OCTOBER 24th, 2024
D-A-D & THE DAHMERS
Review By: Dmitry Sukhinin
Photos By: Polina Kulikovskikh
Photo Gallery: http://www.metaltitans.com/concertpics/d-a-d/

Sentrum Scene is located in the heart of Oslo, right at the edge of a trendy area and adjacent to one of Scandinavia's grittiest quarters. This Thursday, the 1,750-capacity venue is sold out. I made it inside just 20 minutes before the first band started. The interior is designed with a cross-hatch design, making me feel like a Lego figure inside a Vox AC-style amp turned inside out. The lights resemble your grandma’s satellite dish, and I’m sure Sentrum chose this look deliberately—I actually like it!

The Dahmers are the openers tonight. It’s plural, so I expect kidnappings, murders and some cannibalism. Big bands usually avoid sharing gear, and D-A-D has the large stage props you'd expect, leaving the openers to cram their drums and cabinets into the leftover space. But The Dahmers manage to make it look elegant with a huge, light-up “Dahmers” logo centered above the drums and the entire band.

The Dahmers sound and look fantastic: crunchy guitars, punchy, tight drums (the drummer absolutely nails it), and a beautifully played bass with full, rich tones. Each member fits perfectly into the group. The guitars are panned, and the guitarist across the stage, the one handling all the solos, isn’t as prominent from where I was standing. Their Halloween skeleton costumes are appropriately silly, and since Halloween is their horror-centric theme, it’s perfect for the end of October—a great vibe! From my distant vantage point, I can tell they’re all guys, but the vocals sound distinctly female. Now, sitting at home and checking the lineup, I see it's actually Christoffer Karlsson on vocals. If that was you, Chris, your vocals are killer—and you had me fooled! The crowd  could have been larger for The Dahmers; it doesn’t feel quite sold out, even though the band is rocking the place with a solid 33-minute set.

Next up: Disneyland After Dark (D-A-D), celebrating 40 years as a band. I hadn’t heard of D-A-D until recently, I thought  American hair metal was dead, but here it is—alive and kicking, only to later learn D-A-D hails from Denmark. Now, the place really feels packed, and the audience skews toward the 40+ crowd.
Every song makes you want to dance, or at the very least, nod your head to the rhythm. The crowd sings along, in tune and with spirit, maintaining a party vibe. Yes, they know all the words! "Jihad, Evil Twin, 1st, 2nd& 3rd, Rim of Hell, Point of View, The Ghost, Soft Dogs" - all delivered in great tempo with almost no breaks between the songs. Forty minutes in, the set is going strong, and people are starting to get drunk and a bit too interactive.

Grow or Pay, Something Good, then Jonnie Stig takes over the vocal parts. The mix is fantastic—I can hear every detail of the guitar solos without any issues. Occasionally, Stig switches to an inverted Fender Jazz Bass-style instrument, with a body that looks like a headstock and vice versa. It is great to be able to hear the difference!

At some point, I notice my phone has no signal—Telenor, Norway’s biggest provider, can’t handle the sold-out crowd at Sentrum.

The set is impressively long - I lost count and had to check in the end: 21 songs! Sadly, they didn’t play my favorite, "I Want What She’s Got", but plenty of fan-favorites made the cut. Since it’s Oslo, Jesper addresses the crowd in Danish, and people even pretend to understand. "Speed of Darkness, Keep That Mother Down, Everything Glows, Monster Philosophy, Bad Craziness", - during one of the last songs, I notice the guitarist brothers miss a chord, but they quickly recover. The only slight downside is the lighting—the strobe effects linger a bit too long.

The encore includes mandatory "Sleeping My Day Away", then "Laugh ‘n’ a Half", with two acoustic guitars that sound magical—dynamic and beautiful! D-A-D finish with "It’s After Dark". Two hours had passed, the set ends, and as people filter out, they’re singing the riff to "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes for no apparent reason, but it perfectly fits the night’s vibe.

I step outside; it’s late, and Oslo is alive and drunk. What a night!