Recommendations of the Editorial team
“As a young man,” says Matt Johnson, “I wrote this song. I described Great Britain as what it is: the 51st state of the United States”. Then he laughs. “What about Germany? In the meantime, many countries are about being the 51st state of the United States.” He says: vassal state. From the Angry Young Man – Johnson was 25 years old in 1986 – no Angry Old Man. But a relaxed, albeit slightly cynical observer of world politics. He often exaggerates, but that is part of a successful artist. And that does the song “Heartland” so well. (Fun Fact: In “Heartland” Johnson sings the UK as “51st State of the USA”, New Model Army three months earlier as “51st State of America”, both became the biggest band hits.)
An evening in the Elbphilharmonie
At the end of the two-hour appearance in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Matt Johnson alias the the the the year labeled as his favorite of the year, although the second section of the “Ensouled” tour, named after the latest The-the-album “Ensoulment”, is also very young. But a concert in the Elbphilharmonie, “In the Round!”, As Johnson says in an interview before the concert (to read shortly on rollingstone.de) with bright eyes, something like the last word in terms of “summit of the 2025 tour” seems to be able to offer.
Political songs as time capsules
It is a sensational appearance. Not only because of the back catalog of this one-man plus-temporary companion. But also because good political songs are always timeless. So you die immediately. “Arabia!” it sounds in the choir of “Sweet Bird of Truth”. An indictment against interventions in the Middle East, which fell on Libya in April 1986 with the US bombing. Then comes Churchill and his “We’ll Fight Them at the Beaches” quotation in “Armageddon Days (Are Here Again)”.
Prophetic music in an insecure time
Both songs were kept as singles in 1986 and 1989 by Johnson’s record company because political events (La-Bellen-attack or Chomeinis Fatwa) took place almost simultaneously. Johnson appeared as what he was, and the label was afraid of it: he was a prophet. Gulf Wars, Rushdie, later the climate catastrophe in “Lonely Planet”, one piece from 1993: Johnson stirs song scraps to world history, which flows in one today, which appears more uncertain than before and in the spirit of the listener is triggered by the Johnson classics. “These are my songs of the teenage,” he says, who was traded with his second album “Soul Mining” from 1983 as the child prodigy of the post-punk, on the stage of the Elbphilharmonie.
Records on early works
At some point Keyboarder DC Collard unpacks the lovely clownersk of sounding omnichord, the instrument on which Johnson recorded early songs such as “Perfect” and “This is the day”. A vintage box. Johnson points to a gentleman in the first row of seats: “Maybe you still know the omnichord!”. The man wears an Atari shirt. Then “Icing Up” comes from the the-the-debut “Burning Blue Soul” (it is always admirable how Stoisch Johnson is the sound collagen sketches from this 1981 work, a kind of “metal machine music”, only with singing, for today’s live audience). Later he also brings “infected”, which could unconsciously be based on Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” (but of course classes are better).
A piano solo opens the door to infinity
Everyone in the band has shiny moments. Guitarist Barrie Cadogan is considered a reliable Wingman (maybe you know the “Better Call Saul” title melody-that is also from him) and transposes the pieces of his predecessors, such as Johnny Marrs game on “Slow Emotion Replay”. Bassist James Eller was there for the first time at “Mind Bomb” from 1989, so it also plays his own pieces. DC Collard not only intones the best keyboard wind players (“Sweet Bird of Truth”), but, and that for years, Jools Holland famous “Uncertain Smile” pianosolo note for grade. Live as on record not in the middle, but at the end of the song: the best at the end. It is so long that Matt Johnson can drink a half -liter bottle of water on the stage. This piano solo, as Rolling-Stone colleague Arne Willander, rightly said, opens the door to infinity. In the end, Collard hit the keys a little more snappier and becomes Rowlf. But it works.
The conclusion belongs to drummer Earl Harvin and “Giant”. He does it excellently as Zeke manyika, who once drummed on “Giant”. And what he drums there could be familiar to anyone who does not know The The The The The. Kate Bush once listened to “Giant”, called Elyika, let him play, did not hire him for the final version of “Running Up That Hill”, but then had almost the same drum game used. “Running Up the Hill” became a hit. And the “Giant” Chant, a mixture of tribal and industrial, found its precipitation in Bush’s hit “Cloudbusting”. Kate Bush celebrated her comeback with both songs in 1985.
The the – legacy and present
The The The Were never as big as Kate Bush, but Matt Johnson also has a legacy. Hear teenagers “This is the day” in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and wonder who could be this type called the the the the one that is difficult to google. Older hears “Lonely Planet” in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and wonder who sang this appeal in the credits: “If you can’t change the world, change yourself”. In July The The The In Munich and Frankfurt appear, then everyone can find out. There are still tickets.