Die Spitz packed the Bottleneck Saturday night

8 hours ago

Nick Spacek,

Die Spitz. // photo by Nick Spacek

Die Spitz
with Babe Haven
The Bottleneck
Saturday, November 8

When last Die Spitz came through the area, they played a midweek day at Minibar in May, but returning with a fresh album, Something to Consume, on Third Man Records and on a Saturday night saw them pack out Lawrence’s Bottleneck with a crowd fairly buzzing with energy before the first song of the opener had even rung out.

The energy was worthwhile, as Die Spitz would throw it back to the crowd tenfold over the course of their hour-long set. Be it frontwoman Ellie Livingston telling the crowd, “Free Palestine. Fuck ICE. If you don’t agree with that, don’t come to our shows,” and getting a roar of approval, or knighting people “cunty” before their finale of “Throw Yourself to the Sword,” Die Spitz knew how to make just two short albums’ worth of songs seem as though they had a decade of material from which to draw.

Die Spitz. // photo by Nick Spacek

Drummer Chloe de St. Aubin and guitarist Ava Schrobilgen switched for “Voir Dire,” a trade-off which would happen several more times, as well as de St. Aubin and Schrobilgen taking over vocal duties from Livingston. Bassist Kate Halter was the only member of Die Spitz not to take lead vocals at any point, but more than made up for it by moving all over the stage and repeatedly leaping from the monitors, a seemingly constant blur of energy, plus crowd-surfing while playing at one point. Livingston herself would go into the audience with her guitar for “America Porn,” just three songs into the band’s set.

Unsurprisingly, there was “One more song!” repeatedly chanted after their set proper ended, and when the band returned to the stage, we got several more, and the band stood there afterward, seemingly flabbergasted by the response given by the Lawrence crowd. Die Spitz very enthusiastically and earnestly thanked the crowd and left the stage, with the crowd shortly thereafter walking into the chilly November night, shaking their heads and grinning about just how good that was (it’s me, I’m the crowd).

Babe Haven. // photo by Nick Spacek

Openers Babe Haven were pure riot grrl, but angrier. It’s as though they saw the strides made by their forbearers and have responded to the steps backward in society with righteous fury. They were not without a sense of humor, though, crying, “We’re only human!” while trying to deal with getting a song going. As Die Spitz would also do in their headlining set, they split the crowd for a wall of death. Their sound is kinda sloppy, but more that they were loose and comfortable on stage, with the slightest hint of nu-metal creeping into their punk. 1999 has been distilled into a band and it is Babe Haven.

I’ll gladly and gleefully watch any band who says, “You know what they say: the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi,” before getting the crowd to start a circle pit. It’s impressive to see an opener win over a crowd so immediately, to the point where Babe Haven’s “Girls to the Front” literally saw women running from back by the pool tables, through the crowd, to join the throng. That’s how you kick off a show.

All photos by Nick Spacek

Die Spitz