Evergrey live at Katalin, Uppsala 1/2-19

8/10

Tonight´s gig at Katalin in Uppsala is the first show for the band here ever in their 20+ years. If it is a warm welcome for that reason or the fact that there is no Stockholm date on this Swedish Tour – I don’t know, but the crowd builds up an electric tension of hopes and anticipation. So when the band enters the stage with the seven minutes long “The Silent Arc” from their latest album “The Atlantic” it feels almost like when something is on hold for just a bit too long and finally released to freedom.

They follow up that song with another new track called “Weightless”, maybe a bit daring to start the gig with two songs the audience might have heard but are not very familiar with. But it works out great. During “Passing through” the vocals was somewhat hard to hear, but with the help of the audience, it wasn’t anything to be too concerned about and it was the only time during the two hour set. The band today is like a more accessible Katatonia, the three last records have been dealing with some serious life bewildering experiences in Toms life. If you think it´s heavy listening to the band, go see them live! It´s even heavier but without losing its sensible vibe. They focus mainly on those last albums tonight but still we are treated with old favorites like “Monday Morning Apocalypse” and “Touch Of blessing”. Tonight “Monday morning apocalypse” feeling like rowing in syrup sadly.

It´s nice to see that the audience seems to like the new heavier Evergrey and the singalongs comes without Tom begging for it. When they return for the encores they kick it off with the majestic “Grand Collapse”, and follow it with three more songs that easily could have restarted the whole show and have them continue for another hour. Putting a keyboard/guitar solo as encores is another daring thing this evening but Henriks clean tone on the guitar and Richards (homecoming for him by the way) different way of approaching a solo makes it listenable.
The final song of the night “King Of Errors” should maybe kicked off the night?

Who: Evergrey
Where: Katalin and all that jazz, Uppsala Sweden
When: 2019-02-01
Rating: 8/10
Best song: Oh my….Passing Through
Worst Song: None but Monday Morning Apocalypse never took off