Millencolin / Rufio / Ten Foot Pole

live in Seattle (2003)

Brooks

When Millencolin announced their west coast tour of the US I knew then and there that I was going to the Seattle show. The original line up was supposed to include River City High but thankfully they cancelled to allow Ten Foot Pole to come in their spot. I had seen Ten Foot Pole a few times before but never Millencolin nor Rufio. I was a bit annoyed when I found that Rufio was going to open for them but I figured I could give them a chance to win me over. Having never been to the Showbox I was surprised to find that it was a such a large venue (large compared to its partner venue at Graceland). The place was packed with what appeared to be a thousand or so 14 year old girls in "I love Rufio" shirts and your typical Millencolin fan.

The first few times I saw Ten Foot Pole they were definitely energetic and made a fan out of me so I came into the show with high expectations. Immediately this didn't seem like the same old Ten Foot Pole, whether it was the fact that I paid more attention to them this time around I'm not sure. They came out with a definite energy but they just seemed to be a bit full of themselves and the music just wasn't up to par with what I had heard before. The most annoying thing about their set was probably just how their guitarist seemed to have come up with the idea that he was some metal god (especially while playing "A.D.D." which doesn't have much to display anyway). The head banging and the flamboyance of his guitar "skills" just seemed so out of place. Their set was average and they closed with "The Getaway" which seemed to be the only song people knew by them.

On next was Rufio and I was already dreading this moment. I gave them a chance and they blew it. Their music just seems like an original mix of Blink 182 and Sum 41 and thats definitely something I've never heard before…shyeah, right and monkey might fly out of my ass. I don't know what to say about Rufio, the music was uninspired, they were extremely whiney sounding, and their attempt at a cover of "Like A Prayer" was pitiful. Rufio was horrific and in comparison actually helped the night but making the Millencolin set that much more relieving.

I've been wanting to see Millencolin for a few years now and I couldn't wait to see if they were all I'd hoped. They came out and opened with an extremely slowed down version of "Penguins and Polarbears" that sounded so slow it had me confused with "Battery Check." Of course those songs are virtually identical but good. The set was mostly a blend of Pennybridge and Home From Home which was disappointing since they skipped most of the good songs on both albums. The set was extremely energetic and both guitarists seemed a bit goofy on stage while Nikola was a bit laid back while singing, overall a good environment. They did go back and play a few old songs like "In A Room," "Bullion," "Olympic," and "Story of My Life" but I was hoping for a bit more from Tiny Tunes. The sound was amazing and I was especially surprised that they performed "Blackeye" as the song sounds overproduced on the album. Of course they "closed" the set with "Kemp" and walked off stage repeating the same bar while leaving Frederik to drum alone for about 2 minutes. The encore came about 30 seconds later when they realized its damn near impossible for a crowd to chant "Millencolin." Each guitarist performed a song to close the set with Erik singing his cover of "Knowledge" and finally Matthias playing the final song "Mr. Clean." The set was great although it lacked many songs I wanted to hear and with the Swedish accents it just made the song transitions funny. My highlight was when they asked if any Swedish people were in the audience and I threw my arms in the air only to have them point me out and remind me that I don't look Swedish. Overall not a bad night, but it could've been better.