“There is a force that drives us” –
Rasmus Kellerman duets with his wife Andrea for the encore
Never judge a book by its cover. As we made ourselves comfortable in the first rows of the Debaser Medis in Stockholm the audience that accompanies us couldn’t be more diversified. The front row sees a loud group of Swedish party girls, dressed up in black and posh cocktail dresses; right behind them we got some already quite drunken Spanish people. There are some heavily iPhone-focussed media hipsters, some dark wave folks and also quite regular looking people. And believe us – we were a bit sceptical first if they all were aware of what was about to follow. But they were – just a few minutes later the party girls were head banging and singing along, same goes for the drunken folks from abroad. Sweden welcomes back one of his most talented musicians – Mr. Rasmus Kellerman and his band TIGER LOU.
Following a show in Gothenburg in November the gig in Stockholm marked the second comeback concert of the group, following a four year long hiatus. Recently NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION also had the chance to talk with Mr. Kellerman about the past, present and future of his project. Don’t miss the full interview right here. So, although it’s not sure yet in which way the band will fully return it looks like an exciting time for all TIGER LOU fans. According to Kellerman right now it’s about the fun and the chemistry between him and his bandmates. And if we judge that from the performance of last Saturday we can truly calm you down – it really looks, sounds and feels like the past four years didn’t happen at all.
TIGER LOU were pretty late on this night, starting after 11 pm as part of local indie event series “Fritz’s Corner.” A very low key decision for a comeback show but since it was almost for free (at least if you did arrive quite early) it’s a lovely one. And of course, lowering your expectations was generally a good decision on that night. TIGER LOU played only slightly more than one hour. It wasn’t a revelation, but rather an appetizer to satisfy at least a bit of the hunger. And within seconds of the opening track Until I’m There it really feels like the return of a long lost friend. Yes, we know – it sounds like a cliché. But it’s the truth.
“This time I won’t quit” –
TIGER LOU’s Rasmus Kellerman
The show presented a well-balanced mix of the band’s most famous tracks from their past three studio albums. And none of them tunes lost its spirit. The Loyal still got this great hypnotic groove, same goes for The Wake/ Hooray Hooray. The tunes from the latest album, 2008’s A Partial Print, present the intense and hard side of the band. The epic “two-songs-in-one”-track The More You Give/ The Less You Have To Carry is still a mind-blowing and almost never-ending experience. It’s in songs like these when you can sense the true passion of the band playing their music. And clearly it looked like they enjoyed each and every note. Especially bassist Eric Welén really put all of his energy into his performance. A wise choice from Kellerman to put him at the centre of the stage.
While the setlist provided a lot of all-time classics and missed some fan favourites like Sam, As In Samantha its greatest surprise was a brand new song by the band. Although Kellerman confirmed that TIGER LOU started recording new material it was quite unlikely that new stuff was already good to go. But it was and it didn’t disappoint. A hypnotic groove with the typical dark note of the group and a bit less heavier than the material from A Partial Print. Well, we wouldn’t mind more of that.
As TIGER LOU re-entered the stage for an encore of two tracks from the debut Is My Head Still On? the crowd was already cheering frenetically. The band clearly enjoyed it and Kellerman thanked the people multiple times in his native language. And since we’re not really fluent in Swedish we’re sorry for not providing you a proper transcription of this. For the fan favourite The War Between Us, Kellerman was joined by his wife Andrea aka FIREFOX AK. Good to see these two reunited on stage. The show ends with the lovely anthem Oh Horatio and an audience in the mood for sing-a-long. 60 minutes of pure bliss for each fan, balm for the soul of those who’ve been waiting for too long. And some promising hints on a positive future. Like Kellerman told NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION: ” Life’s too fucking short to not be doing the stuff you love.” The band loved it, the audience as well – so, on behalf of all the drunken and sober TIGER LOU fans all over the world allow us to say: Välkommen tillbaka!
SETLIST:
01. Until I’m There
02. Sell Out
03. The Loyal
04. Coalitions
05. The Wake/ Hooray Hooray
06. Trails of Spit
07. New Song
08. The More You Give
09. The Less You Have To Carry
10. Crushed by a Crowd
11. Nixon
12. The War Between Us (feat. FIREFOX AK)
13. Oh Horatio
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