Kent concert, 7 Dec 2007 | Olympen, Lund
first, let me apologise for the lack of photos. my digital camera died and could not be revived on my second day in Copenhagen, so i had to fall back on my obsolete non-digital one. my cousin, who came along for the concert, did take a few photos, but i haven't got them from her yet. ^_^;;
still, some kind YouTube user has uploaded videos from the concert, so I've linked those. *_* there are probably more videos up on YouTube by now, too. i just wish there were an audio bootleg, because the videos simply don't capture the sound.
0. Doors
The doors were set to open at 6:30 pm, with the concert scheduled for 7:30 pm; my cousin and I arrived a short while past 5 pm, with me in my white long-sleeved red logo Kent t-shirt. ^_^;; There was already a significant queue of teenagers, many clad in Kent t-shirts, particularly Du & jag döden ones. The doors did open at 6:30 pm, and I made straight for the merchandise stand. Bought a grey shirt, apparently designed by Jocke, and a set of badges on which the person who should (by elimination) be Martin looks nothing like Martin. Not even if it were a ten-years-ago photo of Martin. It is odd.
Olympen is a surprisingly tiny venue, even given that I knew the venues this time around were all small by Kent's standards: it was basically a converted basketball court with some concrete-step seating, though of course everyone stood up during the concert. (Looked it up after I returned to Oxford, and the concert capacity was just 2000.) Took a place on the second row to the left of the stage (if one is facing the stage) and waited. The concert started at 8 pm.
1. Vy från ett luftslott
The band came on stage against a background of a rising red ball of fire, kind of like a sun seen from space. Jocke's voice cracked a bit on the high notes, and I had my doubts at first, but by the end of the song the band had really gotten off the ground. When Jocke was singing the 'från den marken/mot svarta rymden/ovanför molnen' bits, he pointed to the ground and then raised his arm towards the ceiling, hee. I was close enough to see all of Jocke's amusing expressions, you'll be glad to know. He had a leather jacket on; Sami had a suit jacket, I think? And a purple tie with a black shirt. Yay Sami.
2. Berlin
The synth was turned up high for this, and the ominous little bit in the background of the album version came way into the foreground, which I liked. Jocke put more energy into singing the 'du är liv' bits compared to the album version, too, particularly near the end. Or maybe it just seemed that way because of his facial expressions. *laughs*
The snaking things you can just about see in the YouTube video are actually long walls, which I guess makes sense.
3. Max 500
Jocke introduced this song with just one word: "kärlek". Which is not what comes to mind immediately with this song, for me, but ah well. The audience really wanted this song, judging by the response and how they sang along, especially on the chorus and the 'mer än du är värd' bit. Space-related images in the background, of course.
4. Kungen är död
Aww, nostalgia. This got a warm response from the audience too, and with quite a bit of singing along. Jocke likes songs with 'lalalala' bits.
5. Columbus
My first impression of Columbus, two months ago, was that it tried to be epic but didn't quite make it. Live, however, this song is bloody epic. Amazing, with all those guitars, and Jocke's vocal energy that lifted the chorus. And at the end when Sami was playing alone, a guitar-less Jocke sort of wandered up and peered at his playing, grinning. It was an 'awwwwhn' moment, for me.
You can see a bit of Sami being dramatic in the YouTube video. <3
6. Saker man ser
This was the song which indicated that they wouldn't be playing Berg & dalvana, but it was so unexpectedly awesome that I forgot about that fact within moments. Jocke died on the high notes a bit, granted, but the musical treatment of this was kickass, turning the relatively personal Isola track into a great rocking-out live tune.
7. Revolt III
Another crowd-pleaser, this one. This version was cynical-grin-slicker than the album version, vocally. Jocke held up the corresponding number of fingers on the 'revolt ett, två, och tre' line, of course. The video for this was WTF-worthy and distracting, consisting as it did mostly of these few weird guys twitching violently. The ending guitar riffs didn't segue into 10 minuter, the way that has been done on occasion before, but hey: 10 minuter!!
8. 10 minuter (för mig själv)
How thrilled was I when they played this song, you ask? Thrilled enough to involuntarily yell "Oh my god!" despite not having one. Jocke's singing was controlled, rather slick and too-cool-for-you on this, compared to the relative rawness of the album version, but that was cool. :D And yes, I did sing along.
9. Innan allting tar slut
Jocke announced this song -- when I heard him say 'Innan allting tar slut' my reaction was pretty much as with 10 minuter, all :D :D :D!! A brilliant rock-ish take on the song, with crashing guitars during each chorus. Was it this song when people waved lighters and handphones, or was that Columbus?
10. LSD, Någon?
Epic, epic, epic. Started off nice and slow and gentle, but when the guitars really came in, the song (and the crowd) exploded. I really liked this bit of the concert, though I don't have much to say about it. Sami and Jocke also did the little playing-while-facing-each-other thing at one point, which made me smile.
11. Romeo återvänder ensam
I forgot that this song was one of this tour's standard ones, so it came as a pleasant surprise. The gorilla from the Ingenting video was on the screen, which struck me as rather random, but oh well.
12. Generation Ex
The song with the scary video of the woman in the background, whose part in the duet was pre-recorded. Was interesting because one got to hear Jocke's vocal parts more clearly compared to the album.
13. Musik non stop
Had trouble recognising this at first, because it was a really great, dirty, bass-heavy version. Awesome. This isn't one of my favourite songs, but it was a great bit of the concert, probably one of its highlights, also in part because the crowd was very enthusiastic. And on each 'jag är nästan som du' line, Jocke would drag out the pause after 'som', before pointing at a specific audience member/area of the audience on 'du'. A nice touch. :D
Note the incongruous dolphin from the Ingenting video in the background.
14. Kärleken väntar
I don't particularly like this song, but it works well live. Sami and Martin played side-by-side at one bit, which was cool, and which I tried to get a photo of with my obsolete non-digital camera.
15. Ingenting
During the opening flourishes, Jocke did little conductor-type gestures, which amused me. And one could hear Markus's 'inget, inget, inget, inget' part a lot clearer. Otherwise, not much to say about this? The crowd had been waiting for this song, though -- you could tell by the cheering and the level of singing along.
16. Ensammast i Sverige
Jocke sang 'Harrods-paraply' instead of 'NK-paraply', assuming that I heard him correctly. Hee. After the main lyrics he kept singing the 'lalala laaalalala lalala laaalalala lalala laaaa la la lala' refrain, which doesn't show up at the end of the album version (only between verses) but is a standard live-version add-on, I believe. It helped lift the otherwise relatively weak ending of the song, and made it warmer.
Jocke got the crowd to sing along, of course. After the song had ended and the band had left the stage, the crowd kept clapping in rhythm and singing the 'lalala' bit over and over again by themselves, singing and clapping a little faster each time, in unison all the way, until they just ended up clapping in rhythm and dissolving into mad applause. That, that was amazing. Possibly the emotional highlight of the concert for me, my glee at 10 minuter and Innan allting ta slut notwithstanding. I suppose that's one good thing about Ensammast i Sverige as a main set closer -- it gives the audience a way to occupy themselves before the encore, hee.
Encore 1: Elefanter
When the electric guitars kicked in -- ahhhh. So awesome. Jocke swopped his acoustic for an electric mid-way, too. The YouTube video does no justice, no justice to this.
Encore 1: Vinternoll2 [no video for this one, for some reason. alas.]
Jocke introduced this as 'en sång för vintern' or something to that effect, which made me realise it was Vinternoll2 and not Nihilisten, yesssss. This was so awesome. Sami had these lovely little improvised-ish variations on the guitar work near the end, which were brilliant. One of the highlights.
Encore 1: 747
Ah, this song. The crowd roared along on the 'du är värd att dö för' line, which was fantastic. And during the guitar bit Jocke got the crowd to wave along, and it was magic, all those arms waving. Maaaagic. Also, Jocke himself was pretty amusing when doing it, because he was waving his arms with such enthusiasm. :D;; He sang the usual 'du håller mig' lines instead of 'ni håller oss', but that is a minor thing.
Encore 2: Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)
After coming back on stage, Sami asked for a hat from the audience (I think?) and when he received one, gave it to a crew member who had a tambourine. The crew member played the tambourine during the song, hee, with Sami playing guitar while facing him at one point. Cute.
Mannen i den vita hatten ended with the same red ball of fire on the screen, only setting instead of rising. Extra verses were the 'jag hatar sångerna jag skrivit' ones. On the 'ta sitt liv nu' line, Jocke did the little gun-to-head gesture. The extra verses were suitable, I think, because this was a showier and less personal version of the song. Somehow not quite as powerful as I'd thought it would be, but cool nonetheless. How can you not love a closing song that has the whole crowd singing 'vi ska alla en gång dö' with obvious enthusiasm? And of course, the obligatory confetti near the end! Golden and shimmery, whee.
Martin put his arm around Markus's shoulders at the end, awwww. I don't think I'll ever get used to how the audience's applause doesn't last very long after the final encore, though. It surprised me during the Cure concert earlier this year, too.
Overall
It was brilliant. At some points there were up to four guitars on stage: Sami, Jocke, the Harri stand-in Max Brandt (...I had to look up his name because I had no idea who he was. Sorry, Mr Brandt.), and some shadowy guy who was also playing the keyboard/synth, revealed by the FAQ to be Andreas Bovin.
Sami is a very dramatic guitarist, hee. All those violent, violent, entire-arm-swinging riffs! Sometimes with accompanying kicks! And head-tossing! With his lovely long floppy fringe, hee. At points he held his guitar-slide-thing in his teeth. He often wandered across the stage to play with Brandt (who was behind the others in the shadows, poor guy) and Martin, too.
And Jocke live was -- oh, Jocke. He showed off many of the dance moves I've seen in videos, including the hitting-things-in-the-air for the little tinkly sounds in 747, and the strange chest-tapping thing in the same song. He lost his jacket after a few songs, too, and was wearing his usual tight pants. ^_^;; And he did climb on the amps and pose dramatically during two or three of the more rock-ish ones. Hee. In any case, he is still skinny for a man his age, though the same cannot be said of Martin or, alas, Markus. I remember noticing Markus's decidedly developed arm muscles, though, and Martin's amusingly floppy fringe.
The crowd adored Jocke, of course, cheering and clapping madly each time he spoke, the point that he often had to stand before the mike and wait for them to stop, with a smile that might have been almost sheepish in an 'aww, shucks' way, or perhaps ever-so-faintly patronising. I would like to think the former, but. He got the crowd to clap along, easily, to various rhythms in several songs. At the start of some songs he did a sort of "come on, you know you want it" gangster-type gesture -- arms partly outstretched by his side, fingers beckoning, wide-stepping, you know? Ahahaha. But he did adopt a somewhat different voice for certain songs, not least Ensammast i Sverige, which confused me a bit. Somewhat higher, differently pitched? I can't describe it, but it was a little odd.
At some point near the end, during one of the breaks while the band drank water etc., a fan flung a bunched-up banner onto the stage. Jocke picked it up, unfolded and read it, then showed it to the audience -- the fan was from Flen, hee. The band themselves often flung things into the audience during said breaks and at the end: bottles of water, used towels. Jocke flung guitar picks and even his wristbands! Markus threw his drumsticks at the end. It got to the point where, for one crazy moment when Martin held his bass aloft at the end and waved it a little, I honestly wondered if he was going to toss it to the fans. :D;; I was rather high by then, mind.
here are the setlists from this tour. looks like i was pretty lucky, getting to hear 10 minuter and Innan allting tar slut. :D :D :D
And the Kent-related purchases I made.
Tour merchandise: grey symbol t-shirt
Tour merchandise: photo can badges
CD: Tillbaka till samtiden, limited edition
CD: Columbus single
CD: Max 500 single
Book: Kent: texter om Sveriges största rockband, collection of interviews, articles and reviews
Magazine: Zero, with Kent interview and Sami on the cover. I saw the Martin-cover, figured 1) there would be no reason for just having him on the cover, 2) this must be one of those multiple-cover deals, looked through a stack of Martin and Markus covers before finding a sole Sami one right at the back. The Jocke cover was sold out at that particular shop, heh -- but who needs a Jocke cover when there is Sami, eh?
Concert tickets: Pictured are the tickets for March 20 in Växjö and March 23 in Malmö; I bought an e-ticket for the March 22 concert in Malmö.
still, some kind YouTube user has uploaded videos from the concert, so I've linked those. *_* there are probably more videos up on YouTube by now, too. i just wish there were an audio bootleg, because the videos simply don't capture the sound.
0. Doors
The doors were set to open at 6:30 pm, with the concert scheduled for 7:30 pm; my cousin and I arrived a short while past 5 pm, with me in my white long-sleeved red logo Kent t-shirt. ^_^;; There was already a significant queue of teenagers, many clad in Kent t-shirts, particularly Du & jag döden ones. The doors did open at 6:30 pm, and I made straight for the merchandise stand. Bought a grey shirt, apparently designed by Jocke, and a set of badges on which the person who should (by elimination) be Martin looks nothing like Martin. Not even if it were a ten-years-ago photo of Martin. It is odd.
Olympen is a surprisingly tiny venue, even given that I knew the venues this time around were all small by Kent's standards: it was basically a converted basketball court with some concrete-step seating, though of course everyone stood up during the concert. (Looked it up after I returned to Oxford, and the concert capacity was just 2000.) Took a place on the second row to the left of the stage (if one is facing the stage) and waited. The concert started at 8 pm.
1. Vy från ett luftslott
The band came on stage against a background of a rising red ball of fire, kind of like a sun seen from space. Jocke's voice cracked a bit on the high notes, and I had my doubts at first, but by the end of the song the band had really gotten off the ground. When Jocke was singing the 'från den marken/mot svarta rymden/ovanför molnen' bits, he pointed to the ground and then raised his arm towards the ceiling, hee. I was close enough to see all of Jocke's amusing expressions, you'll be glad to know. He had a leather jacket on; Sami had a suit jacket, I think? And a purple tie with a black shirt. Yay Sami.
2. Berlin
The synth was turned up high for this, and the ominous little bit in the background of the album version came way into the foreground, which I liked. Jocke put more energy into singing the 'du är liv' bits compared to the album version, too, particularly near the end. Or maybe it just seemed that way because of his facial expressions. *laughs*
The snaking things you can just about see in the YouTube video are actually long walls, which I guess makes sense.
3. Max 500
Jocke introduced this song with just one word: "kärlek". Which is not what comes to mind immediately with this song, for me, but ah well. The audience really wanted this song, judging by the response and how they sang along, especially on the chorus and the 'mer än du är värd' bit. Space-related images in the background, of course.
4. Kungen är död
Aww, nostalgia. This got a warm response from the audience too, and with quite a bit of singing along. Jocke likes songs with 'lalalala' bits.
5. Columbus
My first impression of Columbus, two months ago, was that it tried to be epic but didn't quite make it. Live, however, this song is bloody epic. Amazing, with all those guitars, and Jocke's vocal energy that lifted the chorus. And at the end when Sami was playing alone, a guitar-less Jocke sort of wandered up and peered at his playing, grinning. It was an 'awwwwhn' moment, for me.
You can see a bit of Sami being dramatic in the YouTube video. <3
6. Saker man ser
This was the song which indicated that they wouldn't be playing Berg & dalvana, but it was so unexpectedly awesome that I forgot about that fact within moments. Jocke died on the high notes a bit, granted, but the musical treatment of this was kickass, turning the relatively personal Isola track into a great rocking-out live tune.
7. Revolt III
Another crowd-pleaser, this one. This version was cynical-grin-slicker than the album version, vocally. Jocke held up the corresponding number of fingers on the 'revolt ett, två, och tre' line, of course. The video for this was WTF-worthy and distracting, consisting as it did mostly of these few weird guys twitching violently. The ending guitar riffs didn't segue into 10 minuter, the way that has been done on occasion before, but hey: 10 minuter!!
8. 10 minuter (för mig själv)
How thrilled was I when they played this song, you ask? Thrilled enough to involuntarily yell "Oh my god!" despite not having one. Jocke's singing was controlled, rather slick and too-cool-for-you on this, compared to the relative rawness of the album version, but that was cool. :D And yes, I did sing along.
9. Innan allting tar slut
Jocke announced this song -- when I heard him say 'Innan allting tar slut' my reaction was pretty much as with 10 minuter, all :D :D :D!! A brilliant rock-ish take on the song, with crashing guitars during each chorus. Was it this song when people waved lighters and handphones, or was that Columbus?
10. LSD, Någon?
Epic, epic, epic. Started off nice and slow and gentle, but when the guitars really came in, the song (and the crowd) exploded. I really liked this bit of the concert, though I don't have much to say about it. Sami and Jocke also did the little playing-while-facing-each-other thing at one point, which made me smile.
11. Romeo återvänder ensam
I forgot that this song was one of this tour's standard ones, so it came as a pleasant surprise. The gorilla from the Ingenting video was on the screen, which struck me as rather random, but oh well.
12. Generation Ex
The song with the scary video of the woman in the background, whose part in the duet was pre-recorded. Was interesting because one got to hear Jocke's vocal parts more clearly compared to the album.
13. Musik non stop
Had trouble recognising this at first, because it was a really great, dirty, bass-heavy version. Awesome. This isn't one of my favourite songs, but it was a great bit of the concert, probably one of its highlights, also in part because the crowd was very enthusiastic. And on each 'jag är nästan som du' line, Jocke would drag out the pause after 'som', before pointing at a specific audience member/area of the audience on 'du'. A nice touch. :D
Note the incongruous dolphin from the Ingenting video in the background.
14. Kärleken väntar
I don't particularly like this song, but it works well live. Sami and Martin played side-by-side at one bit, which was cool, and which I tried to get a photo of with my obsolete non-digital camera.
15. Ingenting
During the opening flourishes, Jocke did little conductor-type gestures, which amused me. And one could hear Markus's 'inget, inget, inget, inget' part a lot clearer. Otherwise, not much to say about this? The crowd had been waiting for this song, though -- you could tell by the cheering and the level of singing along.
16. Ensammast i Sverige
Jocke sang 'Harrods-paraply' instead of 'NK-paraply', assuming that I heard him correctly. Hee. After the main lyrics he kept singing the 'lalala laaalalala lalala laaalalala lalala laaaa la la lala' refrain, which doesn't show up at the end of the album version (only between verses) but is a standard live-version add-on, I believe. It helped lift the otherwise relatively weak ending of the song, and made it warmer.
Jocke got the crowd to sing along, of course. After the song had ended and the band had left the stage, the crowd kept clapping in rhythm and singing the 'lalala' bit over and over again by themselves, singing and clapping a little faster each time, in unison all the way, until they just ended up clapping in rhythm and dissolving into mad applause. That, that was amazing. Possibly the emotional highlight of the concert for me, my glee at 10 minuter and Innan allting ta slut notwithstanding. I suppose that's one good thing about Ensammast i Sverige as a main set closer -- it gives the audience a way to occupy themselves before the encore, hee.
Encore 1: Elefanter
When the electric guitars kicked in -- ahhhh. So awesome. Jocke swopped his acoustic for an electric mid-way, too. The YouTube video does no justice, no justice to this.
Encore 1: Vinternoll2 [no video for this one, for some reason. alas.]
Jocke introduced this as 'en sång för vintern' or something to that effect, which made me realise it was Vinternoll2 and not Nihilisten, yesssss. This was so awesome. Sami had these lovely little improvised-ish variations on the guitar work near the end, which were brilliant. One of the highlights.
Encore 1: 747
Ah, this song. The crowd roared along on the 'du är värd att dö för' line, which was fantastic. And during the guitar bit Jocke got the crowd to wave along, and it was magic, all those arms waving. Maaaagic. Also, Jocke himself was pretty amusing when doing it, because he was waving his arms with such enthusiasm. :D;; He sang the usual 'du håller mig' lines instead of 'ni håller oss', but that is a minor thing.
Encore 2: Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)
After coming back on stage, Sami asked for a hat from the audience (I think?) and when he received one, gave it to a crew member who had a tambourine. The crew member played the tambourine during the song, hee, with Sami playing guitar while facing him at one point. Cute.
Mannen i den vita hatten ended with the same red ball of fire on the screen, only setting instead of rising. Extra verses were the 'jag hatar sångerna jag skrivit' ones. On the 'ta sitt liv nu' line, Jocke did the little gun-to-head gesture. The extra verses were suitable, I think, because this was a showier and less personal version of the song. Somehow not quite as powerful as I'd thought it would be, but cool nonetheless. How can you not love a closing song that has the whole crowd singing 'vi ska alla en gång dö' with obvious enthusiasm? And of course, the obligatory confetti near the end! Golden and shimmery, whee.
Martin put his arm around Markus's shoulders at the end, awwww. I don't think I'll ever get used to how the audience's applause doesn't last very long after the final encore, though. It surprised me during the Cure concert earlier this year, too.
Overall
It was brilliant. At some points there were up to four guitars on stage: Sami, Jocke, the Harri stand-in Max Brandt (...I had to look up his name because I had no idea who he was. Sorry, Mr Brandt.), and some shadowy guy who was also playing the keyboard/synth, revealed by the FAQ to be Andreas Bovin.
Sami is a very dramatic guitarist, hee. All those violent, violent, entire-arm-swinging riffs! Sometimes with accompanying kicks! And head-tossing! With his lovely long floppy fringe, hee. At points he held his guitar-slide-thing in his teeth. He often wandered across the stage to play with Brandt (who was behind the others in the shadows, poor guy) and Martin, too.
And Jocke live was -- oh, Jocke. He showed off many of the dance moves I've seen in videos, including the hitting-things-in-the-air for the little tinkly sounds in 747, and the strange chest-tapping thing in the same song. He lost his jacket after a few songs, too, and was wearing his usual tight pants. ^_^;; And he did climb on the amps and pose dramatically during two or three of the more rock-ish ones. Hee. In any case, he is still skinny for a man his age, though the same cannot be said of Martin or, alas, Markus. I remember noticing Markus's decidedly developed arm muscles, though, and Martin's amusingly floppy fringe.
The crowd adored Jocke, of course, cheering and clapping madly each time he spoke, the point that he often had to stand before the mike and wait for them to stop, with a smile that might have been almost sheepish in an 'aww, shucks' way, or perhaps ever-so-faintly patronising. I would like to think the former, but. He got the crowd to clap along, easily, to various rhythms in several songs. At the start of some songs he did a sort of "come on, you know you want it" gangster-type gesture -- arms partly outstretched by his side, fingers beckoning, wide-stepping, you know? Ahahaha. But he did adopt a somewhat different voice for certain songs, not least Ensammast i Sverige, which confused me a bit. Somewhat higher, differently pitched? I can't describe it, but it was a little odd.
At some point near the end, during one of the breaks while the band drank water etc., a fan flung a bunched-up banner onto the stage. Jocke picked it up, unfolded and read it, then showed it to the audience -- the fan was from Flen, hee. The band themselves often flung things into the audience during said breaks and at the end: bottles of water, used towels. Jocke flung guitar picks and even his wristbands! Markus threw his drumsticks at the end. It got to the point where, for one crazy moment when Martin held his bass aloft at the end and waved it a little, I honestly wondered if he was going to toss it to the fans. :D;; I was rather high by then, mind.
here are the setlists from this tour. looks like i was pretty lucky, getting to hear 10 minuter and Innan allting tar slut. :D :D :D
And the Kent-related purchases I made.
Tour merchandise: grey symbol t-shirt
Tour merchandise: photo can badges
CD: Tillbaka till samtiden, limited edition
CD: Columbus single
CD: Max 500 single
Book: Kent: texter om Sveriges största rockband, collection of interviews, articles and reviews
Magazine: Zero, with Kent interview and Sami on the cover. I saw the Martin-cover, figured 1) there would be no reason for just having him on the cover, 2) this must be one of those multiple-cover deals, looked through a stack of Martin and Markus covers before finding a sole Sami one right at the back. The Jocke cover was sold out at that particular shop, heh -- but who needs a Jocke cover when there is Sami, eh?
Concert tickets: Pictured are the tickets for March 20 in Växjö and March 23 in Malmö; I bought an e-ticket for the March 22 concert in Malmö.