Two Days, Two Shows

There were two brilliant shows over the past two days in Cologne. First up were Walls Of Jericho, who played a rather uncomfortable club called "MTC". The only advantage that venue has to me is that it is located only a few minutes footwalk from where I live. The place was packed although I don't know if it sold out. Zero Mentality from Germany were up first but although I liked their first record what the performed on stage wasn't really to my liking so I decided to stay upstairs and catch a few breaths of fresh air. Or smoke another cigarette. The club "MTC" is at a very crowded street in the centre of Cologne which is considered to be the heart of Cologne's student night life. So it was always fun to watch who is passing by. Lots of different people and obviously there were the certain someones who were annoyed by the ausdience of the concert. The audience itself was very youn so I was really happy when I met some people of my age. Me and a friend (who is running a wonderful bar in Cologne-Kalk, by the way. Pay him a visit if you are here) were standing up front just at the bar and when Walls Of Jericho started without moving an inch we were dripping of sweat.
The show itself was a very routine performance although the band seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. The audience did so, too. There were people flying all around, one annoying guy was even jumping off the bar. There were the usual hardcore lines ("we are all one scene, blah blah blah"), but hey, that's what the kids want to hear, right? When I left I was drenched with sweat and I had an early shift at my job ahead of me.

Some pictures of the show can be found here.

So the next day saw Quest For Rescue and the Sonic Dolls play at the "Sonic Ballroom", two bands who have been around for a very long time. Quest For Rescue have always been labelled a BMX punkband because their guitarist is a pretty good BMX rider. The show was set up on that day to kick off the BMX World Cup that takes place in Cologne every year. So some of the contestants and visitors came to the Ballroom. But there were also a lot of people who I hadn't seen in a long time, especially the guys of Free Yourself, a great band from Düsseldorf who I had the pleasure to accompany on quite a few occasions. It's so nice to see that the guys are doing fine. There were also a lot of people of the Blurr Fanzine.
Quest started the show and the crowd was really into it. I'm really looking forward to their new record. The release show will be in August. Wonderful. A record I have been waiting for for almost 8 years, I think. If you ever get the chance to pick up one of their records, do so. You won't be disappointed. They play a wonderful melancholic punkrocking sound.
I just caught a small glimpse of Sonic Dolls, a Ramones type-of-sounding band, also from Düsseldorf, because I had to get up early the next morning to help my grandmother moving to her new apartment. And that's why I am sitting here at home right now very exhausted, but very happy at the same time since I had the pleasure to watch to brilliant shows in two days. Something I hadn't done in quite a long time.