Review: Thee Oh Sees

Oh wow! Just oh wow!

Once again, there was too much going on in Berlin on a single night. For me, the question was Marie-Antoinette or West Germany? Eric Copeland and Prince Rama or Thee Oh Sees? A friend who called decided it for me. With a date and no expectations whatsoever I made my way to West Germany, passing by Festsaal and people who were there to see Anika (see J.'s review).

When you hang out at the same venues a lot, you sort of get to know most faces that attend every event the way you do. And you notice the unfamiliar ones. When I arrived at the packed venue, I immediately noticed a couple of heavily tatooed guys that I had never seen before and that looked different to the rest of the crowd and very interesting to me. They turned out to be 50% of Thee Oh Sees. I didn't give it much more thought until the band hit the stage later on and I made the connection. But it underlines the charisma of this group. 

I missed most of Admiral Black and what I heard didn't sound like I would get into it too much, it being too much standard rock for me. But from what I gathered some people were into it.

Let's have another one of those moments of honesty at this stage. For the first couple of songs I wasn't getting into Thee Oh Sees really. It kind of sounded like ordinary garage rock and I couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. But wow, each song that the band played it got better and better. By the time we got half-way through the set the entire room was dancing. And sweating. I don't think it's ever been this hot at West Germany. And I'm sure this helped the overall atmosphere, in an uncomfortable way. Thee Oh Sees played the 60s influenced stripped down garage songs with such a power and furiousity, it was so very wild. The band didn't go crazy on stage or anything, the high-pitched singing wasn't ferocious, it was simply the music carrying a power I have not experienced in this way before. And pair this with a very hot sweaty room in which everyone is dancing and what you get is a wild party. 

I stood on a beer crate to see anything. Being small in a full venue limits your view somehow.

I left before an encore, finally needing fresh air, and before parts of the ceiling were falling down. I got a chill outside in the breeze with my wet clothes on. It felt as if I'd just been thrown this very hot moment, just to be dipped into a bucket of ice straight after. On my way home I tried to remember how all of this came about being such a crazy evening in the end. But I couldn't remember. It must have been the magic of Thee Oh Sees.