Orange Goblin, Roadsaw, Grand Magus & Misdemeanor
at The Shrine (Kollingsborg)
Stockholm - Sweden
March 9, 2002
So every time we met up at any local gigs we planned this trip, and I managed to get us in on the Grand Magus guestlist (Thanks Janne!). But when we met up at the Nebula/El Caco gig at Sticky Fingers we discovered that non of us could get a hold of a car for the trip (and I couldn�t afford to take the train). So I had given up on this trip, and I had even spent my last cash on beer (to drown the sorrows), when Stefan called my Friday night to tell me he had managed to borrow a car.
So I packed the cameras, some clothes... and a few beers... in a bag, and of we went. When Stefan picked me up he wasn�t alone in the car, he had a girl with him that I somehow recognized... after some discussion we came to the conclusion that we had met each other before (at the Mustasch releaseparty). So off we went, but we had to take another detour and pick up yet another Peter in Uddevalla (also a member of Elicxsir). So we ended up with 4 people in the car and only 2 on the gueslist, and the tickets were sold out... and I wasn�t even sure that me and Stefan would be on the guestlist since it was weeks since I talked with Janne. During the trip I had a few beers... if I wasn�t getting in I could at least get a little drunk. I tried to reach Janne a few times on the cellphone on the way up to Stockholm, with no luck, but I did leave him a message.
If there�s any wrong turns you can take on the road between Gothenburg - Uddevalla - Stockholm, we took `em... so the trip took a little longer than planned (somewhere between 7 and 8 hours), and as we got closer to Stockholm I had yet to get a call back from Janne. But the phone finally rung, and Janne told me he could only get me and Stefan in on his guestlist... I wasn�t gonna miss this gig because all of us couldn�t get in, and neither would Stefan, but we decided to try and get Peter and Helen in at the door anyway.
So when we finally found the place were we where gonna stay the night (Stefan�s sisters apartment) out in the suburbs to Stockholm we were already running late. So we parked the car and left our bags in the apartment and managed to find the nearest subway station. After a 20 minute subway ride we got to the "Slussen" station and then it was high time to find the place where the gig was held... after 10 minutes we were there.
So after we picked up our new membercards and we both were checked of on the guestlist, me and Stefan went inside to try to find someone who could get Peter and Helen in as well... I had no luck, and when I couldn�t find Stefan again either. So I went back to the door, but before I got there I met them all inside... Stefan had managed to talk `em in. I don�t know how he did it, but that guy can talk a nun into dropping her panties...
So after I had gotten my first beer I heard music from the stage, so I hanged my cameras around my neck and climbed down the stairs to check out whatever band was on. After a while I understood that we had missed the first band, Sgt. Renegade & The Plastic Fantastics, and the band on stage was called The Savages. They played some kinda motorcity sounding music, and the band was real tight... but they had a clown for a singer. The dude couldn�t sing for shit and the first thing he did was throwing a glass of water right at me, all over my cameras... so that�s why you won�t see any pictures of this band in this "feature" (a word of advice, drop that stupid ass singer!).
After I had wiped my cameras clean and checked whether they worked alright I went looking for the backstage area to see if I could find Janne. I finally found both the backstage area and Janne, it was really crowded but we managed to talk face to face for a while (we had previously only "talked" thru e-mails). I also said hi to Stuart from Lunasound (another e-mail contact), and had a few words with Mark from Marksound (who I had met before, when Queens of the Stone Age was in Gothenburg last summer). After a while someone was pulling in my arm and said "Dude, we�re about to hit the stage"... it was Vera, singer in Misdemeanor.
Misdemeanor
at The Shrine (Kollingsborg)
Stockholm - Sweden March 9, 2002
(Click photos for larger versions)
I hadn�t seen Misdemeanor since they played in Gothenburg a long time ago (check out the "Groove-O-Rama" feature and the Misdemeanor interview I did back then if you want to). I thought they were quite good back then, but they had grown a lot tighter as a band since then. I was semi-drunk at this moment, so I won�t try to remember which songs any of the bands played and so on... I had a hard enough time trying to get a few good photos. But I think Misdemeanor�s set consisted of mostly new songs from their brand spanking new album (which I�ve yet to have heard anything from when I write this, but the releasedate is April 8, so it�ll probablybe out by the time this "feature" is published).
Roadsaw
at The Shrine (Kollingsborg)
Stockholm - Sweden March 9, 2002
(Click photos for larger versions)
After another break during which I had another few beers it was time for Roadsaw to hit the stage. I�ve seen `em once before, in Gothenburg at Belsepub with Leadfoot and Terra Firma with just 30 people in the audience. But these guys rocks as hard for 30 people as for 600, so I kinda knew what to expect. I�m not sure whether the energy explosion that is Roadsaw live comes across thru my photos from their set, but I�d go as far as to say that they�re the hardest rocking liveband in this genre.
Grand Magus
at The Shrine (Kollingsborg)
Stockholm - Sweden March 9, 2002
(Click photos for larger versions)
After yet another break and a few more beers it was finally time for me to see Grand Magus live... been wanting to see `em live for some time, but never had a chance `til now. I managed to find a spot next to one of the PA speakers where I thought the cameras would be safe... the only bad thing was that the sound got a little to muddy at times. But Grand Magus did a great set and I would take any chance to see `em live again... their bluesbased magick doom works great live!
Orange Goblin
at The Shrine (Kollingsborg)
Stockholm - Sweden March 9, 2002
(Click photos for larger versions)
So, another break and another beer... I bumped in to Mark from Marksound again and he made shure so that I could stand on the side of the stage during Orange Goblin�s set... for some reason I was expecting it to get pretty wild both in front of and on the stage. And wild it got (but you�re gonna have to check out the forums here to find more info on how wild it got). Let�s just say that the band rocked real hard and they were real tight... but Ben might have had a little to much drink.
After the alcoholic rock `n� rollic of Orange Goblin it was getting kinda late and the security folks tried their best to herd out the crowd. At this point my bones were aching both from the long drive and from standing in front of the stage photographing most of this night, which means we had to go straight to the place we were staying and Stefan didn�t get any you-know-what (sorry, dude!, hehe), so we went to the subway station just in time for the last train out (we were all outta cash so it was lucky that the ticket booth was closed so that we could get a free ride home). When we got to our station and walked towards to the escalators we saw a security guard sitting by someone lying below the escalators... at first I thought it was the usual drunk who had passed out, when we got closer we saw that one of the dudes foots was almost completely off... the bonepipe sticking out and the foot hanging on the leg by a thread. To top it off, then I saw his cane lying beside him... the dude was blind! "Nice" image to have in the head just before going bed...
