Linus's take
8/10Kallsup. A quick Google tells me that ”kallsup” is Swedish for ”an involuntary gulp of water, or getting water in your airways while swimming or diving, which usually leads to coughing or discomfort”.
This, however, was something completely different from an involuntary gulp of cold water.
Personally, I always find it hard to take in bands live that I’ve never really heard, or haven’t managed to form my own opinion of and relationship with. It gets a bit abstract, and somehow you start at a disadvantage straight away. That’s hardly the bands’ fault – it’s just my way of relating to music that makes things a little tricky.
That’s exactly why it’s always refreshing when you get something of a slap in the face and actually stop and feel – damn, this is pretty good, this is properly good. Much the same feeling I got when Sabaton supported Edguy at Mejeriet in Lund in 2006 – those of you who’ve read our first crew story might remember that it was my first real gig ever, and sort of where it all began.
Sabaton were a bit of a slap in the face too, and that gig is the reason I’ve since gone on to see Sabaton around ten times.
Anyway, I’ll stop being nostalgic and actually talk about what we saw at K.B. Hallen when Kallsup opened for Placebo.
On their own website, Kallsup describe themselves as a shoegaze/alternative rock band from Örebro. I find it a bit hard to pin them down myself, beyond the fact that there were strong elements of a lot of things that hit the spot for me. It felt very genuine, it felt like a lot, there was a lot of angst – but it was rather beautiful.
Singer Eline has a very special voice, and it holds up from start to finish – it’s what carries the whole set.
At a time when I feel that many live bands have lost their connection and their emotions, where everything is meticulously planned and you get the feeling there’s zero room for spontaneity or adjustments, it’s refreshing to get something that feels genuinely real.
I have to admit I have a soft spot for anything that feels real and isn’t planned down to the second, so it automatically earns a little bonus point when a band manages to convey the feeling that I’m actually experiencing something special. Without bringing too much of the headliner Placebo into this review: it says a lot when you tell the audience to put their phones away so the band doesn’t lose its ”connection” with the crowd – and then go out and play a gig that probably feels exactly the same as the shows on the nights before. Kallsup, on the other hand, go up there, do something genuine and make me feel something.
And the fact that the band formed after the members went looking for a singer on Tinder – that just adds a bit of extra spice to the whole story.
Somehow I think that’s allowed to sum up the whole thing. Kallsup succeeded a hundred percent at what a support act should do – and failed completely at the same time.
They’ve got my attention and I’ll most likely go and see them again – as headliners, not as a support act – but for Placebo’s part, their set made me start questioning the headliner.
