On a whim yesterday i decided to go and see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I could blame it on the U-Bahn, but once again i arrived late, and so missed most of the set by the wonderful Gliss. They are dirty rockers. The lead singer moans breathlessly on just about every song, waving his arm in the air flamboyantly and swinging his guitar along to their awesome dirty rock. The drummer slumps and hides behind her poker straight blonde hair, a brief glimpse of her pale face reveals no expression, but her eyes close and her head falls back as the denouement of the song crashes upon us and her intent is clear.
BRMC announced themselves with a short slot by lead singer (or co-singer?) Peter Hayes who by himself recieves a huge welcome from the audience. He delivers a full sound, playing beautifully on the harmonica and guitar, the plaintive country sound conveying a depth of feeling sometimes a whole band is not capable of. It's only my third time there, but I have never seen the Postbahnhof so crowded, the place is really packed. As Hayes finishes up the last of the songs he will play by himself, the three other members of the band arrive, more noisy applause and hooting. They launch into their set and the response is almost instantaneous. This is my first time at a gig in germany that i've seen jumping, moshing, crowd surfing and such rowdy behaviour. I'm not really into mosh pits. It might be cos of that one time I got kicked in the head. Or that other time my leg nearly got bent back the wrong way. Anyway, right now the injury on my (same) leg has not yet totally recovered from the bike accident, so im sort of keeping myself safe, just to the right of the unpredictable crowd that sways en masse randomly this way and that. Its obvious that the band like to have this affect on their fans, and sure enough, bassist Robert Turner smiles down at the crowd and yells into the mic "this is the best fucking time we ever had in this city!" He likes to stand right on the edge of the stage, with his leg raised and his guitar pointed to the crowd, a mass of arms reaches up to him. From where im standing it looks like hes playing on top of the crowd. The drummer Nick Jago knows the right way how to make alot of noise and his pounding batterie more than once steals the show. By the end of the night he has thrown two sets of drum sticks into the crowd, and faked a stage dive.
Songs like, "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)", "Aint no Easy Way" and "Spread Your Love" are undeniably great, but more than once I was bored, anxious for the next song, and even thinking about leaving, which is very rare for me. It was a shame "At My Door" was left off the set list...Seeing how much they were getting out of playing the show, plus the fact that they left "Spread Your Love" until the encore kept me rooted to the spot though, and i did stay until the end.
Walking home along the East Side Gallery, and across the beautiful Ober Baum Brücke, it didnt matter that i kept taking the wrong turns, so my 10 minute walk home turned into an hour long trek. BRMC have infectious energy, and with my ears ringing i made it home, and fell into bed happy to have felt the force of it.
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