The Californian punk band NOFX is presently on “Final Tour” | EUROtoday

Erste Bands sind wie erste Lieben. Sind sie erst einmal im eigenen Leben aufgetaucht, will man ganze Nachmittage nur noch mit ihnen verbringen. Jedes Wort, jeder Satz wird analysiert und auswendig gelernt, jedem Ton wird nachgespürt. Über schlechte Eigenschaften wird hinweggesehen. Und für eine Zeit lang ist es das Größte, ihnen ganz nahe zu sein, im Kino vielleicht (erste Liebe, zumindest früher) oder auf einem Konzert (erste Band). Trotzdem kann es passieren, dass man sich irgendwann wieder aus den Augen verliert.

Wer heute zwischen 40 und 50 ist, für den könnte die Punkband NOFX aus Kalifornien eine solche erste Band gewesen sein. Jedenfalls dann, wenn die Person der zweiten, amerikanisch dominierten Punkwelle der frühen Neunziger etwas abgewinnen konnte und vielleicht selbst mit Gitarre oder Bass herumhantierte.

Gegründet im Jahre 1983, hat die Band diese Welle mit angestoßen, ohne mit deren Auslaufen im Mainstream zu landen wie Green Day oder The Offspring. Das lag freilich vor allem daran, dass sich die vier NOFX-Musiker stets geweigert haben, zu einem Majorlabel zu wechseln, Unflätigkeiten in ihren Texten zu vermeiden oder familientaugliche Videos für das Musikfernsehen zu produzieren.

NOFX spielten laut, schnell, ungestüm, durchschnittliche Titellänge: zwei Minuten. Sie kamen lockerer und lustiger daher als die immer etwas zeigefingerigen Bad Religion, ihre Songs sind bis heute wesentlich eingängiger. Die frühen Texte changierten zwischen Nonsens, ironischen Doppeldeutigkeiten, Unterdergürtelliniehumor und einem Hauch Gesellschaftskritik.

NOFX sangen über die mangelnde Lust auf Körperhygiene („Shower Days“) oder von den Vorteilen des Bier-Schießens („Beer Bong“). Sie beschäftigten sich aber auch mit den Folgen von Drogenabhängigkeit für eine Freundschaft („Day to Daze“) und riefen dazu auf, ungeachtet aller Ismen die Konflikte auf der Welt zu beenden („Nowhere“). Erst in der zweiten Hälfte ihrer Karriere wurden NOFX wesentlich politischer und kritisierten mit Songs wie „The Idiots Are Taking Over“ oder „Franco Un-American“ die Situation in den Vereinigten Staaten, nicht zu vergessen das epische, 18 Minuten lange Stück „The Decline“, eine kleine, sehr feine Punkrockoper zum damaligen Status quo der USA.

But by then they had already lost sight of each other somewhat. Until a few months ago, while reminiscing about the past, the music streaming app happened to show something doubly unbelievable: NOFX are coming to Germany on tour again. But it will be the very last one because they've had enough of being on stage.

At least that's what the now 57-year-old singer, bassist and main songwriter Fat Mike, who can confidently be described as one of the best storytellers in punk rock, says. And he adds, as if he had listened to the former Bayern coach Giovanni Trapattoni: “We will play with all our hearts. And then we're done. We're done-done.” Whether this statement is exactly true or not – only a first band can create a “hurrah” and a “damn” feeling at the same time. Reason enough to travel back in time again.

Anyone who did that and, for example, attended the open-air concert at the Tanzbrunnen in Cologne at the end of May experienced quite a retro rush. Some of the grey-haired and bloated mid-forties there probably felt the same way: first they were afraid to confess to their families that they were going to the concert. Then they were afraid of the concert itself.

But when NOFX started a set of more than 30 songs with the anti-music industry anthem “Dinosaurs Will Die”, everything was almost like it was 30 years ago. The first rows of the audience became a mosh pit again, people literally pogoed until they dropped, but there was always a helping hand, just like back then, even if someone lost their shoe. Unlike three decades ago, this time it didn't end up on the stage.

NOFX walked through many of their 15 studio albums in Cologne, focusing on the album “So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes” from 1997, which was named so because sneakers or Doc Martens sometimes ended up on stage en masse at the band's concerts. And they really gave it their all.

One may need anticipated them to not play their classics in any respect, or at finest to carry out them in a extra “snotty” method than is normal for punk. But quite the opposite: They additionally performed “Sticking In My Eye”, “Bob”, “Kill All the White Men” and “Linoleum”, maybe their best-known tune. It opened their finest album “Punk In Drublic” in 1994 and reliably offered 125 seconds of punk spookiness within the basement of each teen celebration. In Cologne, the anti-capitalist ode to a ground masking created nice emotions of nostalgia in the midst of the group.

In quick, in live performance NOFX did what they’ve at all times finished brilliantly after they have been sober sufficient: placed on a reasonably good present. Good not within the sense of “We have mastered our instruments 100 percent and can just about sing,” however within the sense of: We will inform our youngsters and grandchildren about this. “I Heard They Suck Live” and “They've Actually Gotten Worse Live” are the names of the band's two tour albums. The titles have been pure ironic nonsense after they have been launched. The reverse was the case and is much more so at present.

That's why it's actually unhappy that NOFX will quickly be historical past on tour. Maybe it's like singer Fat Mike as soon as stated: “If you're a good musician, you won't start a punk band, but if you play long enough, you'll become a good musician.”

Before the final live performance in Los Angeles in October, folks in Germany can see for themselves three extra occasions how good he, guitarists Eric Melvin and El Hefe and drummer Erik Sandin have actually develop into in 41 years of band historical past: this Friday night in Augsburg, on Saturday and Sunday within the Zitadelle in Berlin-Spandau. And maybe these concert events may also finish with the very trustworthy sentence that Fat Mike stated in Cologne as he stated goodbye in German and with tears in his eyes: “I love you.” We love you too, man, we love you too.