Road To Burn: 1000mods live at Hard Club, Porto

If we cannot go to the desert, the desert must come to us. In essence, that is the one line that describes the intense and sweaty night we spent in the good company of two great Greek bands, a couple of weeks ago. On the one hand, we hand the purveyors of stoner rock melodies 1000mods, and on the other, we had the punk rock newcomers Frenzee. This most auspicious of nights at the Hard Club started with the latter, coming in hot with a frenetic sound produced by the powerful riffage of Adonis, the rapid-fire drumming of Nick and the amazing stage presence of vocalist Apollonia Xylouris, who reminded us of a young Jehnny Beth, constantly on the move and even singing among the crowd. The riot grrrl spirit flew wild during this show, and many attendees promptly accepted the calling, commencing the first mosh pits and crowdsurfs of the night.

The energy gathered and spent during Frenzee reached new and incredible heights as 1000mods made their way to the stage. Returning to Portugal after an incredible performance at last year’s SonicBlast, the Greek troupe were once again presenting their latest record, Youth of Dissent, from which they played songs such as “So Many Days”, “Pearl” and “Mirrors”. The already wild crowd went even crazier, shouting for the mythical Julio, a figure tied closely to the lore of SonicBlast, who some say was a man who grew mushrooms on his socks and offered them to the people for the ultimate enlightening experience. Legends aside, as the band ripped their way through stoner rock classics such as “Electric Carve”, Into the Spell” and “Road to Burn” the crowd sang every lyric and played every note on air guitar, as the chantings for Julio, the moshing and the crowdsurfing got increasingly more energetic and fiercer. There was even a Jus Oborn look alike that was constantly flying like Jesus hung on a cross. After a much-lauded performance of “Vidage” and “Super Van Vacation”, that constituted the encore, the band said their goodbyes, promising to return as quickly as possible. As we made our way out of the venue, we cleared our sweat, and with a happy grin on our faces, we made our way back home for some needed rest.