The Lemonheads (Posted Date: 15 May 2008, 23:23)

The Lemonheads / Two Gallants / Ignite

12.05.08 Strandbad Löwental, Essen

It was a sunny Whit Monday, so what better way than to spend  the evening in Essen at the 27th Pfingst-Open Air, a free festival in Essen-Werden?
We arrived at around 6 pm and headed straight to a beer stall but as it was really crowded we listened to Ignite from over there. The music is ok, good melodic hardcore punk, but the singer Zoli Teglas really got on my nerves with his commens and the band should also stop playing U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday, can't stand that song anymore.
Next up were Two Gallants from San Francisco, a duo playing sort of indie folk rock who really impressed me. I'm always surprised to hear how powerful only drums and a guitar can sound.
The Lemonheads headlined the festival and it was their only German show. Evan Dando announced their set with the words"We're going to play a record for you and it's called It's A Shame About Ray" and so they started playing it in its entirety (i.e. not including Mrs. Robinson, of course). After that there were more older songs like Stove or Down About It including a short solo part by Evan, playing three songs on his own. After The Great Big No drummer Vess Ruhtenberg threw his sticks into the crowd and they left the stage. But they returned for an encore though an early curfew allowed them only to play one more song. As Vess couldn't new drum sticks he asked the people to give his old ones back for the song and afterwards - they played No Backbone - he returned them to the guy who caught them.
So a beautiful evening ended.