THE RATS at Koma F, February 26, 2010

This weekend Köpi is celebrating its 20th birthday with a huge festival. I was there for the Friday event and it was massive. The site was muddy and puddles everywhere because the snow was finally melting after two month, but it didn´t keep way more than thousand people from showing up. A great testament to the vitality of the squatters movement and the anarchist punk scene.

There were many groups playing last night but the only one I saw was  the Rats from Umeå. I got to meet Johan, one of their two guitarists, before the show and he told me they had taken a plane to Berlin and it felt like summer for them because in Umeå it was still minus 25° Celcius.

The Rats are not on tour and were invited to the Köpi Fest exclusively. Deservedly so because they absolutely destroy live. They have the best set-up for any rock´n´roll group: a solid backing band of smart but rather normal guys and a real animal for a front person.

They have played Koma F many times, one of their shows was my first post in June 2008. I I hope to catch them again because they rule.