07-10-2008 Disco Ensemble

Supports: Lapko; Venue: Schlachthof, Wiesbaden (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Back in Germany from Sweden and on total withdrawal of concerts, good music and friends, I went to Wiesbaden to see Lapko and Disco Ensemble who played at Schlachthof. Two Finnish bands playing independent punk or so you could call it.

Lapko are three guys who have been friends since early childhood in the small town of Harjavalta. Musically they’ve evolved from punk to more streamlined and explosive rock, the core of which lies in a sturdy backbone of sharp drumming and tight bass lines with frenetic guitars and passionate vocals branching out. Their performance was totally ecstatic. Although there was more light than last time I saw them there still wasn’t much. But that fitted to the atmosphere and the music just perfectly well. Ville Malja’s voice was totally catchy and amazing. I think nobody was left untouched by the performance of Lapko and the vocals. Many people were dancing heavily and enjoying the show big time. I have barely ever seen such a passionate show, the band was totally into it and shared that feeling with their fans. They also talked with the audience and got a great feedback. At the end of the show Ville was throwing his mic around a bar on the ceiling and kneeling down singing into the still swinging mic singing ecstatically. What a great show. What a great band.

Next was Disco Ensemble. During the first song they had some minor sound problems which got fixed quickly and the show could go on. Now the still very crowded venue was dancing, jumping and moshing around while singing along The guys couldn’t jump around as much on stage as I had seen them doing it before, simply because the stage wasn’t that big. But they still didn’t stand still for a single second. Miikka enjoyed playing with the bars on the ceiling while singing. He was holding onto them when leaning into the crowd of dancing fans. Many people tried crowd surfing. Disco Ensemble dedicated “Bad Luck Charm” to Lapko as an apology as Miikka said. Disco Ensemble was just as ecstatic and into their performance as Lapko had been. It was great to see how everybody could sing along to even the oldest songs of the band and cheered for more all the time. Nobody seemed to get tired, the sweat was running down everybody’s faces and we all had a great time. It was totally amazing, emotional and touchy night of passionate and thriving music. Everything else than a “Worst Night Out”. It could have gone on forever. But they will be back. Lapko in December already when they will tour through Germany with Downstairs, another Finnish band. Be there!

Setlist Lapko:
Funerals and Parties
Sawyer the Brother
Scandal
Killer Whales
Bad Boy
All The Best Girls
Future Plans
Paranoid
Dead Disco

Setlist Disco Ensemble:
Magic Recoveries
Drop Dead Casanova
Bad Luck Charm
We Can Stop Whenever
Worst Night Out
We Might Fall Apart
Arsonist vs. Firemen
Black Euro
Headphones
Threatletter Typrewriter

Encore:
This Is MY Head Exploding
Beacon
Stun Gun

Links:
Lapko MySpace
Lapko Official
Disco Ensemble MySpace
Disco Ensemble Official