Poolstar, Kind im Magen?, and SprottenRock in Hamburg, Fri. Feb 23, 2007

When I saw that SprottenRock and Kind im Magen? were playing together at the FC St Pauli Clubheim in Hamburg, Germany, well, I nearly had a coronary right there and then. I also started making plans for the long trip to see them & I managed to convince my friend Richard, from England, to accompany me!

That said, we arrived at the Clubheim around 9pm. I gave my name and, thanks to the very nice ladies from Contre le Vent, the organizers of the show, my friend and I were stamped and let in free of charge. Met the KIM? boys at the shop table and talked to them a bit which was great! I was, however, a bit disappointed to not find any SprottenRock t-shirts as I have none. I was later told that there will be some in 2 weeks and I would get one - cool!!

I had been warned that this was a small club but I was a bit surprised by how small it really was. The audience also seemed a bit sparse at first but it grew larger quickly.

SprottenRock, from Kiel, were the first to play and were excellent!! Most of the songs were from their most recent album, "Gegenwind", and some I didn't even recognize. There was also one song, well, I can't explain its origin since my German is almost non-existant but, it appeared to have been written by a fan or something. This guy held a sheet of paper in front of Abo, the singer, and he sang from that. The crowd was very enthusiastic and the band really interacted with them well, taking pauses to speak to the audience, etc. Abo even found me, somehow, in my little corner by the speakers and announced how I had come from the US to see them (or something like that) followed by much cheering. They were alot of fun to watch!

I thought Aussenborder, a local band, was scheduled to play next but I suddenly saw Kind im Magen?, from Bochum, setting their stuff up instead. Well, since I'd flown across the US and the Atlantic to see them and SprottenRock, that was alright by me and KIM? really rocked!!!! Seriously rocked!!! There were alot of songs I didn't recognize, maybe some were from their upcoming album, I don't know, but it didn't matter. It was a great show and between taking pics I was singing along like I actually knew what I was doing. It was soooooo great to see them live and the crowd was just as enthusiastic for them as they had been for SprottenRock, if not more so (The crowd grew as the night progressed so there were more people to be enthusiastic.). A great show!!

I had looked up Aussenborder and Poolstar on the internet, heard a couple songs on MySpace but was definately not familiar with either band so when the next band started playing I had no idea who they were! I tried asking people but either my German was that bad or they just didn't know... Finally Bugx, from KIM?, said they were Poolstar. Since they were supposed to be the headliners, as I understood it, I guess Aussenborder cancelled. In any case, the Poolstar songs I'd heard online were ok but I hadn't expected to be very impressed but they were very good!! Alot of energy and I really liked what I heard. I will definately have to check them out further. Probably should have bought a CD while there but really didn't know which one to buy &, even though I was enjoying their show, I wasn't prepared to buy 3 or 4 CD's (or however many they had for sale) based on that alone.

Much as I was enjoying the show (and the place was pretty full by this time), even before Poolstar had finished my friend and I had to leave. We had had an over abundance of beer and quite simply HAD to leave or be carried out. So I don't actually know for certain if Aussenborder played or not but I don't think they did.

In any case, it was a great show for such a small place and one hell of alot of fun!! All 3 bands totally rocked and if it were possible to see them again I'd do so in a heartbeat! If any of these bands are ever playing in your area, I highly suggest seeing them, it will be money well spent!! Mikki 2/07

This can also be found in German at Oi!Vision

I took alot of pictures but am not sure which ones people would like or not like so I'm adding here links to them all. Just easier than putting all the images on one page.

Official band sites: