Location: Gruenspan Hamburg
Date: December 26th, 2024
It’s a wonderful tradition. Ohrenfeindt from Hamburg St Pauli’s end of year party. I always enjoy going to the Gruenspan on Hamburg’s Reeperbahn. Nice people, awesome music and an almost familiar atmosphere. That’s exactly why I was there again this time. And as usual, we were there far too early. Luckily it was mild. And it was only drizzling lightly. So, the wait at the entrance was bearable. An estimated 350 to 400 fans gathered in front of the stage at Gruenspan. You can see the pictures of the evening on Flickr.
Diggeth from Dinxperlo (province of Gelderland, Netherlands) started punctually at 20:00. The announcements by guitarist and singer Harald te Grotenhuis were made in (almost) accent-free German. No wonder, since their hometown is right on the border to Germany. The band was founded in 2004 and is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. The musicians presented a cross-section of their four previously released albums – a mixture of Hard Rock, Metal, Southern Rock mixed with a small portion of Progressive Rock. This made for a proper warm-up before the main act of the evening.
Lineup Diggeth:
Casper Bongers – Drums
Harald te Grotenhuis – Vocals, Guitars
Natasja “Pebbles” Thijssen-Hulshof – Bass
Set list Diggeth:
- The Riff That Killed Elvis
- Soultwister
- 98288
- Spaceship Earth
- Three Gringos
- Worship The Sun
- See You In Hell
- No Man’s Land
Traditionally, Ohrenfeindt organised an auction during the break in aid of the Sternenbrücke children’s hospice. This year there was a novelty. There were two items up for auction. In addition to the drum donated by Jöcky and signed by the band, Diggeth donated a backdrop. This year’s donation totalled around €900.
The organisers of the evening – Ohrtenfeindt – have been around for ten years longer than the support band. Last year, they presented the first song from their upcoming album. ‘Wenn der Teufel anruft’ was released in October this year. A fine piece, I have to say. And four songs from this album were on the programme for the evening. The rest was a balanced mix from thirty years of Ohrenfeindt. With so many albums, it’s certainly not easy to choose eighteen to twenty songs for a show. One of the highlights, at least for me, is when Chris Laut plays his harmonica to ‘Es wird Tag auf St Pauli’. It gives me goosebumps every time. But everything has an end. And as in previous years, the band anthem ‘Ohrenfeindt’ was played at the end. The trio swayed to the sounds of the Heidi Kabel classic ‘In Hamburg man sagt man Tschüss’ (In Hamburg you say Tschuess) and took a deep bow to the fans.
Chris Laut – Vocals, Bass, Harp, Piano
Pierre “Keule Rockt” Blesse – Guitars, Background Vocals
Robert “Jöcky” Jöcks – Drums, Percussion, Background Vocals
Set list:
- Rakete
- Porschekiller
- Motor An
- Das Geld liegt auf der Straße
- Wir spielen Rock’n’Roll
- Auf die Fresse ist umsonst
- Hallo Frau Doktor
- Wenn der Teufel anruft
- Zum Rocken geboren
- Kann ich Dich nach Hause fahren
- Rock’n’Roll Mädchen
- Es wird Tag auf St Pauli
- So nicht
- Südlich von Mitternacht
- Strom
Zugabe
- Tanz nackt
- Rock’n’Roll Sexgott
- Ohrenfeindt
- Outro – In Hamburg sagt man Tschüss (Heidi Kabel)
It is still unclear what will happen in the coming years. Ohrenfeindt’s living room, the traditional Hamburg club ‘Gruenspan’, will soon be closed for a few years. The reason is an urgently needed refurbishment. This also applies to the neighbouring Indra, the Beatles’ first venue in Germany. However, there should be an alternative location. But back to the evening. It was simply brilliant again what was on offer on Boxing Day. The fans celebrated the end of 2024 peacefully and both bands gave their best. As every year, my thanks go to everyone involved. The musicians and their crew and, of course, the Gruenspan staff and security, without whom this evening would not have been possible. And I’m excited to see where the road will take us next year.
