That shitty map24 directions are somehow totally misleading us and we end up in a pedestrian precinct but however we find the juz more than in time and can pass the next half of an hour with meeting and greeting the numerous usual suspicious. Hamburg is representing hard but is easily outnumbered by Sweden. Tortilla wraps are tasty and the sun is warm.

Only For The Sake Of Aching from around the corner were good and Amalthea from Sweden are great but I don’t see much of their shows as of A Fine Boat That Coffin’s one because weather is just too good and the juz’s walls are so thin that I can easily hear them play while chilling in the sun. Breaks between bands are spent playing soccer on the neighbouring pitch or posing and dancing to Scooter, Torsun and mothafuckin’ Deichkind’s new hit “remmi demmi”. Am I Dead Yet (who just split up) are really great. I didn’t expect that from their vinyl appearances plus it is really hot inside! Cease Upon The Capitol and Louise Cyphre are closing a felicitous first day.

It is already dark as we board our car and try to find our way to Lars With Protest’s family estate and the directions we got sound very simple. But after passing by numerous house and even more fields in the dark without seeing anything like a screamo campsite we end up in front of an illuminated factory and feel that we must me wrong somehow. Unfortunately the car packed with Austrians or rather the Austrians themselves that we meet there got no clue either. Thanks to modern communication facilities we finally get back on track and can mark our claims in the last free corner of the parental garden. When we wake up the next morning it is hard to believe our eyes: there are really tents all around the house on every piece of lawn and inside and in the cars there is even more people sleeping. Somehow the breakfast buffet (thanx to the whole family!) is feeding the masses and everyone seems quite content. Lars’ kids are playing between our legs and these are the moments that I love about d.i.y. hc/punk really! It is all so peacefully chaotic but somehow everything works out.

Next agenda item is the mini golf tournament. So we toddle along the fences of the neighbouring ‘real’ campsite and start our round on the green forming a team with some nice ostfriesian guys. Our team really sucked but somehow Ms. “I will fuck up completely” Hilke is playing a nearly perfect round with only three over par! Maximum respect!

Packing our tents and sleeping bags is little fun in the heat of noon but we have to start our trip to Bielefeld where the second day of the fest is about to take place at the ajz. After the traditional map24 detour we reach the ajz and again there is a lot of people to say hello to before I and Lars of Escapado leave to watch the soccer match Sweden-Germany. We end up in a Russian diner and come just in time for Germany’s second goal that was acclaimed by everyone of the festival goers except us. I fall asleep for the rest of the first half and in half time we go back. Too much Germany isn’t healthy… About this point of time I discover that I got a good portion of sunburn on numerous spots of my body including my feet. Remark: Don’t wear flip flops when you play mini golf in the hottest of suns!

Raein, who will play their last show here, sell enormous amounts of merch and I buy a beautiful silkscreened slipmat for my turntable. Some people are really sad because Dance Macabre cancelled as their drummer got problems with his teeth or something. To replace them Cease Upon The Capitol are just playing again. At least it is another town and indeed they do a good job opening the dance. June Paik are just an amazing hurricane and The Mock Heroic are impressing. La Quiete are obviously one of the highpoints for many people. So many people on stage, so much clapping and so many smiles… Zann are devastating, I am really looking forward to their new record and I am glad that I’ve finally seen them live. Escapado are so great. It iss obvious and expactable that the crowd would react better on the “hinter den spiegeln” songs but the new material is so great also! I really love this band and some lines of their lyrics are so amazing… Before the final chapter some stupid jerk that looked exactly like me climbs on stage and makes a statement about how shitty nationalism is even if it seems to be about soccer only and that Germans have always put nationalism into a very violent form. Not everyone is liking that one and it is true that as it was in German all the foreign people were excluded but in general I still think it was right to do so and that the local organizer is sharing my view and we made this plan together strengthens this impression…

But back to the music. The final band really deserves a new paragraph. Raein are playing their final show and the crowd goes crazy. In fact there are so many people on stage that the sound is really shitty because they are blocking all cabinets but who cares? Hundreds of hands clapping and if you think that at an average Bane show there is many people jumping on one another to singalong in the mic then well, this was way more. The extreme was reached with the last song and screamo classic “tiger suit” with nearly everyone singing and clapping. Killer! What an experience…

When we finally reach Hamburg again the sun has already risen and our minds are still full of impressions of an unforgettable weekend. So many nice people from so many places and so little moronic idiots. D.I.Y. – I still believe!

PS: check out the gorgeous song “we’re from barcelona” from the Swedish band I’m From Barcelona!!!

[jan]

video of raein - tigersuit live at cmar