DAY 1 : THURSDAY

Shit-Town 2008 was the 2nd K-town festival in Christiania after Ungdomshuset was bought by rightwing religious nutters and destroyed by the ever so helpful Copenhagen police force in 2007. When there's no more room in hell god führer Ruth and her pigs will walk the earth. Anywayz, on with the music. It was a glorious sight to see around 1000 spiky punks walking the streets of Copenhagen all day, most probably from Germany I reckon. Same 'uniform' like in the 80s with a few new names on the back of the leatherjackets mixed with the usual Crass and GBH stuff infused with more generic piercings/tatoos. Oh well.

The three day lineup of the bands this year was an improvement, plenty of righteous punkrock/hardcore and less tuneless asthma crustcore. It sorta kicked off with a confusing start since they changed the program in the last minute. So I completely missed Selvhenter and most of Fy Fan's set, while drinking at Eifel Bar with my buddy JT and some colleagues from Christianshavns Radio. Got a call from my woman and Lowcut photographer extraordinaire who said the festival was already started. I caught the last few songs of Fy Fan, but I've seen those Swedes before, and they got a lotta frantic hardcore fuck-you energy, less memorable songs though. Next in line were new K-town sensation Love Potion who excel in chaotic, deliciously dangerous fucked up hardcore, I mean, all bets are off when Klaus & Co. enter the stage. Klaus looked like the unholy hairy love child of Rob Halford and some Cro-magnon as he threw himself around the stage wearing nothing but his small leather shorts and possessed by god knows what. Love Potion raged through the set which had a few more slower crunching tunes among the fast-as-fuck ones, definitely one of the best shows I've seen with them. Must be the first time they played such a huge venue as Den Grå Hal but they completely slayed as they alway do. Polish band Knife In The Leg followed, not an easy task after sheer lunacy of Love Potion, but they were alright. Nothing sensational, just a decent mix of 80s hardcore and punkrock. Tonite's headliner were local heroes Hjertestop since Pisschrist were moved to saturday, a wise solution since every band I ever seen follow Hjertestop ends up looking a bit...eh...limpdicky. Hasse, Nikolaj and Lasse soon got the crowd worked in a frenzy with old songs like "Pis Mig I Munden", "Ind I Lejren" etc., and some off their brand new album, "Vi Ses I Helvede", like "Illegalt Signal" and "Slå Dig Selv Ihjel". It was a bit funny hearing Lasse talking English between songs, but there were a lot of foreign visitors...and this is a Danish magazine, so it's alright I guess, haha. Hjertestop t-shirts must also be the most sold item at the stands. A big night for the band and a perfect finish for day 1 at Shit-Town.

Fy Fan

Love Potion

Knife In The Leg

Hjertestop

DAY 2 : FRIDAY

It's no fuckin' secret that Masshysteri are my favorite Swedish band at the moment. I loved The Vicious to death but when some ex-members formed Masshysteri everything seemed to click. They sorta take over where Gorilla Angreb left, classic KBD punkrock with both male and female vocals but even more catchy. A completely flawless performance from the trio, with "Tvivel" being a highlight. Some missed this early show at 7 o'clock, too fuckin' bad because this band is going places! 2nd band of the day was Agrimonia which brand of semi-doomy Neurosis metal punk didn't connect with me at all (Jon A would've loved Agrimonia, haha). But I soon forgot them since local raging hardcore act Ripping Heartache gave their best show ever! Martin was on top of his game, and their guitar sound was one of the best of the festival. Mindblowin' stuff! There are still copies left of their 7" on Adult Crash, I think, so get it. Citizens Patrol from the Netherlands were on next. They kinda reminded me of early MDC with their fast 80s hardcore. Awesome band. And things got even better with Insomnio from the land bullfighters, paella and Salvador Dali. They add a neat "Ass Cobra" punk/hardrock vibe to their blistering hardcore, and they covered "Search And Destroy", and a fuckin' excellent version to boot. Disco Volante have played Copenhagen many times, each time they get faster, tighter and better. Tonight was no different, the Swedish girls were on fuckin' fire with their Motörhead and Runaways-on-rocketfuel punk'n'roll with songs like "Burn In Hell". Lades, a cool downtown Copenhagen club, had a visit from Nitad this summer, and it was good to back them back again. Top hardcore act with guts of steel. Cola Freaks is one of Denmarks most successful punk acts, with US tours and some outstanding singles including their brand new "Dødt Batteri" of which we of course got a taste as well as old faves like "Arbejd". Mads is such a unique frontman with his manic energy and stage presence, and the band was so tight and killed everything in sight with their Wipers inspired punkrock. Definitely the best thing all day, well, that and the looong awaited Hjertestop LP finally came after many delays. Regulations ended the night with a solid melodic punkcore set, then it was home to catch some Zzzz. But first a few more beers etc.


Masshysteri

Agrimonia

Ripping Headache

Citizens Patrol

Insomnio

Disco Volante

Nitad

Cola Freaks

Regulations


DAY 3 : SATURDAY

Barely had any sleep at all before we had to get our tired asses to Bryggen to catch the Shit-Town 'punk picnic' from a van by the harbor inthe middle of the afternoon. Well, the cheap beers sold from the van sorta removed any hangovers and the weather was bloody great, some naked crust punks even took a dive into the harbor. Kiddie punks Højspænding were like...10, 11 years old!?! But they were pretty good, kept a steady beat, despite the guitarist/singer had trouble handling both while he was hassled by his friends. I predict a great future for these kids...unless they start to listen hiphop crap and whatnot that infect the youngsters today. Next up and the main reason we came was De Høje Hæle, the 'pop sensation' of the K-town scene. And the boys delivered yet another standout show with their irresistable catchy and naive punkpop that left everyone smiling and singing along to "UFO", "Storebror", "Hak Hak Hak", Kalemaris' "Staldfræseren", "Røvguitar" etc. The guitar might not have been completely in tune, but who cares. Later at Shit-Town they sold their 45 mins tape with all the classics (has been in my old walkman ever since, and is # 1 on my top 5). My girlfriend and I ate some pizza and I showed her around the Lowcut r'n'r radio studio, then it was time for the final night of the festival. Some people from the Gay Pride hung out in front of Den Grå Hal, a colorful sight among all the standard dressed in black crusties. First band on stage was Über, a Spanish hardcore act that didn't make much of an impression on me expect for the singer wearing pink/orange socks! K-town darlings Night Fever is probably my new favorite band, and tonite they outdid themselves with their fierce early Poison Idea hardcore punk. Salomon totally spazzed out on stage in impossible positions, and people stormed the stage, onto Salomon, and dived into the crowd like there was no tomorrow. A highlight was "Nuclear War". Somebody must soon release stuff with Night Fever...probably Copenhagen's best kept secret...well, probably not a secret anymore. KILLER ACT! After Night Fever's übermensch performance, two crust bands followed called Sotatila and Pisschrist. The last combo was one of the biggest acts at Shit-Town, but I kinda lost interest and started looking at records at the many stalls. Sadly most of the records were...you guessed...faceless political crustcore...except for Repo Man Records. Gewapend Beton, a Dutch 'positive hardcore' group, was next, and they were pretty good, although the singer preached about how wars were started in the name of jesus and allah...yes that we know...and buddha!?! Didn't know that, haha. Well, they blew me away in the end by covering songs by Bad Brains and Reagan Youth! Then it was freakshow time with old K-townsters Guddommelig Galskab. The stage was invaded by every drunk pisspunk at Shit-Town, or so it seemed. Some passed out guy named Pik (cock) was dragged on stage to the song "Spil Pik" (jerk off) but was too drunk and unconscious 'to perform'. Later he woke up and showed his famous wiener. A bit too lame, but kinda fun nonetheless...in a twisted form of way. Warcollapse followed...file under B for Boring crustcore. Then it was the always reliable German punkrockers Dean Dirg, and they sure didn't fail to blow us all away again. Their relentless hyperactive rock'n'roll was tight as nun's rectum with killa tunes like "Fix My Head With A Knife". Perfection! Last Shit-Town band was Skitkids, but I sadly had to miss them due to a DJ job in another part of town. What can I say? All in all, Shit-Town 2008 was a total triumph with a whoopass lineup of disgustingly good names. Friday was probably the best. Thanks to everyone involved for doing one helluva job. Can't wait for the next festival!


Højspænding

De Høje Hæle

Über

Night Fever

Sotatila

Pisschrist

Gewapend Beton

Guddommelig Galskab

Warcollapse

Dean Dirg

All photos : Mette Huus Christensen

More info/links on bands etc. : http://www.shit-town.dk/