Bands: Clowns – Snareset
Date: 23/07/19
Location: ROTUNDE
Promoter: Rotunde Live-Booking
The Australian Hardcore-Punk band Clowns are on tour right now with their new album Nature/Nurture and I had the big pleasure to visit their show on the 23th of July at the Rotunde (Bochum). The nightclub, cultural center and venue for live concerts Rotunde Bochum at Bochum’s old main railway station offers, besides concerts, also Club culture, art, subculture, workshops, festivals, cabaret, and theatre.
The opening act was the local Punk Rock band Snareset from Greven by Münster.
The likeable guys from next door have given a good show with solid Punk Rock for which they do not need to hide. It wasn’t quite enough to kick the audience off their feet, but there is definitely potential and their music makes you want to hear more of them.
Now Clowns entered the stage with a few bottles of beer and wine in their hands and at the moment I got goosebumps. The show started with the song “Bland is the New Black” while Stevie Williams (vocals) left the stage and mingled with the audience – I knew it would be a great show. With really energetic and fast songs like “Prick”, “1:19”, “Powders”,” Nature” or “Prey for Us” which explode like dynamite, it didn’t take long for the audience to run at full blast. With great riffs a catchy sound and punchy vocals there’s no other way than to dance, jump, bawl with and freak out. Due to some spilled drinks the dance floor was totally slippery, so you had to take care of not to face plant. From the first second on Stevie Williams was very close to the audience to dance and party. He often ran straight into the audience and held the microphone into the face of the fans to sing. But the show wasn’t just a pure Hardcore show of strong shouts, with their new album Clowns prove that they can set quiet parts and great clean vocals perfectly in scene and that fits really well. Clearly audible in the songs “I Wanna Feel Again” and “Freezing in the Sun”. A totally bizarre moment took place when Stevie Williams noticed that he was bleeding heavily on his thumb and instead of interrupting the show he smeared a kind of war paint in his face with his own blood and went on singing. By the way much respect to Hanny J (bass/vocals) – she didn’t let it get her down either too. She stood on stage and did a great job despite a broken arm. This is what I call Punk Rock. Pretty funny when Stevie totally freaked out to the song “May I Be Exhumed?” and bit into the keyboard. Towards the end he literally spat out the text parts and let the fans sing again into the microphone. With absolute bangers like “Euthanise Me” and “Play Dead” the show came to an awesome end.
At this point many thanks to Roman Transcended who recommended Clowns to me. When I listened through the new album Nature/Nurture I fell in love with the perfect mix of Hardcore and Punk, their totally special sound and the pure energy that emanates from their music. With a sweaty T-shirt, some bruises and beer-soaked shoes the evening was amazing and offered everything you could wish for from a great Punk show. I can’t wait to see the guys from Australia live again.
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