July 3, 2022 – Lollapalooza, Gardet, Stockholm, SWE

Show Notes:

Ed asks the crowd to “fill the sky with your voice!” during Small Town. No tag on Daughter this early in the set. Mike starts the Even Flow solo behind his head, it’s playful and loose, then dissonant at the…

Show Notes: 

Ed asks the crowd to “fill the sky with your voice!” during Small Town. No tag on Daughter this early in the set. Mike starts the Even Flow solo behind his head, it’s playful and loose, then dissonant at the very end. There was a shooting in Copenhagen (the next stop on the tour) in the afternoon, no doubt leading to Glorified G here. After the “…do you see the way that tree bends…” line in Present Tense, Ed points to his left and adds “that way”. Take The Long Way returns to the set for the first time in Europe. Mike has a very good, searing solo in Why Go. The Eruption solo leads right into Porch. Following a short We Belong Together tag on Black, Ed improvs “n-n-n-n-n-no, no, no” a few times, then adds “…should have known, should have known…” Given to Fly is a nice addition to the encore. There’s a video screen behind the band, and during Ledbetter the band is projected on multiple levels going up like a pyramid, a very cool effect. Afterwards, they say their goodbyes and take the collective bow, then Ed gives the “one more” sign and they put the guitars back on for Rockin’. Ed closes out the evening with “take care of each other, take care of yourselves, until next time…”


June 28, 2014 – Friends Arena, Stockholm, SWE

Show Notes:

The band takes the stage bathed in blue spotlights, easing into the evening with Release into an uptempo Sometimes. Black finishes with Mike reeling off a searing solo, Stone delivering a complementary dance of chords, and Ed asking “Did we…

Show Notes: 

The band takes the stage bathed in blue spotlights, easing into the evening with Release into an uptempo Sometimes. Black finishes with Mike reeling off a searing solo, Stone delivering a complementary dance of chords, and Ed asking “Did we belong together?” during the ending tag. Corduroy finishes in a storm of guitar sonics. Ed addresses the crowd before Lightning Bolt, saying “tomorrow I’m going to quit drinking, so TONIGHT…,” continuing in Swedish. Mike is supercharged during Red Mosquito, but the rest of the band gets lost getting to the finish line. The crowd picks this up and tries to guide the band, swaying in time, with Ed even adding “that’s nice, we made a mistake there and you made something beautiful out of it.” Ed grabs a monopod towards the end of Given to Fly and films the stage for a fan. Daughter is tagged with a brief bit of Hey Jude prior to the WMA tag. Introducing U, Ed states to the crowd, “lot of people out there, there’s maybe ten of you who know the next song.” Before Green Disease, he discusses how SwedeBank donated the naming rights of the arena to a youth support organization called Friends that works to prevent bullying. He references Jeremy and how it came about, and how great it is to see a corporation using their ability to promote social good. Rearviewmirror is dedicated to the Hives.

After the break, Ed notices a woman with a sign in the crowd that says “sign my shoe”.  Ed manages to get her to throw both shoes on stage, which he promptly hands to a roadie to take backstage. He turns to the mic and deadpans “shoe the shoeless,” a comical nod to the infamous Indio 1993 improv. He then teases the fan, saying “you trusted me…you don’t know me.”

Prior to Oceans, Ed drinks wine from the sneakers before handing them back to their owner. Mike and Stone trade off excellent solos on a fever pitch Porch. Things start to get a little weird on stage as the band looks to kick off encore 2. Finally, Ed reins in the shenanigans with “…sneakers, flip flops, high heels… it’s evolution, baby!” A beautiful, poignant Indifference ends the night, and Ed leaves with another “Shaka” Hawaiian goodbye.


July, 7 2012 – Ericsson Globe, Stockholm, SWE

Show Notes:

A relaxing version of Oceans opens the second night in Berlin. The pace suddenly increases with quickfire renditions of Breakerfall and Animal. The crowd is prominently heard on Animal, leading Ed to take a back seat in order to let…

Show Notes: 

A relaxing version of Oceans opens the second night in Berlin. The pace suddenly increases with quickfire renditions of Breakerfall and Animal. The crowd is prominently heard on Animal, leading Ed to take a back seat in order to let them sing the chorus before the solo. The blistering start continues with Save You, the crowd are again heard clapping along throughout the solo. As Stone starts to play In Hiding, Ed interrupts; “No, no, one sec…guten abend. Guten abend. Cheers, I just wanted to make sure everyone is okay up here,” then inquiring “…what’s going on here, what’s going on? One bad person? We’ve got a long, long, explosive, energetic night in front of us.” He then instructs the crowd to take three steps back, “Perfect, danke. I’ll talk to you later,” and In Hiding is restarted. The Berlin crowd once again play a part throughout, with Ed allowing them to sing the “Hiding” during the choruses. After the song, Ed says “the last time we played here, we had such a good time – oh yeah, that was last night!” He then speaks in German, stating he believes it is the band’s 999th show (it isn’t). After Small Town, the band play an improvised jam, during which the guitars seem to briefly duel and Jeff keeps a steady, funk-infused bassline, before transitioning into Corduroy. Ed introduces Mike for the debut of Eruption, and Mike throws in a tease of another Van Halen song, “Runnin’ With The Devil,” at the end. Mike makes a mistake a few bars into the Present Tense intro, prompting cheers and applause from the crowd before he begins again from the start. Ed again addresses the crowd after Evolution, asking them again to take three steps back, saying “this isn’t for comfort, this is for safety. We won’t hit another note until we know everyone is safe.” After making sure there are no issues in the crowd, he explains he is dedicating the next song to the Ramones Museum:

“It’s an incredible little spot here in beautiful Berlin…I went for what I thought would be an hour, but I stayed for seven.” 

He then names and thanks the staff, adding “we have a real-life Ramone working for us, he has for sixteen years…Mr. Ricky Ramone! This next song was written soon after Johnny Ramone had passed, it’s called Come Back…” Returning to stage after the encore break, Ed again checks that everyone is okay before apologizing for “taking a minute,” as they “were trying to figure out what to play.” He goes on to say “I think you’ll like the next song, because we’re very close, right across the street.” It’s “Mother” by Pink Floyd, appropriately, as the song references the nearby Berlin Wall. Following Better Man, Ed says:

“They say this might be our 999th show, feels like maybe longer. Sometimes it’s just hard to believe any of it. To come to Berlin and have this kind of response over two nights in a row and over twenty years…”

Into the second encore break, Ed says “we’ve had two nights to remember here in Berlin…thanks to all the people, all the flags.” He toasts a woman named Mariella, who broke her ankle at one of the shows in Amsterdam, saying “In her honor, we’re going to take another three steps back so nothing like that happens again as it’s getting a little tight.” A celebratory Alive is followed by Baba O’Riley, after which Ed says “danke, thanks for looking after each other” before introducing the band. “This is how we say goodnight, until we meet again” leads into Yellow Ledbetter, during which he observes “…everybody’s smiling!”