Nothing More w. Zoax, Munich, Backstage, Nov. 26th 2015. Concert Review by Alex Bock

After having to skip the first tour of Nothing More through Germany with Halestorm in summer, I finally made it to the Munich show of their current European tour. The last one promoting their recent self-titled record. It was actually their third time in Germany already, all this year, because they also attended this year’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.

Opening act for this part of the European tour is Zoax, a band from the UK. Zoax formed in 2013 and released their second EP in February 2015. Their music’s a bit heavier than Nothing More, but nevertheless both bands fit perfectly together. The five piece from London delivered a fun and groovy set. Their singer Adam handles the crowd pretty well, leaving the stage to mingle with the crowd during one song, climbing the stairs to a kind of balcony in the venue to play some tunes on an acoustic guitar. He really knows how to involve the audience into the show. It was more like a meeting with friends, than a simple ‘band plays on stage and everyone down there watches’ gig, which was pretty awesome. I’m hoping for some more ‘party with friends’ gigs from that band. Adam announced that they’ll be back in Germany soon. So everyone who hasn’t seen them live and is out for a good time… try to catch that band in 2016!

At about 10 pm Nothing More climbed the stage. Just so you get the picture. The club they played is really small. There were app. 150 people there last night, so compared to the shows NM plays in the US by now, it’s a very small and intimate place to play. One of my fave small clubs though in Munich. You’re really close to the band and for both parties it’s far easier to make a connection. So despite the size of the club and therefor of the stage, they fit everything on stage like they do when they’re playing at home. The amazingly looking additional drums on stage, the bass rig that’s added to it during the final song of the night. It’s not only music they play, it’s an awesome visual show as well. Just some weeks ago the band had a lineup change, so they brought along their new drummer Ben Anderson, who blended in well. The majority of the songs they played were taken from their 2014 released self-titled record, like ‘Here’s To The Heartache’, ‘I’ll Be OK’, ‘First Punch’ and ‘Jenny’, to name a few. My personal highlights were the parts where Jonny, that started out in the band as a drummer actually and switched to vocals a few years later, plays the ‘Mad Max’ looking additional drums. Add the bass later in the set and it’s mainly rhythms for some time which sounded pretty powerful. The announced final song of the night stayed the final one. Nice change to the usual endings of the shows with the crowd chanting for one last song. Jonny promised they’d give it their all in that last song and they did! In fact they played their heart and soul out during every single song that night. All in all Nothing More played a 90 minutes set, which is really rare these days.

After the show, both bands hung out at the venue, talking to the people, signing stuff and getting some pictures taken. By the smiles on everyone’s faces, I’m sure they made some new fans that night and next time we’ll see them headline a bigger club. Anywhere(way), I’ll be there!!

Nothing More will be playing a few more shows in Europe, than head to Japan for a few dates and then fly back home just in time for Christmas. They’ll start working on a new album in early 2016, so keep your eyes and ears open for more amazing music from them.

To get more information on upcoming tours and the bands in general go check their social media.

~ Photos and article by Alex Bock, https://twitter.com/lexi22473_b

Zoax

Nothing More