2008-10-04 Ås Studentsamfunn

Year Zero
Serpentine (alt version)
Sail On
LLM ------>
-------> Inside Looking Out
Greener
Hogwash ------->
--------> Plan #1
Kill Devil Hills ------>
------> Alchemyst
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Before the Flood

2h 10min.

Tussen Takk for the news...

thanks!

Great concert. I didn't time it, but LLM-suite probably lasted for about 30 minutes, there was some extended guitar jamming at the end of the Hallucifuge part. Serpentine started slow and loose, then geared up to it's normal tempo. Kill Devil Hills went right into Alchemyst and pretty much skipped the long noise outro. Plan#1 was really great, also the Grand Funk song Inside looking out.
The crowd wasn't as noisy as I feared they were gonna be, considering that it's a studentfestival with a lot of young drunk students. Snah and Bent looked like they were having a good time, lots of exchanging of smiles during the jamming.

That is one great setlist, man

Hmm, would not be my choice of a setlist, but still. MP concerts are hard to judge by looking at a setlist. I REALLY think though, they should drop KDH from their lists. It is becoming the new "Go to California".

agree, not exactly my favorite setlist.

This was my first MP concert since the Quart festivalen gig in 2007 so I had great expectations. Before this gig I had only hear the LLM songs live in the form of boots. Before I review the gig song by song I'd like to share some fan/nerd details. Bent has grown a beard (minus the mustache) and wore a blue headband to keep the hair away from his face, giving him the look of a genuine hippie. Snah was using a different pedal setup which he had a lot of trouble with (sarcastically, but humorously, commented by Bent after a series of Snah+guitar tech fumbling around amongst the effect pedals and one of the amps). In my opinion Snah was really on fire and looked very happy during the whole gig. Bent was more restrained and had a more "another day on the job" attitude during the whole gig. Kenneth was amazing doing a hell of a job. The guys performed solidly and tight throughout the whole gig. The only light effect used was video projection (continuous through the whole concert). Only eight purple lights were used to light the scene. This disappointed me since the light rig was awesome (I'd seen it in action the day before). Why not exploit it? No cool lights and no smoke....why when it was all there??? Maybe there's a logic explanation. The video projection was very cool and very MP though (and fit the tunes reasonably well). The sound was massive throughout the show. Massive bass! All instruments were nice and clear. At times te vocal was amplified a bit too much, but that didn't matter too much. The crowd was well behaved, but talked loudly throughout the gig. Typical for this kind if event. I did't matter too much though as there weren't that many quiet moments. At most I'd guess there were 500 people attending, but as the other gigs started we ended up being ~350 I think. The crowd enthusiasm was OK, but nothing more (which is why we only got one encore I guess - my second disappointment). When it comes to the setlist I think it was really solid. The whole gig was very energetic and had no lows. On a scale from 1-10 I'd give it a 7. Solid, full of energy and really jammed out (more trad jams than the psychedelic kind though). I really missed a song or two from Trus Us. One of the LLM songs could have been swapped with e.g. Taifun, Superstooge or 577. Other than that, the setlist worked fine. Here's my break down of the setlist song by song:

1. Year Zero
Very good opener. Around 10 minutes. Going from the delicate to the massive throwing waves of guitar mayhem on the audience. Excellent. Very good live (better than on record or recording).

2. Serpentine III
In contrast to the much played II version on the last tour that starts of slow this version started with a nice quick groove accompanied with guitar and bass flageolettes in true Serpentine style. I liked this better than the previous alternate version. Very good but not especially interesting.

3. Sail On
Sail On can be a ripper live if the jam section is extensive. This version contained the fantastically groovy jam section, but it was a bit short IMO, but still a great live song.

4. LLM ->
My first time to hear this live and it was magnificent. I've grown a bit tired of it on record/recording but it really proved itself live. What a monster! The buildups are excellent and the codas are goosebump material! Great stuff and a very long version. A lot of jammed out greatness. Fluently into the classic Grand Funk Railroad cover.

5. Inside Looking Out
Amazingly groovy. Loooong and jammed out. One of the highlights. This one really illustrated the tightness of the "new" MP. Must have been around 20 minutes long?

5. Greener
A favourite of mine. What more can I say. Well performed and really cool video projection.

6. Hogwash -> Helluwa (Can) -> Hogwash ->
One of my all time favourites live. A MP masterpiece. Loooong (20-25 minutes?) and jammed out. Quite like the version played at Lille Vega (Copenhagen) June 2008. Fantastic, but I felt Bent wasn't quite into this one. I felt like he was holding back a bit, but it was nevertheless fantastic. This went fluently into Plan#1. Snah controlled the Matt Burt sample.

7. Plan #1
The sound reached another level at this stage. Fragile student girls started covering their ears with their hands and the bass rumbled like never before in Aud Max. A live favourite taken to another level by the incredibly massive sound. Veery enjoyable.

8. Kill Devil Hills ->
Kind of a anti climax after the massiveness of Plan#1, but still well performed. The sound was maybe a bit muddled by this point. The sonic mayhem finishing KDH of was a bit shorter than usual and went fluently into The Alchemyst.

9. Alchemyst
Slightly boring and a less than optimal way to end the set. I love the finishing part if it, but i think the jam is a bit unyielding. I'd rather have seen a Trust Us song here,

10. Before the Flood
First and last encore. I love this song and I was thrilled to hear it. It's so fragile and massive at the same time. So bloody great. Waves and waves howling guitar drenching the audience in exquisite melodies. I think it's fantastic that they've taken it back into the live set. Keep it coming!

At this point I was quite disappointed to see the band leave the stage and the guitar tech switch off the amps. A second long and jammed out song would have made the gig complete. They must have had another song on the setlist. Did anyone see the setlist??

All in all a solid and great gig. Now i'm hoping for a winter tour in Norway. To you guys seeing MP in the forthcoming European tour: have a fantastic time! We are truly privileged to have the opportunity to witness such a great jam band as Motorpsycho.

cheers
Gustav

I got the setlist from the sound guy at the back, and there were no more songs on that one. Good review!

A couple of vids posted on Youtube:

[www.youtube.com] (Plan #1)

[www.youtube.com] (Greener)

Ah, yes, hippie-hairband-Bent.

bent and snah have switched places?

a

alex Wrote:
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> bent and snah have switched places?
>
> a

Alex,
Bent 's been on the right and Snah's bee on the left (looking at the stage) since at least this summer. I think they swapped places for the USA tour, but it might have been earlier (anyone?).

Gustav

They had swapped places for the Rockefeller show I attended this spring.

Btw, here's a review:

[www.oblad.no]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2008 10:29AM by otherdemon.

f^*&%ing boring set man i hope they do a nicer one in rotterdam

Anonymous User Wrote:
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> f^*&%ing boring set man i hope they do a nicer one
> in rotterdam

Well, what do you mean, a f#&%ing boring setlist or actually a f#&%ing boring set? That's two completely different things when it comes to MP these days, isn't it? Like it or not, but this is what they do, and not a hit parade. And it's f#&%ing great if you ask me.

and i hope you would stop adding your two cents to nearly everything written in this forum, mark.

Plan number one and before the flood aaaaaah god. Hope they play them when they come(hopefully) to Bergen this fall/winter!

is too bad that most MP fans come straight from the suck generation!!!! especially anymynous space dogs!!!!

generalisations are always dangerous.