BATTERY were among my favorite hardcore bands in the 90s, alongside IGNITE, SICK OF IT ALL, GORILLA BISCUITS, AGNOSTIC FRONT, BETTER THAN A THOUSAND and SHELTER, and every new album went straight onto the turntable. A few years later, it was all over again; only S.O.I.A. and A.F. were still active in the 2000s, and I still have great memories of those shows. However, I missed all the other bands back in the 90s ☹.
So it's even nicer that almost all the bands are now more or less active again, and I now have the opportunity to see them here in the countryside, but only because the Bastard Club in Osnabrück is currently closed. So I couldn't miss BATTERY, more or less right on my doorstep. The only strange thing was the time; at 5:00 PM, the opening act TO THE WIRE was supposed to start, followed immediately by BATTERY, in a "sunday matinee" => so an early event afterwards. Could that be the reason why the Herford "Kulturwerk" (=> KW) was only half full? One advantage was certainly that several car license plates from the Ruhr area gathered in the parking lot; would they have come on a Sunday evening? I think so…. But it's a 1.5-hour drive or longer (the A2 tends to get congested), and we're not 20 anymore…
Even though the "Kulturwerk" was only half full, the atmosphere was great, and that means something for us East Westphalians. TO THE WIRE from the Ruhr area really hit the gas from the start, and the audience immediately joined in…. I wouldn't have expected that the band has only been around for 3 years; the four guys must have learned their skills in other bands. With their old-school hardcore, they fit perfectly into this late afternoon with BATTERY. In a brief small talk after the show with drummer Christian, I learned that they weren't in Herford for the first time; they had already played at "FlaFla" to get people dancing.
A short video of their performance at KW can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQKdMbsey_I
About half an hour later, the Americans took the small Herford stage. For singer Brian and guitarist Mike, the stage was definitely too small, especially for Mike, who even jumped off the stage with his guitar. Almost an hour of BATTERY, so full battery power with old-school and new-school hardcore. The mix was simply perfect; feel free to check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC7m0BRuot8.
The audience certainly thanked the band, and every song was celebrated.
Mike also showed that he can sing well during the second and third-to-last song. He was more in front of the stage than on it!!! And in the last song, the guitarist from TO THE WIRE was also on stage and played along. A perfect afternoon, which unfortunately ended at 7:30 PM. Too bad, BATTERY could have played for another hour; except for the very small guests (there was actually a kindergarten/pre-school/elementary school child present with Mickey Mouse headphones, likely under 6 years old), everyone would have stayed. And who knows if BATTERY will come to Europe again; this is only the third time in 25 years of BATTERY (including band breaks).
And so everyone was home early again, even Bexx, who needs about 2 hours to Bremen....
