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I’m finally able to sit down and give this album the first spin. I’m on the last track on side 1, but I can already say that what I heard at Slottsfjellet was not a fluke…this is *by far!!!* the most inspired I’ve heard them since, dare I say it…Trust Us! BHBC was great, but now we have a *band* playing again!
I’m also pretty sure that the three new tracks they played at Slottsfjellet were the side 1 tracks. Whole Lotta Diana was definitely played, as I had just as huge a grin on my face as I do now, playing it on vinyl. OMG, this is just as raw as they were back in ’93-’94, no kidding! Barracuda is a joke of a record compared to this…and I like Barracuda.
I honestly never expected to like this album as much as it’s shaping up to. When I first heard they were only releasing it on vinyl my first thought was “That bad, huh?”, but the first side alone proves me wrong. I AM LOVING IT, in case you didn’t already understand that.
More to follow…
I’m a little late to the party, but I have to add my comments. I thought this gig *rocked* in a huge way. I’ve seen them maybe 25 times since ’97, and this gig was possibly the best I’ve seen since ’99, no less! That may not be fair to some great shows I saw around 2000-2001, but it was hard not to shake the feeling that they were on the decline early in this decade, and they’ve been struggling to re-gain their strength since then.
I though BHBC was an amazing return to form on record, but the shows with Jacco were mostly lacklustre (save for the short Norwegain fall tour of 2006, which was actually quite superb!). LLM and the first two years with Kenneth Kapstad brought some great moments, but I hadn’t quite heard any of the “old” magic…that is until this show.
I was dead center front row on purpose; outdoor stage and a bit windy, which screws with the PA sound big-time. I had a perfect mix of the stage sound where I was, I could hear both Bent and Snah distinctly, and hearing the drums is never a problem…I couldn’t hear the vocals very well, unfortunately, but hearing Snah’s details more than made up for it.
In short, the whole band was *on* from the very first note. I haven’t heard them as tight and telepathic as this since the glory days of Geb. Kenneth finally seems to have found his place; I thought he was great but a bit “too” heavy-hitting and all over the place the first few times I saw him. Simply put, I think he shows a much better understanding of the music and his role in it now. In short, much more musical. Which applies to the band as a whole – they are now, IMHO, a fully organic entity again, an element which has been somewhat missing for a good while now seemed to be back. Effortless, yet complex and hard all at the same time.
Both Bent and Snah were *on fire* throughout. Bent really seemed to enjoy himself much more than I’ve seen for many, many years. Snah was simply stupendously good!
Finally a few words about the new songs. I must say I *loved* them on first listen! Complex hard rocking riffs, tempo changes, funky rhythms…progressive cock rock, if that makes sense! Truly progressive yet classic power trio rock. Maybe not so much psychedelic or spacey, but the way the songs ebbed and flowed in an organic way meant that I didn’t really miss that either.
Can’t wait to hear the new album, and even less to see them again playing a full show. The fact that they were cut short after only 1 hr was simply a scandal! They were the last band on the stage, on the other side of the mountain from where Big Bang were about to go on, but apparently the whole festival management seemed set on making Big Bang the big name this day. No offense, they’re a good band, but don’t hold a candle to Motorpsycho. Particularly this special night!
