Last night will never be forgotten by the nine people of this trip. Not only is Jonkoping one of the most beautiful and hospitable places i have ever been last nights show only capped off the bliss of the day. Since we arrive at about 9:30 in the morning we had all day to explore and there's plenty more I would have liked to see, enough indeed to want to come back for that reason alone. The show space was so great, it was an abandoned theatre turned into a youth club, the downstairs where one would buy tickets became the lounge\merch area and then upstairs they had a small room with a stage covered in graffiti, black and red flags, and epithets of socialism and anti-fascism. The actual theatre remained seperate but accessible and the guys looked into whether or not we could hook a movie up as i was falling asleep afterwards. The first two bands were really great raw punk rock bands of kids from the town many of which helped run this beautiful place all on their own right in the heart of Jonkopings shopping center. For this reason we had to wait for the shops to close before setting up and warming up inside, its amazing the way this bustling area shuts down about 7 o clock. Im told there are about 200,000 residents but it does not feel that way at night.
Heartbreak Kid played great, it was the first show where the kids really danced and went wild for any of the bands and they set the bar really high for us. We had the option of travelling to England or Sweden on this trip and unanimously decided upon sweden, this also created a great opportunity to cover Swedens most important hardcore band from the 90's. This was the perfect audience to play Refused's classic "rather be dead" the politicized environment and spirit of their community gave way to a frenzy when we started the song half way through an already well received set. The stage was covered with kids, i gave them the microphone and there was barely enough room for us, at one point i had to catch peterson and his guitar from falling over the drumset, it was bliss and madness. We played every song we knew with more energy than ever before. Kids dove from every side of the tiny stage, in a split second one of the kids up front grabbed my leg and i was launched on top of the crowd still singing. Its really incredible how anywhere between 50-70 kids can make you feel like maybe mick jagger could take a lesson on showmanship. When the set ended the feeling of sheer happiness washed over us all, some of the kids from the show took a few of our guys down to the water to jump in what i guess is a lake, a most massive lake, to cool down. I stayed and sold merch and cleaned up a bit. We slept in the venue on couches and cots, it was the first time i closed my eyes in about 36 hours after driving through the night before. about 12 hours later here I am back in town getting one last look of things before we hit the road for Malmou.
The end of the night was dampened for only a moment when one of the promoters, who looked about 21, told me at the end of the month they were losing this club and asked that perhaps we might write of our day in town and our night at the youth club and our experience there. If they are to lose the club they will then have to go search and beg somewhere else and ive seen what a process this is but i know that with this spirit they will continue to build and rebuild in spite of state opposition. A letter a day from 9 people in germany and the us may perhaps help.
Thanks to everyone for reading and leaving me your notes it means a lot to hear from family on this trip.
-Sean
p.s. Amanda lets move to Sweden
