Well, the Friday gig was one hell of a gig! My only complaint is that
I had wished for more new/"new" songs. Will Motorpsycho ever play
Dr. Hoffmann's Bicycle here in Norway? Anyway: I really liked the
jazzy feeling Bård (or is it Baard?) added here and there. I think
bringing him in worked really well, although perhaps it would have
made an even greater effect if he hadn't played on all the songs. But
what the hell, it was great anyhow.

The jazzy new tune Song for a Bro was really cool. I also like Hi Time
better and better. I've been thinking of it as the dullest of the news
songs, but it really rocked (I know a couple of persons that will
disagree with me here, but I really mean this)! All Is Loneliness is
always great, a pity though that Bent broke a string after just a few
seconds, for a moment there I thought they would actually stop the
song. Which they didn't, thank gosh. Bård didn't seem to have
rehearsed the singing on this song all that much, because he just
never started right, and Snah keeped nodding every time, like, "Now!
Come on!"  So that one was actually better (fukin brilliant, in fact)
on the Saturday gig. Judging by the reaction when Bent announced The
Other Fool, quite a few people must have thought he meant The Other
Other Fool. So it was kinda fun when they started playing a whole
different song. Really nice pop tune with some progish instrumental
parts (or what, Anders H.?) After Manmower came the dog from space,
which I really hadn't expected this evening. A really, really
different - and SO good! - "pling-plong" part after the first verse
surprised me, and made a friend of mine ask "What's happening? Is this
a new song?". Er, I don't really remember that much of it, but I'm SO
looking forward to hear the recording. The Wheel (which I actually did
expect them to play since they had a keyboard player with them)
started off kinda loosely, but the guys soon showed that they intended
to make this a killer version of the song, which they did. Although
Bård's keyboard should have sounded much more "floating", in my
opinion. It was pretty dark where I sat, so I couldn't see my watch
that well, but I guess Un Chien d'Espace (without the mellow intro
again, by the way) lasted for about 20 minutes and The Wheel about 15
minutes (oh well, I found out later they were both longer than that).

When Matt Burt's voice suddenly broke in at the end of The Wheel, it
was a total surprise! How long has it been since they played that one
live?  Aaaahhh... Hilarious reactions in the crowd, needless to
say. Then they went off, just to return with the second instrumental
tune of the night - Allman Brothers' "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" -
and how! Damn, it was good! This was Bård's chance to show off a
little, which he did - and I only mean that in a positive way. Then
more pop. But that's OK. :-) Also great response when Bent started You
Lied, and although I think that song doesn't need any keyboards, it
was really cool when Bård doubled that guitar solo before the last
verse.  Now, did anyone notice Geb's drumming on Black To Comm? Wow,
that man can *play* the drums! And yes, Not Fade Away and also part of
another song (I think) was included. Then the fab four went off for
the second time, and were cheered in to play the Surfer. I didn't
really want that, but who cares. I don't exactly hate that song. :-)
It's just that I know that when they've played it, there's no way
they're coming back to play more. And I must say: it does not differ a
lot from time to time, so when they play this at the end of every gig,
I get tired of it.

Enough grumbling: this gig had everything, great songs, lots of
energy, a very enthusiastic audience (I just wish certain people would
stop having long conversations during the songs!!) and the band seemed
very happy. Er, I guess I wrote something like that one year ago,
too. But I think it was even better this time. Celebrity sightings:
well, no celebrities, really. I saw Håkon Moslet from Dagbladet, and I
got to talk to Beate Nossum (who wrote that article/interview with MP
in Dagbladet on Friday), who just happens to be the girlfriend of
someone I almost know. She's a huge fan, of course, but she hadn't
heard anything about that EP on Man's Ruin, so I had a hard time
trying to convince her that there will (hopefully) be an EP out that
has nothing to di with the new single or the new album. But regarding
the concert, she thought it was the best she had seen in a very long
time. She also said that the reason why they played with Bård now was
that they wanted to try something else than the powertrio format for a
while. It's been a long time with only the three of them. A perfect
genius move, if you ask me. Another sighting: bassbabe Merethe from
Trass. *sigh* :o) Hm. She must be a fan, too. For those of you who
have the This Is Motorpsycho video: that's her sitting on a bannister
with black dreads during the tussling live performance of The One Who
Went Away. And she's prettier in real life!  Oh, and I finally met a
g-35ie, Anders Hustveit, and his friend Erik. That was nice. So we met
on Saturday, too. And the guy at the next table at Cacadou after that
concert turned out to be on the list, too (Vilhelm with V or W?).
Cool! But it's gonna be hard for me to post bullshit from now on, now
that some of you know my face. I guess a lot of people should be happy
for that.  ;o) Well, that's it, I guess. Ciao!

Kristoffer