Kim Larsen is a very famous Danish pop-rock singer-songwriter, probably the most famous one inside the Danish borders.
Admittedly, his music lies far, far away from what we usually concentrate our efforts on at this site, but as both Lunah (Lauridsen, our photographer) and myself enjoy his songs from time to time, and the opportunity to come and watch him live presented itself, we quickly took the bait. So here’s a review for those who dare to challenge their own borders once in a while. Go on, try it, you never know what you might find…

Summer had just begun, the weather was great, and out in Valbyparken, the second largest park in Copenhagen, an event called En Dejlig Aften (trans. A Delightful Evening) invited people from near and far to exactly what the name suggested, a delightful evening of people friendly rock music.
Kim Larsen, also known as Denmark’s national bard, came on stage while the sun was still rather high in the sky, and he jumped right into it with one of his many folk favourites, Tarzan Mama Mia. At once, people were dancing and singing along to the well-known tune, and everywhere around I saw only smiling faces.
After this it was time for the first of several visits to his latest solo effort, Mine Damer Og Herrer from 2010, with the song Mænd Med Måner. As this album hit the number one position on the album sales charts in Denmark he week after its release, it was no wonder that the crowd was as easily singing along to this one as they were to the older tune before it.
Through the one and a half hour Kim Larsen was on stage, he had time to visit both new songs like the one I just mentioned, and others all the way down through his long-standing career all the way back to some Gasolin’ classics, the band which started it all back in the late 60ies / early 70ies…

Although the songs were more or less played back to back, an impressive feat considering the man is 65, Larsen did find the time to talk a little between some of the tunes. In his way we were told that Bell Star was about an old flame from his youth, whom he had neither dared to speak to nor find out her true name.
Although many songs in his repertoire are lovesongs, he also had the time to get some gripes off his chest, like the song Næ, Næ, Næ which was a kick to the way the banks have handled the recent economical problems, the overnight stardom shows like X-Factor and others were criticized with the song Giv Mig En Chance, and the Danish population as a whole got a kick in the ass for becoming too complacent and lazy with the song De Fortabtes Aveny.
Easier topics were explored as well with party-friendly songs like Strengelegen and Køb Bananer, and all of the band-members got the time to show off their skills. Guitarist Karsten Skovgaard did not only show his brilliance in several solo opportunities, but also played the harmonica during a few songs, and bassist Jesper Haugaard showed his skills on both a normal, electrified bass and a double bass, as well as a keyboard in some songs. The only one I wasn’t really impressed by was Jesper Rosenqvist, the drummer, who neither played nor performed very spectacular at this show…

That Kim Larsen is still as big a star, and has as much of a pull on people as he always has had, was not to miss as the large audience was singing and dancing along to the entire show, and the man himself was performing the pants of several of his far younger colleagues.
To the crowd’s satisfaction, Larsen mostly kept to the big hits of his career, and so it was actually only two songs, one in the middle and the last song of the night, which I didn’t immediately recognize (if anyone out there knows which ones I’m missing, feel free to post a comment here and I’ll fill out the blanks).
As said, this was far away from our usual style, but I was really happy to see such a lively and positive concert, no matter what the attached genre-title might be. The highlight of the set was definitely Kringsat Af Fjender, closely followed by Byens Hotel and Kom Igen.

Setlist (incomplete):

Tarzan Mama Mia
Mænd Med Måner
Mig Og Molly
Lille Spejl
Byens Hotel
Strengelegen
Bell Star
Midt Om Natten
Kom Igen
Giv Mig En Chance
Køb Bananer
De Fortabtes Aveny
Næ, Næ, Næ
Sirenesangen
Så Vender Vi Kajakken
Rabalderstræde
Kringsat Af Fjender