Saturday Clubs

 

At the end of this short series, I must mention a club where I experienced some of my most memorable concerts. The Wagenburg Tunnel connects two districts in the north of Stuttgart. In 1985, a club called “Die Röhre” (The Tube) opened in a side arm of the tunnel. It was a long tube with a large bar on the left-hand side. Initially, it was used almost exclusively for parties at the weekend and occasional concerts. It was not until the late 1980s that concerts began to be held there regularly.

A defining experience was a double concert in 1989, when Spacemen 3 and The Wedding Present performed. The latter impressed with their indie guitar sound, but were able to keep up with the psychedelic-tinged guitar feedback, as a bootleg shows.

Frank Tewald · Spacemen 3 - Stuttgart, Röhre, 14.05.1989

This club has always been a good venue for indie bands and new independent bands, even if they haven't always been to my taste. I still remember many gigs by bands I had never heard of before and who later went on to have great careers. One example would be Rammstein, who were still unknown at the time but already used massive guitars and pyrotechnics back then. In a sentimental retrospective, I think back to concerts by Meat Puppets, fIREHOSE, The Mekons, Chumbawumba and Mark Lanegan. Unfortunately, the club had to close its doors 10 years ago as part of the massive renovation of Stuttgart Central Station.

Labour Day

Another year passed by and it is the first of May again. It is the international workers day and was celebrated all over the world to honor the efforts of the labor unions. In these days it is impossible to celebrate this in fact of general rules of social distances. Anyway we should remember the times when ordinary workers had 16 hour shifts under miserable conditions. You can say that this more than one hundred years ago and we can't compare the times but I see almost everyday the impact of  Covid 19. The guaranties of our government don't get to the very small companies they told us because there were so many terms to be fulfilled that those companies were unable to do. On the other hand big enterprises grab non-interest loans they don't really need. I suppose that after the Corona days many small factories, shops and pubs will be vanished in a few months. And what could happen you can see when you look at the great depression one hundred years ago. In 1988 Chumbawamba released an album with traditional English protest songs. Many of them are a cappella versions and remember the days of fighting for more rights.

Chumbawamba - The Diggers Song
Chumbawamba - Poverty Knock
Chumbawamba - Smashing Of The Van
Chumbawamba - Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire