They say great men have great beards. Or is it big guns? Anyway, opening for Katzenjammer tonight was Ben Caplan who had two things in his favour. The obvious one was the kind of great beard that transcended any and all fashion statements and the less obvious one was that he was the best warm up act any band could wish for. Selflessly breaking every one of his songs into sing-along chants was just what was needed to get an audience up and on its feet.
With their appetite duly whetted, the audience needed little further encouragement to worship at the collective feet of Katzenjammer. Not that the audience would have had much choice as these four Norwegian musicians – I was going to say goddesses but that would tell you how close I came to losing my objectivity - were dead set on conquering all before them and, with an arsenal of exquisite harmonies and maximum musical ability, it was nothing less than inevitable that they would succeed. “Rock Paper Scissors” put them on the path to victory, “Mother Superior” was the glorious artillery, a positively inspired cover of “Land of Confusion” vanquished any remaining resistance and their passionate percussion plus voice encore sealed the surrender. No one with a heart in their chest could resist the relentless, intoxicating energy that Katzenjammer brought with them tonight.
Outside, the rain has stopped. That’s how good Katzenjammer were. They actually stopped the rain.