Music / Reviews
Review: Zebrahead, Thekla – ‘Relentlessly high-energy’
There’s something magic about a crowd that’s already bouncing before the band even hits the stage.
Down in Thekla’s belly on a weeknight, the energy was bubbling.
Judging by the roar when the lights dropped, I was one of the few first-timers in a room full of Zebrahead diehards.
is needed now More than ever
A fan wearing a zebra costume crowd-surfed onto the stage
From the first note, the band’s turbo-charged punk rock whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
Zebrahead’s sound is an infectious mash-up of pop-punk hooks and punk rock grit.
It’s fast, it’s loud and it’s got guitar solos for days.
A continuous stream of crowd-surfers lasted for multiple songs (actively encouraged by the band members)
For me (and I might be showing my age here) the highlights came when they dipped into tracks from Phoenix.
Hell Yeah dripped with punk rock attitude.
Hearing it live stripped the song of any studio polish and delivered it as pure, high-octane energy.
In the middle of the set, Zebrahead brought a mini bar onto the stage and started handing out drinks to the audience
There was barely a song without a wave of bodies surfing overhead, grins plastered across sweaty faces.
This chaos was only encouraged by Zebrahead, who had a crew member climb the balcony, launch himself into an inflatable dinghy and sail across a sea of fans.
One of the band members launched themselves off the Thekla balcony and landed on a dinghy – he was crowd-surfing in an actual boat!
It was sweaty, messy and relentlessly high-energy. The kind of night that leaves your ears ringing and your adrenaline spiking like you could run laps around the Harbourside.
Main photo: Isobel Higley
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