Ploughing into the field of love

Ploughing into the field of love

Danish punk rock band Iceage closes curtain on Popscene

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Ploughing into the field of love

Last Saturday saw the last of Popscene, an indie concert promoter. It was a sad occasion as Popscene has been relentless in bringing smaller international acts to Bangkok for the past seven years. But all good things must somehow come to an end.

Iceage playing on Saturday night.

Popscene chose to go out with a bang with young Danish punk rock act Iceage, and it was rather appropriate as the quartet encapsulated the daredevil spirit of the promoter. Fresh, young, obviously amped up on the notorious national drink Sangsom, Iceage brought rawness and energy to the small Bangkok crowd, but, unfortunately, in a rather shady venue that used canvas instead of walls.

The Ginkz kicked off the night. Known for stage shenanigans, mismatched outfits, as well as high musicality and comedic contents, The Ginkz was serious entertainment that got the crowd who understood Thai very well laughing.

Fluent in English, frontman Boom ranted on while second vocalist and guitarist supplemented his kooky sense of humour as a side dish. But underneath such childlike behaviour and insanity lay avant-garde musicians who possess spot-on ability to criticise politics and cultures at everyone else's expense. These boys might not be for everyone, but once you crack the surface, The Ginkz have a lot to say musically and lyrically. The powerhouse ploughed through their set with such urgency that you couldn't help getting excited.

Next up was The Sangsom Massacre, who was loud and highly animated. For easy, accessible fun, this band could be an answer to your simple prayers. Still, the volume and guitar shredding became a bit too much as at one point, I had to walk through the canvas of a wall to give my poor ears a well deserved break.

After sipping Sangsom on the rocks by the trash piles for the entire night, the Iceage boys — all aged 24 — staggered on stage. As pretty as Danish people are, there's an uncanny sense of disruptive danger about them, which they unleashed on the crowd. Formed in 2008 as teenagers, Iceage are actually pretty big in Denmark and other parts of the world, so I am not sure what they thought of the rather small turnout on Saturday.

They, however, performed as if they didn't care who was there, and they did it entirely for themselves, and that was the true beauty of it when done without pretension and false swagger. Cherub-faced, mild mannered vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt displayed his inner beast as he thrashed about the small stage. He twitched, lurched, jerked and shook as he bellowed out his words with limping bangs covering his pretty eyes.

Sometimes he ended up, all limbs bent, on the dirty floor as the crowd parted for his pretend seizures.

All that energy finally caught up with Iceage as Rønnenfelt's fist grazed a couple of punters lightly a couple of times. He went on to slap a mobile phone out of someone's hands, as well as push an unsuspecting fan, but it was all in good fun. It was just that this crowd couldn't be easily instigated into a crazed mosh pit as he might have expected.

I'm pretty sure that Saturday was the first and the last Bangkok will ever see Iceage, but if they come round again, be sure to catch them live in, hopefully, a better venue. Oh, and don't use your phone when they play.

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