Live report THERAPY? & BOKASSA, Gruenspan, Hamburg – November 9th, 2023

It was around a year and a half ago that Therapy? made a stop in Hamburg on their previous tour. Now, in late autumn 2023, the Northern Irish band is coming to Hamburg again and they have a new album with them.

With Therapy? on tour are Norwegian rockers Bokassa, who will open tonight’s show.
The show starts at 8pm sharp and Bokassa immediately demonstrate that they have come to Hamburg to have fun. Their explosive mix of stoner, metal and punk gets the already well-filled hall in the right groove and it is ‘Freelude’, taken from their latest album, that opens tonight’s show.

Bokassa live, that means also: Let the music do the talking. There aren’t too much speeches to the audience. It’s the music that is in the forefront which leads to a 14-songs setlist, that is delivered in 40 minutes. Hereby the guys from Trondheim run through their entire repertoire which also entails new material. ‘Garden of Heathen’ is already the fourth song of the night and I guess nobody in the room is surprised that Sick Of It All Lou Koller doesn’t contribute with vocals on the live tour. So bassist Bård Linga takes over this part and does a good job.

Bokassa celebrates their 10-years anniversary, which might give the guys an extra kick. For sure the trio has a lot of fun on stage and also managed to wake-up the crowd in the second half of their set, leading to a well-deserved applause at the end.

And fortunately, compared to the latest cruise shows, the guys also brought some merch to Gruenspan, which is great because I assume that the one or the other item is sold tonight.

Then it’s time for the main act. As said, Therapy? have a new album available. ‘Hard Cold Fire’ was released in the course of the year and so it is logical that the new album is the focus of the concert, as the entire tour bears the name of the record – ‘Hard Cold Fire’.

Therapy? start with ‘The Shoot the Terrible Master’ in their set and thus with the first new song. Of course, the band is warmly welcomed, even though the sound has some potential in the beginning. Frontman Andy Cairns also has a few issues with the higher notes during the start, but this changes over the course of the set.

What always works well are a few words in the local language, as it always shows a certain respect for the hosting country, and Cairns definitely scores some points as he can has a wider vocabulary in German than just say “Danke schön”.

In addition to the focus on ‘Hard Cold Fire’, Therapy? tonight also offer a pleasing selection of songs that goes back to ‘Nurse’ and the ‘Shortsharpshock’-EP. Added to this is the fast and punky ‘Bloody Blue’, one of the first songs the band ever wrote. The song is not performed live that often and makes the room going wild tonight.

‘Diane’, a Hüsker Dü cover version, appears more regularly during Therapy? shows, so also tonight and is sung along loudly by fans. ‘Two Wounded Animals’, also from the new album, is dedicated to the people of Palestine and the Ukraine, while the band pays tribute to Sinhead O’Connor before ‘Die Laughing’.

There is also a small anniversary to be announced. Drummer Neil Cooper has been a member of the band for 20 years, which is properly celebrated with chants such as “Neil, Neil, drum as a motherf**cker”. It doesn’t take him long to respond with a drum solo. When the riff of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ resounds (Therapy? already recorded the song with Ozzy Osbourne for the ‘Native in Black’ tribute album), the atmosphere is at a next boiling point before the following classic, ‘Potato Junkie’, is fired into the room.

Tonight’s finale is the package of ‘Screamager’ and ‘Nowhere’, which certainly doesn’t surprise anyone, but lifts the party vibe once again.

Therapy? and Bokassa kicked off the tour tonight with a powerful and energetic set that, despite some minor issues, was a lot of fun.