Just got back home from the 2nd Stockholm gig. The venue was maybe 2/3 full (not sure the max capacity but "large theater-ish"). It's a bit sad to see the crowds getting smaller, but I guess a Wednesday gig mostly draws people from Stockholm, and they also played there the night before. The crowd was not very animated to begin with. James even remarked that we were too polite, which made me feel bad for the band, although my knees are now sore from drumming so hard on them :-) It got better though, and during TSCO, everyone stood up and sang along.
I have been staying away from the forum since the firs NA tour started last year, so I've been mostly spoiler free, but the first set felt quite short, and unimaginative. 4 new songs and 2 deep cuts from the late 00's felt a bit odd. Although I was glad to hear ANTR live since I missed the BC&SL tour.
I was glad to hear James have a much better night compared to the TA and I&W&B shows in Stockholm. TA was really bad, he couldn't keep pitch on the softer parts at all, but tonight he was great, apart from not being able to reach the screams in UA. SFAM was great all around, especially FT, BTL and Home. My favorite tracks off the album that never seem to get played otherwise. FF was epic as usual! But I must say that it was almost a let down to not go from the record scratch sound at the end into TGP as an encore. I would have needed to call for a diaper in row 1 if that would have happened! AWE is a nice song but a very strange encore, especially as the only encore. It would have been a perfect set 1 closer, but now I left the venue wanting something more to tie it all together.
I must also say that this playing an entire album or close to it-thing can easily be put to rest as far as I'm concerned. Especially if it's jammed into a regular album tour, where you know that the new material will take up a large chunk of the set anyway. For me, the exitement of seeing a band live has much to do with how a well constructed setlist can put certain songs in a new perspective, and I love the unpredictability that a mixed setlist presents. On this tour, we got new songs, all all of SFAM in a very predictable order, and two recent-ish deep cuts. All-in-all, probably the most boring setlist I've seen them play in my book. Albeit a very well-performed setlist as always.