“The last surviving Ramone”, as some call him (of course he isn’t  the last one, but he surely was part of the most famous Ramones line-up, the one that played together for fifteen years), is back. It was two years since the last Zagreb blitzkrieg. His backing band has meanwhile changed the line-up. Michale Graves, best known as singer of the legendary Misfits in the second half of the ’90s, is fortunately still behind the microphone, while Clare B and Alex Kane from AntiProduct were recently replaced by a new bassist and a guitarist. Blitzkrieg’s local support were the long-running punk-rockers Eksodus and the young and crazy Devils Whorehouse. Every opening act had a share of 20-30 minutes each. Eksodus played some covers, like “I Want to Be Your Dog”, some of their standard stuff – “Radiation”, “Punk Revolution”, “Your World” and a new one – “Don’t Let ‘em”. They ended with “Anarchy, Peace & Freedom”, only leave the stage to their young colleagues from Devils Whorehouse. They started with “We Are 138″, and continued with other well-known Misfits song, like “Lost In Space”, “Scream”, “Helena”, “Descending Angels”. The audience was thrilled when they ended with “Last Caress” and “Dig Up Her Bones”. After 11pm the stage was set for Marky and his Blitzkrieg. The band’s name is chosen perfectly, as it shows the nature of their performance – fast and furious from the moment they walk onstage. The only moment when the music stopped was a brief interruption between the first and second encore, that’s all. There are no pauses between songs, it’s just Marky and his: “One, two, three, four!”. When coming on the stage, it was first Marky who took the microphone and greeted the audience. The first rows were already going crazy, with a lot of young girls in Ramones T-shirts. The Ramones’ music has obviously found its loyal fans even in today’s high school population. Then came Michale, a wild and wacky creature that is 35-years-old, but after seeing him jumping all over the stage, you’d say he’s no more than 20. The man has energy for half a dozen people and it’s great to see his enthusiasm. In addition to being extremely cool and friendly – he shook hands with fans during and after the show, climbed up the side speakers, and seemed so happy all the time – Michale is a really good singer. Personally, I like The Ramones, but I’m not really a fan, but Michale and Marky are charismatic enough to make the evening worth it regardless of the reasons that brought you to the club. They played all the most important hits of the Ramones: “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Pet Cemetery,” “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker,” “The KKK Took My Baby Away”, “I Believe In Miracles, “Beat On The Brat”,” Rockaway Beach”,”Commando, “Teenage Lobotomy”,”Chinese Rock”,”R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” and many, many more. They’ve had two encores, where they played the new song “When We Were Angels”, “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” and Joeye’s version of ” AWonderful World”. It ended with “Hey Ho, Let’s Go” and a short drum solo by Marky. As the band left the stage, the show ended with the sound of the legendary “My Way”, which was really a perfect way to end such a show.

Report & photo: Sara Profeta (sara@venia-mag.net)