this year's hannover show though was completely on the other side of the spectrum. besides some assholes in the audience & serious problems with bent's voice they played a wonderful, mostly quiet show (due to the WILD extravaganza the day before maybe?) that was comparetively short (120 min).

out of the six shows i saw this tour this one was the most perfect one in many ways: the sound was superb, the sympathetic venue was very small & the band played WITH PERFECTION. the setlist composition was very well balanced unlike previous setlists that were too scattered for my taste (bremen & bielefeld).

the show started off with a five song run including pop & roll tunes like "go to california" (short), "snafu" & "drug thing". among them one song i had predicted to have A GLORIOUS FUTURE in a live setting: "for free". to my dissappointement this song was a disaster all tour long. all version i've heard, either live or on CD, failed to impress me, rather bored me. something was wrong with it, the band did not seem to be able to nail the fucker. i almost wished they would shelve the unfortunate tune, just like they did with "B.S.".

tonight though, it grabbed me from the first second. it was tight, it was perfectly executed & i even enjoyed it. i took this as an indicator that the band was just on tonight. still, i think there has to be more power to it, maybe they can improve it somehow during future tours. needless to say "drug thing" was the perfect follower & this couple switched a button inside me & elevated the show from very very good to sublime. :)

next up was the laid back jammy part including "my best friend", "she used to be a twin", "time to skate", "pppp" & "up down".

maybe the almost perfect reading of "for free" made them confident but they went into "best friend" with an attitude that said:

"hey! we know we can pull off the most far out stuff, we just did in köln. let's just present our way of jamming away with this tune in a nutshell! let's give the people our essence of this tour's jamming within the conventional 10 min format!".

there was no weird introing, no multi-parted middle part, let alone a grateful dead cover. the middle jam was sharp, to the point, thought out, almost planned. there was this feel to it that always reminds me on miles davis' rythm section around 1970. that's baard i observed. this tour he has been playing lots of this "funky" organ & the interplay with snah's unleashed style this tour was obvious. :)

the up this point very smooth & sedate crowd was wiped into a frenzy with an insane "she used to be a twin". halfway through it i started looking around me & noticed how more & more people got into it, started moving more wildly & faster. at the end everybody was into this song although no one knew it in the beginning. masterful.

the crowd gets "time to skate" as a reward & we are are off into a nice 9 min version of "pppp" before they finish this more mellowish part of the show with the wonderful new rendition of "up down". :)

"phase out", "i believe", "summertime blues" (tour premiere?) & "ze one" form the next part & are surely crowd pleasers (especially bent's very humourus delivery of "summertime blues"). while those short rockers aren't necessarily my cup of tea i had to admit they were burning & shone with perfection just like everything else did tonight & just like the main set closer "watersound" did. :)

the encore brought us the best & most unique part: a four song, tenderly played acoustic set opened by "as we go along" & highlighted by the sweet "blueberry daydream" that didn't apply to my personal situation the way it did some 14 days ago but i enjoyed it anyway. :-P

unfortunately some PRICKS in the audience could not appreciate the magic of the moment & ware talking & chatting away at the bar or even much more nasty were shouting "FASTER!". i was embarrassed. here are our heros, playing some rare acoustic material & some dumbasses are ruining the moment. bent handeled it his way, replying with a sharp "oh, shut up" twice, to which he added a smile afterwards but the it was too obvious he wasn't joking at all. right on, bent! :)

"taifun" spreads white light everywhere. it was just beautiful & not of this world. interestingly enough bent sang everything one note or so lower due to his sore throat which made it sound a lot darker.

i can't seem to find the right expression for this heavenly composition. during the intense ending i spotted a beautiful young red-haired girl. she had her eyes closed slowly swinging along to the music smiling very happily. just when the "taifun" rose to this incredible climax she slowly raised her arms & her smile increased. what a beautiful scene & it perfectly illustrated the intensity of the song. :)

motorpsycho left to norway after this last show & they left me behind with a stronger bond to the band than before. i finally fully understood that these musicians have to be regarded as PERFORMING ARTISTS rather than as RECORDING ARTISTS. their last three studio releases were pretty weak compared to the some of their meisterwerks from the mid-90s. but they have grown musically & the songs featured on the last three albums do convince live (well maybe apart from "nlyo" & "dead"). i just love studying their live output thoroughly! :)

don't ask me how i got home from hannover because it was a mess but after one night without sleep, several delayed & missed trains i arrived in berlin. the next 14 days i was still flying high on the tour vibe & that helped me tremendously getting over this aftermath of feelings i found back home & within myself.

thank you motorpsycho!