More than four decades after forming, German punk veterans Toxoplasma proved that neither their music nor their message has lost any of its urgency
There are some bands that seem to have been part of your life forever, yet somehow you never actually manage to see them live. For me, Toxoplasma were definitely one of those bands.
Formed in Neuwied in 1980, Toxoplasma are one of the veterans of German punk. Even the band’s name has a rather unusual story behind it – it comes from toxoplasmosis; an infection singer Wally Walldorf suffered from in the late 1970s. Musically, I’ve always seen them somewhere between classic Deutschpunk and Hardcore punk. They were always a little rougher, faster and more aggressive than many of the other German punk bands around at the time.
They’ve been with me pretty much since I first started listening to punk rock, but somehow, despite all those years, I had never managed to see them live. That finally changed on 19 September, when they played the sold-out Pitcher in Düsseldorf.
During the support band, things were still surprisingly relaxed down at the front, so just before Toxoplasma were due on stage I made the spontaneous decision to grab one last beer. Big mistake – within seconds of the first notes, the whole area in front of the stage exploded into a pogo and my freshly bought beer went flying across the club! Well, so much for that…
I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw such an intense, positively aggressive atmosphere from the very beginning of a show. It was wild, sweaty and chaotic, but in the best possible way. And despite how aggressive the pit looked from the outside, people were still looking out for each other. Someone went down; they were picked back up. People gave each other space when they needed it.
After a while, I moved slightly to the side so I could take everything in a little better – and I was very happy that I’d only brought my small camera with me that night. Trying to protect a full bag of photography gear in the middle of that chaos would definitely not have been much fun. Another thing that surprised me was the crowd itself.
With a band that has been around for more than four decades, you might expect something of an old-school punk reunion night, with an audience made up mostly of people who were already there in the ’80s and ’90s. Not even close. The crowd at the Pitcher was a real mixture of generations, with plenty of younger faces right in the middle of the action. And maybe part of the reason for that is that Toxoplasma’s songs simply haven’t lost their relevance.
One of the songs that really stood out for me that night was ‘Schwarz Rot Braun’. The song talks about swastikas appearing on walls, foreigners being told to leave and the return of an ideology Germany should know all too well from its history. These aren’t new lyrics. And that’s exactly what makes hearing the song in 2026 so uncomfortable. Germany is going through a difficult and increasingly polarised political period, with debates around immigration, nationalism and the growth of the far right once again dominating headlines and public discussion. Whatever decade a song like ‘Schwarz Rot Braun’ originally came from, standing inside a packed punk club in 2026 and listening to hundreds of people shout along makes it very clear why it still connects with a new generation.
It doesn’t feel like a historical punk song. It feels like a song written about something that never completely went away. And perhaps that is one of the reasons why Toxoplasma still work so well after more than 45 years. There’s very little nostalgia about the way these songs are delivered live. They remain fast, dirty, confrontational and direct.
German punk has changed enormously since Toxoplasma started out in Neuwied in 1980, but their influence is still easy to find. In a previous Punktuation! interview, members of Alarmsignal spoke about growing up listening to bands including Toxoplasma and Slime – another reminder of just how many generations of German punk have grown up with these songs.
For me personally, after all those years of listening to Toxoplasma, I can finally tick “see Toxoplasma live” off the list. And one thing became very clear inside the Pitcher that night: 45 years of band history doesn’t necessarily make a punk band old. Sometimes it just gives them 45 years of reasons to still be angry.
Toxoplasma are:
Wally Walldorf – Vocals
Florian Becker – Guitar
Stefan – Bass
Sven Mees – Drums
Main Photo Credit /All Photos: FLORIAN REITH
Live Video: FLORIAN REITH
- S.O.S.
- Vakuum
- Zackzackzack
- Träumer
- Nahtod 2.0
- Uniform
- Gut und Böse
- Kontrollautomat
- Der Teufel verdirbt die Jugend
- Leben verboten
- Platz an der Sonne
- Deutsch in Kaltland
- Bunker Party
- Noch mehr Orden
- Stillstand
- Neuwied und nicht Berlin
- Weltverbesserer
- Allesfresser
- Polizeistaat
- Ordinäre Liebe
- Schwarz Rot Braun
- Asozial
- 1981
- Wir warten
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I’m Florian “Flo” Reith, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since 2009, I’ve been living for live music – over 1000 shows, 200+ cities, 30+ countries. The camera was there from the very beginning: I tried to capture every gig I went to. Over time, things became more professional and more structured and somewhere along the way, I discovered writing too. I love supporting new and unknown bands. Whether it’s behind the merch stand, working as a roadie, helping organize shows, or sometimes co-promoting them myself – I’m always down to jump in where I’m needed. But let’s be honest: my favourite place will always be the pit – front row, dust, sweat, and pure mosh pit chaos!
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