After a first run of European shows back in January, the second European leg of Des Rocs’ ‘Dream Machine Tour’ started in September. On October 4th, Des Rocs and his band stopped at the Strom in Munich. It was the first show that New York-based Danny Rocco, alias Des Rocs, played in Munich, joined by William Tully (drums) and Eric Mendelsohn (bass).
First on stage, as the first opening act, was Pistols at Dawn, consisting of Jonathan Sookdewsing (lead vocals, guitar), Gabriel Cuevas (bass), Will James (lead guitar), and Adam Jaffe (drums). During the set, Jonathan said ‘(…) remember the name, Will motherfucking James’ and then Will did a guitar solo. This ended up in Jonathan starting a Will chant, which the crowd followed.
They played their song ‘Enemy’, followed by their newest release ‘Obsession’, which was released September 20th. The crowd lit up the room with their phone lights. Jonathan thanked the fans, screaming ‘Munich thank you so fucking much’ after the song. They ended their set with the song ‘Not Sorry’, and while walking off of the stage Jonathan said ‘till next time, goodnight’. They did what an opening act is supposed to do: they hyped up the crowd during their whole set, the crowd kept cheering, people were vibing along.
Next on, as the second opening act, was Moon Fever, a band from Seattle, consisting of Triston Bracht (vocals), Mitch Micoley (guitar), Dave Gracious (bass) and Troy Wageman (drums). As they walked on stage, Triston said ‘Munich let me hear you make some fucking noise’ and they started off their set. They played ‘Nothing Left To Lose’, after which Triston enthusiastically said ‘oh yeah’, which the crowd loudly said back. He also mentioned having been at the Oktoberfest, which is a Volksfest that takes place every year in Munich. During the third song, Dave went into the crowd.
Triston asked ‘Are you getting fucking tired yet ?’, which the fans proved wrong by cheering loudly. They continued their set and played ‘Forever Sleep’ as their seventh song of the night. Just before ending their set with ‘Feels So Good’, Triston thanked Des Rocs for having them on tour and said ‘We fucking love you’. During Moon Fever’s whole set, there were many crowd interactions, fans smiled and the band was energetic on stage. Triston went down on his knees multiple times.
Then it was finally time for Des Rocs. Already hyped from both supporting acts and excited for Des Rocs, the crowd cheered when his band and him, visibly being happy about the upcoming set, walked on stage. They started off with the song the tour is named after, ‘Dream Machine’, followed by ‘Wayne’, ‘Used to the Darkness’ and ‘In The Night’. Des Rocs mentioned the band and him had been at the Oktoberfest as well, having had a great time there and how it was their first time in Munich.
He followed by telling a story about how he met a guy while sitting in Union Square in New York. This guy came up to him and mentioned that whenever he isn’t feeling good and he sits at Union Square, he closes his eyes to imagine his dream, he ended up asking Des Rocs to do the same. This led up to Des Rocs asking the room to close their eyes for 60 seconds to think about their dream, the people they’re with in it, to ‘take it in’.
At the beginning of the song ‘Never Ending Moment’, a fan shouted ‘Everybody loves you’ at him. The crowd sang ‘Oh, ooh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh-oh (…)’ back. Afterwards, he thanked the people who made the show possible. During ‘Let Me Live/Let Me Die’, Des Rocs said ‘Thank you so much Munich, you’ve been amazing. This is one of the best fucking shows of the whole tour. Thank you so much’.
Afterwards, the room repeatedly shouted ‘Zugabe’ (encore in German) and ‘We want more’. Des Rocs and the band followed that, by playing ‘Ruby with the Sharpest Lies’, and as the last song of the night, ‘Suicide Romantics’, both fan requests. This set was filled with smiling faces in the crowd and on stage, there were fan interactions, Des Rocs got gifted Toffifees and the fans clapped, vibed and sang along. It was an amazing night for all!
