On September 11, 1992, Die Toten Hosen played live in Argentina for the first time in Buenos Aires, marking the beginning of a great love affair between a band from Düsseldorf and their fans from South America. 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of this performance and the band celebrated the occasion with a few concerts in the Argentinian capital and another show in Tandil. Some of the evenings were recorded for training purposes. A few months ago, guitarist Kuddel threw the recordings back into the player at the band’s Christmas party at a late hour and everyone was surprised that they not only delighted all those present, but even the police officers who arrived a little later for disturbing the peace.
As this documentation of the wildness, madness and emotionality that has always characterized Hosen concerts in Argentina was so well received, the idea of using the material to bring joy to even more people was an obvious one: as a memento for all those who were there and as a small sample for all those who couldn’t be there. With 20 songs, „Fiesta y Ruido: Die Toten Hosen live in Argentina“ contains not only the highlights from the sets of these concerts, but also some cover versions of the pioneering Argentinian punk band Los Violadores and Pilsen, with whose singer Pil the band had a long friendship: „Más allá del bien y del mal“, „Iván fue un comunista“, „Uno, Dos Ultraviolento“ and „Represión“. The song he wrote, „Más allá del bien y del mal“, deals metaphorically with the brutality of the Argentinian military dictatorship, which Los Violadores suffered from time and again in their early days.
Another highlight is „Ya No Sos Igual“, an Argentinian punk rock classic by Dos Minutos, whose frontman Mosca performed together with Die Toten Hosen in Buenos Aires. The song is probably the greatest anthem of the legendary Argentinian punk band, which was founded in 1987 around frontman Walter „Mosca“ Veláquez. Shortly before Die Toten Hosen set off on this tour, they invited Dos Minutos to record a new version of this classic together with rapper Trueno. For the band, this was a great way to get in the mood for the trip and it was therefore clear that the song belonged on the setlist during this tour. The video, which can be seen here, for the song that was released as a single was also created during the joint performance at the concert in Buenos Aires. Mosca is known in Argentina as the „poet of the suburbs“ and in „Ya No Sos Igual“ paints a detailed picture of the more seedy corners of Buenos Aires. It’s about friendship, deceit, the police and nightlife. Everyone in the Argentinian music scene knows the lyrics, and when Mosca came on stage that night, the place literally exploded.
„Friends“ has just been released as the third single! A song that has always gone down well in Argentina and is traditionally sung along to very loudly by the local people. Thematically, „Freunde“ fits perfectly with the special connection between Die Toten Hosen and this unique country with all its crazy, wonderful people. Not only the five musicians have made many great friends in Argentina over the years, but also many German and Argentinian Toten Hosen fans who got to know each other at our concerts and have been visiting each other regularly ever since. You can see the video here: