08-02-2010 Backyard Babies

Supports: Tracy Gang Pussy; Venue: Essigfabrik, Cologne (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Another evening in Cologne, tonight to see some Swedes that I haven’t seen for quite a while. Tonight they played at Essigwerk, while being on their 20th anniversary tour through Europe.

Even though I don’t like the new album too much, we hit the road towards Cologne on a Monday night. As we arrived it was already very crowded, most people were dressed in the typical sleaze rock style. The opening act was from France: Tracy Gang Pussy. They played sleaze rock with a little punk. Somehow they reminded me of a mix between Murder FM, Sixx A. M. and Julien K. Very energetic and powerful the guys performed on stage and surprised me. I did not expect them to be that good. The songs were driving and many of the people in the audience sang and danced along, clapped and did as the band asked. They played for about 40 minutes.

Up next was Backyard Babies. Backyard Babies is a hard rock band, from Nässjö, Sweden. The band was formed in 1987 and over the years they have released five studio albums and won a Swedish Grammy. The band remains together, though they are now located in Stockholm, Sweden. They are largely attributed with popularizing sleaze rock in Scandinavia and Sweden, inspiring a scene that continues to grow today. They are a big influence on the current upsurge in sleaze rock in the UK unsigned scene. The crowded venue went wild with the Swedes on stage. The band began with songs of the latest album but always mixed older ones in between. Nicke talked a lot with the audience. They cheered as answer. The older songs received more cheering and interaction than the newer ones did, but all in all did the audience love all of the songs. Powerful and strong did the guys perform on stage, you could tell that they have been on stage for 20 years now. It was an awesome show and I really enjoyed seeing them again.