Even though the frequency has been increasing lately, a visit from Hypocrisy in Denmark is so rare, that we have no problem travelling across the country to see them. Even though it was only a 30-35 minute support gig. Would you?

“We’re hyper crazy from Sweden, and we’re here to wake you up!”
- Peter Tägtgren (vocals/guitar)

It was clear from the very second we stepped into the hall, that this was going to be quite the different experience from the Malmö gig the day before. There were more people in the hall to begin with, and the mood was good. The band was greeted with a cheer as they walked on (in their completely anonymous way), and the crowd even gave them an unsolicited hey chant in Fractured Millennium. Yep, this was about to get good…

The setlist was the same as the day before, no surprises there, and at a quick glance, the performance was the same as well. But it didn’t take more than a secondary glance to realize that this was a different deal for the band as well. I can only guess that they picked up on the energy in the crowd as well, and managed to turn it into energy of their own. Stand-in bassist André Skaug is always a powerhouse of a performer, and today was no different. He often visited the floor speakers in front of the stage, and got really chummy with the audience. Tomas Elofsson and he also had a funny interaction as they pushed each other around (in jest) as they were changing sides of the stage to stand on. Elofsson was also more present in what he was doing, even though it was the same type of headbanging with hair in front of his face most of the time.
Peter Tägtgren also turned his gamer up, as he was more witty towards the crowd between songs, and far more active in his performance during them. Once again he introduced Skaug as Gandalf, and in response, Skaug improvised a Seinfeld style slap bass solo, to which Tägtgren just looked at him and delivered a perfectly dry “no”.

It was good to see the band receive the type of response they deserve. Throughout the show, the atmosphere was a whole lot better. There was a lot more headbanging (well, there was headbanging, which in itself was an improvement), and arms were raised in the appropriate situations. There was shouting and cheering, and even though the sing-along part of War-path was still a bit of a failure, an attempt had at least been made.

It was truly sad that Hypocrisy didn’t have a longer stage time this night, because this had the potential of something truly great, had it only been allowed to evolve further. As it was, it was still one hell of a good time, and we can only hope that this will help raise awareness of the band among the Danish bookers and promoters.

Setlist:

Fractured Millennium
Fire In The Sky
War-path
Eraser
The Final Chapter
The Gathering
Roswell 47