Reviewed by Niklas
Photo by Michael
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City: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Klubben
Date: 2 Feb 2005
Pain set length: 75 minutes
Crucified Barbara set length: 25 minutes
8th Sin set length: 25 minutes
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All pictures are
© Michael Finnermark.
Please contact him and ask for permission
before using any of the pictures.
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8th Sin
The Swedish industrial/metal act 8th Sin opened the show at Klubben with an embarrassing performance. Just two days before at the same venue, The Haunted had gained strong support from interesting bands Insision and Totalt Jävla Mörker, but 8th Sin did nothing but prove that monotonous riffs and keyboards can be a horrendous mixture. Recalling the early albums by Pain and Rammstein, but with less memorable melodies and a not very charismatic singer, 8th Sin admittedly had one or two decent tunes. But overall this was a performance that large parts of the crowd disapproved of. And calling the audience "c*nts" surely will not boost the record sales anytime soon…
2 chalices of 10
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Crucified Barbara
The quality in the air raised several bars when Crucified Barbara, a quartet from Stockholm, entered the stage. With their debut album "In Distortion We Trust" just out in the stores, they have gained more and more interest around the country. The band can be labelled as "a Backyard Babies but with girls", or why not "a Sahara Hotnights with more edge". It is proved immediately that lead singer Mia Coldheart's powerful voice holds up just as well live as in the studio, while the other band members back her up admirably.
The girls are in their first phase of their careers, which is why the material is still a bit uneven. But when Crucified Barbara have written more songs in the vein of the brutal title track and the fabulous single "Losing The Game", they will be an act worth seeing even more.
6 chalices of 10
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Pain
Peter "Pain" Tägtgren, also known as the mastermind behind Hypocrisy, is gaining a reputation as a true workaholic. The new Pain album "Dancing With The Dead" climbed up to the 3rd place on the Swedish Album Chart (his highest entry yet), and later this year the new Hypocrisy album will be released. In between this he tours all over the world with both bands, and now the turn has come to Stockholm and Klubben. Peter looks very proper with his white shirt and tie, in contrast to his slick guitarist and bassist (who's wearing a Construcdead-shirt - yay!). Rest assured, it takes only a few songs before Peter unties his tie.
The show kicks off with two tracks from Pain's second album, "Rebirth". Both "Supersonic Bitch" and the breakthrough hit "End Of The Line" makes the crowd go wild, and it gets even better when the upcoming single "Nothing" makes an entry. Odd enough, this is just one out of four tracks from the new album that is getting played tonight. A shame, since most people seem to agree on that "Dancing With The Dead" is Pain's greatest effort yet. While it is obvious that Pain relies a bit too much on his old material from "Rebirth" and "Nothing Remains The Same", it feels silly to complain when the band performs old favourites like "It's Only Them", "Suicide Machine" and the hit single "Shut Your Youth", the latter being the definite crowd pleaser of the evening.
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The performance from the band is pretty much flawless, except when Peter's microphone breaks down at the end of "Just Hate Me". The set list is a bit of a mystery, though. The Beatles-cover "Eleanor Rigby" is good fun, but perhaps could have been skipped in favour of more new songs. Why "Don't Count Me Out" is not played is anyone's guess, since the tracks that DOES get played are all great successes. "Bye/Die" seems like a future live classic, and the encores "Dancing With The Dead" and the latest single "Same Old Song" prove to be very popular. And when Pain signs off with his techno-anthem "On And On", the audience has long since surrendered.
8 Chalices of 10
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SETLIST
1. Supersonic Bitch
2. End Of The Line
3. On Your Knees (Again)
4. Nothing
5. Breathing In, Breathing Out
6. It's Only Them
7. Suicide Machine
8. Eleanor Rigby
9. Close My Eyes
10. Greed
11. Just Hate Me
12. Bye/Die
13. Shut Your Mouth
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14. Dancing With The Dead
15. Same Old Song
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16. On And On
Related links:
www.crucifiedbarbara.com
www.8thsin.biz