The true headliner of Engage Festival 2021, the one and only band to surpass all the other bookings, the one to take home the show and show us how it should be done was none other than rock legends D-A-D. Hold on to your hats folks, ‘cause here we go!

“It’s nice to be on the home court and see a standing audience! I notice some of you are thinking it would be nice with a little chair.”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

Yep, D-A-D were headlining this day at the Engage festival, and it was easy to see whom the crowd had come for. Nearly everyone was one their feet by now, coming closer and closer to the stage. A loud cheer greeted the band as it took the stage, and we found that Stig ‘Stigge’ Pedersen at least had gotten a wardrobe change since our last encounter. Not that the high plateau shows he was wearing did him any favours as he was walking around, and I can only imagine the heat that must be hidden in those latex pants of his. He did seem to suffer from the choice, and given the warm day, that was no surprise. Still, this is a man that constantly reinvents his looks, and I applaud him for it.
D-A-D as a band often reinvents the look of their shows as well, often propping them up with a lot of stage decorations and other effects, and while I do love that part of the experience, this day they headed in the completely opposite direction. Except for a few speakers, the stage was completely bare, leaving the band and the songs to carry the entire show.

Regarding the songs; D-A-D didn’t exactly take the road less travelled here, giving us a good slab of their most common crowd pleasers, as well as a few songs from their latest album, which is already two years old at this time, but hasn’t been played all that much because of obvious reasons. I like that they keep the Monster Philosophy / Trucker mash-up going, and that they’ve finally moved away more permanently from only playing Reconstrucdead off the Helpyourselfish album. Now they’ve snowed in on the title track instead, but hey, it’s a start! Maybe someday we’ll get to hear something like It’swhenit’swrongit’sright, Soulbender, or one of the other great songs from this lovely album - one can dream!

Regarding the performance; I’ve already mentioned Pedersen’s new look, but other than that, one of the biggest news was some previously unseen moves from Jacob ‘Cobber’ Binzer. At the beginning of the show, we saw mostly guitar concentration, but as the songs kept rolling out, he warmed up in his performance as well, which was nice to see.
Jesper Binzer had his usual frontman persona on, and delivered jokes and chatting between songs, as well as keeping up his now mainstay banter with Laust Sonne, especially in leading us into the drum solo section of the set. Nothing new here, but why fix something that isn’t broken?
All accounted, this was what I would consider a standard show for D-A-D, but as you should know by now, we consider even their standard shows to be quite entertaining. There’s just something to be said for their massive stage experience, as well as hit filled back catalogue.

So, was it worth coming out mainly for this band, as we, and certainly quite a few others, did?
I’d have to say, absolutely so. D-A-D knows how to deliver on the entertainment, and it’s never a bad experience seeing them play. This wasn’t a top show, but it was good, and it was nice to see that they still have the ability to rock out even without all the gimmicks. I love the gimmicks, but they aren’t what’s supposed to make the concert work, and D-A-D proved that they still know how to deliver all on their own.

Setlist:

True Believer
Burning Star
Jihad
Helpyourselfish
A Prayer For The Loud
Soft Dogs
Everything Glows
Riding With Sue
The Sky Is Made Of Blues
Monster Philosophy / Trucker
Rim Of Hell
Bad Craziness
Evil Twin
I Want What She’s Got
Sleeping My Day Away
It’s After Dark