i'll spare you the 'check-in-the-hotel-wait-for-various-
groups-of-friends-to-arrive-eating-bad-pizza-waiting-
again-in-front-of-the-freiheit-meeting-countless-g35ers' part & will directly comment on the musical performances.

isolation years: while i really liked their album the first times i listened to it, i already lost interest in it after one week of repeated listenings. it didn't offer a lasting impression. admittedly nice tunes, but maybe a bit too nice & a bit too trivial. their live set underlined this impression. i would call it 'solid' at best. really, they aren't the most exciting band around. in addition they are still pretty young. hey, who knows what they are up to in five years? the potential is there, no doubt about that.

still, they made up for a nice opener & since i was very familiar with their repertoire i didn't mind their set at all. after 30 min though, i left for the toilet pretty bored. :P

fireside: this is when things started getting worse. not being familiar with them at all i was overwhelmed by tiredness & i fell asleep several times. the heat in the hall added to that torture. so more or less, i missed their set.

martin hagfors: so fireside is over, i start to wake up & what do i hear? familiar sounds, beautiful sounds, a very comforting tune... it is martin playing "dirt poor"!!! i am up on my feet, bouncing & SMILING!!! this was in fact the sweetest moment of the whole evening & it cemented my love for this great songwriter that i had discovered earlier that day when i heard homegroan for the first time. :)

another performance of martin & the hickstars later that evening had the same effect on me. amazing how he can raise the mood & spread some good vibes. it wouldn't have been the same without him. :)

35007: their set was a blast. i was awake again, drinking my 10th beer or something & enjoying myself. their repertoire is mainly one riff, varied only slightly. 60 min of this stuff is really enough. but those 60 min rocked like hell. in fact the best performance that evening (apart from martin of course!!!). bent was spotted on the right balcony enjoying their whole set & swinging along to it. ;-)

TSOOL: i thought they were horrible. maybe they were...for a fact i saw a way better band in köln & berlin. ;-)

motorpsycho: well, most of us were dissappointed. some said the performance was sub-par, some said they were just tired so they couldn't enjoy it, others said it was ok. i was underwhelmed as well, even though i was prepared for a short, rocking set full of hits.

the beginning though was nothing short of AMAZING & MAGICAL!!!

bent enters the stage saying...

"you've seen the heavy groups, now you will see morning maniac music"

quoting word for word grace slick's introduction to jefferson airplane's set on the woodstock soundtrack. :)

hey, this made my evening! does this man know his rock & roll history? he does, for sure!

they begin with a wonderful version of "feel" pleasing me extraordinarily because this was my theme song for the last 2 months ("it feels so good to feel again"). next up is the very sensitive jamming version of "pppp" followed by the best "loneliness" i've heard in years! the explosion is extended & snah repeats this riff again & again & again. very hard, very psychedelic & i am thinking to myself this band is always good for a surprise, who would have expected such a far out set & performance?

the beloved couple "tnt" & "hey jane" follows & they really nail it. i can see the passion, i can feel it, hell these are the best versions ever performed. they DIVE into them, they really deliver. i am pleased & blown away.

this was the end though. look at the setlist, it's not a bad set at all but the energy was gone by now. i am not the only one to feel this way. they lost the focus after "hey jane". still, they rocked & had fun but the magic was gone.

anyhow, those five opening songs were great, intense & excellently performed. i just wish they had finished the set after "hey jane". ;-)

exhausted by this long day i stroll around the venue a bit, meet friends, talk to martin hagfors & thank him for the best moment that evening & finally find my way to my bed around 5 am. it's sad this was the last show i could see together with anders & oystein, but there's always next tour.

while stickstock was a nice experience, an important event, socially very interesting the MUSICAL highlight was yet to come: köln...