Sparkler played their secong gig at the Spring Tour 2003 at DTU in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen. The location was Kælderbaren under Studenterhuset - the smallest room for a rock concert I've ever seen. Not much bigger than twice my livingroom. I arrived 5 minutes to 8, but Sparkler didn't enter the stage untill 10:17 P.M.!
We got a 14 song set, though only 13 songs could be found on the handwritten set lists. But right after Fool For You, Rune started spontaniously to play the intro riffs of the Bob Dylan classic from 15. July 1965, Like A Rolling Stone. The rest of the band joined in with Freya on choir and Rune on lead vocals. Really a welcome surprise for an old Dylan-freak like me!

It was obviours that the band had rehearsed heavily prior to this tour. We had a tight playing band of professional musicians with much more discipline, than at the debut concert. First time I heard the new material in Sparkler's live versions in Køge on 12. October 2002, it seemed more like a band rehearsal compared to the well-playing team, we heard tonight. The loose endings had been fixed and we didn't see the guitar battle between Rune and Jakob. The band seemed to have realized that Jakob's great talent is much better utilized behind the keyboards and the lab-steel guitar, instead of fighting with Rune about playing the loudest guitar solo simultaneously.

It's important to consider Sparkler as a band and not as Freya with a backing band! It's hard, but little by little I'm getting used to Sparkler's image as a rock'n'roll band, so I experienced tonight's concert as much better, than the first live concerts with Sparkler I attended.
Now, when I'm beginning to be familiar with the album (having listened to the cd 10 - 15 times by now), it's easier for me to be open towards the more rough live style, - that we get the unpolished versions at stage compared to the very well produced album stuff.

The band consequently stuck to the new material, though requests like "Play some Freya-songs" and "Yellow Ladybird" was heard from the audience. But the band kindly denied to follow the requests, and we got only one song (Free Session) from Freya's back catalogue. At the Autumn Tour 2002 they played two.

Some of the songs were given in slightly different versions this night. I See Stars opened with Freya singing the intro a capella, only backed by Jakob on the keyboards. After a break in complete silence, the full band joined in. A very good effect which gave some variation at the set. We got a funky version of Mr. Pete with a well-balanced economizing of the instruments - not a wall of guitar bombardment, as we have seen before.

An exception from that was Some Else To Dig, which is far better on the album than in the live version. Too much heavy guitar, and I think that the song had improved, if the noisy guitar outro had been cut shorter. You Belong To Me was given in a semi-acoustic version, beautifully sung by Freya. Best ballad of the set.
Jakob did his harmonica solo job very well on Fool For You, which gave reminders to Bob Dylan. Maybe that's the reason why Rune started playing Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone. Really a scoop at the set!
They continued with a cover of the Rolling Stones' 1981 hit, Wild Horses. I missed some wildness, as it was a rather tame version, but with a nice guitar solo by Rune, anyway.
Tiger started with a long drum intro and continued in an uptempo version with some strong drum beats from Kåre. Luckely Jakob had changed from the guitar to the keyboards and the song improved very much by the addition of keyboards. In my opinion one solo guitarist is enough in a rock band. And Jakob adds to the band a more variated sound, if he stick to the keyboards and his wonderful lab steel guitar, giving a welcome touch of country which is very suitable for the new songs.
You Don't Notice is the perfect live song. Good up-tempo energy and a dancable rhytm. Very Rolling Stone-like.
There is a little story conncted to encore: According to Rune's handwritten set list, the two encores were supposed to be Free Session and Magnifying Glass (in that order). But right before the DTU-concert, Freya rewrote the set list on the backside of one of Studenterhuset's papers, putting Magnyfing Glass as the first encore, and Free Session as the closing song. Freya's choise would have given a much better finale to the gig, but it ended up with Rune getting his will, maybe because they didn't want to close with a song from Freya's solo career? But it was rather unusual to finish with a laid-back, country style ballad …

But it was a good experience to hear Sparkler at this intimate location, performing as a tight and competent rock band. So go for the next Sparkler concert near you, and you'll certainly not regret it.