.: FuryRocks :: live_review :: Black_President__Short_but_powerful

Published: 01 Juli 2009

Black President – Short but powerful

The members of Black President were in WATT in Rotterdam on the 24th of June for their first performance as Black President in the Netherlands. The band recently released their debut album even though they started out in 2005. They might not be all to known in the Netherlands but the members are no strangers in the music industry. With a C.V with names like Lagwagon, Nausea, Goldfinger, Guttermouth, Unwritten Law, Dee Dee Ramone Band and Soulfly, it definitely promises quality during their performances. And they absolutely didn’t disappoint. Even though there are some big names in their past, they will play in the small hall of the venue tonight.

The openings act for tonight is The Real Danger, a Dutch band, which managed to open the night filled with energy. They started later than planned but it did sound great. The band keeps on playing enthusiastically, and what’s even better tonight is the atmosphere in the venue. The band is having fun and it’s clear they enjoy what they do. The fact that the hall isn’t that big really adds that little extra to the atmosphere. It’s more intimate and intense and gives a good impression of how a punk show should be. After a short set list it was time to wrap things up and get the stage ready for Black President.

When it was time for the band to play everyone was still getting their drinks at the bar but as soon as the first riffs where hearable the smallest hall in WATT, now even smaller than the old small hall from Nighttown, started to fill itself with the present audience. There seemed to be quite an audience for tonight and the band also seemed to be pleased about it. They continued to play in a pleasant pace and the interactivity with the audience was there right from the start. But the audience seemed to be holding themselves back a bit and besides a few people at front they weren’t adding much to the show even if they did seem to be enjoying the show. The band seemed to notice this too and they made it clear that they wanted to see movement.

Black President gave a powerful performance music wise with their American raw punk rock sound, with hearable influence from various music genre’s. This was expected of course looking back at the various genre’s from their previous bands. This adds a certain diversity in their sound without leaving punk all too much. What also added a little extra to the show was the fact that singer Cristian decided to dive a few times into the audience himself to participate in the pit and get that pit moving. The night was filled with tracks like Who Do You Trust, Not Enough and the single Short List Of Outspoken Suspects. The band stopped playing after about 45 minutes just to start again for a encore, one short song, and they ended their show after about one hour.

Unfortunately Black President didn’t play a long set, this was probably also caused by the fact that they still haven’t released much, but they did give away a great show. Together with the support act The Real Danger they did turn this into a fun evening.