So it turns out that Basshunter has quite an extensive repertoire. Having assumed that the one song everyone had turned up for- would simply be stretched out over the necessary period of time, with intermitted “I love Scottish girls” and “Are you ready to party?” It actually turns out he has a least four more.
Certainly differentiating between the songs is a challenge in itself, but it helps that his scantily clad back up dancers lead us into each song in a new provocative position on stage, or through simply removing another item of clothing.
Jonas Erik Altberg, or Basshunter for short, arrived on stage to a rapturous applause from the crowd egged on by his warm up MC.
Certainly his self-proclaimed “Euro-dance” style had drawn a diverse group of audience members. The interestingly mixed audience or pre/post pubescent teens, drunk Euro-beat enthusiasts, general Basshunter admirers and a pod of parents at the back, produced an aura of heightened excitement throughout the HMV picture house.
Indeed having once again listened to the crowds unified chant of “here we, here we, here f*cking go!” for the 45th time, turning round to witness the parents aghast faces, clutching their jackets in anxiousness was a hilarious contrast to the wild enthusiasm of the ‘children of pan’ in the pits in front of them.
Certainly whatever it is Basshunter does, he appears to do it well. The audience were rarely undone and with every slightly ‘high-end’ Eurovision entry beat; the likes of ‘Now your Gone’ and ‘All I ever Wanted’ they embraced with the same enthusiasm as before.
However, at some points things did become a bit ridiculous particularly when Basshunter proceeded to exploit his own sexuality rather overtly on stage. Insisting on the unnecessary pouring of water on himself (seductively) and appearing (for no good reason) with a nothing but a towel and boxers on in between songs was rather questionable.
This tomfoolery may have not made his songs any better to listen to, but one could say it added to the over all club 18-30 glamour of it all. Of course putting personal taste aside, the gig was as entertaining as any other you would expect of an artist of that calibre.
He approached the audience with genuinely excitability and seemed to really thrust himself into satisfying his paying audience (he’d appreciate that one). Over all enjoyable, the kids loved it, the parents were frightened... good times were had by all.