Deny Everything @ Bauwagenplatz, Cologne

It has been quite some time since I have been to two shows in one week and it has been even longer since I have seen two very good shows in just a few days. First there was the wonderful evening with our Greek friends from Düsseldorf at the "Sonic Ballroom" and then on Friday Troisdorf's best dancers Deny Everything were celebrating the release of their new 7" EP "Speaking Treason" (YoYo Rec.) with a concert at the "Bauwagenplatz".
It's always quite a gamble with shows at this location, you just never know what will happen. I'v seen some very boring stuff there, I've seen shows which were stopped because somebody felt discriminated, I've seen legendary performances by bands like Yage or Hanns Martin Slayer. And Deny Everything's performance will live on with the better ones'. The evening was perfect to hang around at the area which is covered by the "Bauwagenplatz" with all its caravans. The Sunshine Bar Building seems to have been renovated since the bar area now is a lot bigger (which led to the service being much quicker than before, at least that's how it felt for me). First up was some band whose name escapes me, but they didn't sound that good anyway. Typical punkrock with German lyrics, nothing special really. Just ordinary and so not worth mentioning at all.
The complete opposite can be said of Deny Everything. Although one can argue that it might be a little retarded to name a band after a song by the Circle Jerks, but they just know how to create a wonderful atmosphere for a hardcore show. This was what it is supposed to be. People were having fun without kicking each other's heads in. There was a mosh pit, there was a circle pit, but everybody was looking out for each other. Truly positive atmosphere there. The audience was having fun, the band was having a lot of fun, the music was brilliant and when it all ended shortly before midnight everybody left with a smile on their faces, something I hadn't experienced in a long time. In fact the last time I witnessed a positive hardcore show like this one was alomost 14 years ago when Black Train Jack played at the "BüZe" in Cologne-Ehrenfeld. Which reminds me that I should write something about the fabulous Black Train Jack records some time soon.
But coming back to Deny Everything, this is really proof for hardcore coming back to Cologne. With bands like them, Cobretti (who will release their album soon), Kingdom and so on, with concert groups like Hit & Run, there is a lively scene that slowly brings back what was going on around here 15 years ago. What's even more fun is to recognize that this "scene" is highly entertaining on the one hand but also aware of politics and actions. So it's not like the divisions which took place during the late 90s anymore and that's very nice to see.