[the visitant]

Yes, thank you Mr Wulf! I’m enjoying the recordings so much. It’s a wonderful souvenir of the show in Kortrijk I attended. And so many more great shows to discover.

[the visitant]

I am so looking forward to hearing this! Thanks so much for recording and sharing this with us!

[the visitant]

K.D.H. = Kill devil hills?

Wow.

[the visitant]

Thanks, nicoot en TomTom! That's what I'm looking for!

[the visitant]

Really enjoying my first couple of spins. So much to discover in there.

I notice there are no song credits on the cd version – are they on the LP version? I'm always interested in the who wrote what of these songs.

[the visitant]

What a wonderful concert! The first five songs really break my heart, so beautiful. 'Trixeene'! After that they're kicking back and having fun with 'Spin spin spin' and 'Eagle's son'.

You can feel how intimate it was in the recording.

Thanks again, Punj Lizard.

[the visitant]

@ Punj Lizard: oh man, that would be great. Thank you!

My email is THANKS PUNJ! RECEIVED IT WELL.

[the visitant]

19? So I'm missing one. I've got:

0404 Bodo, 0410, Haugesund, 0411 Bergen, 0412 Bergen, 0413 Stavangen

0503 Trondheim, 0510 Gregers, 0511 Oslo, 0515 Copenhagen, 0516 Hamburg, 0517 London

0522 Leuven, 0523, Hannover, 0524 Wiesbaden, 0525 Lausanne

0530 Avellino, 0601 Genova, 0602 Reutlingen

Can't find any others on Dime.

[the visitant]

I was there for the Leuven show and absolutely loved it. So many highlights but definitely the 30 minutes of Lacuna/Spacerise, a spun out Pacific Sonata and exhilarating Fool's Gold. The whole show was golden to me.

Thanks to finally figuring out Dime, the 2019 spring tour was the first tour I could follow as it happened through the recordings, and that was a revelation for me. It's been an obsession for the last two months. 18 shows that I can play endlessly, hearing all the musical adventures of a Motorpsycho-tour. How songs evolve over different shows, one-off magical moments and so on.

A big thank you to all the tapers en uploaders who make this possible. I didn't realize what it all meant till now.

And from the recordings, my highlights of the tour:

1. Go to California (0404, 13'40")

Right at the first show Motorpsycho deliver a couple of knock-out jams. This one starts out quite ordinary. The first Reine solo is polite and doesn't really go anywhere. But then Snah steps forward. You can almost hear him think, 'right, this tour starts NOW.' He lays down some heavy, smeared tones that rip open the performance. This song's never sounded like that before. Everyone clicks behind him and they're off on a wild adventure.

2. Starhammer (0404, 13'24")

Played only once on the tour, I think, but what a performance. A free jam for the ages.

3. The Tower (0404, 12'11")

The Tower went through many permutations during the tour: a medley with Hell pt 7/Victim of Rock, 7 minute versions without improvisations… But my favorite was this first performance, before Victim of Rock came along. Just a long, abstract jam. Jagged and dissonant, far out.

4. Ship of fools (0411, 14'20”)

There were more great versions (see also 0515 in Copenhagen, 0522 in Leuven) and there's not much between them, but this one has a slight edge for me. The energy is really high. A regular highlight of the tour.

5. Nature's way (0412, 3'00”)

The first acoustic set! And what a lovely surprise this one is. They played it equally well on 0503 in Trondheim and 0523 in Hannover, but this first appearance is the one I keep going back to.

6. Ãœberpilgrim (everywhere, ca. 10')

Can't pick one performance. I never tire of hearing this great dancetune, and Motorpsycho didn't either. They played it nearly every night. So much fun.

7. Neverland (0510, 6'16”)

Not the version from a week earlier (0503 in Trondheim) which was a straight acoustic rendition of the recorded version. One week later it's become a rambling freeform acoustic monologue. A totally different perspective. A shame it disappeared right after.

8. In every dream home (0510, 19'26”)

In every dream home… grew and grew into this 19 minute monster, the longest version. And the longer it got, the better I liked it.

A close second is the version from 0523 in Hannover, a couple minutes shorter at 15' but also very exploratory.

9. 577 (0511, 13'03 or 0523, 14'01” or 0601, 18'17”)

Three favourite performances of the Trust Us classic. The main jams are the best on 0511 in Oslo and on 0523 in Hannover, but on 0601 in Genova they add a chilled final improvisation that lasts several blissfull minutes and I just can't resist.

10. You lied > Hogwash > Black to Comm (0511, 23'30”)

Rock energy. This stretch makes the hair on my arms stand up. From the second of silence right at the start of You Lied to the missed breaks in Black to Comm (covered up in a great way). Wow.

11. The other fool > Master builder > The alchemyst (0515, 25'17”)

The Other Fool was another (almost) nightly highlight. It's never rocked as hard as now. But it's only the start of a great suite in Copenhagen. 7 atmospheric minutes of chasing after Gong's Master Builder riff and then almost 13 minutes of The Alchemyst (great version).

The same suite appeared on 0517 in London and on 0523 in Hannover. Always great.

12. A Pacific sonata (0515, 17'22” or 0522, 22'44”)

Two wonderful versions of The Tower's epic ballad. The 0522 version adds several more minutes of suspense and release.

13. Pills, powders and passionplays (0516, 11'21”)

A one-off, but what a great, searching, psychedelic ballad. Made me see the song in a whole new light.

14. Triggerman (0517, 14'18”)

The improvisations in Triggerman and In Every dream Home on this tour seem cut from the same cloth, that sweet and clear, Grateful Dead meandering. Always a joy, the London performance has everything I love about its 2019 incarnation.

15. Lacuna/Sunrise (0522, 30'36”)

The longest performance of a single song of the tour, and the most far out space improvisation as well. The opening song from the Leuven show surpasses the Roadwork 5 version easily – and not only for the additional 6 minutes, it's what they do with those minutes. Not a moment is wasted. May well be the best performance of the tour.

16. Blueberry daydream (0522, 6'10")

Takes you all the way back. Never sung sweeter.

17. Heartattack Mac (0523, 13'54)

Threw me for a loop when this suddenly burst out of the speakers on the Hannover show. Epic, twisted, severe and crushing. The 0601 version in Genova is just as good.

18. Coventry boy (0530, 3'19”)

You have to turn the sound all the way up to hear this delicate version of the Velvet Underground-style ballad, but it's worth it.

19. Lacuna > Wheel > Sunrise (0530, 34'20”)

From a great, great show in Avellino, this is the highlight. A psychedelic, slow Lacuna morphs gently into a menacing, bad vibe The Wheel and back again.

20. Fool's gold (0602, 19'04” or 0522, 18'01)

In truth the Leuven version's the one for me, simply cause I experienced it then and there. But all of the real long versions are worth it. Still, the Reutlingen version has the symbolic edge, the last song from the last night of the tour. What can you play after this? Silence.

[the visitant]

Thanks, Spacebandit!

I just joined Dime today to hear this show. First song starting now and it sounds really good.

I think I've found a new dimension to listening to MP!

[the visitant]

Re: the Year Zero video

Wow. Very subtle and precise. The part from 7'05 onwards, the stop-start section and Reine solo that follows, then the build up again, touched me especially.

(Nice sound for a YouTube video, by the way).

[the visitant]

Wow, 'The wheel', 'Pacific sonata',' Starhammer' and more! Epic!

I was listening to a great 'Fools gold' live version from 2001/02 recently, and blown away by it. Hearing that one start up as an encore would blow my mind.

My sister will be at Herzberg tonight. On this evidence she can look forward to an amazing concert.

[the visitant]

I totally want to hear MP with Ola's violin now!

I have to admit, I've played the Unicorn loads, and of course there are a ton of string and horn arrangements on there, but I can't really recall any solo violin features right now. But of course Ola is on there as one of the main collaborators. I should revisit. There's probably a great solo that I've missed all this time.

[the visitant]

Have a great time, guys! I hope it's a totally spaced out show.

[the visitant]

@kjesso: Thanks for the blog. Sounds like the new songs worked best. I would've liked to have heard that 'Pacific sonata' with the violin solo.

From the new batch of songs I would like to hear 'Stardust' and 'Maypole' appear more live. Maybe some songs from the California EP too ('…(I'm so sold)'). Apart from the 'Sonata' and 'Feel', the setlist seems very set on one mood. Not even an 'Intrepid explorer' to break things up.

[Author]

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