The nerves, Shitney Beers [28.10.2023: Orpheum Extra, Graz]

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by Oliver on October 29, 2023 in Featured, Reviews

At least since The nerves achieved their final breakthrough around a decade ago, the Stuttgart trio has established themselves as an absolutely outstanding live bank that simply always works. The 100 billion decibel tour even proves this with a detailed look into the future.

On the other hand, not having noticed Maxi Haug’s musical output on your own radar for a long time in the past was always a decision that had to do with the fact that the Mannheim native went by the, with all due respect, simply stupid name Shitney Beers published. Their songs can (either in Best Coast‘Scheme indie rock, loosely moving forward or pleasantly breathed as soft-spoken singer-songwriter miniatures a la Phoebe Bridgers) quite something apart from the off-putting alias.
As support for the Annoy Haug’s program is limited to the second category – gently plucked slowcore guitar playing and calm, ethereal singing. Either way, the most beautiful, because most touching, side of the musician, with a lot of chat between the pieces “Tried to buy time to protect his voice“ – Illness and karaoke evenings just take their toll.
Which is fitting: Less, because the beguiling gems (above Shitney Beers‘ Ex-girlfriends gallery) whether the reserved nature of the game will eventually lead to a certain uniformity. But because Haug turns out to be a pretty amusing person who you just enjoy listening to. It doesn’t matter whether she digs up the hatchet with a wink against Alexander Eder, who appears next door with his deep voice, or whether she tunes her music a little deeper than usual to bring even more melancholy and longing with her on the evening’s journey. Including a final Lore Hecht (?) cover upon audience request. Which, all in all, is actually quite aPrecision landing“ results.
Why do you lose sight of the nerves of Fake and your self-titled work at this point? Looking back, it’s hard to say, since the two albums were spinning well on the turntable anyway.
This circumstance can hardly be excused, especially with a little distance, as the two long players do nothing weaker than their brilliant predecessors. By now the status quo of the albums would have changed anyway, especially when it comes to The Nerves. How No Movement first chooses the threatening war opening and then jogs exuberantly or One Day wonderfully graceful knows the harsher post-punk legacy of The Cure is simply pretty fantastic and fits seamlessly into the ranks of the company’s own classics (such as a poisonously inflammatory Die Bad, before a breath-taking final phase of The Last Dancer – after the introduction of the super-tight rhythm section offering an atmospheric sea of ​​guitars complete with snapping silence and avant-garde excess – the relay of fear, freedom and nightmare seems to become more intense with every second .

There are songs from The nerves, Fake, It’s been a long time and Fun prominently on the setlist – but the focus is on material from the next studio album, which will probably be released next spring: and here one song is actually better than the other.
Regardless of whether the band provokes the repeated emergency brake (AIDL) or acts like a dance (Glas), until no one wants to stand still. Or twice sets out to apparently outdo himself, if We were here From noise rock to hardcore, every descent is mastered Great deeds (or was it now Function?) bathes truly majestically in the ambience, spreads out soaringly, and then sets off instinctive detonations beyond compare. This is prime nerve level!

In between, the mood in the audience is always very good, and the band is in a good mood as always (including a poll challenge about what old and what new songs are; a slow-mo twist to spice it up here, one Disturbed-joking there – and all captured by strong sound and one of the best light shows anyone can remember in recent memory): in terms of precise intensity The nerves At least in local circles, the standards continue to be set in terms of well-rehearsedness and razor-sharp conciseness, including an expansion of the (soft and hard) impact on stage, until the charismatic trio at the end of this tour, around an hour and a half, which is far too short, after the tour Ode to Joy, absolutely deservedly in your arms. That it feels like no one wants to go home after the Punlikum, but rather more of their own Annoy-Quality class, actually speaks for itself.
In any case, all of them are impressions that are already fueling the anticipation of having the band more actively on your radar again – and of probably already reserving a place at the top of the local 2024 charts for the Germans’ next studio album.

Setlist:
AIDL
Glas
Europa
Never
WWH
Equal to the earth
The evil ones
Great deeds
Function
No movement
A day
The last dancer
Angst

Encore:
Frei
nightmare

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