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Blueberry Daydream
With Trixeene Through The Mirror …
Stardust
Bedroom Eyes
Nature's Way
Spin Spin Spin
Eagle's Son
Malibu (first half of A Pacific Sonata)
40mins
Acoustic guitars and mellotron, the latter played by Tomas and Snah (not at the same time
)Audience about 30 people.
What a lovely setlist. Did you like it @punj lizard?
I hope they keep some acoustic songs next wednesday in Belgium.
@Blashrykh – It was exquisite. They were in very good voice and the guitars were crystal clear. Seriously beautiful.
@Juergen – More than everyone expected I think.
About 100 people at the 'electric'gig and 30 at the acoustic one…MP must be feeling a bit like in their first year this way…? I can't understand, how come there's not yet the dedicated lovecult following we see in other parts of Europe, as the Brits surely have a feel for great and original bands, I mean half of the history of rock came from the UK. so….? Anyway, it must indeed be special and something to envy if you're the informed one Who Knows about MP and enjoy them in an intimate setting like this!Oh well, today 30, next year maybe 300, but although I think it would be great if MP got the recognition they deserve, egoistically I'm still so happy they haven't (yet?) become a stadium band, so if we like we can still stand in the 3rd row from the stage with our heroes a few feet away, still just these guys, human, like us but unlike most of us extraterrestrially talented ofcourse, haha! Thanks to everyone for their concert reports so far, I'll be getting my dose tomorrow (Utrecht) and later some more at a very special MP-venue (Vera Groningen), what bliss! :MPD:
Wow, what a lovely setlist! What an opportunity to experience another side of the band. Would haved to see this type of gig.
@JERO – I can't understand why the band isn't more loved in the UK. Every time I talk to somone online or at a gig it's the same story – "It's criminal that Motorpsycho aren't bigger here". Yes, it's lovely to be able to see them in intimate surroundings, but it's a double-edged sword, as you point out. Apparently there was some difficulty with the promoters (this is second-hand info from a friend who spoke to Bent at the acoustic gig), which meant the British stuff was all arranged late and I think a couple of other dates on the tour fell through during the booking process. The London gig was announced much later than the other tour dates and they performed on the same night as Gong, which I know a lot of the prog community fans had already booked for. And the record store gig was only announced last week. So all of that would have kept the numbers even lower than usual. The problem is, if there isn't enough people turning up to the gigs, why bother coming to the UK? That's the double-edge for the fans too because next time they may just decide it's not worth coming here.
Enjoy the Utrecht gig. See you at Vera on Tuesday!
So I spoke with Bent, Snah and Tomas last night. My first interaction with Snah was brief and embarrassing. He was browsing records in the shop about an hour before the gig and on the second attempt I approached him, shook hands and then thanked him for everything. It was pathetic to watch, really. Grown man stumbles over words when meeting hero. A short while later I spoke to Bent outside the shop. This time, I first said thanks for everything … again …, then explained to him how I had said exactly the same thing to Snah because I didn't know what to say. Then said how much I enjoyed the gig night before and was looking forward to the acoustic set. After the gig I approached Snah again, after he smiled at me, and asked him a question that had been on my mind since juergen passed me a copy of past setlists and I noticed they'd played "You'd Better Believe It" at their first gig. Looking for confirmation of this being the Hawkwind song, as soon as I mentioned the title, Snah opened his throat and sang the title refrain "YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT!" then gave a smile and a little chuckle. He seemed pretty pleased. I certainly was.
Two friends had been in the pub when Bent and Reine came in. One of them approached Bent and had a good chat with him. My friend mentioned we'd been in Drammen for the gig they did with Elephant9 supporting. The first thing Bent said was, Elephant9 blew us off the stage that night. I can't say I really disgaree.
Finally, the two frineds and I all talked with Tomas after the gig. Intersting points:
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The new album is in process
The first three names he mentioned regarding his influences were Deep Purple and Ian Paice, Buddy Rich and Bill Bruford. He then listed names I hadn't heard of, including what I think were jazz drummers.
King Crimson's Red was a big eye-opener for him – really suddenly made him realise what was possible.
There's a definite generational gap between him and Bent and Snah which he mentioned very briefly in regard to influences as Bent and Snah don't know many of the bands he talks about – that was a funny moment.
I said it sounds to me almost like Triggerman was written for him. He said that, yes, it feels very natural to play that song. He loves it.
He has no plans to move on. One of my friends tried to make him promise to stay with the band for at least another five years
In case any of you are wondering, I recorded the performance, but it may be a few days before it's ready to make available.
I think one of the reasons they aren't seemingly loved more here in the UK is the complete lack of dates the band play here. One gig in London per tour isn't really catering for the wider audience that's out there, or attracting a new one. It costs me a small fortune every time to travel down to London to see them, trains, hotel and ticket costs. It's a nightmare frankly.
Being self employed i do have a bit of a luxury with regards being able to travel as and when i have to but a lot of folks just can't jump up and travel down to London to shows obviously.
I'll be honest, when i heard the band would be in the UK for two days/nights this tour, but were only playing one show it stung bad as it would've been the perfect opportunity to take the band further up the country to play for different fans.
A show in the middle of the country with ample transport links such as Birmingham or Manchester would've been ideal instead of the in store and would've given fans even further North than that at least some middle ground to try and make it down to that isn't as far down as London.
London is spoilt with endless gigs almost every night of the week, so potential audience drop offs are almost a given. Move that one show up the country and you might find they pull a better audience in terms of numbers if anything
IMHO at least.
@sleepynaut – All good points. I would definitely travel up from London if they played in the Midlands – at The Robin, for example. Like you say, London is spoilt for choice.
Well, didn't they try to play London AND Nottingham on some occasions during the late 90s and early 00s? I was attending the show in Nottingham in 2002, but there were nott a lot of people showing up. The show (at the pub Old Vic) was a rocking one though, good fun! However it seems the UK people want to miss out on the trip they could be on, and our boys might have "given up" conquering more ground over there…a shame…
It was kind of strange and amazing to be in a very small record store seeing this band play 5 feet from me! To be honest the whole thing was badly organised and I would not blame them for being pissed off but they seem to just roll with it. There was no merch and the shop being a second hand record store had almost no MP albums to sell! They could do with a much better promoter for UK but also could work harder to properly break the English speaking markets. Perhaps they don't think its worth the effort as so much competition. I suggested to Bent next time for an instore gig they play Rough Trade East and quite sincerely he asked, "do you think they would have us?". Makes me sad so many people are not exposed to this bands huge body of work and the "event" of their live shows.
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