On Stage: Shame @ Melkweg

The night before King's Day, the day the Dutch celebrate the birthday of their king, many people already start the celebrations early and that night often is even better than King's Day itself. This year Shame are playing that night at Melkweg so why not start the celebrations with them?

Shame at Melkweg Amsterdam, April 26 2018

Anyone that has seen this London band before knows, that Shame are experts at leading off the celebrations. Their debut album Songs of Praise received good reviews and since then they've been conquering many stages. Fronted by Charlie Steen they are a wild bunch, five young lads with more energy than a whole rugby team.

They waste no time getting things started and immediately light the fire. Steen's t-shirt stays on for only two songs and he keeps firing up the crowd. "This is only entertainment" he repeats a couple of times, "so just have fun!". There is no other way than to have fun with this band. The bass player is all over the place, jumping from the drum riser while his band mates are rocking their heads off. You wonder how long Steen is able to sing like this, who slowly seems to be killing his voice during the show.

Besides tons of energy this band also has good songs. 'Angie' and 'One Rizla' for example are solid songs that seem to draw inspiration from the same well as a band like Protomartyr who played here a few days earlier. But Shame are more extrovert, more punk and add a lot of swagger. This makes their music less intense but more explosive. It is the difference between an experienced band that knows when to hold back, and a young eager band that flies into it right away.

For now however this works great and their punk attitude pays off. Steen is working hard, sometimes kicking around stage with his arms along side his body, at other times spreading them as if he's going to preach. But he won't preach tonight, although the lyrics are more deep than you would expect. The only thing Steen is preaching here is to have fun and that's exactly what everyone is doing.



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Setlist:
01. Dust On Trial
02. Concrete
03. One Rizla
04. The Lick
05. Tasteless
06. Friction
07. New Song (Untitled)
08. Angie
09. Lampoon
10. Gold Hole
Encore
11. Donk