Prague’s Rock Café club does resemble a bunker – a small bare concrete hall deep under the earth’s surface. The fact that the sound engineer’s place is iron-plated with dense grey grating also suggests that an enemy attack is anticipated any moment. So it’s in a way fitting that this venue hosted a band which named their last album Songs from the Bunker – a bunch of Norwegians going by the name of the Greenland Whalefishers.

When the Czech support band (a folk-punk family gang of a father and three sons, all dressed in kilts and doing their best to butcher such notoriously well-known numbers as Jesse James and Auld Lang Syne as well as their own compositions) reluctantly left the stage, the Whalefishers launched into their set, kicking off with another notoriously well-known (but in their case not butchered) number – the Irish traditional Whiskey You’re the Devil.

Surprisingly, the club remained more than half empty (not even a stalwart optimist would have been able to call it half-full); maybe due to the late hour in the middle of a working week, maybe due to insufficient promotion of the gig. There was a "hard core" directly in front of the stage, a gang of "tough punks"... of about 13 or 14 years of age. One of them even sported a prize mohawk, which his friends kept carefully smoothing and straightening with their helpful hands. Several girls engaged in a happy dancing in front of the stage with blissful expressions on their faces.

The Whalefishers plunged into one song after another, without pauses, without delays, without wasting any time with idle chatter. Arvid, the frontman, who sounds like a clone of Shane MacGowan and yet not a cheap imitator, proved to be a real showman – constantly jumping up and down like a rubber toy, crouching, waving his arms in the air like a windmill. Hugging the leg of his bandmate while continuing to sing. Crawling on the back of another bandmate. Other musicians did their best not to lag behind.




The set was a colourful mix of traditionals (Irish Rover, South Australia), the Whalefishers’ own, irresistibly catchy songs (from old albums as well as their latest release) and even one Pogues number – If I Should Fall From Grace With God. Uptempo numbers, slower (but still pretty quick and vigorous) songs and even a breath of balladic slowness when the whistler Agnes took the mic for Johnny Lee Roth and sang the intro to the song before it picked up a breakneck speed. The mix of noisy percussions, guitars and sweet-sounding whistle and fiddle sounded as good live as on any album.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God turned almost into a theatre performace – Arvid and Agnes (and her whistle) sharing one microphone, always coming closer and closer to each other, mouth to mouth as if going to kiss, and then in the last moment distancing each other again. Finally, Arvid jumped into the woman’s arms she confidently held him as if he did not weigh more than a child. A proof that a tin whistle is good for your muscles? ;-)




The band’s interaction with the audience was perfect – they kept shaking hands with fans during songs, handing them bottles, taking offered drinks. During Wild Rover, Arvid gave a mic to the audience for every chorus, letting people sing – or rather shout – the catchy "no, nay, never!". Twice he pulled a fan on stage, letting him dance and jump around and thoroughly enjoy his 15 minutes – or rather seconds – of fame.




During the whole gig, stage-diving took place, but let’s call it a "soft" version. Don’t imagine a fan furiously running on stage, darting among the band members and then taking a mighty leap on the heads of the – welcoming or unwelcoming – audience. Picture a well-behaved young punk climbing on the edge of the stage, careful not to interrupt the performace, patiently waiting until enough people come under him and then slowly lowering himself to their raised hands. That’s what one can call an exquisitely polite and civilized punk spirit. ;-)

Finally, Arvid did the same and let the fans carry him around on their eager hands.

In just slightly over an hour, it was over – but it was an hour of joy, fun and superb music. Here is hoping for the next "whalefishery" in Czech waters.