support Hjertestop + Slöa Knivar + Lautstürmer
author MGA date 03/12/11 venue Ungdomshuset, Copenhagen, DEN

Hardcore punk might be the only subgenre of music where half of the bill will disband after a show. It almost sounds like a joke, but that's exactly what happened Saturday, December 3rd when Scandinavian hardcore stalwarts Hjertestop and Skitkids decided to play one last show at Ungdomshuset before calling it a day.

Assisted by Malmö exports Lautstürmer and Slöa Knivar in sending the two acts off in a way befitting of everyone's septum piercing, the demise of Hjertestop and Skitkids was particularly poignant for the latter, as this was the ten year anniversary of a band that had earned its bones in the dingiest clubs scattered across Europe. The well-trodden ways of both bands meant a descending upon Ungdomshuset of Europe's most passionate hardcore punks, crust kids, and squatters, all ready to mosh one final time to the hardcore heroes of the DIY underground.


Lead by a bassist with one giant dreadlock down to his knees, the hardcore punk of Lautstürmer was enough to get things going, but things felt a bit subdued by Ungdomshuset standards. They put on an admirable show, but I can't even remember if there was any stage diving to be had. Nothing about it felt particularly new or innovative, either musically or as a live performance.

But it was live music, it was hardcore punk, and it was competent, and this was enough for one opener out of four bands.


Slöa Knivar

The female fronted Slöa Knivar kicked things up one notch higher, thanks to their vocalist's high powered vocal assault and physical prowess. That’s not some sexist side comment, what I mean is that she was all over the place jumping around, kicking, and standing on her head and running upside down. You read that correctly.

The Malmö band ticked the energy higher after each song, either due to their own prowess or because each track brought the night’s headliners closer to the stage.



The second Hjertestop started their short-but-sweet set, a jolt immediately went through the room and a pit began to swell in front of the stage. Within the underground, authenticity is next to godliness: there are no mailed in hardcore shows. Hjertestop could have written this creed, and they brought a live performance that fed as much off of the crowd as it fed off the band.

Soon, even a fan in a walking boot using crutches couldn't resist risking life and (another) limb as he entered the fray. And when Hjertestop's bassist broke out the DIY pyrotechnics in the form of a lighter against his lips as they sprayed alcohol into the air, it finally seemed to sink in that this was really going to be it for the Danish band that had graced Ungdomshuset so many times. After finishing their set off with fans screaming along about making "total destroy", Hjertestop made their exit into the Ungdomshuset history books.


With the (bittersweet) benefit of playing their final show and being the final act of the night, Malmö's Skitkids received an audience with no reason to save energy for later and no reservations when it came to stage diving into a crowd that may-or-may-not catch you.

And while the crowd was wild, the actual stage was even wilder. In the middle of an all out crust attack from Skitkids, someone wearing a money mask ran out onto the stage and held a lighter to a spray can and sprayed fire over the heads of the audience – until someone in a pig mask came and tackled him. They then both scrambled to their feet and stage dived into oblivion.

This served to incite the building more, as even the vocalist of Skitkids would disappear into the ocean of people at his feet after launching himself into the chaotic mass. Skitkids put on a set that put a definitive exclamation point on the ten-year career of one of the leaders in Swedish hardcore.

Ungdomshuset has seen a lot of shows within its graffiti covered walls that get spoken about as amazing, but the night Hjertestop and Skitkids chose to call it quits will go down as absolutely legendary.


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