Music / Reviews
Review: Against Me! at The Bierkeller
It’s great news that, after a hiatus, we’re having the opportunity to catch bands at The Bierkeller again. It’s sticky floors and sauna atmosphere have hosted a huge number of seminal bands – Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Hüsker Dü, Bad Brains and Dread Zeppelin. A wet Thursday night brought the latest in a recent run of great bands to the venue.
Billy the Kid opened proceedings with Ain’t Dead Yet – still unrecorded I believe – and a banger that deserves to be released soon, soon, soon; and ideally on a punk rock coloured-vinyl picture sleeve 7” as it’s a bit of an old school banger. Billy played a great little set and it was warmly received by the crowd: a fair few punters joining in on a rousing This Sure As Hell Ain’t My Life and a version of Boxcars that sounded more vulnerable than the recorded version. The rowdiest tune was a cover (Billy Bragg’s To Have and To Have Not), which Billy, er Billy the Kid Billy, has made her own. She’s back at the Birdcage soon and please do get out and support her – you won’t be disappointed.
Against Me! took to the stage to a roar and an outbreak of pogoing that didn’t let up for a second. The crowd were partisan to say the least but then AM! delivered a cracking set of rock n roll with the crowd taking on vocal duties for virtually every tune. For a first night, the band was on fine form, overcoming some technical difficulties with aplomb and clearly energised by the crowd vibe. I Was A Teenage Anarchist really tipped the crowd over with crowd surfing going in to a frenzy that peaked around earworm True Trans Soul Rebel. In fact, even singer Laura Jane Grace was inspired to leap in to the crowd as the set concluded.
is needed now More than ever
The band deserved credit too, they played a play tight, muscular set – modern rock edged with punk and on last night’s outing you could easily this band on stage at an arena belting out a set like this.
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