Rockfreaks.net

support Rröd Bastard
author PP date 15/10/21 venue Loppen, Copenhagen, DEN

There's a sense of anticipation in Loppen tonight: Danish cult post-hardcore act Lack are playing only their second show in thirteen years, the first one having been during Covid-19 at the Ilter Festival where only a few were able to secure tickets. Loppen sells out the few remaining tickets before the show starts, meaning Lack have been able to cram 400 people into its intimate surroundings, which is far more than when they were originally playing shows during their active years from 1996 to 2008. What a difference a decade being away from the stages does, eh?

Rröd Bastard

Rröd Bastard

Tonight's warmup is Rröd Bastard and it's quite probably the most useless band yours truly has experienced. It consists of Jørgen Teller sitting solo on a chair, playing electric guitar with lots of effect pedals which effectively translates into noisy, instrumental distortion. There's a clear attempt at creating a feedback-looping soundscape and then play with its different elements to showcase possibilities, but the problem is that none of it works. It's too avant-garde for its own good, and the end result both looks, feels, and sounds like some guy sitting in his garage trying to learn guitar for the first time. It's distortion upon his distortion, occasionally sounding like the missed notes in Guitar Hero games, but essentially it's just some guy jamming on stage. What a waste of time - and it only gets worse as we have to sit through a good 40 minutes of this crap. Imagine this being the main act in a venue? Who the hell would buy tickets to watch this? Don't get me wrong, I understand what he is trying to do, but the final result is a strong contender to take the throne away from Gyserfilm as the most pointless band we've ever had to sit through in a live contex.

Lack

Lack

Lack's musical output is quite varied. Though their primary outlet has always been post-hardcore, there are elements of metallic screamo and alternative rock in their expression as well on the three albums they released back in the day. Tonight, we are presented a cross-cut of all of those styles in what feels like an intimate showcase session. We can barely fit anywhere near the stage given the sheer amount of people in the venue, which creates an electrifying, buzzing atmosphere that the band capitalizes on in perfect fashion. They wave back and forth on the stage towards the crowd in awesome movements, rocking out in a flurry of energy whilst the crowd is virtually falling onto the stage, especially during the songs from "Be There Pulse" early on.

Given the hype surrounding this particular concert, there are probably a lot of guests in the same situation as myself: having heard a few Lack songs back in the day, and now checking them out in full for the first time. As a result, some songs appear lesser known by the whole crowd, whereas their most popular tracks have people going crazy. It's an atmosphere of admiration and inspiration, that finishes in an epic finale where it feels like Loppen is virtually being torn apart.

Lack

If anything, Lack proves here that they were a force to be reckoned with, and despite it having been thirteen years since their last full show, their performance at Loppen is so convincing and energizing it feels like they've been touring for the better part of the last decade or so. And with a perfect blend between the raw hardcore tracks and the more soothing alternative rock ones with Refused-style post-hardcore in the middle, we've been presented a unique look at how Lack evolved and changed as a band throughout their career in a single, emotionally charged performance.

Photos by: Philip Onyx