At a concert

I was at a concert yesterday at Viften with two Danish bands, Grand Avenue and Monopol (now defunct, see Nikolaj Rysager).

Most newer Danish bands sing in English (I assume this is so they can reach the most listeners), which is also the case with Grand Avenue. They have a nice, semi-acoustic feel to them, but we couldn’t help but notice how their sound had a distinct U2-feel to it. Two of their songs reminded us suspiciously of In the name of love. I think this similarity stems from their lead guitarist, who played a (very flashy) guitar that had a steel string sound to it, similar to The Edge from U2 (his real name is Dave Evans, what’s with these lame aliases for famous people, anyway?). But it’s nice, catchy rock music and easy to listen to (not easy listening, mind you) though it doesn’t stand out all that much.

Monopol, on the other hand, sings in Danish. Not many newcomers on the music scene are bold enough to do that (Tue West being one other, though more of a pop musician). For native Danes, this makes you experience the music in a completely different way. I found the lyrics very open-hearted and easy to comprehend, since they’re about relatively everyday things. It made me feel that these were people who hadn’t given in to the “temptation” of following suit with all the other up-and-coming rock bands around the world, who are forced to sing in English so as to appeal to the general market. Monopol aren’t letting themselves be monopolized, which makes the band name an interesting choice.

All in all, I liked Monopol the best, but I’m definitely also happy I heard Grand Avenue.