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I made my third trip to the Free & Easy 2016 for a special treat, The Real McKenzies. What sounds like a band from the Scottish Highlands is actually a six piece from Vancouver, British Columbia. According to their facebook page they are ‘The Original Celtic Punk band’ and if you’re ever watching a live set of the band, you’ll probably agree to that.

Opening bands were Beeswax from Germany and Igel Vs. Shark from Austria. Both bands sounding differently from The Real McKenzies musicwise, but then, how many bagpipes do you hear in rock/punk music?!

Throughout the first two bands the audience was really reluctant, interestingly it was the same case in the venue next door. For the first half of the evening we switched locations and moved around a lot to get some impressions of the other bands playing the festival and there was the same situation in the Halle too. You could easily stand in front of the stage with no one behind you, even if you just came in through the back door, and the rows of people began further in the back.

Thankfully that changed when the stage was set up for The Real McKenzies. The room got busy in no time and even the gallery was full once again. Aspy Luison, who’s playing the bagpipes, got on stage first, followed one by one by the rest of the band. Last but not least Paul McKenzie joined the band and the party started. There was lots of beer involved and for those who didn’t know until then -> You don’t wear underpants (German: Unterhosen) under a kilt!!! All band members actually wear kilts on stage and Paul McKenzie showed the crowd, that’s it’s not only a myth. Some of the fans there also came in a traditional kilt and were challenged by Paul to get rid of their underwear, if they still wore some. A challenge that some people followed, since they were told that everyone that gets caught still wearing them, has to wear them as a hat.

The audience that night was really into their music. Most of them knowing every lyric, singing and dancing along throughout the whole set. The encore, that closed the night, was ‘Barrett’s Privateers’, a song solely with drums and vocals. The perfect ending to a fun night.

Check out some of the pictures from that night