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Dave Matthews Band ended their European tour in Stockholm on Monday March 15th. Originally they were supposed to start the tour in Stockholm, but as Dave said “shit happens”. Usually me and the missus go to all concerts together, but she was having a really bad cold so I ended up going alone. There were a lot of Americans in attendance. I spoke to a guy who was seeing the band for the 15th time.

I ended up getting a great spot on the bleachers to the side of the stage, maybe just 10 meters away. The concert started with Still Water, which went in to Don’t Drink the Water. I had been watching the Folsom Field DVD a few days ago, so Don’t Drink the Water felt like an appropriate opener. I was struck by how crisp the sound was. You could really hear every nuance of every instrument. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an electric guitar mixed this good, especially when you consider all the instruments used at a DMB show.

One of the highlights for me was Boyd Tinsley’s violin solo in Funny The Way It Is. Boyd took center stage a couple more times, during Ants Marching for example. Aside from Dave’s singing, Boyd’s violin playing is what I enjoy most about DMB. The concert lasted for two and a half hours, and contained numerous jams. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it! To me, there’s nothing better than watching a band improvise on song’s they know inside and out. That’s why I also like RHCP and Lenny Kravitz so much.

Since this was my first DMB show, I really enjoyed every song they played, but some of the songs that stood out to me were Shake Me Like A Monkey, Ants Marching and Jimi Thing. The latter ended with an awesome vocal improvisation by Dave that turned into Prince’s Sexy MF – awesome!

If there was one song I wanted to hear more than any, it was All Along The Watchtower. I’ve loved DMB’s version since the first time I heard it sometime in the mid-nineties. I figured chances of them playing it were pretty good, since it seemed like they were playing it every other night towards the end of the tour. Well, after the first encore, Sister, Stefan started up this amazing bass solo using various delay and harmony effects. It sounded quite similar to the solo he played before Watchtower during the Central Park concert, so I was really getting my hopes up. And when the solo ended and Dave played the first couple of notes of Watchtower I just screamed! I bet even my friend Erika who was in the front row could hear me. The song was amazing, and I sang along to every word.

Watchtower turned out to be the last song of the night, and that was fine with me. A perfect end to a great show. Since it was the last show of the tour, Carter threw out tons of drumsticks in the audience. I actually caught one, but some jerk ripped it out of my hand. Oh well. The only other songs I wished they would have played were Two Step, and Alligator Pie, but I guess I’ll get to hear them when they come back around again. Thanks for a great show DMB!

Setlist: (from antsmarching.org)

Start: 20.45

01. Still Water
02. Don’t Drink the Water
03. Satellite
04. Funny The Way It Is
05. Seven
06. Lying In The Hands Of God
07. Shake Me Like A Monkey
08. Crush
09. Big Eyed Fish
10. So Damn Lucky
11. Anyone Seen the Bridge / Too Much (Snippet)
12. Ants Marching
13. Spaceman
14. Corn Bread
15. Time Bomb
16. You And Me
17. Jimi Thing

Encore:
18. Sister
19. All Along The Watchtower

End: 23.15

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Swedish newspaper reviews:
Expressen | SvD | DN | Aftonbladet

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Opening act: The Black Angels
Concert Start: 22.15 Encore: 23.45 End: 23.55

When Wolfmother takes the stage at Berns in Stockholm, it is the beginning of a tumultuous couple of hours. As the band launches in to Dimension, I immediately realize that due to the very low stage, and the fact that everyone in the audience but me is 10 feet tall, I won’t be able to see a thing. So the first four or five songs are ruined while the missus and I search for a spot where we can actually see the band. Finally we end up next to the bar where you can stand on the little foot rest that runs alongside the counter.

When Ian Peres fires up the organ intro to White Unicorn, I can finally get in to the show. Speaking of Mr. Peres, he’s sporting an afro much like singer and band leader Andrew Stockdale, and is playing the organ and bass like mad, especially during show highlight Colossal, and closing number Joker and the Thief, where Peres is actually standing ON the organ while playing.

The band sound great, and I must say I really like this new incarnation of Wolfmother. The addition of a rhythm guitar really fills out the sound. Aidan Nemeth plays a Les Paul Gold Top with P90’s most of the show – nice choice!

Apple Tree was one of my favorite songs from the show. The intensity was great, with Stockdale wailing away Jack White style. I also really enjoyed Back Round, especially the break where Stockdale sing “The tickets sold and the man got rich with a seven year itch…”. Towards the end of the concert my right arm was getting so tired, since I had to use it to hold on to the bar while balancing on the foot rest in order to see good. I would hoist myself up during the songs, and then rest during the fairly long breaks between songs.

Andrew Stockdale is an amazing front man. His singing is great, and his guitar playing is out of this world. It wasn’t until I saw Wolfmother live that I realized that Andrew use a Whammy pedal for many of his guitar solos. I find it funny how I am somehow drawn to practitioners of this fine guitar effect like Jack White and The Edge. Stockdale is feeding off the audience’s energy and plays most solos at the edge of the stage, and takes every chance he gets to make the audience wave their hands in the air and clap along.

For the last song of the encore, Joker and the Thief, Stockdale, as well as Peres goes mad, playing his guitar above his head and making the guitar spin around his torso on the guitar strap. He doesn’t seem to want to leave the stage and stays on to play a melody on the organ after the other members have left. Unfortunately I can’t remember what song it was that he played. I tried to tape the show on my iPhone in order to get the setlist, but it shut off without me noticing, so I don’t have the full setlist, but it seemed quite similar to the sets they’ve been playing during the fall of last year, and previously on this European tour. The most notable difference was that they didn’t play Far Away, which I thought was always in their set.

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Videos:

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Note: Click on the links in the setlist to see videos of almost all songs from the concert!

It’s hard to believe how many good concerts there’s been this year, and The Dead Weather was yet another one. It was originally scheduled to take place at Cirkus at midnight, but was moved to Kägelbanan, due to a “scheduling conflict”. I’d say due to lack of ticket sales. But that was all fine with me, because Kägelbanan is a really intimate venue that takes no more than 500 guests.

I stood in the second row, on Jack Lawrence’s side, and had a great view of the stage. The band took the stage to Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes, I Do by Captain Beefheart. First song was Horehound opening track 60 Feet Tall. Nice touch to open with a slow blues that gradually builds to a frenzy. This was followed by Hang You From The Heavens, and now the crowd went nuts! From this moment on I was crushed against the people in the front row for the rest of the concert. But I didn’t care, it was just so great to see this band live for the first time, and particularly to see one of my absolute favorite musicians, Jack White. Speaking of Mr. White, for the third song, it was time for Jack to take center stage. Backed by a drum machine they did You Just Can’t Win, a b-side from the Treat Me Like Your Mother single. The drum machine was used a lot when it was time for Jack to sing, and I thought it was a really great solution. Judging from the sound it must have been a vintage type of drum machine, fitting for Jack’s appreciation of old style recording methods and vintage instruments. Every time they were going to use it Jack would turn away from the drums and fiddle with the drum machine for a while before it would start up! Much credit to The Dead Weather for not using any pre-recorded tracks which could have easily been done instead.

Alison Mosshart, rail-thin and wailing away, was a great lead singer. She was very intense, and you could tell that she got completely lost in the music. For the fourth song, which was the Mosshart penned So Far From Your Weapon, she donned her square white Gretsch guitar. …Weapon, which is one of my favorite songs off of Horehound sounded great in the slowed down version that they do live.

For A Child of a Few Hours Is Burning To Death one of the band’s roadies took over the skins for a while as Jack joined Alison on vocals. When done singing, Jack went back to the drums and continued the song. It is worth mentioning that just as when Jack White plays with The White Stripes, the roadies all wear suits and hats!

For main set closer, Will There Be Enough Water?, Jack White took center stage once again and shared lead vocals with Alison. Jack Lawrence took over the skins, and Dean Fertita played a mellow Fender Rhodes-esque piano. White did a great guitar solo and got so into it that he knocked over one of Dean’s guitars! The stage hands rushed out quickly to pick it up. Towards the end of the song, Jack and Alison kept singing “Just because you caught me, does that make it a sin?” far away from the microphone, their powerful voices carrying over the venue without amplification, at least for us in the front. It was a magical moment! Dean kept rocking the keyboard stand back and forth in beat with the music.

The encore featured what may have been the coolest guitar solo I’ve ever heard live. Accompanied by the drum machine once again, they played the new song I Can’t Hear You with Jack on guitar. The solo was just amazing. Jack was using his Whammy pedal to alternately raise and lower the pitch of the notes during the solo. He is truly the master and inventor of this technique, but I’ve never heard him go back and forth in pitch so much before. With The White Stripes he usually just raises the pitch an octave and leaves it there, but this was something completely different.

The last song of the night was Treat Me Like Your Mother, and the entire audience was jumping up and down. It was just so much fun, and I couldn’t stop smiling. As the band was thanking the audience I locked eyes with Jack and gave him a thumbs up. After the concert I had to go buy a Dead Weather shirt, mainly to have something to change in to, since my t-shirt got completely soaked during the concert!

We hung out in the bar having some beers after the show, and then we actually went outside and met the band as they were leaving. Jack and Alison both signed CD covers that I had brought, and they were both very nice. Jack said “I see we have a lot of Americans here”, commenting on the fact that three out of the six fans there were from the States. I told Alison that I really enjoyed the show and she said thank you and seemed genuinely happy to hear it. The only bummer was that neither one wanted to pose for a quick picture. But that’s alright, it was still one of the best concerts of the year, and I finally got to meet Jack White, briefly.

Setlist: (I’m not sure about the songs in parenthesis)

Start: 20:35

01. 60 Feet Tall
02. Hang You From The Heavens
03. You Just Can’t Win
04. So Far From Your Weapon
05. Bone House
06. (No Horse)
07. A Child of a Few Hours Is Burning To Death
08. Rocking Horse
09. No Hassle Night / I Just Want To Make Love To You – Snippet (Muddy Waters cover)
10. Jawbreaker
11. New Pony
12. Will There Be Enough Water?

Encore:
13. I Cut Like a Buffalo
14. I Can’t Hear You
15. Treat Me Like Your Mother

End: 21:55

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The following pictures were taken by majstoffe. Check out his great videos on YouTube!

Swedish newspaper reviews:
SvD | DN | Aftonbladet

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Note: If you want to see videos of almost all songs from the concert, click on the links in the setlist!

Last night I saw Muse for the first time, and it was all that I had hoped for! The concert started with Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1, from new album, The Resistance. Guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, drummer Dominic Howard, and bassist Christopher Wolstenholme, each stood on platforms that rose out of the stage floor, and proceeded to play the first three songs 30 feet above the audience. The sides of the platforms were covered in video screens, which displayed images of the band interspersed with various animations. The second song, Uprising sounded great in a live setting. Whenever I go see a band, their latest album ALWAYS becomes much better after hearing it live, and the same thing happened last night. Even the Timbaland flavored Undisclosed Desires, with Matt on keytar, was fun to hear live.

I kept hoping they would use lasers in their show, just like on the last tour, and I was certainly not disappointed. During New Born, green lasers were projecting all over the arena – very cool! Matt even had a laser on top of his platform for the first song, that he could control the direction of himself.

Map of the Problematique was one of the highlights for me, and I really liked the little Who Knows Who/Heartbreaker jam at the end. Supermassive Black Hole and Starlight were also really great – Black Holes and Revelations is probably my second favorite Muse album, after Origin of Symmetry. Speaking of the latter, I was so happy when they played Plug In Baby!!! Man, that song is fantastic, and Matt’s siren-like guitar intro is so cool! He is a true musical genious. They definitely could have done a few more songs from Origin of Symmetry. Before Hysteria Matt got a short break while Chris and Dominic played a really cool interlude up on Dominic’s platform, while the entire drumkit rotated.

I really enjoyed that they played two songs from their first album, Showbiz: Cave and Unintended. For Cave, Matt played a grand piano that had lights in the open lid, that responded to his playing. Before they started Cave, Matt did mention that they played their first show in Sweden in the city of Malmö when they were touring with Showbiz. They did have some issues at the start of Cave, supposedly with Chris’ bass. But besides that the entire concert was flawless, which is amazing considering it was only the second show of the tour.

What makes this concert one of the best shows of the year for me is that I got to hear every song I wanted to hear. When it was time for the encore, I kept hoping that they would do Stockholm Syndrome and Knights of Cydonia – and they did! It couldn’t have been more perfect. During Stockholm Syndrome their crew threw out these huge balloons filled with confetti. It was fun to watch them bounce around and burst over the crowd. Knights of Cydonia started with an awesome harmonica intro by Chris, and everyone sang along to the guitar intro, just like on the HAARP live album – classic!

Although we had seats we stood for the entire show, as did most people around us. By the end of the show my voice was almost gone from singing along to every song! As Muse left the stage, Dominic said “We’ll see you soon”. Let’s hope they keep that promise.

Setlist:

Start: 20:40

01. Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture
02. Uprising
03. Resistance
04. New Born
05. Map of the Problematique (w/ Who Knows Who/Heartbreaker Riff)
06. Supermassive Black Hole
07. Guiding Light
08. Interlude
09. Hysteria
10. United States Of Eurasia
11. Cave
12. Unintended
13. Undisclosed Desires
14. Starlight
15. Plug In Baby
16. Time Is Running Out
17. Unnatural Selection

Encore: 22:10
18. Stockholm Syndrome
19. Knights of Cydonia

End: 22:30

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Swedish newspaper reviews:
Expressen | SvD | DN | Aftonbladet