ConcertsLive

Royal Republic @ Aladin Music Hall Bremen

29.09.2022, Aladin, Bremen, Germany – gallery HERE

12 years ago when I was still living in Finland, I watched this Swedish band rock their asses off in front of only approx. 30 people as audience – 12 years later and with around 30 times as many people in the crowd I was checking back in on ROYAL REPUBLIC in Bremen.

Whilst the queue outside was making me doubt it´s gonna be a crowded, I quickly learned my lesson: it was gonna be damn packed. And hot. And sweaty. It really did get nicely packed up quickly, and the excitement about a great show coming up was so visible in everyone´s faces – same goes for the interest in the French support band KO KO MO.

Whilst the audience needed their time to really open up for KO KO MO and show some love, it soon became visible how well appreciated the duo had been with their songs – a rocking, fascinating voice and maybe here and there a tad too long instrumental song parts. Time passed by more quickly than expected, the mood was all laid back and yet everyone was just ready for ROYAL REPUBLIC.

When the band set foot onto stage, one thing was clear: they all were just as ready for this intensive evening as the audience. Well, except for one: bass-player Jonas had caught food poisoning and was visibly weakened by it – but just the fact he really pushed through, pale-faced, should fill you with perfect appreciation!

Whatever amount of energy he was lacking was made up for by the rest of the guys around singer Adam Grahn, without a doubt – within the shortest amount of time they had turned the venue into a sauna, sweat was dripping constantly on and also in front of the stage.

That didn´t lessen the mood, though, songs like „All because of you“, „Stop Movin´“ and „Full Steam Spacemachine“ made the crowd really go wild. “Stop Movin´” inspired the first circle pit of the evening, which pretty much remained active throughout the whole show and surely did offer a nice view upon from the stage – a view not any less lovely might´ve been the mix of explosive singing along, clapping and total escalation that happened during “Full Steam Spacemachine”.

In between the songs a couple of entertaining stories were offered – like about Adam´s attempt to order a new guitar at a local store in Dortmund, where the store owner´s English was maybe just as prolific as Adam´s German. I think I am not the only one who´d just love to know whether he finally did get the guitar he wanted or whether the language barrier proved too high in the end. Whilst the audience had a good laugh, bass-player Jonas was happily using the little break to catch breath and recover a bit, and I think neither guitarist Hannes nor drummer Per were really minding a little timeout.

The regained energy was burned down in the pit pretty fast again – no matter if it was “Tommy Gun” or any of the following tracks – you could simply see that the excitement reached another level when those old tracks were played. Due to the excitement, probably, Jonas´ stomach demanded a break and the band had to switch to a little improvised cover version of the The Police song “Roxanne” with Adam on bass and Per on vocals, until Jonas was ready to rock again.

And then, as usual when having a good time, it´s been over far too quickly – no, wait! Adam offered the audience a hilarious explanation of the usual procedure: “we tell you it´s the last song, you are sad, we leave the stage, you make noise and we return” – and after the “last” song, aka “Anna Leigh”, no-one involved was ready to have the evening end right at this point.

Everyone wanted more, and the band gladly catered to it with songs like “Superlove”, a short cover of Metallica´s “battery” and “Baby” as the effectively last song  – and thus they made sure that each and every person in the audience burnt their very last bits of energy, being in desperate need of a walk to the bar or the nearest place for tap water afterwards. Happy, high on adrenaline and with a huge grin on their faces, the band enjoyed being celebrated after their show – and if it was for both crowd and band, this evening probably would´ve never ended.

It´s pretty rare that I am feeling such a laid back and overly happy and ecstatic atmosphere at shows, and where I felt the walls vibrating – all that was missing was the condensed fun to drip down from the ceiling. If you really wanna let loose and have a 100% fun show – go and check them out, they´re still on tour this and next year!

Setlist Royal Republic:

Fireman & Dancer
Getting Along
RATA-TATA
All Because of You
Stop Movin’
Full Steam Spacemachine
Back from the Dead
Save the Nation
Like a Lover
Boomerang
Kung Fu Lovin’
Underwear
Tommy-Gun
Roxanne (The Police cover)
——-
Anna-Leigh
Superlove
OIOIOI
Battery (Metallica cover)
Baby

Carina Ullmann

carina@stalker-magazine.rocks - reports, reviews, photos - - - Favorite genres? - - - From classical music to metal - it all depends on the band and my mood ;) - - - Favorite bands? - - - ...it would be a too long list to write them all down... - - - Other interests? - - - Photography, travelling, culture, reading, writing