Zebrahead und Me First And The Gimme Gimmes

Seeing Zebrahead live is a whirlwind of excitement, energy and enthusiasm. This band has a great punk rock style that is effortless but at the same time you can tell that they truly care about their craft. Their set is fast-paced and they're well versed in getting a crowd pumped up.
While attending the show, it is impossible to avoid getting caught up in the energy that the band puts out and it makes the show all that more enjoyable. Zebrahead at Rock n Heim was an all-out party with massive crowds at the outdoor venue and even some particularly loyal fans dressed up in a head-to-toe zebra costume. The band's laissez-faire attitude about having a cohesive appearance only adds to the punk rock mentality; some of the members word sleeveless shirts while others had collared shirts and skinny ties a la Green Day.
They opened the show with "Hell Yeah" a speedy song that was perfect for getting the crowd amped. Next was "Call Your Friends" another super fast party anthem that engaged the audience and got them chanting along before leading back into the chorus that had everyone jumping and dancing along. If you're looking for a fun, insanely energetic punk rock show, you can't go wrong with seeing Zebrahead, a band that turns ADD into an artform.

This next song, is a cover... or how Me First and the Gimme Gimmes make everything cooler. A cover band for a musician is either good practise when they've just started or means to survive when success with their original band was never achieved, and that bitterness is almost palpable in every wedding band around the world, it's almost too painful to watch (e.g Adam Sandler's the wedding singer). Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is all that, plus more. They took the concept of a kitsch, sad cover band and made it wonderfully cool to watch, grabbing enormous all-time hits and turning them into punk rock gems with such mastery it kinda makes you wonder why wasn't that song like that from the very beginning. Members of various successful punk rock acts such as Nofx, Lagwagon and Swingin' Utters, came together to form this non-stop-paty-hits, and made each record specific to an era or gender, like their famous "Are a Drag" which consisted of epic broadway tunes covers, "blowing in the wind" a 60's set, "Have a break" which is dedicated to Motown tunes, or their latest "are we not men we are Diva" of music divas' hits like Whitney Houston, Gloria Gaynor or... Boy George. with that arrogance that says " We took a really crappy song, and actually made it better" Now watching them live, it's something you wouldn't want to miss. They're all dress alike, as if it were a job they'd had to go in a uniform... a kitsch uniform. Sometimes with hideous Hawaiian-style shirts or white tuxedos, the band is a merry bunch enjoying their gig at that party: YOURS! Their lead singer comes across as that faded rockstar from 20 years ago that still thinks he's cool, and performs one of the best vocal shows in punk rock today, as the rest of the band brilliantly drink and play almost perfectly as you start recognising the tunes and eventually end up singing out loud and having an amazing time. As the show goes on, You will recognise a lot of songs that probably your dad listens to in the car and you've always told him how boring they were as they come to slap you in the face, with punk rock energy. The brilliance of this bands resides in their ability to make you sing and dance to, what under any other circumstance, you would find cheesy, ridiculous or plainly radio crappy tunes. So in a Me first show, you will see pierced and tattooed people with nofx shirts singing "I WIll survive" "nothing compares to you" "over the rainbow" even Beatle's "all My loving" has it's moment in the show.
Which brings this review to an epic revelation: Me first And the Gimme Gimmes turned the tables in such a brilliant way, that you will no longer feel ashamed of being a tough-ass rocker and secretly dancing to Broadway songs or Motown tunes. They have given us back all the great songs that we were missing out because they were not.....rock.
It's a non-stop-partying act which will send you home a happy person.