The British pop duo ARXX, consisting of Hanni Pidduck (Lead vocals and guitar) and Clara Townsend (vocals and drums), recently released their second album called Good Boy. This autumn, they’re performing this album live all around Europe and on October 28th they brought their show to Gebäude 9 in Cologne, Germany. This was their largest headline show to date as well as the first show to sell out on this tour.
Warming up the crowd was Grandmas House, who immediately lit up the room with one of their older songs ‘No Place Like Home’. It was their first time performing in Cologne, yet they surprised the crowd with a few German words, before diving into a mix of older songs and even one unreleased song.
As ARXX took the stage, the room buzzed with anticipation. Opening with ‘Trouble’ from Good Boy, they immediately had the audience clapping and dancing. They continued with ‘Deep’, a track from their previous record, which they also performed when they were on tour earlier this year supporting FLETCHER. Back then, the duo already showed off some of their knowledge of German and tonight it became clear they had been keeping up with their Duolingo lessons. Switching to German, Hanni introduced themselves and thanked the audience for coming before referencing the last time they were in Cologne as an introduction to the next track on the list, ‘The Last Time’.
Hanni went on to describe the meaning behind their favourite song ‘Swim’, which is about being queer, non-binary and trans. Some fans held up a trans flag that read “Cologne loves you”, surrounded by signatures from the audience. When the song was over they hung it on the piano stand to leave it on display for the rest of the show.
The night continued with plenty of jokes and banter in between songs. It quickly became clear that Hanni and Clara share a strong connection and that their playful energy is contagious. When the time came to play ‘What Have You Done’, the band asked their usual question: “Has anyone been through a breakup?”. Laughter erupted and fingers pointed at a friend who ARXX recognized from past shows. After a short interaction with the fan, they dedicated the song to her.
As the night drew near its end, they played the title track of the new album, for which they brought inflatable dogs for the crowd to throw around. This song was clearly a crowd favourite, as everyone instantly started dancing as well as singing along loudly. The band then left the stage as if to end the show, but the fans knew an encore was bound to happen. They chanted “Zugabe”, and soon enough Hanni and Clara came running back on stage to sing two of their most well-known songs. Since this was the first show to sell out, Hanni had promised to sing in German and they came through with an entire verse and chorus during ‘Crying In The Carwash’ or ‘Weinen in der Waschstraße’. During FLETCHER’s tour, the fans had come up with some dance moves to go with the song and it was clear a lot of them had been there for it as they happily showed off their moves.
ARXX closed with ‘Ride Or Die’, the audience answering each “Tell me would you ride?” and “Tell me would you die?” with an echoing “I would!”. Then, after a final photo with the crowd, the band stepped offstage but still took the time to meet some fans outside the venue.
