Reviewed by Thomas
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City: Gothenburg, Sweden
Venue: Storan
Date: 20 May 2005
Freak Kitchen set length: 120 minutes

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Freak Kitchen

Evergrey did it last fall, and now Freak Kitchen were doing the same thing - throwing a concert in their hometown at Storan or the Grand Theater if you translate it. And this is really a great place for concerts with those kind of bands that don't require mosh pits. The ambience and atmosphere in this old theatre is nothing but mighty. You get a close and intimate feeling and despite the fact that it is not designed for this harder kind of music it sounds great in this hall. And that there were only seats didn't matter, apart from the first rows people stood up and this was a party with many cheerful laughters, as well as from the band as from the crowd.

Freak Kitchen with guitarist extraordinaire IA and the two other crazy dudes in Björn and Christer are something of the best you can witness live, the music might not be of the fanciest kind but it works on album and oh so great live. They started with Speak When Spoken To from their new album Organic and during the evening there was a great mix of their material, even if the focus was put on their new release. The band was in excellent shape and were having a blast on stage and also made sure that we in the audience had a great time. The guys that were joking with each other and joking with the crowd made an intimate and warm feeling spread throughout the hall and they had no troubles getting the enthusiastic audience to play along.

With small tricks they make it all very amusing. By just acting crazy on stage, making some expressions from their faces or just small things like that, it was a hell of a lot of fun to be in the crowd and see a band that was fully loaded with energy. IA is not just singing and playing guitar but he also likes to tell funny little stories, make funny comments or to be hooked up on silly little words. I mean to make the crowd response massively to the words goodie-goodie is something that only Freak Kitchen and IA can pull off. Freak Kitchen is not just a band that is funny to watch, these guys are some serious great musicians as well, and we are talking top of the line here, not least with IA, when he gets loose with his guitars it is absolutely stunning. And of course he had his gadgets with him like for example the string-less guitar, chopsticks and the now more or less famous dildo, although the dildo made its last appearance as it was torn apart and thrown out the crowd. The other guys also have their gadgets, Björn has a huge cymbal in the shape of a cow and he also took place at the front of the stage to perform a nice little solo on a noose-flute(!?) And Christer on bass showed up in a Swat team outfit complete with bulletproof vest and crash helmet jumping around on stage and just acting, well, crazy. Where does he get all his energy from?

With these guys on stage there was no dull moments in the concert. Often there is a tendency that a concert lose pace or momentum but that never really happened here. It was close when they did three songs in a row from the new album with a guitar that wasn't working as IA wanted, and that made him stand more or less still during those songs. And even if the calm and emotional ballad Breathe was among those tracks it never got boring, with those songs it was an emotional moment and it was a good breather before they were back on it again. And then it should be public knowledge that I usually start to look at my watch, lights up a cigarette or something like that to help pass time during the slower songs, but this one was an major exception, I loved it.

The freaks left the stage and made it back quick for the encore. "There is no use for us hanging around the drapes and looking mysterious" as IA said and after the two song encore they were cheered back in once again. And even though they had no songs left, they gave it a shot to do the song Lisa. Not perhaps the best choice to end a concert with a slower song, but the crowd wanted more and the band did what they could without having any more songs rehearsed.

9 chalices of 10

SETLIST (in a totally wrong order)

Speak When Spoken To
The Rights To You
Look Bored
Infidelity Ghost
Breathe
Guilt Trip
Taste My Chopstick
Blind
Jerk
See You In Pittsburgh
Silence !
Vaseline Bizniz
My New Haircut
Propaganda Pie
Nobody's Laughing
Razor Flowers
Seven Days In June
Hateful Little People
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Porno Daddy
Haw Haw Haw
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Lisa

Related links:
www.freakkitchen.com