After kicking off their tour in Athens a few days before, it was now time for Bad Nerves’ first of three shows in The Netherlands. On November 5th, Doornroosje in Nijmegen was packed with fans waiting to see Bad Nerves and supporting band Ultra Q.
For Ultra Q it was the first day of the tour since they did not join Bad Nerves to Athens a few days earlier. The band from California has been to the UK a few times for one-off shows, but this is their first full tour including mainland Europe. Ultra Q consists of guitarist Jakob Danger Armstrong, guitarist Enzo Malaspina, bassist Kevin Judd and drummer Chris Malaspina. You might be thinking “Armstrong, like Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day?” and you’re right, as he followed in his father’s footsteps into the music industry.
With songs like ‘Waiting’, ‘Saturday’ and ‘Peace of Mind’, they got the crowd happily headbanging along. At one point, Enzo had some trouble with his guitar, but such things are no problem as the band decided to play a cover of ‘Can’t Hardly Wait’, originally by The Replacements. While you can definitely hear some Green Day influences in their music, the band makes very good songs with their own unique twist on them.
At 9:20 PM it was time for Bad Nerves to take the stage. Bad Nerves consists of vocalist Bobby Bird, guitarists Will Power and George Berry, bassist Jon Poulton and drummer Sam Morley. From the second the first notes of ‘Baby Drummer’ started, the middle of the venue turned into a whirlwind of people. Dancing, headbanging and moshing around, they kept it going throughout the whole night.
The show was filled with fun, from both the band and the crowd. Bobby jokingly said he was not satisfied with the volume of the crowd’s cheers after a song ended, and asked them to cheer for everything he said from then on. He had a lot of fun playing with this, saying short sentences just to get the crowd to cheer again.
People of all ages could be seen at this show, from teens who might just be getting into this kind of music to people who grew up during the prime time of the Sex Pistols. I overheard some of the older people say that Bad Nerves’ music brought them way back to their younger days.
Before getting into ‘Antidote’, Bobby announced it as the fastest song the crowd would hear, and therefore he needed everyone to move their bodies. The crowd of course gave them exactly this energy he asked for. Will, George and Jon were also jumping up in the air with their instruments feeding off the energy from the crowd.
After coming back on stage for the encore, the entire band froze in their places for a few minutes, before kicking into ‘You’ve Got The Nerve’. Unfortunately, there were only two songs left to go crazy to, which were ‘Can’t Be Mine’ and ‘Dreaming’.
After the show both Ultra Q and Bad Nerves came out to hang around the merch area, talking to the fans and signing newly bought merch. This successful night was just the beginning of the tour: the band will be on the road until December 21st with a final show on January 17th in London, check out all remaining dates here!
