Anyone who read our review of Jesper Binzer’s show in Esbjerg, shouldn’t be surprised we’d do pretty much anything we could to get to see him play nearer to home as well.
Well, he did, to a sold out Pumpehuset, and as sure as mosquito bites at a summer barbeque, we were there to see it!

“Welcome to this year’s X-Factor finale - the winner is Søren Andersen! The rest of us are just extras to his life.”
- Jesper Binzer (vocals/guitar)

Yeah, things had changed since our last visit. Selling Pumpehuset out, and on such a night as this, where the competition was as strong as it was (X-Factor is damn popular around this place, and it was in fact the finale evening of the show this very night), that’s damn impressive! Considering the small Esbjerg crowd, I really had no idea what to expect here, and got a positive surprise when I saw how well received the show was. Well, except for the problem it caused in getting to and from the bar, but that’s another story.

It was clear to see that both Jesper Binzer and the rest of the gang had gained a lot from being on the road together for a while now. They all seemed more relaxed, playful, and more comfortable with each other. This couldn’t help but affect the show as well, which was much more outgoing and party inclined. Binzer was shooting from the hip, firing jokes all over the place. This in turn meant that there wasn’t as much room for the personal anecdotes, and the more down-to-earth person we saw last time around, but it was a trade-off that panned out well for the Danish rock legend.

The setlist hadn’t been touched, but on the other hand, he doesn’t have all that many songs to play around with yet either, so it wasn’t too surprising.
What was surprising however, was the sound. Pumpehuset delivered a super crisp, well balanced, and all-together amazing sound for this show, letting all of the musicians bring their special thing to the table, without anyone being left out - especially not the crowd!
The lightshow had also received a lift, and I especially enjoyed the starry specks of light slowly drifting around the room during Planet Blue.
This of course also gave way for more of that playfulness in the band I mentioned above, in the form of an extended solo from Søren Andersen in Saint Fantasia (among other places).

That’s not to say there wasn’t room for the audience to play along - the flagship song Rock On Rock On Rock was extended with an a cappella sing along, and some rhythmic applause to boot.
Even when there wasn’t made special room for it though, it was easy to hear that the album had grown on people by now - more and more could sing along to the songs as they were played. And no, it wasn’t necessary to have an ad nauseam repeated chorus like Saint Fantasia’s, to have fans learn the lyrics.
We were of course treated to some of Binzer’s trademark bad humour, most clearly exemplified in his explanation about the two problems with fringe jackets - it gets stuck in the strings when you’re playing guitar, and it gets stuck somewhere completely different, if you try to wipe yourself after a visit to the toilet…

Jesper Binzer this time around was a blast, from start to finish. I can’t go into whether this was better or worse than the show in Esbjerg, they were simply two completely different experiences. And that in itself is damn impressive!

Setlist:

Dying Is Easy (Rock’N’Roll Is Hard)
The Space She’s In
Planet Blue
Real Love
Rock On Rock On Rock
I See It In You
Saint Fantasia
Undecided
The Bumpy Road
Tell Myself To Be Kind
The Future Is Now
Dream Big
Wild Child (The Savage Rose cover)