Live report ME AND THAT MAN & FRANK THE BAPTIST, Bahnhof Pauli, Hamburg – March 28th, 2024

Adam Darski is a man with two musical faces. There is the black metal outfit Behemoth with Darski being Nergal and there is, since a few years, Me And That Man. The latter is on tour these days and after having played some shows in Poland, the four-piece band comes to Hamburg for a show at Bahnhof Pauli.

With Me And That Man on tour is Frank The Baptist and it is Frank Vollmann and bandmates who start this night of blues-driven rock. Founded in 2003 in San Diego, California that band relocated their headquarter to Berlin. In their 45-minute Set, Frank The Baptist provide a great overview of their work to date. That the debut album ‘Different Degrees of Empty’ just celebrated its 20^th anniversary is an extra benefit and a good reason to go back in time. This is also underlined by the fact that guitarist Scotty Thunders made the long trip from America’s west coast to Europe to join Frank The Baptist on this roundtrip.

The music of the five-piece, a blend of blues, dark rock and alternative, sets the tone of voice for this evening and as the sound gets better after the first couple of songs the guys fulfilled their role as an opening act with flying colors and it is a warm applause, being the reward for the passion the guys brought to stage.

After short break it is Me And That Man who enter the stage under euphoric cheers. The band has launched three longplayers of which the latest one, ‘New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol.2’ hit the shelves in 2021. Chart entries show the class of the music of the four-piece and its songs from each of the records that fill Bahnhof Pauli tonight. Me And That Man records are great but live is a totally different ballgame. The dark energy the band provides in these 70 minutes impresses and there is no way of not being infected by this thematic interplay between the emotions of love and death.

Celebrated excessively are songs like ‘Burning Churches’ and everybody attending tonight is passionate about music and songs. Right away there is a great atmosphere in the nearly sold-out venue and the calmer songs like ‘Angel of Light’, originally sung by Amalie Bruun (Myrkur), are melancholic highlights of a great night of blues driven and country-inspired rock music. Very welcomed is the new single ‘White Faces’, originally by Roky Erickson and ‘Love & Death’ is inspiration enough for a fan for stage-diving and crowd surfing.

Melancholic and dark, that is how ‘My Church is Black’ puts a spell on the crowd while ‘Got Outta This Place’ with Frank The Baptist joining on stage is an emotional peak of a set that doesn’t show any weak moment. That also goes for the sound. Last but not least it is ‘Blues & Cocaine’ which acts as the roaring finale of a night to remember and after such a dark ride, the colorful lights of Hamburg’s Reeperbahn feel a bit unreal.