Fagerlund's reviews

25 years since they released their first album. And this they celebrate by having a gig at the oldest amusement park in Sweden. In other words, they have now shared stage with Jimi Hendrix, in a way. Quite strange when you think about it, that a band like this should play in such a public place... because they're far from easy listening. Yet they've become big enough to do a gig like this. And... to see them in daylight, with roller-coasters and the spooky house around you, some kid with a cone of candy-floss running by... was quite absurd honestly.

It's actually hard to comment on this gig without talking about the surroundings, because it made it all feel a bit strange. I think most of it could have been ignored easily... except for one thing. They started way too early. A good time to start would probably have been when they ended the set (2 hours later), because they have a really awesome light show going on... but you just couldn't really see it since there was still sunlight when they played! In the good side... at least you got a good view of the Giger-esqué backdrop they had! That looked really awesome.

As for Meshuggah themselves... they play perfection. All those rhythms flow together, just as you would expect. Except for a bit in the beginning when the sound was way too low, the performance was flawless. They played songs from every album I believe, and everything was delivered with their superb precision. It's always cool to see when a band is so tight that they can simply just barge into a fast intro without warning. I'm sure they have practiced some signs or whatever, but some songs they simply started playing simultaneously. I couldn't tell what made them all start at the same time, especially as they were really abrupt and unexpected - almost in the middle of a sentence. Like a machine.

I'm glad that the first time I saw them was in a more suitable place so I got the "full experience", because this environment took something away from the show I think. But even so, it was a great gig because of the pure energy that Meshuggah delivers. Definitely a worthy anniversary gig!