A Camp's stop in Stockholm took place on April 6th in Cirkus, a very nice old-fashioned hall, and a perfect setting for a touch of
Colonia. While we were getting our tickets at the entrance, we could hear the rehearsal going on and we were told by the staff that we could stay around. We happily did, and heard the band going through complete or partial versions of
Stronger Than Jesus, Algebra, The Crowning and
My America.
Around 9:00 PM, Kristofer Åström opened the show (he also played acoustic guitar with A Camp on several songs during the end of the concert), and he was followed by the Sweptaways, a female choir doing great acappella covers of classic tunes such as
Sign Your Name or
Time Of The Season.
Then it was time for the three N's to come on stage, along with Emm Gryner and Jens Jansson.
The Crowning was the obvious but perfect opener, during which Nina got the lyrics wrong at some point (she also got lost during
Walking The Cow...) I noticed that her voice was very slightly hoarse at the beginning of the concert, but that never prevented her from reaching any high note, and that kind of gave a little extra edge to her singing.
Love Has Left The Room followed, and showed how powerful the whole band is ; the song sounded much rougher than on the album. Nina wished the audience a good evening, and then came three songs from A Camp's first album,
Frequent Flyer, Angel Of Sadness and
Rock'n'Roll Ghost, with slight differences in the arrangements, compared to the 2001 live versions. The choice of the songs and the general set-list was nearly perfect for my taste, the weaker songs (in my opinion) of the first album being put aside (though
Elephant would have been nice), and the whole
Colonia album (bar one song) being performed.
The Stockholm audience got the chance to hear
Golden Teeth And Silver Medals featuring the original co-singer of the song, Nicolai Dunger, who probably won't be there for the whole tour around Europe and the US ! I wonder who will be singing it for the rest of the tour.
A nice surprise was the addition of
I've Done It Again, a Grace Jones song. Nina said a few words about it, but my Swedish being limited, I can't say much more !
The crowd was relatively quiet until
I Can Buy You, which was clearly not forgotten and played and sung wonderfully. Then Nina left, to come back after the long intro to
Chinatown. The audience is seated in the Cirkus hall, and remained so until Nina, during the beginning of
My America ordered everyone to stand up ! (We did, and stayed that way until the end of the show).
Then the Sweptaways came back on stage, as back-up singers for
Stronger Than Jesus, giving a great sound to A Camp's first single from
Colonia.
The band, along with the Sweptaways, left the stage, but it wasn't the end, of course. They came back for
Song For The Leftovers, and the David Bowie cover
Boys Keep Swinging. Away they went again, but came back one last time for
The Weed Had Got There First, which Nina ended almost accappella, backed only by the audience clapping gently. This made me love the song much more than on the album. A great ending to a fantastic show. I can't see anything to complain about ! :) So if A Camp is playing somewhere in a 500 km-radius around your home, don't miss them ! (Personally speaking, I was 2500 km from home...;) )
Set-list :
1. The Crowning
2. Love Has Left The Room
3. Frequent Flyer
4. Angel Of Sadness
5. Rock'n'Roll Ghost
6. Golden Teeth And Silver Medals
7. Here Are Many Wild Animals
8. Walking The Cow
9. I've Done It Again
10. Bear On The Beach
11. I Signed The Line
12. Algebra
13. I Can Buy You
14. Chinatown
15. My America
16. Stronger Than Jesus
17. Song For The Leftovers
18. Boys Keep Swinging
19. The Weed Had Got There First
Watch two videos from this concert,
I Can Buy You and
My America :
