The Motorhomes Tour
1999 Concerts
January
23rd Jönköping, Café gränden
February
2nd Malmoe, Kajplats
March
13th Jönköping, Studion
31st Stockholm, Tantogården
April
18th Eskilstuna, Blå
29th Jönköping, Kåren
June
13th Hultsfredsfestivalen
27th Jönköping, Rådhusparken
July
11th Sthlm, Wayne's Coffee
August
8th Stockholm, Muller, Gröna Lund
21st Eskilstuna, SUCKen
September
15th Stockholm, Södra Teatern (with Travis)
23th Linköping, Herrgårn
24th Lund, Blekingska Nat.
25th Örebro, Klubb Populär
October
2nd Piteå, Grossen
14th Kungsbacka, Kins-ton
15th Jönköping, Kulturhuset
16th Köping, Smedjan
20th Östersund, Eken
21st Örnsköldsvik, Musikhuset
22nd Göteborg, Sticky Fingers
28th Västerås, McEwans
2000 Concerts
November
17th Helsingborg, Tivoli
18th Ängelholm, Gotwald
19th Lund, Universitetet
20th Lindesberg, Eld
22nd Copenhagen, Valbyhallen (with Suede & Super Furry Animals)
23rd Lund, Olympen (with Suede & SFA)
25th Gothenburg, Lisebergshallen (with Suede & SFA)
26th Oslo, Spektrum (with Suede & SFA)
27th Stockholm, Hovet (with Suede & SFA)
29th Århus, SCC (with Suede & SFA)
December
1st Linköping
3rd Arvika, Lassemaja
4th Uppsala, Norrland's Nation
9th Leeds (UK), T&C (with Shed Seven)
10th Vallentuna, Ekebygården (cancelled)
11th Sundsvall, Pipeline (cancelled)
11th London (UK), Shepherds Bush Empire (with Shed Seven)
17th Linköping, Skylten
Concert Reviews
29/09-2003
Live - Motorhomes Redux, Three Years Later
Camden Underworld, Camden
It was a bit of a return to an old haunting ground on Friday night. After having been to the Camden Underworld for four nights during a week I visited London in April of 2000 to see up and coming bands such as My Vitriol, Snow Patrol, Animalhouse and Sweden's Motorhomes, and I was back Friday night for a return engagement from those aforementioned Motorhomes. Seeing as they had released my favorite album of 2000 after I saw them that April and had dropped another since, I was intrigued to see and hear what there were up to in September of 2003.
The quintet had suffered 40% turnover since I last laid eyes upon them, as guitarist Daniel Skaar left the band after the release of the brilliant debut Songs For Me (& My Baby) and drummer and principal songwriter Peder Claesson took leave after the completion of their sophomore body of work, The Long Distance Runner. In their places on Friday evening were keyboard player Henrik Carlsson and drummer Niklas Korssell and the band kicked off their 40-minute show with two brand new tracks, one of which had a distinctly '60s vibe. Much of the sheen and wash of Songs material had been replaced by a return to basics style of songwriting. The third song was an alternate version of the first album's "Into The Night", with the guitar line replaced by a new keyboard riff. Frontman Mattias Edlund is as pretty as ever, but his short cropped up 'do has been replaced by shoulder-length locks, even further drawing physical comparisons to Gavin Rossdale of Bush. Edlund's skyscrapring vocals were as pure as ever, as well, sending "Into The Night" into the rafters of the club. Further new songs were aired and a stripped down rendition of "For Whom It May Concern" off of Songs was rocked. Then it was the best period of the night: the Swedes ripped into my favorite Motorhomes song, bar none, 2000's amazing "It's Alright", which still had the ability to send chills up my spine. Following this was the finest track from their sophomore album, "The Man" and after that, then played another new, uptempo number that kept the heads bobbing and some extra enthusiastic crowd members dancing. And like that the gig was over, but not before instilling the crowd with the confidence of promising new material and renewed faith in the strength of old favorites. The shimmering Motorhomes of old may now be deceased, but a more classic pop-aligned Motorhomes has seamlessly taken their place. Big ups to Tomas Jernberg for arranging my entry to this wonderful evening out.
by Jeremy P. Goldstein
www.thetripwire.com
31/08-2003
THE MOTORHOMES
Sticky Fingers Top Floor, Gothenburg
Stora skivbolag gör ofta fel. De sparkar ut band för tidigt. The Motorhomes har fått sparken från Sony efter en superhit till debutalbum och en hyfsat framgångsrik andra platta. Tydligen räckte inte detta för att bandet skulle få vara kvar. Därför har Jönköpingspågarna tvingats till en nystart. Med delvis ny uppsättning och en massa färska låtar. Och den sena spelningen på Sticky Fingers i fredags visar att det bara gjort dem gott. Samt att Sony sannolikt kan stå där med lång, lång näsa.
Det är nämligen ett snudd på sensationellt bra och "nytt" Motorhomes vi får se och höra. Den lite osäkra framtoning som bandet dragits med tidigare i karriären är bortblåst, nu står de där på scen som om de aldrig gjort annat och inte planerat att göra det heller. Med ny trummis och keyboardist låter de dessutom starkare, stramare, hårdare och vassare än någonsin. Något de nya låtarna drar stor nytta av.
De inleder med tre helt färska saker, av vilka den första (som kanske heter Dance the night away) är den bästa låt de gjort. En stor mix av Springsteens storslagna 70-talsepos, med Bittanpiano och maffiga gitarrer, och brittisk pop som Smiths, Suede och Puressence. Fullständigt magnifikt. Resten av de nya låtarna, det blir ett flertal under kvällen, håller sig inom samma ramar. Känslosvallande pop med stora gester, ofta byggda på samma monotona och rullande piano- eller gitarrslingor och med väl utmejslade sångmelodier för sångaren Mattias Edlund. Som visar sig fått en helt ny kraft och glöd i rösten. En bra sångare har han alltid varit, men inte såhär bra.
Det enda man eventuellt kan kritisera bandet för är att de är aningen slarviga i sina gamla låtar, alla spelas på tok för fort, men med nytt material av denna kaliber är det kanske inte så konstigt.
by Daniel Claeson
Göteborgsposten