The Rasmus / The Dirty Youth

2012-12-152018-01-10 GastmitarbeiterInnen / guest contributions

The Zeche Club in Bochum was sold out this evening and filled up quickly. Everyone was waiting excitedly for the show. Right on time at 8 pm the support act The Dirty Youth from Wales entered the stage and fired up the audience. It had been a little chilly in the room until then, but all that changed right away. The band rocked and the audience liked it. They were good, they were fun and they lifted everyone´s mood. Singer Dani was always on the move, got everyone to clap along and her colleagues all knew how to play. When they were done after just 30 minutes I would have liked to hear more. A great start.

After a half hour break for resetting the stage it was time for The Rasmus. They were greeted enthusiastically; starting with a well known song ´First Day of my Life´ got the fans going – they sang along from the very first note. ´I´m a Mess´ from the current album followed and they continues with older hits again. I had as much fun as everyone else in the audience. However, I will never understand why The Rasmus, like many other bands, only uses red light, flickering light or no light at all during the first three songs. I could not help but thinking they were just not interested in having anyone take good pictures. That did not diminish the quality of the music, though.

For the middle part of the concert they played an acoustic set that included the current song ´It´s your Night as well as ´Jailer´ from the album ´Playboys´. They played the latter for a fan´s birthday, but only the second first since Lauri admitted not to remember the first one. ´Every Day´ was another song they played on call, then closed the set with ´Sail away´ and continued with rockier music.

The band was in a great mood, got the audience to sing and clap along. The selection of songs was a good mixture of old and new, offering something for everyone. The hit album ´Dead Letters´ was there as well as ´Black Roses´ or ´Into´. The band showed that the three-year break had not hurt them and they were back full of power. After the main part of the concert had ended, the audience yelled for more.

The Rasmus returned to the stage, Lauri grabbed a guitar and Eero asked us to sing ´Silent Night´ with him (in German!). Everyone did so willingly. Many in the audience raised signs that read ´kiitos´ (thank you in Finnish) – these had been earlier distributed by the fans. The band was happy and thanked us as well. Three more songs followed, last but not least the classic ´In the Shadows´ for which Lauri conducted the audience, then it was over. All in all a wonderful concert, where everyone must have walked home happily.