I have been a fan of Fischer-Z since 1979 when their single The Worker made an impact and I saw them live, by chance, at an event at Weymouth Pavilion. Since then I have bought many, but not all albums and also seen them, or John Watts solo, as often as I could, which is not very often for a band who are much bigger in Europe than they are here.
The latest chance to see them play was at Oslo Hackney, a new venue for me, as part of their 50th Anniversary Tour. One advantage of them not being that big over here is that the tickets were an irresistible £30. Three of us quickly accepted that offer!
Getting there was not too bad, despite being on the far side of London, thanks to the Overground which took us to the door of the venue from Richmond.I did some exploring, and ticked off a few new roads, beforehand and was struck by the contrast between the many tatty shops you expect to see in poorer area and places like an M&S Food Hall and a Gail's which suggested some pockets of affluence too.
Admittedly it was Sunday but exciting vegetarian food was impossible to find so we settled for a plain pizza in the Oslo bar and that was fine.
Fischer-Z were supported by Kirk Brandon Akoustik, a guitar and cello duo led by Kink the former leader of Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny. This was all new to me and went down very well.
There have been many incarnations of Fischer-Z and this was a five piece with, in addition to John on lead vocals and guitar, a lead guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. The sound they produced was richly textured and could be both boisterous or gentle depending on the needs of each song.
And what songs! I did not take a copy of the setlist safe in the knowledge that it would be online; that failed so it is down to my memory. There were songs from through the 50 years and a heavy sprinkling came from the early years with personal favourites like Remember Russia, Battalions of Strangers, So Long, Cruise Missiles, ...
The band seemed to enjoy playing them all as much as I enjoyed listening to them and their performance added to the instrumentation and the sound setup made this a truly exceptional concert. It definitely left me wanting more. Let's hope it is not too long before they are back in London.
