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...
Back