On the 7^th of August Lastkaj 14 was playing at Dansbanan. A venue in the amusement park Gröna Lund located in Stockholm, Sweden. The venue is intimate being quite small and instead of walls there are wooden railings bordering to the amusement park. Before the show starts you can lean against said railings and look out at the crowd of kids running from attraction to attraction mingling with a bunch of punk rockers. A sight to see, I’ll say.

Barely a minute late, the band enters stage with a beer in hand and starts setting up their instruments to the roar of the crowd. Stryparn lifts his glass to the crowd and ‘Samhället suger!’ starts blasting through the speakers. If you thought Lastkaj 14 were loud in your earbuds, the live performance might blow you away. The crowd is immediately filled with rapid headbanging and jumping accompanying the aggressive playing.

The rest of the setlist was packed with hits such as ‘Ändras och förändra’, ‘Du är inte här’, ‘längst upp på bottens topp’ and ’becksvart’ – all of which was played with enough energy to nearly blow the roof off. One of the more magical parts, however, came when the track ‘Inte arg’ was played. When the chorus came the band stopped playing and let the crowd take over. And they did not disappoint. It was as if the whole crowd knew the words and used it as a moment to let all their anger and frustration out – ironically enough to a song which title translates to ‘not angry’.

Lastkaj 14 might be really good at the fast-paced aggressive playing, but they did just as well manage to impress with more slower and emotional pieces. They were really good at balancing these two in songs such as ‘Becksvart’ where it alternates between more aggressive and then softer parts – something that really elevates the listening experience.