No Fun At All

support Venerea
author PP date 20/11/21 venue Richter, Copenhagen, DEN

It's Saturday night and we find ourselves way out in the suburbs of Copenhagen at Søborg/Gladsaxe in the fine confines of Richter, one of the newer music venues in Copenhagen. It's an ambitious undertaking with a capacity of 300 people despite being a good 45 minutes away with public transport from the city center, which poses its own challenges in getting to and from the venue. Tonight, they've drawn a decent enough crowd of around 120 people based on a rough estimate to witness No Fun At All's first show in Copenhagen since their 2018 performance at Hotel Cecil. It's a special one: it hadn't been announced upfront, but we did have our suspicions about No Fun At All potentially playing the entirety of their 1995 classic "Out Of Bounds" tonight since it's taking place so few days in advance of their planned European tour with a performance of the same together with Satanic Surfers. Sadly, that tour is now canceled due to Covid-19 concerns, so the Danes were handed a unique experience that so many of our European friends will, unfortunately, miss out on.

Venerea

Venerea

No Fun At All isn't the only classic Swedish skate punk band on the bill tonight. To start tonight's festivities they've brought along the lesser-known veterans in Venera, whose discography stretches back to 1994. Their brand of skate punk, therefore, echoes all the classic bands from the golden 90s era ranging from their Swedish peers in Millencolin and No Fun At All to more NOFX and 90s Epitaph-style material. If skate punk's your thing, Venerea might just be your favorite 90s style punk rock band you haven't listened to just yet. And just like NFAA, they bring a bunch of old classics to life with songs off 1997 record "Both Ends Burning" early on with "Love Is A Battlefield Of Wounded Hearts" from 1995 to follow a little later.

Venerea

Three decades of experience also means their show both looks and feels like a solid, upbeat one throughout. It's engaging, energetic, and captivating if you're into skate punk, where the band isn't afraid to display charisma and banter in between songs to rile up the crowd. There are even small sing-alongs to "Woodfall" and its "you were the one who would fall" parts. It's tight and professional, packed with so many rock-solid skate punk songs echoing the golden 90s years of melodicore, that I have a sneaky feeling Venerea just walked away with a bunch of new fans tonight.

8

No Fun At All

No Fun At All playing "Out Of Bounds"

"Out Of Bounds" was released twenty-six years ago. The original plan was to celebrate the 25th-anniversary last year, but as you know, Covid-19. Alas, here we are and the band immediately kicks off with two songs that are normally found near the end of their sets. Genre classics "Beat 'em Down" and "Master Celebrator" roar of the gates to confirm that they are indeed playing "Out Of Bounds" front to back tonight. As you might imagine, the crowd reaction is ecstatic with sing-alongs and horns thrown in the air right away, with twelve more classics like "Perfection", "I Have Seen", "Out Of Bounds", "In A Moment" reminds us just how great of an album their 1995 record was. Not to even mention we're getting exceptionally rare looks like "Pleasure Is To Be Insane", which, according to Setlist.fm, hasn't been played ever before, save for two days earlier at a Swedish show (or at least not as far back as their recorded setlists go to - 380 overall dating back to 1993!). It's not every day you get chances like these, folks.

No Fun At All

The circle pit gets going early despite the venue being half-empty, resulting in chaotic scenes as people are crashing into each other whilst chanting along. There are even a few stage dives eagerly assisted by the crowd. In the meantime, No Fun At All is showing no signs of age on stage nor disappointment over the turnout: Ingemar Jansson's vocals are crips as ever, and the guitarists and the bassist are continuously swirling around the stage showcasing great passion for their music. In an electrifying sort of communion with the crowd, we go through the classic record in almost one go with few short pauses in between, leaving behind a brilliant memory of one of the seminal albums in the genre, a true for-the-fans-of moment that brings back chills of Groezrock's best shows in this scribe's memory.

No Fun At All

That's not all, of course. Once the fourteen tracks are done, it's time for a variety of other material, however, the focus is firmly kept on the old material instead of "Grit" cuts that have been a feature of their setlists in recent years. "Grit" is a great album - but it's fantastic to see the band go through five other classics from "The Big Knockover" (1997) and "No Straight Angles" (1994) instead of focusing on modern material. "Spirit" is the only track from this side of the century save for "Sorry To Say", whilst "Wow And I Say Wow", "Should Have Known" and "Lose Another Friend" bring about loud sing-alongs. And as usual, "Catch Me Running Round" results in explosive circle pit activity, before the band disappears for a lightning encore and finishes off with "Believers" and the aforementioned "Sorry To Say". What a tour-de-force of skate punk glory and a reminder that despite having been around for 30 years, No Fun At All still looks and sounds excellent even in 2021.

Setlist:

"Out Of Bounds" (1995)

  • 1. Beat 'em Down
  • 2. Master Celebrator
  • 3. Perfection
  • 4. In a Rhyme
  • 5. Pleasure Is to Be Insane
  • 6. Nothing Personal
  • 7. Don't Pass Me By
  • 8. I Have Seen
  • 9. Out of Bounds
  • 10. Talking to Remind Me
  • 11. In a Moment
  • 12. Trapped Inside
  • 13. Invitation
  • 14. Stranded

  • 15. Spirit
  • 16. Wow and I Say Wow
  • 17. Should Have Known
  • 18. Lose Another Friend
  • 19. Strong and Smart
  • 20. Catch Me Running Round
  • --Encore--
  • 21. Believers
  • 22. Sorry to Say

Photos by: Philip Onyx

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