A return to Europe for the band and Gunta and I as we joined friends as they travelled up from Cologne to Hamburg. Our base for the two day sojourn was the St Pauli/Reeperbahn area of the city. The saving grace for the area is the official St Pauli FC shop where we put a dent in the stock of clothing that Richard Jobson had kindly left behind. The rest of the area is seedy beyond belief. It is how I imagine Soho would have been back in the early 1980’s, before the Vice Squad cleaned it up.
Having arrived early doors on the Reeperbahn on the Sunday morning it was necessary to wade through the detritus of a Saturday night in Europe’s most famed and infamous red light district. If the sole of your DM boot did not crunch glass into the pavement, it skidded through dog shit (at least I assumed it was of canine origin!). It was all rather grim.
Two mates ventured out on Sunday evening and stumbled across a street with restricted access (with under 18’s and women prohibited from entering). In the window displays within the cordoned off area, young prostitutes advertised their wares. Outside of the area other prostitutes hounded potential clients. Our mates beat a hasty retreat back to the apartment.
Earlier in the evening we had taken a walk to the nearby St Pauli stadium, not so much to see it but rather what stands next to it, a massive World War II flak tower. This huge concrete edifice was one of several constructed to defend the city of Hamburg from the devastating Allied bombing raids that reduced the city to rubble.
Built as they were to withstand high explosive, the post-war authorities have tried and failed to remove them and so endeavoured to make something better out of them. This tower has been converted, in part, to a gymnasium with climbing walls and most interestingly, a bar. High apartments also do their level best to hide the stark concrete walls of the construction. Strangely for such an ugly, functional building, something of beauty can be found within, a rather spectacular spiral staircase.
The following day, gig-day, there was another war time attraction to see, this time a relic from the Cold War. The U-434 is a Russian submarine Tango Class, constructed in Gorki (now Nishniy Novgorod) in 1976. Now moored in the Fischmarkt 10 area of the port it is well worth a visit.
To say that to be inside this tube of steel was claustrophobic would be something of an understatement. To think of it filled with its full complement of submariners, 84 men no less, coupled with the smells (fuel, farts, smoke and boiled vegetables) and the heat, typically 40°C (but up to 60°C in the engine room) when submerged. It was tricky to navigate too!
The moment of impact.
Submariner Andrews comes a cropper.
(Photo: Owen Carne)
And I nearly forgot, when on the Reeperbahn it would be a shame not to track down The Star Club, so we did.... with the help of a friendly chap who beckoned us in the right direction (through a gate into a small courtyard, hidden from view).
The European home of Rock 'n' Roll
(Photo Owen Carne).
Moving out of the centre to the venue, Fabrik (a former factory as the name would suggest) was located and entry gained. For a change we decided to occupy the balcony overlooking the stage. As is evident from the photographs, such a vantage point in such a small venue offered an intimacy that 02 Venues just cannot offer.
Supporting were The Membranes, fronted as you well know by friend and fan of the band, John Robb. I so wanted to like them as John is a genuinely nice bloke, but I didn’t really.... sorry John.... but there’s no accounting for taste as they say.
The Stranglers put in a solid performance as usual. I got the impression that the opportunity to play such smaller venues of the kind that their European tours provide is something of a treat for the band (I may be wrong of course!). I have never been in a band but I would imagine that playing in such close proximity to each other beats performing across a vast expanse of stage.
Highlights of the evening were ‘Sweden’, ‘Relentless’, ‘Something Better Change’, ‘White Stallion’, ‘Don’t Bring Harry’ and ‘Go Buddy Go’. The last of which should either open or close the set. JJ seems to be rather retiscent about the song, probably because he penned it so young. Sure, it is a little dated, but it is such a powerful testament to youthful experience, describing as it does a scenario little changed in clubs and pubs since the advent of the teenager. I would gladly sacrifice ‘Peaches’ or ‘Walk On By’ everytime in favour of such a classic hallmark Stranglers’ track. Perhaps its reappearance this time around was linked to the recent passing of Bob, the hero of the piece.
I wasn’t disappointed with the set by any means, but perhaps with a new guy on the keyboards and a young and powerful drummer on the stool, this would be the time to through some obscurities into the set... to give then a last run out so to speak. Something of ‘Feline’ or perhaps something from ‘The Gospel’... ‘Second Coming anyone?
'Duchess'
Fabrik Hamburg 3rd October 2022.
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