First of all, the special guest Zirkel had a yellow slip, meaning he was sick, and thus the ZSK guys had put out a call for a new support band just two days before the concert. Apparently, 500 bands applied for the spot (!), and the coveted place was ultimately taken by ONE TAPE from Brilon.
While I wasn't sick, I had double the bad luck. On one hand, I had never searched for a parking space at the "Forum" for sooooo long as I did that Thursday! And when a parking spot was finally in sight, someone else was quicker; I got to admire people parking in and out repeatedly (though I wasn't much better with my XXL station wagon, given its nearly 5 meters in length). And where all these people came from, from LEV like Leverkusen (West) to BS like Braunschweig (East) and from MK like Märkischer Kreis (South) to CLP like Cloppenburg (North) and beyond. After 20 minutes of intense searching, I finally found a parking space at the other end of Meller Straße, and Meller Straße is long, very long….
Other license plates on the sidewalk back towards the Forum included: IN, DA, SAW, and LWL, so even further away (yes, I had plenty of time on the route to happiness). Anyway, after about 10-15 minutes of walking, I arrived at the packed venue at 20:10, and ONE TAPE had already finished their set ☹ So much for a start at 20:00… ☹
No less than 10 minutes later, ROGERS kicked off their set. I must admit, I don't know much about the band from Düsseldorf, and what I do know is nice, but nice is also what 100 other bands are. I was curious and surprised at how the Bielefeld audience, along with many outsiders, celebrated ROGERS; the Rhinelanders really delivered, I have to admit. I recognized one song in their 60-minute set, including an encore. That's not really much…
Oh wait, two songs, "Kreuzberger Nächte" by GEBRÜDER BLATTSCHUSS, not to be confused with INSTERBURG & CO., was also played, including a long conga line across the hall….
Okay, the atmosphere was already very good with the ROGERS, and ZSK could only add a µ (mu) to it; more just isn't possible. It was funny when 10-year-old Tino or Timo or Limo or something got to be on stage and stole a bit of the show from Joshi ???? !
Otherwise, Joshi had the audience firmly in his grip, and the ZSK songs made not just the first 10 rows sweat… During the song "Sommer ohne Nazis," the ROGERS singer also joined the stage, and everyone, really everyone, sang along. The same went for the other ZSK songs ????
During a quieter song (I forgot which one), Jsohi and Arne also went into the crowd, and during another, Joshi jumped from the opposite side of the stage into the audience. So, 100 minutes of full program, including a rain of confetti and beach balls. The crew was also involved on stage, but you know all that from ZSK. So, nothing new really, but always awesome. Let's hope they stay true to themselves and don't get too carried away like other bands from Berlin and Düsseldorf, especially since ZSK concert tickets have also become significantly more expensive. But you can't get chocolate for 99 cents anymore either.
In this sense, I'm looking forward to the next concert by ZSK in OWL ????
