Iceage at the Marquis Theater

Iceage at the Marquis Theater

April 7, 2013 Off By Billy Thieme
Denmark's Iceage took over the Marquis theater last Thursday night for a blistering 40 minutes. (Photo: DenverThread)

Denmark’s Iceage took over the Marquis theater last Thursday night for a blistering 40 minutes. (Photo: DenverThread)

Coming from Denmark means that, invariably, at some point you’re going to get a Hamlet comparison – probably from a smart-assed music journalist. So here goes – Iceage’s Elias Bender Rønnenfelt definitely rocks a Hamlet-esque demeanor, both on record and onstage. At their Denver show at the Marquis theater last Thursday night, he sulked in the crowd before the show, catching and opening set by Tampa Bay’s “Merchandise,” decked entirely in black – jeans, jacket and midwest country preacher leather wide-brimmed hat – sipping a tall boy. He looked angry – maybe a little tipsy – but really, really angry.

When the band took the stage, they started loud, fast ans sloppy, and didn’t stop or chat or anything for a good 40 minutes. A great 40 minutes – to be exact. Rønnenfelt lunged at the audience, screaming in his low guttural howl as if to blame anyone, everyone in the pit for his dis-ease. Iceage’s sloppy punk rock no-wave noise is a perfect antidote for what’s passing as punk rock pretty much everywhere nowadays – and it’s a good thing they’re getting heard. They’re not nice guys, but they don’t need to be. Rønnenfelt’s sulk is heavy, carrying the weight of a lot of shit that’s wrong with the world it seems – at least from a post-adolescent Danish punk rocker’s point of view. His demeanor is somewhere between Ian Curtis and Sid Vicious – but his anger is pretty shakespearian. The four-piece showed it that night on the Marquis’ low stage. Check out this slide show to catch a glimpse of the heat.

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  • Billy Thieme

    Aging punk rocker with a deep of all things musical and artistic, enough to remain constantly young and perpetually mystified. Billy has journalistic dreams, but of a decidedly pastoral, Scottish nature.