Dúné

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author TL date 23/07/10 venue Tivoli, Copenhagen, DEN

It's Friday, it's noon. I've just woken up and the first thing that draws the attention of my sleepy mind is my phone beeping. "Dúné are playing in Tivoli tonight. Wanna come?". Having just gotten paid and having no better plans - watching tough guy hardcore at The Rock is not appealing to me - I figured what the hell, rallied some troops, and decided to go. For those not in the know, Tivoli is an old amusement park which has been a main touritst attraction for Copenhagen since forever, and in trying to keep up with the young crowd, the place's management periodically hold "Friday Rock" gigs with prominent Danish artists. Arriving in such a place to see the hotshot youngsters from Dúné, it should be possible to imagine what the scene looks like. People of all ages, most looking and bantering like they don't attend regular concerts, are gulping expensive beer on a grassy area in front of a reasonably large stage. Many people that is, and in the minutes before the show starts, it becomes harder and harder to move anywhere, so instead, we retreat to a good spot in the back, and direct our attention to the stage.

Dúné

As the seven young Danes step on stages and launch into their set, the first thing drawing the attention of me and my friends is how well frontman Mattias Kolstrup is singing, pulling notes out of the air with seamless ease. All too soon however, it becomes apparent that the reason we're noticing this so easily, is that everything but the vocals are tuned down low in the mix, effectively making Dúné's electro-rock flow from the speakers at so low levels that members of the audience can easily converse without raising their voices. Now, how well do you think this suits what is basically a 'rock' concert? Don't get me wrong, it's great that the lyrics can be heard crystal clearly, but when you can't feel the instruments in your body, it's obvious why the crowd activity is limited to scarce singalongs, and that outbursts of jumping and screaming is only instigated by the untiring work of Kolstrup and his band. The singer is all over the place, running, jumping, rolling and climbing things, delivering notes pitch perfect while the rest of his band contributes with their own cool-as-fuck performances. He oversees singalongs and shouting contests and gets even reluctant mature audience members to sit down during an attempt at the classic sit-down/jump-up trick - which is ruined however, as many concert newbies stand back up too soon. Dúné however, are unquestionably giving one hell of a show, having more than enough live-worthy cuts between their two albums, and more than enough confidence, experience and class from having toured with the likes of Muse and Foo Fighters. Through the strength of their material and a 'performance-beyond-his-years' from Kolstrup, the Dúné show is impressive, showing even sceptics that the faith and hype invested in this band has not caused them to rest on their laurels. Too bad that it's all being performed in such a casual setting, with sound that either can't go any louder, or is being kept down to accomodate the family audience. There's a good band and there are good tunes, but the party in the audience could be so much wilder and better, but for that, it seems that one would have to see Dúné play on their own terms, in a less restricted setting.

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