Pothead- Huxley’s, Berlin, Jan 27th, 2011

Pothead live on stage in Berlin

Pothead in the 90s probably played 30 shows a year in Berlin at all the small clubs and venues but now, they put on one big show at Huxley’s the last weekend in January every year. It always sells out and the band plays a special 3-4 hr show for the fans. The venue is a very cool place and the sound was excellent. The combination of the tall stage, shorter people, made it easier for everyone to get a good view. We went straight to the front and were in the 3^rd row in front of Brad. I also had a foto pass so this made it easier for me to jump back and forth and take some pictures at the very front. The band started at like 20.45 or so and the people were really ready. The place was sold out, packed and very hot. The bands songs are short and they don’t fuck around and don’t speak to the audience at all, just say thanks and that is about it. Have a drink of beer and on to the next song. They played a great mix of the old and the new and the audience is filled with real fans who are really dancing and singing along on the sing along type songs. The lights were pretty cool but they could make better use of the huge screen with some cool projections of marijuana during Wild Week, some Jeff graphics, some rockets flying by during Rocket Boy, etc… I think the audience would dig it. Sebastian, the drummer, is so rock solid and steady. He and Jeff, really have the groove. Brad’s voice was sounding excellent despite him having a slight cold. He had to blow his nose many times during the concert. He also broke strings on both his Ibanez guitars and in the end was left with his Gibson Explorer, which is my favourite of his guitars so that was fine with me.

Kelly and Jeff

Kelly and Jeff

            They took a very short break, less than 5 mins and played a 2^nd set of like 6-8 tracks and then took another break and at this break, Kelly (Smelly on the USA CD), the original 2^nd guitar player in the band joined them for 3 songs I think. They started with White Man’s Curse, which is an old song from the band that he and Jeff (Bass player) had in Seattle called East-West. Check out the White Man's Curse Video that I shot. They also played Smoking Rope from the USA CD and one other very early song. They are all quite aggressive tracks and Kelly sings the lead and plays lead guitar on some of the tracks. The crowd seem to dig it and the band was really getting off on it.

            I think they played like 2 more short sections with a few songs before they called it a night. The crowd got a great mix of the old classics and quite a lot of recent stuff as well as stuff that will be on the next record. They did not play 3 hours this year, while I heard it was a 4 hr show last year. I think people were still very satisified. I went backstage quite soon after and Jeff, Kelly and Brad were just hanging there and we have some good laughs and talked a bit. They had to clear the hall and all the stuff before the real backstage party would begin, etc…

Brad, guitar player and lead vocals

It was a great night and since I do not have a recording, I don’t know the exact set list but they played about 35 songs. The concert was between 2½ to 3hrs long.
This is one of my favourite rock bands and you should check them out. You can listen to all the songs from nearly all their CDs streaming from the bands web site: http://www.pothead.de.