04. These Days
05. Wish
06. Never Meant
07. Attitude
08. Courage
09. Lord Knows
10. Gene Machine/ Don’t Bother Me (Bad Brains cover)
11. Goodbye
12. Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson cover)

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.3 / 10

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P.O.D.

It has been a while, since the four guys from Southern California have toured Europe, so the release of their tenth album ‘Circles’ represented a welcome opportunity to change that. Check out www.payableondeath.com or https://www.facebook.com/pod

Music & Performance
Shortly before 9:30pm, and the lights were dimmed and LINKIN PARK’s ‘In the End’ blasted from the speakers. After that, a slightly reworked version of MR ROGERS’ ‘It’s a Beautiful Day in This Neighborhood’ resounded from the speakers, during which the four members of P.O.D. entered the stage and started their set with ‘Boom’ from their best-selling album ‘Satellite’ from 2001.

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This converted the audience into a flurry, moving mass, where people partied like it was the 2000s again, and released all the pent-up energy. The band kept the level high and churned out a carefully curated song selection from their history of almost two decades. Also the new songs, such as ‘Rockin’ with the Best’, or ‘Always Southern California’ were well received by the crowd in the nearly sold-out Essigfabrik. Singer Sonny Sandoval and guitarist Marcos Curiel took turns addressing the audience in the meantime between songs by stating how grateful they were for everyone to come out and see them after such a long time. The crowd responded by feeding back the energy in the form of mosh and circle pits, and by singing the vocals of the band’s smash hits ‘Youth of the Nation’ and ‘Alive’ at the top of their lungs. Then after 17 songs and 80 minutes of playtime, the lights came back on and music was played, typically signalling that the concert was over.

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However, people persisted and screamed/ clapped the band back on stage for three more songs, which were celebrated accordingly, so the final curtain came down after a good one and a half hours, during which P.O.D. provided the manifest that they still have what it takes to rock the party and provide people with an excellent time.

Setlist
01. Boom
02. Rock the Party (Off the Hook)
03. Will You
04. Panic Attack
05. Rockin’ With the Best
06. Soundboy Killa
07. Always Southern California
08. Circles
09. Satellite
10. Southtown
11. Without Jah, Nothin’
12. On the Radio
13. Youth of the Nation
14. Beautiful
15. Alive
16. Listening for the Silence
17. Who’s in This House
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18. Set it Off
19. Murdered Love
20. On Fire

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

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All Pictures by Tom Steinseifer

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