Fagerlund's reviews

First band of the night was this American Post Rock/Avantgarde/whatever you want to call it. To put it simple it just wasn't very interesting. Not much was happening in their songs, it was just the same same. I don't think the guitar player changed his grip a single time during the show, he just moved his hand up and down on the neck and I barely heard a word from the singer - his job could've been taken by keyboards I think. And speaking of keyboards there was a lot of sampling, and I always think it's a bit of a shame when bands have to sample keyboards instead of playing it live - that's something all three bands of the night where guilty of, but in the cases of Alcest and Katatonia they get away with it since they have so much more going on while Junius doesn't. The only thing that stood out was the drummer.

 

I suppose you could say that Alcest is France's answer to Katatonia, so it makes sense that they play together. Very atmospheric stuff, so I was very curious to see how it would work live. I was expecting a pretty mellow set since that's what they've kind of been hyped for lately so I was surprised that we actually got some growls in there! I definitely don't mind however, as it was a nice change from everything else this night! All in all I think they managed to keep the entire set (that makes it sound like a long one, but I think they only got to play five songs) interesting! The sound wasn't all that great however, so that took away some of it. It wasn't really bad, but it did leave something more to wish for so to say. 

As they were the main reason I went to the gig I'm quite pleased after all. I would've liked another song or two but it's all right. 

 

Sixth time I see them so I kind of know what to expect by now I suppose. I don't think Jonas will ever learn to warm up his voice properly before a gig, I was a bit extra concerned about that this time as well since it was the start of the tour as well. And yeah, it took about five songs or so before he got it where it should be I think. But once he got there he did really well! And actually he even made a couple of growls! Now that was unexpected, as last year when they played their anniversary show it was Blakkheim who did the growls as they played some old songs. Jonas growl is one of those really filled with angst, it's too bad he can't really do them full time any more because he has a really nice one!

I must say I was also quite surprised by the song choices as well, and the order especially. I don't know if they decided to mix things up because they've played in Stockholm kind of often lately or if it's their take for the new tour, but I liked it! It kept things pretty fresh which is always nice! 

Unfortunately they did have some minor technical issues, the sound levels where going up and down a bit and parts of the show the drums were so loud for me so I barely heard anything else, and at one point there was a lot of buzzing from an amp - a cord was pulled out or something? And also some mess ups in the songs (start-of-the-tour-syndrome?) Nothing too bad though, but it's always a bit annoying when that happens.

Quite a lot of people had showed up, as usual when Katatonia plays so it was a nice atmosphere as well to add to the nice song choices. Overall I think it was a pretty nice gig, but not quite as good as the last one I saw (20 year anniversary) where they really shined. So a nice night indeed!