Beach Slang

support Odd Palace + Go-Kart
author PP date 12/08/16 venue KB18, Copenhagen, DEN

It's Friday night, and KB18 at least kind of looks like a basement, so the setting is perfect for Beach Slang's return to Copenhagen after a sold out show in February. With a little over 100 fans in attendance, this time, the crowd had grown a little since the last time, with many familiar faces from the first show returning to sing along to the old songs, and to catch a glimpse of some of the new material from the upcoming sophomore full-length that's due out next year.

Go-Kart

Go-Kart

First up is Mark Cruce Bryld, who is better known as the front man for Megafonzie, but also has a side project called Go-Kart. It was originally intended the unit would perform as a trio today, but a sudden illness prevented that from happening, so instead Mark volunteered to show up and play solo with his acoustic guitar instead, without any preparation for that kind of a set. We hear a number of Megafonzie tracks, his own material, and a couple of covers in a very quiet and cozy set. Not much else to say about it - shame that the band wasn't there, and therefore also we choose not to rate the show.

Odd Palace

Odd Palace

Odd Palace and their Latin-influenced prog rock are up next. Taking strong influence from At The Drive-In and The Mars Volta, their performance tonight is of the variety that slowly but very surely wins over a crowd, even one where the majority doesn't know anything about them at all in advance of the show. Their tools to do so? An explosive live presence that sees the band members violently headbanging, shaking as if in psychosis, and stomping and jumping all over the place. Case in point: their vocalist ripping his shirt apart with buttons flying in every direction halfway through. Musically, their songs have lengthy buildups which materialize in high-energy climaxes where their vocalist almost tears the microphone away from its stand to go mental with it instead. In terms of stage presence, their energy is simply awesome and infectious, and when you couple that with solid songwriting and experimental rhythms, sudden trumpet passages, virtuoso-like riffs and Latin-flavored melodies, it's a winning formula that will see this band go places. Odd Palace's performances are the kind that will have you wanting to go see them over and over again - a spectacle of high-energy explosions of chaotic movement that are contrasted by more deliberate progressive rock passages. Do yourself a favor and go see Odd Palace, arguably one of the best looking live bands in Denmark right now.

8

Beach Slang

Last time Beach Slang were here at our invitation, they played every single song they've ever recorded. This time, venue curfew limits dictated they'd "only" be allowed to play 1h 15 minutes, though still ample time to play pretty much most of their discography anyway. They happily obliged and loaded a 21-song long set up their sleeves and went along with the same pattern of playing more or less the entirety of "The Things We Do...", both EPs, a number of covers by their favorite bands, and three new songs from their upcoming full-length album. A good 100 people have packed tightly in front of the stage to sing along and dance to the songs, along with the now-standard repetitions of "SEVEN MORE SONGS, SEVEN MORE SONGS" that became a hilarious feature at the first Beach Slang show in Copenhagen back in February. "If we end up moving here, it's all your fault", announces vocalist James Alex with a huge grin on his face as people keep on shouting "SEVEN MORE SONGS" after pretty much every pause between tracks.

Beach Slang

Speaking of which, there are barely any interruptions to their set: the songs are played in rapid-fire succession as Alex & co are dead set on maximizing the number of songs they can fit into their timeslot rather than use time on interaction in between songs. And with so many fantastic tracks to pick from already after three releases, who can blame them? "Throwaways", "Noisy Heaven" and "Filthy Luck" all sound amazing. New song "Punks In A Disco Bar" features a slightly brighter, but altogether familiar Beach Slang sound that we can look forward to on next album. "American Girls And French Kisses" sees a magical moment as the instruments pause at the "It's Friday night and..." section, so we can all scream our lungs out back at the band to complete the "I'm in the basement, screaming out my lungs with my best friends" in an iconic line that captures the emotion and mood not just at KB18 tonight, but in basement style punk shows in general.

Beach Slang

Likewise, "We Are Nothing" features a big sing along during its "We are nooothing like them" sections. There are sporadic moments elsewhere during the set as well, and every direction you look, it's all smiling faces and moving mouths repeating the lyrics all over. On stage, the band is once again perfectly taking advantage of the intimate surroundings, showcasing how tightly they play together as a group. Whether it's vocalist James Alex almost kissing the mic (as one of his lyrics puts it) or swinging his arms around in wild rock'n'roll fashion, or the other band members engaged in constant small movement, Slang are simply enjoyable to watch on stage even without the crowd effect. But with the intimacy and packed atmosphere from the audience, the mood is almost magical throughout the set, at least until it's time to add in the obligatory Jawbreaker and The Replacements covers that drag the set out a little more than is necessary. Still, the band look and sound every bit as good as earlier this year, and once the second album drops next month, I'm sure we'll be hearing a whole lot more to these guys in the future.

8

Setlist:

  • 1. Punk or Lust
  • 2. Filthy Luck
  • 3. Throwaways
  • 4. Noisy Heaven
  • 5. Porno Love
  • 6. Ride the Wild Haze
  • 7. Punks in a Disco Bar
  • 8. Get Lost
  • 9. Hard Luck Kid
  • 10. (new song)
  • 11. American Girls and French Kisses
  • 12. Dirty Cigarettes
  • 13. Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas
  • 14. Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover)
  • 15. Atom Bomb
  • --Encore:--
  • 16. Too Late to Die Young
  • 17. All Fuzzed Out
  • 18. Can't Hardly Wait (The Replacements cover)
  • 19. We Are Nothing
  • 20. Boxcar (Jawbreaker cover)
  • 21. Young & Alive

Photos by: Facebook

Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.