D-A-D @ Marbella Arena, Costa del Sol 20/5/23
Kinda had to happen sooner or later
Marbella Arena used to be a bullring. These days, instead of torturing and murdering animals for entertainment, the locals are using it for something that everyone, including the performers, can enjoy. And tonight, that something is rock'n'roll. Rock'n'roll of the, sadly, internationally overlooked kind.
It's a bit weird that D-A-D, one of Denmark's biggest bands and a notoriously solid live act, never played on the Costa del Sol before until this, their 39th year together. Not only seeing as how the area is a classic, preferred holiday and retirement destination for Danes, but also seeing as how other Danish artists sometimes come down to entertain their rich and/or retired countrymen who set up camp here. Just like yours truly did.
Anyway. Someone with their heart in the right place finally took it upon themselves to correct this glaring error.
I'm getting a bit of a weird feeling entering that arena, seeing those roughly 400 chairs with not even the first two rows filled up. How many tickets were actually sold here? The place's regular seats aren't even being used. But to be fair, we did come early. And also, there's beer, and there will be rock. So, meh.
The crowd does, of course, increase in number. However, we end up not much more than 1000 people, perhaps much less. But the band seems unfazed as they enter with no-shits-given 36-year-old cowpunk classic "Isn't That Wild". Some things are a constant in this world; D-A-D's rock-solid live demeanor and energy are one of them.
Alas, the openers do reveal the biggest problem here: The bass drum being way too loud, often drowning out the way too low lead guitar. While this does eventually get corrected to some extent, I still end up removing those special earplugs that I specifically got to delay that increasing tinnitus. No good.
I'm assuming that the sound crew is local, and that they usually work for electronic artists with no guitars and one of those conceptually constant "DOOF! DOOF! DOOF! DOOF!" kinda beats. Goddammit. But anyway, while the sound is subpar and the crowd is sparse, the band remains their youthful, professional selves. And for a fan, tonight's set, even clocking in at only 1.5 hours, is a gift that keeps on giving.
The biggest and most welcome surprise is the exclusive, melancholic pop/hard rock amalgamation "Empty Heads" from 1997's shamefully forgotten "Simpatico" album. And while the normally party-warranting "Jihad" is weirdly 4-5 BPM too slow tonight, equally party-warranting "Bad Craziness" – still Denmark's most kickass song ever – gets another 4-5 BPM added. So much so, perhaps, that pink-suited drummer Laust Sonne rushes too early into the second verse, flustering lead singer Jesper Binzer and making him forget the lyrics.
Oh well. Alongside other gems like country-tinged "Black Crickets", stadium-sized "Girl Nation", mandatory neo-classic banger "Everything Glows", and the ever-heavy, gasoline-stinking beast "Rim of Hell", this show has all the nostalgia of any of the, as of tonight, 29 D-A-D shows that this fan has witnessed during the last 25 years.
However, with the attendance somewhat consisting of side-parted men in suits and gigglingly inebriated blondes in posh dresses, this show also has all the charm (or lack thereof) of a slightly esoteric kinda garden party for those initially mentioned rich and/or retired countrymen of mine who came here for the sun and the sea. Seriously, I'm seeing like 2-3 long-haired guys apart from myself tonight. And a coupla metal shirts. But that's it. Apart from that, this crowd is more Danish jetset than anything else.
But everyone's having a good time. I mean, having a hard-rockin' live act with 4 decades of experience right in front of you, you'd have to be the world's most sorry-ass sumbitch to NOT have a good time. And this is in spite of the fact that the band has brought none of their usual pyrotechnics, and that bassist Stig Pedersen only packed a couple of his notoriously outrageous bass guitars.
The promoter did tell me last month that the local crowd had been hard to reach. And in a place where, to my best knowledge, the local population makes around €7-10 per hour, and with tickets going at €57 a pop, I'm not surprised. Had the band been bigger 'round these parts, things might have been different.
But in an unfair world and music business, Denmark's finest never got that big, international break that they still rightly deserve. Indeed, for a fan like this hopeless romantic here, there's something about the exclusivity of that equally predictable and moving encore that makes it a bit extra special.
Acoustic "Laugh 'n' a 1/2", while certainly not the world's or the band's most elegant composition, is as ever-relevant in all its uniquely bittersweet honesty as the acoustics of Nirvana that came after it. The tongue-in-cheek topic of "Sleeping My Day Away" aside, top hat-bearing lead guitarist Jacob Binzer's unforgettable, twangy theme just plain makes it world class hard rock. And mandatory closer "It's After Dark" has a place in the heart of every indigenous fan in the same category as our first grade-school crush or mom's home-cooked frikadeller.
In fact, in a part of the world where the local music charts seem dominated by that catastrophic taunt towards music and common intelligence alike known as reggaeton, a night like this would be more than a welcome yearly tradition. Add a sound tech who knows what he's doing, and sell twice as many tickets, and we'd be starting to get there.
Rating: 4.5 out of 6
Genre: Hard rock
Date: May 20th, 2023
Venue: Marbella Arena, Costa del Sol, Spain
Organizer: Broford Production
Setlist:
- Isn't That Wild
- Burning Star
- Jihad
- Girl Nation
- A Prayer for the Loud
- Everything Glows
- Empty Heads
- Grow Or Pay
- Black Crickets
- Reconstrucdead
- Rim of Hell
- Bad Craziness
- I Want What She's Got
Encore: - Laugh 'n' a 1/2
- Sleeping My Day Away
- It's After Dark