D-A-D was finishing up their mini stadium tour (the tour was mini, not the stadium) with their second in a row show at Forum’s Black Box in Copenhagen, and after Baest was done shocking the pants off the common crowd with their classic death metal, it was time for Denmark’s premium rock band to take over and bring it home safely.

“Damn it all to hell Forum, it’s just so nice to be playing for all of you who’ve come out tonight!”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

The lights dimmed down, the familiar carnival marching melody began, and finally the entire crowd lit up, not just the metalheads. A loud cheer greeted the band, and so we were off. God Prays To Man opened the night, just like the night before, and, well, the entire set followed the same list to be honest. I mean, a good two hour set is nothing to complain about, but this is a band known for changing things up and playing around with their own songs and performance, so I might have expected a little something different, but there you are. At least Jesper Binzer didn’t repeat his fun banter verbatim, but clearly riffed a bit on it within the framework of the show. For instance, he mentioned that the band was especially proud of playing the title track off the latest album, as it apparently is a particularly hard one to get through for them. Be that as it may, I found myself being more appreciative of the doomy (for D-A-D standards) track Strange Terrain from the same album. One has to wonder if that one will see more playtime after this tour..?

“This is a wonderful day! It did start out with me getting into a quarrel with someone from Den Blå Avis, but now it’s all good!”
- Stig Pedersen (bass/vocals)

The band had a good energy coming in, with Jacob Binzer quickly taking to the catwalks to charm the crowd, while Stig Pedersen mounted the Molly podium - again, very impressed he never slipped and fell on that slanted surface - much like the night before. The big improvement here was definitely Jesper Binzer, who wasn’t late in taking to the catwalks as well instead of hanging out by the mic stand. Strutting, showing off, even jumping at times, he was clearly digging into his reserves, leaving it all on the stage this final night.
With all the rocking going on, there was also a bit of time for nostalgia, as the Binzer brothers remembered back to their youth, growing up in Frederiksberg, the same neighbourhood that Forum is located in - not that the places they played back at the beginning of their career were anything like this. The live staple Laugh ‘N’ A ½ perfectly encapsulated this time of course, with the brother playing acoustic guitar while the crowd stood for the singing.
Another fine call back to the early days was the performance of I’d Rather Live Than Die, in age if not in theme, once more played with Pedersen in full regal wear on vocals, Laust Sonne on piano out on the crowd right catwalk, and Jesper Binzer taking over the drums. Now there’s a song we’ll likely not hear again any time soon, but damn, it was good! Absolutely loved it!

“You look good, and you smell good! We look good too.”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

It’s not easy comparing concerts, but since we saw both Forum shows, it’s also hard not to. So what’s the verdict? Both shows were good, and whereas the first night might have had some higher peaks, this night was more consistently on level the whole way through. I think night two might just beat night one with a smidgen, at least in my mind.

Setlist:

God Prays To Man
Burning Star
Evil Twin
Helpyourselfish
Nineteenhundredandyesterday
Everything Glows
Speed Of Darkness
The Ghost
Riding With Sue
Grow Or Pay
Crazy Wings
Laugh ‘N’ A ½
Monster Philosophy
1st, 2nd & 3rd
Keep That Mother Down
Jihad
Bad Craziness
Strange Terrain
Sleeping My Day Away
I’d Rather Live Than Die
It’s After Dark