Sweaty and so much fun! That’s how you could sum up As It Is‘ show at Badehaus in Berlin on June 9th. This concert was part of the ‘ruin my life in europe’ tour of the four-piece from Brighton.
Supported by various bands along the way, Catapults were the openers on the German tour stops. Their set started at 8pm with a literal bang, making sure no one missed the beginning. Most of their songs were energetic emo punk tracks but their set also included a calmer song called ‘Flowers We Grew’ – for which the drummer left the stage and everybody turned their flashlights on – as well as a cover of ‘About You Now’ by Sugababes. The whole room was singing along.
Catapults had to manage the show without their bassist that day because he had to work (booo!) but the remaining band members made up for it. And to be fair, the stage didn’t hold too much space for a lot more band members anyways. Still, they put on anything else but a static or boring show! A few songs in, Catapults‘ singer announced it was their guitarist Maurice‘s birthday and so everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for him. After roughly half an hour, Catapult concluded with their set. The crew quickly adjusted the stage and As It Is were up next.
As It Is kicked off their show with the song the tour is named after – ‘Ruin My Life’. It had only been released the Friday prior but the fans were already singing along to every word. ‘Ruin My Life’ was one of the five songs off their upcoming self-titled album that were already released and were played at the show. They were placed at various times throughout the setlist which contained a good mix of As It Is‘ decade-spanning discography.
After ‘Ruin My Life’, two songs off okay. and one of Never Happy, Ever After transported the audience back to 2015 and 2017 before we landed back in the present with ‘Do you remember?‘ and ‘Live, Laugh, Love, Los Angeles’.
From the very beginning, the crowd didn’t need a call to action to jump and dance like there’s no tomorrow. It felt like As It Is had never been away.
It seemed like singer Patty Walters felt some kind of relief when he saw that Berlin welcomed the band back like that. It had been seven years since they last played here but, after all this time, he still recognised some familiar faces among the fans.
A little over halfway through the set, it was time for a calmer acoustic-like part. Flashlights started to light up the room as the first chords of ‘Still Remembering’ sounded. This song closes the 2017 album okay. and certainly holds sentimental value for a lot of fans.
The tranquility of this moment didn’t last for long though because next up was the heavier section of the set. First was ‘Soap’, another song off okay.. Walters dedicated this one to their tour manager Rocky. It was great to see that the band and crew have a great bond and lots of fun on tour.
Then came ‘The Reaper’ off the album The Great Depression from 2018 which deals with mental health issues, stigmas and social norms. ‘The Reaper’ was probably the heaviest song on the setlist and even featured some screams and growls.
At one part during the song, Walters sang into the phone of a fan who was seemingly videocalling a friend. The singer generally liked getting up close with the audience and spent most of the time at the very front of the stage, sometimes singing face-to-face with the fans. There were multiple times throughout the evening where he and the band seemed very grateful for the community they have.
As the show came to an end, the band declared they would not go off and on stage for a classical encore since that would just mean walking two steps behind the tiny curtain next to the stage and back. Instead they played the last three songs straight away which everyone was fine with.
Two songs from The Great Depression followed before one of their oldest songs, ‘Dial Tones’, ended the show. As It Is left the stage but not without promising that they would head back to Berlin without taking another seven years. As It Is are so back!
The ‘ruin my life in europe’ tour is done now but the new self-titled As It Is album is dropping July 17th. Mark your calendars!
