It's been the warmest day yet this year. Arriving in Copenhagen by boat around 7 PM. It's still really hot. We head straight for a bite to eat. We, that's Pär, owner of a record store where I bought my first 16 Horsepower album, Fredrik, who was lucky to catch the band the last time they played Loppen back in November 1997 (although he insists that the Malmo gig at KB in June 1998 was even better which sounds good to me as I was there as well), Jesper, who has never heard a single note of 16 Horsepower before, and me. After a nice Danish meal and a couple of beers we walk into Christiania, the small town in the big city of Copenhagen, that was occupied by some hippies about 30 years ago and eventually became as close to a state within the state as is possible. It's also the only part of Scandinavia where drugs (lighter ones) are legal. It's also where the venue, Loppen is located. The typical smell of hashish becomes obvious in less than a minute from the border. All houses are covered in graffiti, more often than not drugrelated, and all in all it's like entering a totally different world. A place where the good things and the bad things come hand in hand.

As it's still only 9 PM we sneak into a small pub of the type that we Swedes are so fascinated by, as they don't exist in our country. A small counter that serves as home for a couple of regulars and further back in the tiny room there are two tables, both vacant. That's it. We choose one of the two small tables and spend another hour talking about music and drinking beer. Then we realise we should be going. Two minutes down the road is Loppen and upon entering we walk up the wooden stairs to a sort of attic where the entertainment is going to be. Not a chance in a million this would pass as a public venue in Sweden (cause of the risk of fire for one thing). The entire building is of wood, and has nice rafted ceiling. Only one small exit, the room is packed (maybe 300 people). The tuning of DEE's many guitars and banjos has started so we hurry to buy some beers and move further inside the room to the stage. About 10 minutes later the band enters the stage to the audience's polite applause. In the 10 minutes that have passed I have managed to get right in front of the center of the stage and have DEE right in front of me. The stage is only about 20 centimetres high, and as he's sitting down as usual, our heads are actually on equal height.

The smell of hashish is again obvious as Pascal grabs his acoustic (double) bass and bow and starts off the set with a dark, heavy drone. Silver Saddle is short and slow and a perfect opener for a set that will gradually build itself up to blistering crescendos. It is followed by an equally short Praying Arm Lane and then come the first really intense moments of the show with Splinters. DEE starts to get in his possessed mood and the crowd starts to move. Seeing DEE sing those disturbed lyrics is great, and the other musicians build up a great wall of sound to go with them. After this song I look back at the crowd for the first time. I realise just how packed the place is and how into the things, going on up on stage, everyone seems to be. Except for some people around a table in the corner, at the farthest end of the room. They are chatting with each other and don't seem to be very interested in the band.

Elin Palmer is looking great, relaxed and without chewing gum. For the first three songs she has switched instruments three times. Violin, guitar and percussion.

Wayfaring Stranger starts of with the short DEE solo part, before the effect box takes over and leads us to the second, all band, part. The effect box continues all throughout the song. After four songs from the new album DEE gets out his bandoneon to give us the first older ones with Harm's Way and American Wheeze. Most of the audience seems to recognise them, which is nice. With Burning Bush comes a critical point. I feared this wouldn't work that great live, and that the intensity might go away for awhile. But it works surprisingly well. No feelings are spared.

After having slowed down in mood again the set continues with Poor Mouth, one of the songs of the new album I didn't like that much on first hearing. I have come to like it, but nowhere as much as I do tonight. It works fantastic in this live setting and as it builds up towards the final crescendo the audience participation reaches new heights. The roar is amazing as the song ends. I look down at that table in the back again and the people there are now standing on it and cheering just as much as everyone else.

The mood is continued by Straw Foot and a thundering Clogger, with it's great beat that reminds me so much of the things that Led Zeppelin used to do. The bass line pulsates throughout the audience as the band leaves the stage for the first time. Handclapping and footstomping soon brings back the band and finally I'm to experience the fantastic live version of Strong Man. The build up of that is symbolic for the entire show. The sad love song Flowers In My Heart brings back the banjo before Cinder Alley also proves to be a great live song with it's constant changes in mood and intensity. Both the band and the audience are headbanging during the crescendos.

Low Estate calms everything down a bit, which is necessary at this stage. By the line "David is a fine, young man" DEE is only whispering and as I wait for the following "he feeds the girls on candy" I realise he's whispering something entirely different that I unfortunately can't catch. Was it something even worse?

From there straight into Black Soul Choir, which is welcomed by the biggest cheer of the day. I realise how much I love this song even though having heard it a zillion times. I think it's great they have brought it back into the set. After that the band put down the instruments again and look at the crowd. They seem to be somewhat unprepared for the phenomenal response. Pascal seems to love it. DEE seems to hate it. He seems to be very uncomfortable by all this cheering that his music brings forth. Is he feeling that too much appreciation might be a part of the devil's bargain?

As a second encore we are treated to a version of For Heaven's Sake that almost surpasses Clogger in raw power. It's a roaring train coming right towards us. As a special treat they make it a little longer. So that we get a minute extra of the stuff we want. After that it's definitely over.

Five minutes later the four of us stand by the bar again, drinking a final beer before it's time to catch the boat back home. We all whisper some fragmentary words about the greatness of the things we have just witnessed. And I can't help but thinking about the show in Malmo tomorrow. It cannot possibly be better than this. I will soon know...

By Patrik.