The British folk rock band is on tour with their new album. That’s how it was in Berlin.
Peace has returned to the hall of Berlin’s Columbia Theater, the music from the tape has stopped, and the last conversations have died down. The crowd flinches briefly: a bowed violin chord and the brass blows away. “Non, je ne regrette rien,” Édith Piaf booms through the speakers as the four-piece band Porridge Radio enters the stage – the only real show element the group treats themselves to that evening. They had even carried out the sound check themselves shortly beforehand. Here everything is still real and very close, within reach, it gives the impression.
No frills
Dana Margolin takes another sip of her drink, which looks like whiskey-cola (and is probably whiskey-cola) and the formation from Brighton is ready to play on time on this cold December evening in Berlin. “I’m sick of the Blues,” the frontwoman breathes into the microphone, the last song from the new album CLOUDS IN THE SKY, THEY WILL ALLWAYS BE THERE FOR ME. And although it was already quiet in the audience – now we are in an anechoic room, in a vacuum, and all eyes are on the singer in the blue-red-green light.
Margolin – rolled up sweatshirt, mom jeans, Doc Martens – couldn’t seem more casual. After the first song, she removes the large clip from her hair, shakes her mane and clips the clip to her microphone stand. From now on, it will stay there like a carnivorous plant for the rest of the concert.
Emotional primal scream against stress
Porridge Radio warms up its audience for the next hour and a half with further pieces from the new record. “A Hole In The Ground” with its nervous drum pattern only begins with the guests’ cold feet, which are slowly thawing. The ballad “I Got Lost”, on the other hand, is more concerned with the emotional setting for the evening in 3/4 time. “I dreamed all night that I lost my voice in the ocean floor,” sings the bandleader. Luckily it was just a dream, because today she is in full voice.
She proves this right away in “Lavender, Raspberry”: She has a tone all her own, an acoustic bedroom look that sometimes collapses into itself because of its tenderness – and yet at the end of the song it breaks out into an uncontrolled, emotional primal scream. In fact, the previous months were no picnic for the singer; after an exhausting tour for the previous record WATERSLIDE, DIVING BOARD, LADDER TO THE SKY, she felt burnt out and creatively overwhelmed. “Then I have the urge to jump off the balcony” sounds across the room. But contrary to the leaden lyrics, the piece is not a downer: it really inspires the fans for the first time. Margolin demonstratively pulls up the guitar. Grab the strings until it squeaks. And around 600 pairs of hands thank her with applause.
Back to the roots
It’s now clear at the latest: Dana Margolin is the character it’s all about. She’s not even standing in the middle of the stage, which looks like a retro television with its rounded frame. “It’s been a crazy week up to now,” begins the otherwise taciturn singer-songwriter after a silence between two pieces. Fans who follow Porridge Radio’s social media accounts have an idea of what’s coming: Margolin says that keyboardist Georgie Stott won’t be able to be there today or for the rest of the tour. Her partner had an accident and she is with him in the hospital.
The singer played two shows in Amsterdam and Brussels alone, just as she did at open mic sessions before the band was founded in 2015. For the remaining ten dates, the group found a friendly replacement at the keys, who the Berliners showered with cheers for their spontaneous effort.
Stretching exercises on stage
With “Anybody”, the canon-like opener of the current record, the band has their following firmly under control. Admittedly, there are no mosh pits and no wall of death. But that doesn’t fit with the cranky indie folk of the Brighton group anyway. It’s more of a bouncy rocking experience; most people close their eyes in a spirited manner. The artists also rarely give free rein to their impetuous urge to move. You get little dancing, but a lot of lascivious stretching and stretching from the front woman, which is sometimes a bit too much in its (probably rather unintentional) sensuality. But hey – someone feels right here.
One-woman show
The combo mostly saves the classics from the older albums until the very end. The last highlight of the official part is the slowly building “Back to the Radio”, which ends in impressively throaty growls from Dana Margolin. A brief “good night” and then it’s over – at least formally. Of course the formation comes back after a long applause. “Thank you,” says the 31-year-old, “I really love Berlin” and begins “Waterslide, Dving Board, Ladder To The Sky” – unpretentious, casual, cool. The only solo piece, entirely without her colleagues. And that’s not even noticeable, because you have the feeling anyway: This is just their show.
In the second encore, “Sweet,” she gives her listeners what feels like a truly liberated laugh for the first time. As if she had to get through the compulsory part first before the pleasure could break down her (completely authentic) coolness. The audience joins her in many repetitions of “I am charming, I am sweet” – as if they wanted to confirm exactly that to her.