Monday, February 9, 2015

Live review: Mustasch and Lillasyster at Parken, Halmstad, Sweden

When there is a opportunity of were two of your favourite hard rock bands performs on the same stage, the same night, you damn sure take it. Because even if it was not too long ago I saw both Lillasyster and Mustasch, they are still two bands that shows great showmanship and brings 120% to their stage performances, and just hearing that they would come together for one night was just incredible. I was obviously not the only one thinking that, since the arranger announced that the show was sold out. The stage was definitely set for a perfect night of sweat, shoving, alcohol, and of course, metal.

Lillasyster

Last time I saw Lillasyster, it was at James Rockbar (review of that performance can be found here), and it was a hell of a night, so the band had a lot to live up to before entering the stage around 21:45. The big difference between Parken and James is mostly the size of the venue. Parken normally host various dance bands (a Swedish music genre mostly enjoyed by the elderly, and one of few genres I can barely stand) so the stage is sort of divided into two pieces. A dance floor that had to act like the main stage and a outer rim were you could observe the show without the pushing and the shoving. This ultimately affected the overall pressure from the crowd, which is a shame since those attending obviously was excited over the show.

The show itself was nothing surprising, and since the band has not released a new album since the last time I saw them, the set list was more or less unchanged (definitely shortened since they were the opener). I cannot blame them since they only have 3 albums of material to chose from, but once again I think the second album, "Det Här Är Inte Musik, Det Här Är Kärlek", was left out of the set list (I could be mistaken though). It is still a decent set list filled with the bands most well known hits and a tiny hint of LOK in it, but some changes would have been welcome (*cough* Umbrella *cough*)

Even if this performance did not live up to the one I saw around mid September 2013, it was still an enjoyable show, mostly thanks to the passion brought from the band and the audience. Another well executed performance from one of the sweetest bands in Sweden.

Best: "Hårdrock" is seriously the best live song made in Swedish

Worst: The set list is more or less the same since last time

Rating: 7/10

Set list (not necessarily in this order, might have missed some songs):
Total Panik
Hårdrock
Berätta Det För Lina
LOK Står När De Andra Faller (LOK song)
Umbrella (Rihanna cover)
Så Jävla Bra
Nu Har Jag Fått Nog Av Dig

Mustasch

Mustasch is certainly in a hectic schedule right now, doing occasional shows while being in the works for their upcoming album "Testosterone" that is due this fall. Fortunately, they did not look tired at all when entering the stage. They brought their all in the performance and delivered tons of power to the people, and the people did the same in return. Somehow, I actually made it to the absolute front of the crowd and I was literally crushed towards the end of the show, which I only see as a good thing.

The set list was a pretty good mix of hits from their entire discography, from the early steam rollers "I Hunt Alone" and "Down In Black" to the more recent hits like "Feared And Hated" and "Speed Metal". It is a pretty predictable play list indeed, but some surprises was mixed in, like "Deep In The Woods", which made it feel fresh. But between the lines was some small, instrumental breaks, which I guess was necessary since the tempo of the show was pushing the artists to its limits, but I could have gone without some of them. I think they had like 5 of those breaks, 2 would have been enough for me.

It is hard to pick a favourite from the set list since the crowd was on their heels in almost every song, so I have to go with the song that struck me the most this night, which was the ultra heavy semi-ballad "Bring Me Everyone". A fantastic heavy track were the audience just gave their all in the sing-a-long. Amazing. Simply amazing.

The show ended on a high note when Lillasyster joined Mustasch on stage to close it off with the song "Vad Skulle Mamma Säga", a song Mustasch did a guest appearance on in the Lillasyster album "3". Do not think that the crowd knew the lyrics on this one that well, but seeing Ralf, Martin and the rest of the guys was just fun as hell. Ralf stuck around a little longer to join the crowd in a sing-a-long of the Starship classic "We Built This City" to celebrate how good of a metal town Halmstad really can be. Just an amazing end to an amazing evening.

Best: "Bring Me Everyone" crushes any opposition

Worst: There was at least one instrumental break too many

Rating: 9/10

Set list (not necessarily in this order, might have missed some songs):
Feared And Hated
Borderline
Mine
Double Nature
Bring Me Everyone
I Hunt Alone
Black City
I Don't Hate You
Speed Metal
Down In Black
Deep In The Woods
Vad Skulle Mamma Säga (together with Lillasyster)

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