It has been almost three years since St. Albans-based punk rock band Trash Boat last visited the Netherlands, and over five years since they last played a headline show in the country. While they’ve played support slots for bands such as Enter Shikari and I Prevail, they haven’t gotten to perform a full set since they visited Haarlem in September 2019. Therefore, it was extra special that on the 20th of February, the band finally got to play another headline show at Eindhoven’s Dynamo.
The support for this evening was 32elephants, a Dutch band based in the capital of Amsterdam. The midwest emo – or lowlands emo, referring to them being from the Netherlands – band consists of vocalist and guitarist Patchouwa “Patch” van der Bosch, guitarist Johann Maaya, bassist Joey Reijenga, and drummer Leon Zevenhek. The four of them took to the stage at exactly 20:00 and immediately opened their set with their newest single, ‘Empty Seats’, followed by ‘Take Me Somewhere Nice’. After the third song on tonight’s setlist, ‘Basil’, Van der Bosch told the audience that tonight was Maaya’s first show with the band, so “give him a warm welcome”. Van der Bosch also took a moment to thank the audience for coming tonight before stating that they would “take it down a notch” by playing a slower song. This would be the only breather in this half hour, as 32elephants then continued with ‘2022’, which featured the first mosh pit of the night. During this pit, it was quite visible that the hall definitely wasn’t that crowded, as the space that opened up in the middle was huge. Neither the band nor the audience let this stop them from having the best time, however, and the energy was wild. The band continued with ‘July’ and ‘Right on Time’. The latter is a cover of a song by one of their friends, and the studio version of this can only be found on a special compilation vinyl. Van der Bosch said that 50% of the vinyl’s proceeds would be going to charity, which led to some extra cheers from the audience. Finally, the band ended their set with ‘New Wave Summer’, the crowd excitedly clapping along for this final track.
Thirty minutes later, it was time for headliner Trash Boat to finally get on stage. The rock band consists of vocalist Tobi Duncan, guitarists Dann Bostock and Ryan Hyslop, bassist James Grayson, and drummer Oakley Moffatt. “What the fuck is up, Eindhoven?” Duncan yelled as the set opened with ‘Tring Quarry’. Tonight would be the final night of the band’s first headline tour in a while, and it must be noted that this was also the first tour in a long time during which the band would be playing quite a lot of older songs. It was evident right away that this made their long-time fans extra excited – the mosh pit opened up during this first track already, and the crowdsurfing commenced as well. “That was a phenomenal start,” Duncan said afterwards, before the band continued with ‘Shade’, ‘Be Someone’, and ‘Silence Is Golden’. Four songs in, and already a song from each of their studio albums had been played. “No rest for me, no rest for any of you,” Duncan said in between, telling the audience they had no excuse not to give it their all, as it was a Friday night and thus the start of the weekend.
After those first four songs, Duncan stated that they went on this tour in honour of their newest EP, Even If I Never Get There, and would now be playing a couple of songs from it. They started with ‘Get By Then Die’, followed by the EP’s title track, which also happens to be Duncan’s favourite song from the project. While Duncan’s vocals were on point the entire night, he especially got to show them off during this particular song. The other two songs on the EP were not played, although some shouts from the audience could be heard telling Trash Boat that they should. Instead, Duncan said they’d continue with music from their other albums, starting with ‘Are You Ready Now?’ from Heaven Can Wait. The band was actually supposed to go on tour in support of that album last year, but these shows were unfortunately cancelled. While a few songs from it still made it onto the setlist, most were cut in favour of older tracks. In between ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Catharsis’, Duncan explained how he noticed the fans asking for specific songs to be played in the comment section on Instagram, and the latter was the most-requested. The album this song is from, Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through, will be turning 10 this year, and Duncan said they’re planning to do something special in honour of this.
Ten songs into the evening, Trash Boat continued with ‘Better Than Yesterday’, a song Duncan wrote about how he’s “always comparing [himself] to everyone else” and to “remind [him] that the only person [he] needs to be better than is yesterday’s self”. This relatable track was followed by ‘Old Soul’, another meaningful song that Duncan wrote about his relationship with his late grandfather. These two songs had been the chance for the audience to rest, but the fans would now have to get “back on their bullshit” for the remainder of the night. Banger after banger was played, starting with ‘Bad Entertainment’, including a guitar solo to replace Milkie Way’s part, and ‘filthy/RIGHTEOUS’. During the latter, bassist Grayson made it into the pit to join the fans. As soon as he got back up on the stage, Duncan told the audience how sometimes it can be hard to write songs, especially political or social ones, as it can “feel as if [his] words have no weight”. However, the next song they’d play was the easiest he’s ever written, as it contains “facts about [him] and no one can tell [him] otherwise.” Duncan continued to tell the audience in no uncertain words that he likes men, women, and everyone in between before playing ‘He’s So Good’. This was definitely one of the night’s highlights, and the room got a lot warmer as the number of crowdsurfers went up a notch.
Half the band left the stage for the ‘encore’, but Duncan and Bostock stayed to play ‘Brave Face’, which Duncan wrote about his father. During this track, one fan got up on stage to stage dive, but also had to take a moment to sing part of the song and give Duncan a big hug. As soon as the rest of the band made it back, Trash Boat finished the evening with ‘Synthetic Sympathy’ and their most-streamed song ‘Strangers’. In between, Duncan took one final moment to address the fans and apologize that this EU run was such a short one, as it was meant to get the engines running again. He thanked the audience for making this show “so fucking special” and told them to say hi to him afterwards at the merch, as he would love to thank everyone personally as well. And with that, the audience thanked Trash Boat for this show by making sure that during the last song, they truly showed the band how much they loved them. Not a single person was left standing still until the final notes sounded.
