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Pothead

In Berlin it has gone through the grapevine already: The longtime drummer for the band Pothead, Sebastian Meyer, had left the rocking family a few months ago. The fate suggests gladly twice, because the drummer of the Berlin group Knorkator had just quit his formation, too: Nicolaj Gogow – the son of the Bulgarian violinist and bassist Georgi Gogow playing in the legendary former East German band City (“Das Fenster”) – sought and found a new nest at Pothead and was therefore admired for the first time at the concert in Hamburg.

This was also the first concert in Hamburg since the release of the last CD “Pottersville” from which, however, was only one song brought, namely the driving “Rock On, Let´s Rock” with the characteristic riff.

All the other songs were from the repertoire of earlier years and had, of course, to be played, what particular demonstrated the “Indian Song”, whose refrain joined the whole hall with enthusiasm. New drummer, new CD and something else was updated: the elegant pinstripe suits, brand-new with crisp creases flown in directly from the U.S..

Unlike previous years in which young and even younger faces appeared in the audience, this time the age curve went from 30 upwards. It celebrated the generation, who grew up with the good old hand-made Rock`n´Roll, generated from 90s grunge and blues, 70s and hot guitar strings, and feel at home in it.

Pothead doesn´t stand for experimental or new trends, but for an individual way of unspectacular music that comes from the gut and from the heart. And that´s what they want, who came to celebrate in the well-attended Hamburg Markthalle. It was already an epochal change enough to adjust to the new man in the trio, whose drumming was not only well integrated, but also created genetically-Bulgarian accents and was received with great kindness.

Some things never change and belong to the tradition, as at the end the obligatory handshakes from the band with the front rows of fans. But these had not enough and clamored for more encores in choirs – although previously and traditionally some had been given.

But the band had been performing an hour fifty-three minutes and decided to stay backstage to take care about the strained vocal chords, finger joints and cartilage with a mix of smooth beer-inunctions and the smoke of Indian medicinal herbs.

Andreas Torneberg

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