Rockfreaks.net

support Stream City + TigerSwan
author LF date 13/02/15 venue Templet, Lyngby, DEN

Tonight Siamese kick off their tour in support of their recently released self-titled album (a review of which can be found here), and since I am a longtime fan of this ever-changing band I get on the train to Lyngby on this windy evening as I am curious to see how this first show with their new material, apart from their release party, will play out. The show ends up being sold out and a good amount of people have found their way to the venue early and well in time for the first band of the evening.

TigerSwan

TigerSwan is up first with their stadium rock anthems and they seem positively surprised by the turn-out tonight. Their huge sound fills the room completely but while their songs are very well produced in this respect, I can't help but lose interest too quickly because of the very simplistic build-ups and slightly overused "Woah-oh"-parts that dominate them. Still, they get clap-a-longs from the audience when they motion for them and succeed in softly warming up our ears for what comes next. Lead vocalist Andreas Neiiendam Jensen fronts the band in a slightly aloof way and while their most famous track "We Don't Need Anybody" works out just fine at the end of their set, other songs aren't quite as successful. There is something in the slow, bombastic tempos and high-striving vocal melodies that doesn't quite pack the punch they should, and I hope the band finds a less anonymous sound for themselves at some point. Nevertheless, TigerSwan is a very confident band on stage and it's obvious that they have a certain level of ambition in their music and their performance.

Stream City

The next band on stage is a very different one both in the style of music and general attitude. Stream City play fast and dramatic punk-influenced songs and have almost too much technical prowess to show off. This results at times in chaotic songs with so much happening at the same time that despite the very danceable rhythms, I end up just standing around and trying to comprehend what is going on. Up front, however, a couple of moshers are ready from the very beginning and they get more than enough space to jump around on even though it never gets entirely crazy during Stream City's set. The band covers drums, bass, guitars, violin and vocals, and is lead by vocalist/guitarist Dion Lambrecht Finne who has a curious attitude that seems to be equal parts tense and laid-back humor. The band eases the mood up quite a bit with their carefree attitude and adventurous music and Finne provides very expressive vocals that include him making voices and laughing evilly at certain points. It is overall a fun performance, but I get the feeling that this band can start even more of a party than they do tonight.

Siamese

When Siamese take the stage, they begin their set with the slow song "Bleed" from their new album which is mostly dominated by cold, electronic elements. Vocalist Mirza Radonjica's warm and rich voice thus stands out right from the beginning of their set and in this way we are eased into what turns out to be a set no less explosive than what we have gotten used to experiencing from this band. As the show progresses, several crowd-surfers make their appearance and even though the set is dominated by new songs, many fans, old as new, are ready to clap and sing along to them all throughout the evening. Indeed, Siamese only play three older songs tonight, these being "Party Like Charlie Sheen", "How Long Will It Take" and finally "A Liar Cried Wolf". These don't stand out particularly from the newer songs tonight though, mainly because the ambitious vocal arrangements and electronic backing track that dominate on the new record stand in the background of their sound tonight and thus the songs get a slightly rougher expression. This makes their more rhythmic qualities shine and gives them more of a solid punch in the live setting which suits them just fine. Still, despite Siamese playing a solid show, I am confident that they can sound even better than they manage to do tonight if the sound embraced their electronic elements more fully.