D-A-D was definitely the headliner of Tivolirock anno 2012, and in seeing their setup, no one would doubt it for a second.

Up to this point I had been curious as to what they would bring with them to Sweden; in Denmark they almost always go all out on the effects side, whereas when they played Germany earlier on the same tour as this, they kept to smaller venues, with only the band and the music to do the trick (and Stig Pedersen’s basses of course).
Walking around the area earlier in the day had revealed a large truck with Danish plates however, so I suspected something special was going to happen, but it didn’t necessarily prepare me for the surprise of seeing both the large video-screen backdrop, the moving and twisting drumkit, as well as fireworks and lot’s of smoke up on the stage. Even with the major element of surprise blown by the discovery of the truck, there had been no telling how much stuff had been in there, and I was very positive to see that none of the gear seemed to have been spared; this was going to be a magic show, to hell with the cost!

No surprise then either, that the entire festival crowd (at least a couple of 1000 strong), had met up to be royally entertained!
The show began quickly with the opener of their DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK album, A New Age Moving In, after which followed a well-mixed goodie-bag of both old and new material which was made specifically aiming at giving the audience the greatest pleasure possible. At first, and throughout, this whole thing reminded me a lot about the concert I had recently seen them play in Falconer Salen in Copenhagen, what with the setup and choice of songs and so on – much more so than the show they even more recently played in Ungdomshuset, also Copenhagen, a show which had been scraped to the bone when it came to special effects and had a very different setlist with a larger emphasis on older songs.
A best of (of sorts) set like this was just what the doctor ordered for a festival gig however, as the well-known anthems were easy enough for the more and more drunk audience to follow and sing along to. This was done with much enthusiasm; especially fan favourites like Bad Craziness, Sleeping My Day Away and Laugh ‘N’ A ½ heard a loud audience participation (during the latter we even got do a bit of verse and chorus all by ourselves), but the rest of the songs definitely got their fair share as well.

Jesper Binzer was very talkative this evening, and even though most of the comments could be recognised from earlier shows, the fact that he mixed Danish and Swedish made it a bit fresher to listen to, and I was quite impressed by him pronouncing Kristianstad in the dialect used only by the towns inhabitants! Also, I believe Lunah (Lauridsen, our photographer) would like to extend a thank you for excluding the “my microphone turned into a telephone” speech, which has been part of the live event for a very long time now.
Aside from that, the Swedish audience seemed mighty well entertained, and I’m sure the tilting drums was a new sight for many, there were at least many who enthusiastically sang along to “I want what Laust got” and sounded like they meant it!
Other highlights counted the two times the grand piano (yes, that was a grand piano. Brought all the way from Copenhagen just for this. I was impressed.) was rolled onto the stage, first for Jacob ‘Cobber’ Binzer in We All Fall Down, and then later for Laust Sonne in the finishing It’s After Dark, and also the two brothers playing Laugh ‘N’ A ½ by themselves acoustically.

Looking as objectively as one can at things, there was really nothing new at all to come for with this show. Have you seen D-A-D sometime during the last couple of years or so, you pretty much knew everything that was going to happen.
But you know what? It turned out not to matter! The boys may have looked like they entered just another show, but they quickly warmed up, and the atmosphere created between them and the crowd was just right. Sure, I would have liked to hear something from Helpyourselfish (something else than Reconstrucdead preferably), and I would really like the go go dancer back in the video production for Monster Philosophy, but honestly, there wasn’t a thing I would have taken away from what I got.
So, to conclude in the manner that I opened, D-A-D was the headliner, and after seeing this show no one could doubt it for a second!

Setlist:

A New Age Moving In
Jihad
Everything Glows
Girl Nation
Monster Philosophy
Riding With Sue
Grow Or Pay
We All Fall Down
I Want What She’s Got
Bad Craziness
Evil Twin
Sleeping My Day Away
Laugh ‘N’ A ½
It’s After Dark