Pain was one of the two major musical reasons for us traveling to House Of Metal, the other one being Vintersorg. Unlucky us then, that these two bands were scheduled to play right after each other. Especially so, given the festival’s idea that it was good to overlap bands a bit at the beginning and end of the shows…
Still, at the moment there was no reason for despair, as we were now only waiting for Pain to enter.

“Hello dear Umeå! It’s wonderful to be back at the best festival in the world!”
- Peter Tägtgren (vocals/guitar)

As they did, to loud cheers from the large crowd, I noticed that David Wallin was back behind the drums again. He’s had a break from the band for a while where he, amongst other things, played with Hammerfall. As we could report earlier this year though, that is no longer the case.
In his absence, Peter Tägtgren’s son, Sebastian Tägtgren, who also played drums on Pain’s latest album, Coming Home, toured with the band. In many ways, he had seemed like a very natural replacement, so despite it being nice to see Wallin again, it felt odd not to have Sebastian Tägtgren there anymore. I suppose that in the end, it is all for the benefit of the band, to have more than one good go-to guy for the job.
Other than that, the band was the same as last – Peter Tägtgren on vocals and guitar, André Skaug (Clawfinger) on bass, and Greger Andersson on guitar. In other words, a wild and entertaining bunch, who only knows how to deliver on max level it seems. On an unrelated note, I’d like to add that Andersson’s new guitar, looking like it’s been roughly cut from an old piece of beaten up driftwood, looks awesome.
Pain opened the show with End Of The Line, going instantly for recognisability and hit-cred, and it worked. The crowd shouted along to the slightly disturbing lyrics, and everyone was having a party.
I have only seen Andersson once before with the band, and could easily see now that he had become a much more integrated member. Not that there was anything wrong with him initially, there was simply another level of the musicians being in synch and working together now.
Skaug was his usual wild self, which is always a delight to watch, and Tägtgren and Wallin were delivering the goods, as well as visibly enjoying themselves. Tägtgren spoke well between songs, with nothing much being rehashed from earlier shows, and Skaug delivered his high-flying stage dive at the end, from one of the high speaker stacks at the side. The festival had a clear rule against stage diving, but as later commented; “There was no rule against speaker dives”.

This was our first visit to the large concert hall at this festival, and compared to the two smaller ones we had visited earlier, it was quite impressive! Having Pain placed here, instead of on one of the others was no surprise – both for the band’s sake, but also for the much larger audience. When we came in, there was already a considerable amount of people on the floor, and the seated lines in the back, as well as the balcony, weren’t exactly full but filling up.
Pain also got a good amount of love in the form of shouts and cheers between songs, as well as some singing along during the hits, but I was surprised to see the lack of physicality in the crowd. Sure, there was a bit of headbanging in the front, but other than that the standing audience did mostly that, just stand. I’m not counting the seated crowd in here, for good reason, but I had expected a bit more life in the standing fans.
Still, there were plenty of things to be entertained by. Call Me had a short break in order to get the Joakim Brodén doll in place, and later the Painhead would come in and disturb the band during It’s Only Them.
In the latter song, only Skaug and Wallin stayed to play the instrumental outro for the song, and when it came to an end, Skaug delivered a bass solo, quite possibly the most entertaining one I have ever seen.

The only negative thing I can think of in relation to this show, is the aforementioned stress in getting from this show to the next. Vintersorg was my main reason for being here, but Pain was playing so damn well, I didn’t want to leave! This was something I could definitely have done without. Other than that, great show!

Setlist:

Rebel Yell (Billy Idol song)
End Of The Line
Monkey Business
A Wannabe
Zombie Slam
Call Me
The Great Pretender
Suicide Machine
It’s Only Them
Coming Home
Pain In The Ass
Same Old Song
Dirty Woman
Shut Your Mouth