The Backyard Babies gig in Karlskoga a week before this, lots and lots of tickets were sold, and topped the listing over pre sold tickets in Karlskoga. Well, the same can't be said about this evening.

Just before midnight Vains of Jenna entered the stage, and the amount of people in the audience wasn't much higher than 30. And in the beginning Vains of Jenna didn't seem too bothered by the bad outcome, however after a few songs they kind of lost their energy. Somewhere in the middle of their set, when they played "Enemy In Me", the cheering audience seemed to give the boys energy again, and after that their entire gig seemed to go upwards; the band seemed to accept playing in front of a small audience, even though it had slightly grown since they hit the stage.

They finished the gig by saying that they would stand behind the scene after the show and sell their merchandise, and that they probably were the poorest band in the world, so everyone should empty their wallets and come shopping, and with a smile, they left the stage to Crucified Barbara. (7/10)

Around 1am the female rock band Crucified Barbara entered the stage and started off with "Killer On His Knees" to continue with "Can't Handle Love", both from the new album. They played with great presence and energy and were definitely on top form this evening. They played a lot of new songs in a combination with old songs from their first album in between, and even though the audience barely was over 50 people, the few that were there hung on to the girls energy wave.

In the middle of the set, drummer Nicki played a drum solo that actually explains the taking of her last name, because it was seriously wicked, there's always so little credit given to drummers.

Then the band started to talk about the fact that they, as well as everyone else, do have a softer side, even though they claimed that theirs was really small, and they were about to show it by playing the ballad "Jennyfer", even though the live version was a bit harder than the album version, and also Coldheart showed that she can manage to sing the song all by herself superbly.

The band played their entire set without losing energy once, and ended with "Rock 'n' Roll Bachelor". It was a great gig apart from the absent bad hangover, which I guess many of the 50 people woke up with the day after. (8/10)

by Johanna Salo

Visit the Crucified Barbara Website

Visit the Vains of Jenna Website