Nov. 30th-Stockholm,Sweden (Isstadion)


Review by Samuli Kaislaniemi

Hello people! Here's my review of the Stockholm show:
Security was weak - could've smuggled in a video camera (well, maybe..) 
I had a seat all the way in the back, and all the way up in the bleachers 
of the place, but it was smack in front of the middle of the stage, so even 
if i missed the more intense atmosphere of the crowd down in front of the 
stage, the excellent view made up for it :)   (..i just wish i hadn't 
forgotten my glasses...) ...though the peckers sitting next to me kept on 
making "conversation" and being thoroughly annoying throughout the show!

They filled the place with the white smokey stuff so that i couldn't see 
the stage. Then lights went out and the bells, the bells came on, and
PLAINSONG	erupted forth in all its majesty. All my hair stood up on 
	end, and they played an excellent version of it.
WANT	was okay - the sound, in my opinion, wasn't that good, with 
	speakers distorting too much, so that throughout the show one or the 
	other of the two electric guitars was rather inaudible (to me at 
	least). Same thing for 
CLUB AMERICA	and, very unfortunately, for
FASCINATION STREET	Cool, though.
LULLABY		was much better - excellent in fact, but
THE BLOOD	really kicked arse, so to speak. Superb version - works
		better than i thought it would :)
THIS IS A LIE	sounded really good, but
DRESSING UP	was, i'd say, average..
JUST LIKE HEAVEN
THE WALK	Cool! Then a Weird Mood Swing, with
COLD		Shivers ran down my spine - one of the best songs of the show.
LIKE COCKATOOS	This was a really cool version! Brilliant!
TRAP		Good version, unlike
NEVER ENOUGH	which was okay, but something was missing...
TREASURE	Another Weird Mood Swing, but a great song!
PRAYERS FOR RAIN	About 20 seconds, with fluctuating pitch.. Excellent! 
INBETWEEN DAYS	
FROM THE EDGE OF THE DEEP GREEN SEA	Again, the sound was smudgy. 
		Couldn't really make out Teddy's guitar until the solo, 
		which was cool :)
BARE		Worked out really well; one of the night's best. Then, barely 
		had the last chords on Robert's acoustic sounded, when Simon 
		started pumping the bassline of
DISINTEGRATION	which turned out to be the best song of the night - and 
		definitely one of the best versions i've heard (or seen), with 
		Robert singing extra lyrics (which maybe can be made out from 
		my friend's bootleg tape..). Very intense version!

Then they went off stage, and when they got back, i wasn't waiting for this 
song; so for a moment couldn't recognize the bassline of
LOVESONG	which turned out to be another brilliant version :) Then
FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE	and a 'normal' version of
WHY CAN'T I BE YOU	which is cool, but..

The second encore started with the song i was happy they hadn't played;
MINT CAR	but it turned out to be cool - better than in the summer.
GONE!		was next. This was another really cool version - staccato 
		singing, and a *funky* guitar solo from Robert (!)
CLOSE TO ME

The third encore started with a harmonica;
SUBWAY SONG	with a two-note guitar 'solo' :)  Then they accelerated into
GRINDING HALT	Brilliant to be able to see this one live! Then came the 
		standard encore of
PLAY FOR TODAY	which was excellent,
BOYS DON'T CRY
10:15 SATURDAY NIGHT	wonderful! Simon played the 'old' solo, without 
			distortion on his bass though. And then a powerful
			version of 
KILLING AN ARAB		to close to show!

So a pop song set - not bad, and 32 songs - nearly 3 hours long. But 
would've greatly preferred gloomy goodies like Hanging Garden, Shiver And 
Shake, and of course A Forest or Faith...    The audience didn't really 
wake up until the encores (the crowd in the bleachers that is), so the 
show's atmosphere grew better in the end. Which is slightly odd, since 
the best songs of the night were definitely (here my prejudices come out 
into the light) PLAINSONG, LULLABY, THE BLOOD, COLD, (Like Cockatoos, 
Prayers For Rain, Bare,) DISINTEGRATION (!), LOVESONG, GONE!, GRINDING HALT, 
and KILLING AN ARAB. Hopefully the boot turns out okay...



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