Live | Thundermother (& Lansdowne) – Live Music Hall-Cologne [DE]

25 November 2023

Last week it was time once again to check out the ladies of Thundermother. As part of their Black & Gold Tour Part II, they were guests at the Live Music Hall, Cologne. The venue was just short of being sold out, but it should be obvious that this act easily fills these kinds of venues now. Their touring with the Scorpions must have contributed to that as well.

LANSDOWNE

As the opening act we have Lansdowne. These Americans are not exactly new guys. In their more than 15-year existence as a band, they have two Billboard radio singles to their name. Also more than 100 million streams/views of their music on various platforms and they have licensed songs to major brands such as iRobot, the NFL, MTV and Moreel. Lansdowne built their name the old-fashioned way – on the road, with numerous international performances, including a tour for the American troops in Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Kuwait in 2007.

Consequently, the performance of Jon Ricci (vocals) and his band is full of energy and tremendously tight. In terms of style, the band does differ from the straight in your face rock and roll of the main program. So this is more of a mix of alt-rock, rock, grunge, fat riffs. For all drummer Glenn Mungo is a true beast behind his instrument.

Songs like ,,Halo’’, ,,Conquer them all’’ and ,,Used To Be’’ were convincingly put down. All in all, an energetic 45-minutes set, which was also very much to the liking of the audience.

THUNDERMOTHER

After a brief change over the new line-up of Thundermother took the stage. It is unimaginable that this line-up only came together at the beginning of the year. Of course, bassist Majsan Lindberg had been in the band before. But the two newest band members, drummer Joan Massing and vocalist Linnéa Vikström have really only been with the band for a relatively short time.

So it is more than impressive how tight this band plays live. Not to mention with what enthusiasm they do it. It seems like a well-oiled machine that has been running for years. In addition, singer Linnéa has taken on the role of rhythm guitar player during a couple of songs. That makes the whole thing just that little bit fatter and is definitely an addition to the live experience. We already knew that guitarist Filippa Nässil has a good live sound, but this is absolutely an improvement.

In terms of sound, it was all fine at the Live Music Hall and the atmosphere was there from the very first notes. They kicked off with ,,Loud And Free’’ and from that moment until the last song the visitors were caught by the Thundermother virus. Almost 2 hours of greasy old school rock and roll were presented to us.

LATEST SINGLE

Of course there are people who complain that this is already the second time that the complete line-up of the band has changed, but fair is fair. We are now dealing with the strongest line-up so far and the atmosphere within the band is insane. On and off stage.

Live scoop is for the latest single ,,I Left My Licence In The Future’’, and if that is and harbinger of the quality the band has in store for their new songs, then popularity will only continue to rise. By the way, this single comes from the pen of singer/rhythm guitarist Linnéa!!!

Anyway, it was again a true feast to see this band at work. Ladies with a mission.

THUNDERMOTHER SETLIST

Loud And Free
Try With Love
Hellevator
Dog From Hell
I Left My Licence In The Future
Heat Wave
Into The Mud
It’s Just A Tease

I Don’t Know You
We Fight For Rock And Roll
Raise Your Hands
Sleep
Drum Solo
Whatever
Shoot To Kill
Stratosphere
Give Me Some Lights
Racing On Main Street
Thunderous
Watch Out
Driving In Style

All photos by Raymond Helebrand