Review and photo by Bruce Shabino
Heavy snow couldn't keep fans away last Friday night to witness the Swedish rock band The Soundtrack of Our Lives play to a sold-out crowd at the Double Door. The last time TSOOL played Chicago, they were touring behind their breakthrough release Behind the Music. This time around, the band relied heavily on songs from their upcoming release, Origin Vol. 1, due to be released in the states in March. Judging from the audience's reaction, the new songs were very well received, as if they were already old favorites.
Led by lead vocalist Ebbot Lundberg, looking more like a high priest than a rock star in his ever present black Kaftan, the band took the stage and thanked everyone for braving the elements, before launching into "Believe I've Found," the opening track to Origin Vol. 1, a catchy song with a guitar riff reminiscent of early Pink Floyd. The relatively small stage at the Double Door was scarcely able to contain the band as they charged full force into "Infra Riot,", complete with guitarists Matthias Barjed and Ian Person's posturing and flailing a la Pete Townsend and Keith Richards. The band continued full steam ahead for a solid two hours, letting up only for the slower paced "In Someone Else's Mind" and "Broken Imaginary Time."
Highlights of the show included the new songs "Bigtime," "Heading for a Breakdown" and "Transcendental Suicide" as well as "Sister Surround," "Nevermore" and the older nuggets, "Century Child," "Instant Repeater '99" and "Mantra Slider." The band was clearly having a great time, as was the crowd, and during the encore Ebbot took a video camera from a fan and playfully started filming his mates, the audience, and the inside of his ear and mouth, wiping the lens clean before returning it. During the final song as the band tore into "Mantra Slider," Ebbot descended into the crowd to spread his word, "I'm a mantra slider from the golden dawn of history, I'm a mantra slider and I'm here to give you inner peace..." TSOOL provided inner peace indeed, as well as some scorching rock and roll.
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