On Thursday, March 19th, the Irish Band The Academic played a show at the Bahnhof Pauli in Hamburg as part of their 2026 Europe Tour, with support from the German band Crimson Bloom. Originally the tour was planned for Spring 2025, but they postponed it so they could focus on their next album and new music in general. Since then, they’ve released the single ‘Bye Bye Baby’ in September 2025 and ‘Figure It Out’ this February. Although the show ended up being later than planned, fans seemed to have a great time and brought the energy as if it didn’t get postponed!
Crimson Bloom consists of vocalist David, bassist Paul, guitarist Levi, and drummer Henri. The four of them immediately started their set with ‘Instant Love’. They managed to keep people’s attention throughout their set and to have them participate during the show by, for example, encouraging them to put their hands up and clap during a song. “Ok Hamburg, wir sind Crimson Bloom. Nehmt mal die Hände hoch und fangt an zu klatschen, David said, which translates to “Ok Hamburg, we are Crimson Bloom. Put up your hands and start to clap”. He also encouraged the crowd to sing along. ‘Queen of your own decay’, ‘Cherry Lipstick’, ‘TOO BUSY TO LOVE’ AND ‘Walk Away’ were the other original songs the band played. For ‘TOO BUSY TO LOVE’, David animated the whole room to go down and then jump up. Introducing ‘Walk Away’, David talked about it being from their new EP of the same name which has just been released.
Crimson Bloom also played multiple covers that night, such as Muse’s ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, Harry Styles’ ‘Kiwi’ and ‘She Looks So Perfect’ by 5 Seconds of Summer, closing the set with the latter. Huge applause followed. “Dankeschön, das wars Hamburg! Nochmal ein letztes Mal für The Academic. Wir sehen uns hinten, später am Merch stand nach der Show. Habt noch einen schönen Abend. Wir sind Crimson Bloom!” David said before the band left the stage. (Thank you, that’s it Hamburg! One last time for The Academic. We’ll see each other later at the Merch stand after the show. Have a nice evening. We are Crimson Bloom!)
Then it was time for The Academic, which consists of vocalist and guitarist Craig Fitzgerald, guitarist Matt Murtagh, bassist Stephen Murtagh, and Dean Gavin on drums. Fans were already excited for them to hit the stage, cheering as they walked on and started with ‘Bye Bye Baby’, followed by ‘Don’t Take It Personally’ and ‘I Feel It Too’. During the latter, Fitzgerald said “You gotta sing it Hamburg” and more of the crowd sang along. After it he asked “Hello Hamburg, how are you doing?” the crowd cheered in response. He also thanked the crowd for having come down to the show and noted that it was the last Germany show of the tour. The band also sang the unreleased song ‘In The Know’. During ‘Mixtape 2003’, Craig animated the crowd to put their hands up: “Let’s see your hands Hamburg!”.
Introducing ‘Girlfriends’, Fitzgerald talked about it being one of their older songs and that it’s about an “imaginary girlfriend, drinks we weren’t allowed to have and cars we couldn’t really drive”. He did also mention that they debuted that song circa a decade ago in Hamburg! Fans sang along loudly to the song. ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends’ was the last song before the encore. When the band then entered the stage again, they played their newest song ‘Figure It Out’. This was followed by a calmer one, ‘Homesick’.
Just before ending the night with ‘Bear Claws’, Fitzgerald thanked the crowd for their support and mentioned that they’re now an independent band. When the song ended, Fitzgerald threw his guitar and caught it again. He said “Thank you Hamburg, see you next time!” as the whole room clapped and the band left the stage for the last time tonight.
