When a band like D-A-D plays a venue like Tivoli, you just know it’s going to be a party where people from all places in life, society, and so forth show up.
Furthermore, when this concert is part of Fredagsrock (Friday rock), you also know what all these people will be doing…

“How many were here the last time? I think we can easily say we’ve avenged that show, at least we’re luckier with the weather!”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

We weren’t at that show, but tales tell of a massive rain, and with the warm evening sun we experienced now, it’s easy to see how this was preferable.
There was another thing, word used in a broad meaning, we missed the last time we saw D-A-D however, that was present at this show – Stig Pedersen.
After the intro music, which sounded very much like the soundtrack to some old wartime matinée, Stig Pedersen entered the stage in a full Napoleon costume, with a huge hat and a bas shoulder strap with the words “Vive la revolution” on it. Well worked through, which in a way could be the mantra of the entire show actually.
You see, D-A-D knows how to work a crowd, and a crowd like this is easily worked. A good setlist, a nice artist to audience contact, and a performance worth checking out is really all you need. To be fair, in the beginning it felt a little bit like they were playing too much on routine, but on the other hand they had a great weather, lots of beer, and a good sound to back them up, so everyone seemed pleased with the situation. The band wasn’t completely uniform here – Pedersen was actually full of energy from the moment he walked on stage, whereas Jacob Binzer have seemed a lot more committed in the last several shows we’ve seen with the band than he did tonight.

D-A-D didn’t stay in their comfort zone for long though – the more the audience opened up with cheers and shouts, the more the band seemed to get into the thing as well, and finally fired on all cylinders. Ok, so the moves and whatnot have all been seen before, but there’s a fine line between another day at the office performing, and performing in the here-and-now, and D-A-D made a nice and smooth transition from the former to the latter about a third into their set. From there on out, no one could accuse them of not having just as much fun as the audience was!

And the audience was having fun, believe you me!
We couldn’t move much, as we were packed like fish in a barrel, but at least we kept warm, and could still raise our hands, sing along to the songs, and applaud the band as they took us through one hit after the other.
The crowd was actually so large (31.000+!), that some ended up facing the side of the stage, some even gazing at it a little from the back, but here Jesper Binzer proved extraordinarily good at getting everyone in on the fun. At several times he walked over to one side or the other, facing the crowd there instead of the one in front of the stage, making sure that everyone got their money’s worth.
Still, on that point, the people in the immediate vicinity of the catwalk in front had an advantage on the rest of us. You see, when it was time for Laust Sonne to play his front and centre drum solo, it did not end in the lazing inferno that we expected. No, instead Sonne got up and roughly dismantled his drumkit and threw all the pieces out into the crowd, just like a guitarist would flick guitar picks in every which way. That was an awesome surprise, and even though we’ve always liked the fire stunt, it was refreshing and fun to see something completely unexpected.

Nothing was more unexpected to me however, than the fact that D-A-D played two, yes T-W-O, whole songs from the Helpyourselfish album! In all the years I’ve seen them, my one desire above all else, have been that they played something different, something more, from this particular album, which for the longest time have passed practically unnoticed through their setlist. Well this night we got both the classic Reconstrucdead, and the title track, which they’ve used, on the latest tour. Awesome, thank you, and please, keep it up!
Something that could use some tightening on the other hand, are the extended solos. It got a bit out of hand, and it felt like a third of the stage time was spent just noodling away, when more songs could have been played instead.

“Tivoli, this is a delightfully warm night! This is a delightfully moist night! This is a delightfully sensual night!”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

Still, for a show that, considering all the surrounding and beneficial factors, started out a bit weak, D-A-D really turned things around, and delivered surprise after positive surprise, making this one of their most on spot concerts in a long while, and that’s even with the good streak they’ve had going for a while!
Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to congratulate Pedersen on yet another great bass design – the Red Baron! I don’t know if that’s the official name, but the body was shaped like an iron cross, and the headstock was a miniature Red Baron airplane! Simply awesome, which most definitely can be said to be the mantra of the evening.

Setlist:

Evil Twin
Rock ‘N’ Rock Radar
Girl Nation
Everything Glows
Helpyourselfish
A New Age Moving In
Grow Or Pay
Riding With Sue
Reconstrucdead
Monster Philosophy
I Want What She’s Got
I Won’t Cut My Hair
Solo (Sonne)
Jihad
Bad Craziness
Sleeping My Day Away
Laugh ‘N’ A Half
It’s After Dark