Musikens Hus, Gothenburg, November 6, 2004
I have been lucky enough to catch Destiny live a number of times and it’s always an overwhelming experience. The sheer power of this band really comes through in the live experience, so I expected nothing less this time. Despite this, I had obviously set my expectations to low! How is that, I hear you asking. Well, let’s just say that the boys have never sounded better. Already when the intro was over and we were treated to the first notes of ”Holy Man”, the opening number from their latest album (”Future of the Past”), I could tell that they sounded tighter than ever. Since John Hawthorne, who did the growling on the studio version, happened to be present as he’s the singer of supporting band Hawthorne, he naturally got on stage with Destiny to reprise his thunderous fills. ”Holy Man” then went straight into ”Sabotage” – possibly the finest number off ”Future of the Past”. And quite possibly the best take of the song that I’ve ever heard. The groove! The intensity! The entire band must be commended for how they sound live these days, but special marks go to (in this order) drummer Birger Löfman, who seems to get better for every time I hear him, and vocalist Kristoffer Göbel, who sounds as good live as on the album and who has a great stage presence. However, we must not forget the other guys. Founding member Stefan Björnshög is as always reliable and precise in his bass performance. Guitarists Janne Ekberg and Fredrik Olsson (previously in Lost Horison) are of the finest calibre and I would like to give a special thumbs up to Fredrik, who did a great job despite having recently (although temporarily?) joined the ranks.
Anyway. After ”Sabotage”, the band visited the recent past with ”Tomorrow’s Yesterday” off ”The Undiscovered Country”; one of my favorite tracks from that album. It was followed by two more songs from the new album, ”Magic Forest” (could be my least favorite from ”Future of the Past”, but still sounded very impressive live) and a killer rendition of ”Flying Dutchman”. What kind of vocal cords do you need to sing that one so beautifully live? Ask Kristoffer. I sure don’t know.
And then we traveled way back in time – the band indulged us with two songs from their second album ”Atomic Winter”: ”Who Am I?” and ”Living Dead”. It’s lovely to hear these old songs played by the best incarnation of the band ever. And to hear Kristoffer do full justice to tracks recorded with former vocalist Zenny Gram. I would have liked to hear something from ”Nothing Left To Fear” as well, and I know the band played the title track in Germany the night before, but unfortunately they had to cut their Gothenburg show short in order for Notre Dame to play a full show, since that band did their last show ever and filmed it for a coming DVD. So instead, the band did ”Devil in the Dark” from ”The Undiscovered Country” as their final number for the evening. Which probably was a good choice – it’s a hard-hitting, live-friendly track and a perfect closer, leaving the audience hungry for more.
In conclusion, I hope I will get to see Destiny do a full set ASAP. The way they sound live now, that would make for a memorable evening indeed. As of now, I am – you guessed it – hungry for more.
Zendt
