So, the yearly travelling bandstand that is Grøn Koncert, reached Næstved as the second to last stop on its way through Denmark.
With the good combination of D-A-D headlining, and us having friends living close to Næstved, this was an opportunity to see the band that we weren’t willing to pass up. So, a good drive, a bus ride, and finally a bike ride, got us there. Despite some dodgy clouds and showers of rain earlier in the day, the sun had now come out, shortly before going to bed, and we were ready to see what these Danish rock icons had in store this time around.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve come up with a bad idea! We’ll give you an old album!”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

One of the special things about this tour, for D-A-D that is, was that they were doing a combined No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims / Riskin’ It All full album show. That is, they were picking one of the albums, seemingly at random, and performed it in its entirety for each show. Add on a few bonus tracks, different stage set-up’s depending on the album, and their usual fun-loving nature, and you were in for a rock ‘n’ roll treat!
For this show, No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims was the album played, and in reference to the hit song Sleeping My Day Away, there was a huge bed on the stage, with the drums placed on top of it. The D-A-D logo was placed at the head and foot of the bed, there was a large bed pot in front of it (which could be used to climb the bed by the musicians), and on either side were two oversized amps, with a Marshall looking Overmuch logo on them.
At the beginning of the show, all eyes were looking in the opposite direction though. Why? Because out in the sea of people, Jacob Binzer rose like a bird, high above the heads of his fans, and soared like a black bird through the air towards the stage. While playing. Sometimes on his head.
Yes, for once it wasn’t the drums that were the centrepiece of the attraction, today it was the guitar player. And what a cool attraction it was, going perfect with the band’s way of presenting itself. Never quite knowing what you’ll get, but being fairly certain it’s going to be good!

“God damnit Laust, kill those drums!”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

So as not to give the biggest hits of the album away all at once, D-A-D had turned the setlist on its head as well, opening with Ill Will, in a slightly shortened version.
This foreshadowed a show that turned out to be a bit more focused and on point than some of the bands latter day efforts have been. There were still messing around with jam sessions, but they were fewer, and didn’t drag out as much. Laust Sonne got to show off a bit of course, but it was kept very short and sweet, and within the confines of a single song, whereas Jacob Binzer only had two real jam sessions, and of course Laugh ‘N’ A ½ had a new solo inserted (how many different solos does this song have by now?).
Jesper Binzer and Stig Pedersen have never really been into the jamming showcase of the show, but Pedersen did change bass so often, I figured he must have run through more or less his entire collection. The Molly bass is my new favourite, but of course it was the classic rocket bass that came on for Sleeping My Day Away, where Pedersen ran out with his sparkler helmet in the solo!
All in all, we saw a very focused band. Focused on entertaining and flow, yet loose enough to keep the fun feeling real. Maybe it was the more confined time-schedule of the Grøn Koncert that made the difference, maybe something completely else that I haven’t seen. Whatever the reason, D-A-D showed its strength this day, delivering top quality entertainment the way only they can.

“Næstved, we know we only promised one album, but we’d like to play something we’re playing tomorrow! Is that alright?
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

The entertainment was well received by the thousands of visitors (an estimated guess from looking around the place) of the Grøn Koncert, who were undoubtedly also praising the now dry weather.
Even though it didn’t rain anymore, the occasional fires blasting from the top of the oversized amps could be felt as warm bursts anyway.
This may have been a good thing, because the crowd wasn’t staying warm by moving, that’s for certain. Sure, they were shouting and applauding between songs, and some songs had some highly acceptable sing-along sessions (Laugh ‘N’ A ½ and Sleeping My Day Away, I’m looking at you two right now), but it wasn’t the wild crowd that I’m used to. Given the setting, the crowd was of course more diverse than for our usual show as well, but even for D-A-D, this was a calm looking bunch of people. I do not doubt that people were enjoying themselves, that much was obvious from standing in the middle of the thing, but it was surprising nonetheless that there wasn’t more dancing and the like going on.

Even with the lack of highly visible crowd participation, this was still one hell of a performance from the band’s side, and I enjoyed myself from start to finish. It’s impressive how this band is constantly managing to renew their shows, not just by shuffling the setlist around slightly, but bringing us something new to look at, and reinventing their act. Kudos for that!
Knowing that we would see them again the day after, on the finale of the Grøn Koncert section of their tour, we were now already guessing what they might do there.

Setlist:

Ill Will
Wild Talk
Siamese Twin
Overmuch
Lords Of The Atlas
Girl Nation
True Believer
ZCMI
Rim Of Hell
Point Of View
Jihad
Sleeping My Day Away
Bad Craziness
Laugh ‘N’ A ½
It’s After Dark