Farewell to the Toten Hosen in Buenos Aires: “We want to say ‘Adiós’ now that we are at our best”

The master of the male boxer from the parallel street suddenly asks: "So? Do you have your concert ticket?" “For what?” I ask back, while my dog ​​Pinky greets the boxer with a sniff. – “Well, for the Toten Hosen’s farewell concert in Buenos Aires,” he says. “I missed it, the tickets are sold out,” I say with a sigh. The Düsseldorf punk band had already announced their farewell tour in Argentina in November last year.

“We want to say ‘adiós’ now that we are at our best and hope to celebrate a farewell worthy of our incredible love story with this country and its people,” the pants wrote on their website. The motto of the farewell tour is “Fútbol, ​​asado, vino y adiós amigos”. “Football, barbecue, wine” is a quote from the song “Represión” by the Argentinian punk band Los Violadores. “Adiós amigos,” the pants added.

There is probably no other German band that has as many fans on the Río de la Plata as the Toten Hosen. But after 16 visits with over 40 performances it is now over. At the beginning of October los josen – the j is pronounced as ch – play in Tandil and Rosario. On October 10th it will really be goodbye to the last concert in Buenos Aires.

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The wonderful friendship began on September 11, 1992 with the band's first performance at the Halley rock club in Buenos Aires. Internally prepared for a few figures in the hall, they played to a full house in front of enthusiastic people. "The audience in Argentina has a special passion and incredible energy. They are also very loyal. They know all of our songs, are funny and respectful," said guitarist Michael "Breiti" Breitkopf, describing their unbreakable bond a few years later.

“In 2018 I was there at the ‘Trousers Festival’ in the Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires,” the boxer’s master now reminisces. “It was a crazy ride from the afternoon until late at night,” he says with a light in his eyes. Together with bands like Attaque 77, Cadena Perpetua and Pilsen, it was a celebration of the fusion of Argentine and German punk culture, he says.

Pil Trafa, singer of the punk band Los Violadores, played a central role. “He was born here in our Villa Urquiza district,” he says. Trafa, whose real name is Enrique Héctor Chalar, was largely responsible for bringing the pants to Argentina. He died on August 13, 2021. In Plaza Echeverría, not far from his parents' house, there is now a monument commemorating the Argentine punk legend. “Which punk in Germany has something like that?” asks the boxer master with a grin.

I can only reply that one Sunday morning on the wide Avenida 9 de Julio I came across a group of around 50 sleepy pants fans, recognizable by their punk outfit with the typical pants emblem of the plucked eagle on their T-shirts. With a German accent, they asked about a cool breakfast bar and said that a group of fans always came from Germany to the concerts. There will be one like that this time too. A “What punk in Argentina…?” I stop myself.

“My sister got tickets for the concert in Rosario,” says the owner of Reina, the collie, when she hears what it’s about. And while Pinky and the male boxer greet Reina happily, she explains that her sister was there at the first concert in Rosario: “It was in 1997, at Club Morrison, if I’m not mistaken.” This time she will go with her brother-in-law. “There will be big tears at the end,” she is sure. But now it's time: Bienvenidos, Tote Hosen, football, barbecue and wine.

And Pinky, Reina and the male boxer? They realize that they are just a minor matter today and want to go home.