Skaters Palace, Münster, Germany21st June 2019
Refused & The Pearl Harts
REFUSED, Sweden’s Hardcore heroes, turned Skaters Palace upside down! Probably the most influential and important Swedish Hardcore band REFUSED returned to Germany in 2019 for an exclusive headline show in the legendary Skaters Palace of Münster. The air was burning on 21 June 2019 and the ground was vibrating.
REFUSED was founded in 1991 in Umeå, Sweden, by singer Dennys Lyxzén and drummer David Sandström. Later, Kristopher Steen joined the band on the guitar and Magnus flag on the bass. After the self-titled debut EP is released in 1992, the first studio album, ‘This Just Might Be The Truth’, follows in 1994. The sound is rough and wild, combining Hardcore elements from bands like GORILLA BISCUITS with Metal and Alternative influences. From the beginning, the lyrics are politically and socially critical. 1998 followed with ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’ the album that makes REFUSED finally legend of the scene. Yet it looked quite different 20 years ago, when this classic appeared. Lack of commercial success and scathing reviews led to poorly attended concerts and a cancelled halfway through the shows US tour. The dissolution of a gig in a cellar in Virginia by the local police sealed for the time being the fate of the band around singer and eccentric Dennis Lyxzén.
“REFUSED Are Fucking Dead” headlined the band itself and disappeared in the thicket. Ironically, however, this unglamorous end was the starting signal for the myth about the four angry men from Umeå, Sweden. Their mixture of Punk, Hardcore and Metal as well as the surprising elements of Jazz, Electro and Ambient made them almost post mortem a commercially successful phenomenon. In 2012, the band reunited completely surprisingly and played festivals all over the world. Thus, the energy, which had accumulated in thirteen years abstinence, could fully unfold. Anyone who has seen the band live during this time can confirm how up-to-date the band’s themes and sound are. The first studio album in 17 years followed in 2015 with ‘Freedom’, in the first single, ‘Elektra’, Lyxzén prophetically declared “Nothing has changed, the time comes, there’s no escape”. REFUSED returned finally to Germany in 2019. At their concert in Skaters Palace Münster there was certainly no escape from the power of a band, which is far from having reached the end. As special guest, THE PEARL HARTS were warming up the audience.
The Pearl Harts
http://www.thepearlharts.com / https://www.facebook.com/ThePearlHarts
Refused
http://www.officialrefused.com / https://www.facebook.com/RefusedBand
Setlist
01. Rather Be Dead
02. The Shape of Punk to Come
03. Elektra
04. The Deadly Rhythm
05. Liberation Frequency
06. It’s Not O.K...
07. Dawkins Christ
08. Blood Red Until I’m Dead
09. Refused Are Fucking Dead
10. Economy of Death
11. Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull
12. New Noise
More in Refused
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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