I went to see Beardfish play in Stockholm yesterday. It was the first time I had seen them play live. To be honest it was all a bit surreal because over the past couple of years I've held them in such high regard. In my mind they should be playing much larger venues than the small club/pub that they played last night. To be just a few steps away from the band as they worked their way through selected tracks from the Beardfish catalogue, clashed with the God-like status ship that they have in my head. It was also eye-opening for me to see how young they seemed. I've seen the photos of them on the CD sleeves so I guess it should not have been so surprising, but to my mind anyone that can craft an album as mature sounding as Sleeping In Traffic: Part 2 deserve to be the wrong side of 40. I might be mistaken but they all seemed to be the right side of 30.

Their performance was well received. You really get the feeling that they know their material inside and out. Each piece was delivered with the skill and enthusiasm of musos that burn for what they do. They each gave themselves to the gig totally. Magnus Östgren is a Neil Peart in the making, Robert Hansen would fit right into any golden-age prog band and you'd swear he'd been there the whole time, David Zackrisson is one of the most discreet guitarists I've seen play live, and who I think should have been a little louder last night, and Rikard Sjöblom...well what can I say. If Tansatlantic ever needed to replace Neal Morse, they would be doing themselves a favor by offering Rikard the slot. That isn't meant to mean that he is anything like Morse, but he is a very skilled all-rounder (guitar/keys and vocals) with at least as much talent for writing.

The set list spanned all five Beardfish albums plus a new track destined for the next album. I can't say that they played all my favorites, but in the 90 plus minutes that Beardfish spent on the cramped stage, they packed in as many as time would allow. Including a scorching performance of The Hunter.

When the performance had come to an end I made a point of approaching the stage to congratulate the band. They all took time to shake hands and exchange pleasantries, and I even managed to chat with Rikard Sjöblom for a few minutes. I mentioned that their latest album Destined Solitaire was great, but slightly marred for me by the growling on the title track. Rikard laughed and said that there was going to be a few bars of growling on the next album to. He then went on to tell me roughly when it was due for release, but I must of been completely star struck because I can't for the life of me remember what he said.

So in all it was a great gig, but I'd rather see them play a larger venue. This place was more suited to trashy Rock n' Roll style rock rather than the lengthy complex music that Beardfish play. Much of the nuances were lost to the bad acoustics of the environment and the PA didn't really do justice to Rikard's vocals.

el_macleod wrote: You cannot comprehend the depth of my jealousy right now, but at the same time I'm really happy for you.  Imho I think it's kind of funny people regard prog as being progressive and not accept new elements (like growling). Just a couple of bars of it, and it suited the songs themes etc I think. Can't say it was great, but I understood from a stylistic standpoint.  Anyway. lucky you. I hope I can visit Sweden one day to see them :)

Maybe I've misunderstood Rikard Sjöblom's intentions of what he is hoping to achieve with it. I'm not that keen on "Growling" in any form of music, but maybe I just haven't heard enough of it. If you can recommend an album or band that uses this style of vocals, that would help me get a better appreciation of it, then please do.