At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
Oh sweet reunion shows. Don’t they all pull us into some kind of nostalgic realm every now and then? As soon as a band decides to get back together and hit the stage again, like AT THE DRIVE-IN right now, we can hear two loud voices in the back of our heads. One is screaming with excitement, the other one is suspicious. Fair enough.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
Let’s be honest, in most cases it is better to remember the glorious musical past by putting on an LP instead of watching overpriced shows with half-enthusiastic bands who are desperately trying to recapture their former golden moments.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
When AT THE DRIVE-IN announced their comeback, surely a few eyebrows were raised. Some heads were shaking in disbelief when one of their founding members Jim Ward surprisingly left the band just days before the tour kick-off. However, the band quickly found a man who was up for the task: ex-SPARTAguitarist Keely Davis who fitted in well during last night’s sold out show in Berlin. Whatever issues have been going on lately, the band didn’t let them get in the way of a quite remarkable gig.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
With any band that is on the comeback circle, you secretly hope for a few new songs being thrown into the usual mix of old hits. AT THE DRIVE-IN purely focused playing stuff from the past, though, which neither seemed to lower the crowd’s frenectic reaction nor the band’s highly energetic performance.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
With a set so tight it made your ears buzz and your body sweat constantly, it almost felt like the band had never been away.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
Fists were thrown into the air collectively, mosh pits were formed with a sincere longing for wild dancing and hardly anybody cared to get their smart phones out. Everybody was genuinely busy losing and regaining their control of whatever chaos was going on.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
All while Cedric Bixler and the rest of the band delivered a set that hardly let anybody stand still for a second. Let alone get enough oxygen for the next round of jumping around fearlessly. Bixler’s impressive vocal performance and his wild, possessed onstage behaviour were highly contagious.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
Doing splits in the air? Climbing up amps? Rolling around the stage? Bixler undeniably owned the stage every second of the show.
At The Drive In by Annett Bonkowski for NBHAP.com
This was surely not some lame reunion tour to make a few bucks and then disappear again. Hopefully. AT THE DRIVE-IN still have their fans keeping their fingers crossed for new material. If their show in Berlin is any kind of indicator for the future, there is something boiling furiously in the band’s headquarter. The first part of the reunion went down pretty well, now give us some more noise.
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