304. Iron Maiden and Fear Factory. (won tickets)
Avalon, Boston, MA. 2/13/96

This was the first time I had seen Maiden since 1991 and I wore my Maiden Texas Tour 1982 T-shirt and got a lot of comments from cool fans, as most of the fans had never seen the band way back then! Fear Factory were ok, but they sounded like Pantera with cheezy keyboards (guy never did anything interesting). This was the first show of the US tour for Iron maiden and they seemed very psyched. It was totally sold out but it was a small place (1200 max) and very loud! The set list seemed to have an anti-war theme to it. Dave Murray was great and Janick was a wild man, running all over the place and spinning the guitar around his body and doing wild solos! Steve Harris was wearing a Frank Zappa Titties and Beer t-shirt and looked like he was having a great time. The new singer Blaze looked like a less burly version of Glenn Danzig but sung in the style of Bruce Dickenson but lacked his vocal range. Was a very fun show! The tape only came out so and the set list was: Man on the Edge, Wrathchild, Heaven Can Wait, Lord of the Flies, Fortunes of War
Blood on the world's Hands, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, The Evil that men Do, The Aftermath, Sign of the Cross, 2 minutes to Midnight
The Edge of Darkness, Fear of the Dark, Clairvoyant, Iron Maiden
# of the Beast, Hallowed be thy Name, Trooper

305. GONG and Architectural Metaphor. (won tickets)
Mama Kin's, Boston, MA. 3/6/96

I went with Ian and met up with David Kuznick, Bob and Anne Rudich. It was a horrible night, though as the streets were really icy and the it was blowing snow and ice and freezing cold! I guess the band almost did not make it from Cleveland! There was about 200 people, which was not bad considering it was awful weather. Chris and Mary Bruce said they would be there for sure and never showed, not surprising though. Arc Met put on a pretty good show of about 40 minutes. The set list was: Cascading Foliage, Holographic Caves, Holy Ground, Ricochet, Creature and Welcome to the Future. I thought it was a great version of Holographic Caves this night!

GONG were incredible! They played mostly Trilogy era songs and one from Shapeshifter. It was around 100 minute set. I got to shake Daevid's hand after the set. Nice, tall, extremely thin guy! The set list was:
Intro, You Can't kill Me, Radio Gnome 1, I am your Pussy, Glid
Flute Salad, Oily Way, Inner Temple, Outer Temple, Goddess Invoc
Om Riff, Techno Mercury, Cycles, Get it Inner, More you Know
Zero, YOu are I, You never blow yer trip

306. Gov't Mule and Cherokee Sex Workshop. (won tickets)
Mama Kin's, Boston, MA. 3/29/96

They were back again!! I met up with Bob and Anne. CSW were from NYC and are being produced by Warren Haynes. I really liked them a lot. It was heavy blues based rock. I was told the singer acted a bit like the guy from the Black Crowes, but I have never seen them, so I could not comment. I think the guy has a good voice and style though. Gov't MULE were smoking and did some amazing jams during the 2nd 45 minutes of the show! Bob had his recorder stolen right off the mike stand during the 2nd encore. I could not believe some asshole would do something like that! That really made it a bummer evening. The set lists were:
Cherokee Sex Workshop
On my Knees, Big Rock, 3 Tears, Evil, Window Pane, Mr. Horace, Wasted, We're gonna Groove, Magic Bus

MULE
Intro Jam, Blind Man in the Dark, Trane, Mr. Big, Temporary Saint
Jam, Game Face, Painted Silver Light, Presence of the Lord, Kind of Bird, Don't step on the Grass Sam, John the Revelator, Mule, Goin' out West, Same Thing, Take me Back to GA, Young Mule Blues

307. Voi Vod, Dspayre, Haizy Daze. (Voi Vod cancelled)
The Rat, Boston, MA. 4/16/96

I went to the show with Leonid and we were bummed that Voi Vod cancelled. Haizy Daze were awful! A bad imitation of Pearl Jam. They had a bunch of friends there that though they were great! Dspayre had great 80's metal guitar riffs and were heavy as hell, but they had one of those deep growl vocalists that just ruined it for me. Leonid he loved them! Very nice guys though. They even gave us a copy of their demo or maybe they sold it to us for like $2.

308. The Widows.
Chopping Block, Boston, MA. 5/3/96

This was Heather's first full gig with the Widows and she even borrowed lani's spider pants to wear!! I even got Lani to go provided that I would buy her drinks! It was quite fun show in a really small bar across the street from the Brigham and Women's Hospital. This is also just up the street from Northeastern University.

309. Trilok Gurtu's Crazy Saints and Monochrome. (won tickets) Johnny D's, Somerville, MA. 5/15/96

I met up with Ian at the show but he was in a bad state of mind and was further bummed when they would not let him record and he went home early, after Monochrome. Monochrome were actually really good. I liked them. Jazz is funny, I don't care much for it when sitting around at home but live I always seem to get into it. Trilol was pretty good as well. He had the coolest drum kit I had ever seen and he was quite amazing. I had hoped for some of that Indian influenced stuff from a couple of his solo records but he did not play any in the 60m that I saw.

310. Allman Brothers Band.
Great Woods, Mansfield, MA. 6/28/96

What a fucking day this was. It was all planned that I would met up at Bob Rudich's house, but it turns out that he had been diagnosed with Leukemia and I had to pick him up and drop him back off at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. We got there a few minutes late and missed the first 2 songs, I think. The set list had been mixed up as the band was playing some songs that I had never heard live. They did like a 30 minute version of True Gravity. The best song of the night might have been Stand Back. Bob's recording was a little distorted. Still did not quite have it worked out with the new microphones. The set list was:

Ramblin' Man, Hoochie Choocie Man, Stormy Monday, Good Clean Fun, Blue Sky, Whipping post, True Gravity, Worried down with the Blues, Stand back, Where it all Begins, No one to Run with Anymore, and a few others.

311. 20th Anniversary of the Mothership.
Central Park Summerstage, NYC 7/4/96

What a show this was! I went down to NYC to visit my cousins for a week and catch this show at the same time. I figured it would be a once in a lifetime chance to see all the old Funkadelic folks and Parliament people jamming together! I went with Cliff, Craig, and their girlfriends, Jessica and Arlene. The show started at 6:20 and they ended about 9:50, so a good 3 1/2 hrs of music and rap and guitar solos! It was pretty crap weather, overcast, cool and drizzling. Overall I really enjoyed it and the outrageous costumes, the huge boots, the landing of the Mothership, etc.. were all great.. There were two really incredible guitar solo jams, that blew me away! Very fun show!

312. Industrial Sonic Boom, Bowery Electric, Juneau
Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA. 7/16/96 (won tickets)

I talked David Kuznick into meeting me for this show since I had won tickets. Overall, it was probably not worth it! Juneau were really good. I liked them a lot. Bowry Electric were from NY and were really awful boring dreamy stuff. Some of the crowd really dug them? then was Sonic boom from Spacemen 3 and they were awful. It was mostly unfocused experimental noise. Only once or twice in the 60 minutes did it seem like they were going to do anything interesting and then they didn't!

313. Jefferson Starship- free show
Boston City Hall, Boston, MA. 7/27/96

I met up with Chris Raymond and his friend Bob. Bob Rudich could not get a day pass to leave the Dana Farber, so did not get to go. This was part of the free summer series of concerts, with bands from the 60's and 70's like America, BTO, Cheap Trick, Monkees, etc.. The band consisted of Paul kantner, Diana (young vocalist), bass guitar, drums, keyboards and Marty balin! They mostly played old JA songs like Plastic Fantastic Lover, Other Side, White Rabbit, Crown of Creation, Volunteers, Wooden Ships, and then they did some awful ballads by Marty Balin, which I did not like much at all. Fun show though!

314. Cluster and The Brain (won tickets) Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA. 8/2/96

I went with David Kuznick and met up with Ian as well. There was a very small crowd, I only counted 32 people when Bond Bergland started his set. Bond was a guitar player who just started some loops on this guitar and would play over the top of them. It was pretty interesting. He never really finished his set and the BRAIN (two guys from Far Flung and Pressurhed) joined in and they kept playing. Bond left after two songs. The Brain were quite cool but only played for like 30 minutes, too short. Cluster played for about 55 minutes and there were like 50 people there now. Chris Bruce showed up for like 20 minutes. Clutster's music was very spacey, mellow, ambient and played at such a low volume that the kitchen off to the right of the stage was making more noise than them and you could hear the guy washing the dishes louder than the music. I don't know why they wanted to play so softly. It was ok... Ian recorded the whole thing.

315. Mary Lou Lord, Nick Saloman, Loudermilk Brothers Lynnwood Grille, Boston, MA. 8/3/96

I went to this show by myself and I am still a bit in shock that it really happened and that I got to meet Nick Salomen and that he was such a cool down to earth guy. He even remembered me from when I wrote him from Berkeley. We spoke for an hour on and off. Mary Lou Lord, is a local street musician whom someone in CA though was pretty cool and has supported recording some of the songs she plays on the streets and subways of Boston. I don't know how Nick met up with her? Anyway, Nick was just in town to pick up Mary Lou and they were off to LA to record. Mary Lou plays folky stuff on her guitar and has a sort of dreamy small voice. She is ok. She had a backing band for a few songs as well. Nick came up and played a few songs with her before taking over and doing a bunch of songs by himself and then a smoking version of Stoned Train Driver with Mary lou's backing band. What a great night!! The set lists were: Mary Lou-?, I figured you Out, He's looking for You
Mary/Nick-?, Hurt, Martian Saints, Lights are Changing, He'd be a Diamond
Nick- On a Liquid Wheel, Dead man Sitting on a Train, Waving
In another Year, Stoned Train Driver

The Loudermilk Brothers were actually really good rockabilly stuff. I only heard them a bit as I was talking with Nick and other Bevis Frond fans!

316. Doom Buggies, Widows and Mickey Bliss Organ Combo. Kirkland Cafe, Somerville, MA. 8/16/96

Yet, another Widow's gig, but this time a lot of people from the lab showed up (Julia, Phil and Dennis, Colin, George, Karen, Chris, Lani and I). This was a very cool small club not far from where we live, but close enough to Harvard to make it tough to park! The Micky Bliss organ combo were awesome! Organ, two sax players and drums. Very cool stuff. DOOM Buggies were soso pop punk stuff. Heather sounded great at this show and everyone seem to have a good time. Micky Bliss also did all the announcing and introducing of the bands and was a real trip! Fun night though!

317. Aquarium Rescue Unit and Gibb Droll. (won tickets) Mama Kins, Boston, MA. 10/4/96

I ended up going alone to this show. I did not see hardly any of the same ARU fans that I always had seen at the other shows... Grib Droll were pretty cool, but I sort of expected them to jam more based on what I had read on the internet, still they were a cool mix of blues funk weirdness. Gibb, the guitar player was a really nice and friendly guy. I had a nice chat with Jimmy Herring again, great guy and guitar player. I was a bit disappointed the last time I had seen them but not this time! They had like 6 new songs they played and they had reworked some of the older numbers and sounded really fresh and great! They only played 90 minutes and no encore. I met a guy who recorded the show, so I have a tape! Very good show!

318. GONG and XIXIXOO $16.50 Mama Kins, Boston, MA. 10/15/96

Hard to beleive that they were back again! I went with ian and met up with Bob and Anne, Ed and Chris Raymond. XIXIXOO are a progressive metal band, that grows on you. They have an interesting female vocalist. Quite a good band actually!

GONG were incredible and played for over 2 hours and some of it was incredibly spacey stuff. Ian and Bob got a great recordings! Didiier was the stand out though. I though some of his solos were just amazing. GONG's weirdness is not for everyone but boy are they a tight talented band. True veterans!
The set list was: Dynamite, Tic Toc, I am your Pussy, Glid, Prost Poem, Heaven's Gate, Flute Salad, Oily Way, Outer Temple Inner Temple
Godde Invoc, Om Riff, Mercury, Cycles, Get it Inner, You are I, Eat that Phonebook

319. Gov't Mule Stone Coast Brewery, Portland, ME. 11/15/96

I went with my friend Jon Robinson, who's sister is engaged to be married to Allan Woody of Gov't Mule! The next two days were just incredible! Jon invited me to go with him to hang with the band for a weekend in Maine! How could I pass this up? So we arrived up at the Stone Coast about 30 minutes before the MULE were to start and it turns out that no one has the right cables to do a board tape of the show, so Jon was a bit bummed. It was a packed place and a pretty hot show, and the first and only time the MULE have played the old Free song, the Hunter. the version of Just got Paid and Game Face were really incredible as well. After the show, I stayed on the bus with the band until 3 am. Really nice guys. They had let some real bimbos on the bus and they just talked not stop, drove us crazy! Warren was too nice a host to tell them to leave or shut up. I was a bit surprised to find that the band does not drink or allow cigarette smoking in the bus! They smoke plenty of herb but not drugs or tobacco in the bus! I rode on the bus back to the hotel where we crashed until the next day.
The set list was: Mule, Game Face, Don't step on the Grass Sam
Suffer, Painted Silver Light, The Hunter, Inst. #2, St. Stephen Jam
I Shall be Released, Mother Earth, Blind Man in the Dark
Just got Paid>Iv'e been Waitin'> Just got Paid
Young Mule Blues>Good Morning Little Schoolgirl>YMB

320. Gov't Mule Unity College Gym, Unity, ME. 11/16/96

We got up in Portland and ate at the restaurant (saw Warren getting his food as take out!) and then we gassed up and hit the road following the bus for the next two hours. It was actually the bus, Allen and Jon's sister and then us. Unity turns out to be a little tiny college town out in the middle of fucking nowhere! Jon's friends from Burlington VT actually drove all the way across Maine to this show and did a video of the show. It turns out that this was like a big event for this little college town and everyone for miles around came (although some were sucked away to see Rusted Root, whom were playing like 30 miles from there). They had this special dinner set up for the band and it's guest (us). It was a table set up like the last supper and the band sat in the center and then the organizing committee and us were on the ends. It was kind of a trip, as they served us a nice dinner with potatoes, salad, beers, and veal or lamb I think! Everyone was all stoned so it was pretty wild. Even the road crew was included. Fun! The students there are all into environmental stuff, which is really cool.

Anyway, before the dinner I sat on the bus with just Jon and Warren. We smoked a few joints and I had the tape recording on while Warren and I chatted for 70 minutes. I will have to transcribe it at some point. It was quite fun. I talked to Warren about doing some songs that I had not seen them do in a while like Sin's a good mans Brother and Left Coast Groovies! They played both of them! We went off to see the soundcheck, and being that it was in the gym, getting good sound was not going to be easy. The band did Born under a bad sign. This was probably the best show I had ever seen by these guys and it was very intimate for me as I stood right in front of Warrren for the whole show and got his shredded guitar pick after Mother Earth! What an incredible fucking weekend. Jon and I hung out for a while afterwards on the bus and then the band was taking off, so we crashed on the floor of a true stoner student from Maine, nice guy though!

The set list was: Grinnin', Blind Man>Horse>Presence>space
Blind Man, Mother Earth, Game Face, Suffer, Temporary saint
Birth of the Mule (#1), She Said, Thelonius Beck (#2), Left Coast Groovies, Sin is a good man's Brother, Mr. big, Mule>I've been Workin'> MULE
Encore: Goin' out West, Young Mule>Good Morning Little School Girl>Young Mule

321. Dio, Motorhead and Sam Black Church. $15.00 Palladium, Worcester, MA. 12/2/96

I went with Tania Ruiz to this show. Sam Black Church are alocal metal band. They are ok. We did not get into them much though. Motorhead were fucking awesome and louder than hell!! This was the loudest band I had heard in sometime. I saw Patt Dunn at the show. Tania and I had a great time but because it started late and was the middle of the week and we had an hour drive back to Boston we did not stay to see DIO. Motorhead were fucking great! The set list was: Iron Fist, Stay Clean, Over your Shoulder, Civil War
I'm So Bad, Metropolis, No Class!, Orgasmatron, Overnight Sensation, Sacrifice, Going to Brazil, Killed by Death, Bomber Encores:
Ace of Spades, Overkill

The new stuff was great! The band seem to be having a good time but wanted to see some tits and no one would show them any (I nudged Tania!) but finally one girl did! Lemmy walked by us one time but he quickly headed backstage before I could meet up with him. He was coming from the bar with more drinks!

322. Gov't Mule and Cherokee Sex Workshop. (won tickets) Mama Kins, Boston, MA. 12/28/96

I went with Carl and Tania and met up with Bob and Anne Rudich. CSW were even better this time! We really enjoyed them a lot. The crowd seem to like them as well. They seems to be looser and jam more this time. The MULE were loud and did some excellent instrumentals and also the Stones song, Heart of Stone, only the 2nd time they had played it. Great show as always and probably my last MULE show for a while, as we will be moving to Denmark in June.
The set list was: Mule, Game Face, Painted Silver Light, Suffer
#1 (Thelonius Beck), Mr. Big, Temporary Saint, Trane<Eternity's Breath> Trane, #2 (Birth of the Mule)>St. Stephen, I shall be Released, Blind Man>drum Solo>Blind, Just got Paid
Encores:
Heart of Stone, Young Mule Blues

Jon Robinson made some excellent video of this show, but there is not sound on the first hour!

323. Roy Harper (won tickets) Johnny D's, Somerville, MA. 1/28/97

I met up with David and his girlfriend, Jessy. We had the table dead center right in front. Roy was in an excellent mood and played for nearly two hours and he seemed to be catching a good buzz as he went a long as well, drinking beers! I was not really familiar with his music but really enjoyed the show a lot. He had great songs and played some pretty good guitar as well. He had some really funny stories he told as well. Fun time.

324. Architectural Metaphor, XIXIXOO, and Abunai. The Rat, Boston, MA. 2/20/97 (won tickets)

I went with Ian. This was the first show ever by Abunai and they were really great! I had also just got my new minidisc recorder (Sharp MDS100). I hooked it up through Ian's equipment so we had a combination soundboard and live mic mix. Incredible recordings! I really liked Abunai a lot. They play a sort of fokly style of psychedlia with a great guitar sound with loads of effects. Great band! XIXIXOO were really excellent and they had a new bass player who also played the stick! Arc Met played a very spacey but short set. The version of Pterindarian is the best I have ever heard! The set list was:

 

325. Laibach $8.00 Axis, Boston, MA. 3/8/97

I had just received my new microphones for my minidisc recorder from Core Sounds. They are their new Cartoid mics. I did not know how the equipment was going to work out in a stealth situation and all went very well! I did not have high expectations for this show but I know Carl liked the band, so I said that the hell. I was dying to try out the new mics. It turned out to be a really interesting show. I thought they were great! The recording was also pretty amazing!! I was a bit surprised that the mics did not pick up more bass as it was really pounding live, but the clarity of the recording is amazing! Minidisc rules!! They played for 85 minutes.

326. XIXIXOO and Tristan Park. (free show) Mama Kins, Boston, MA. 3/25/97

I met up with David Kuznick. Tristan Park are a prog band from New Hampshire (David actually auditioned for them!). They had a great guitar player but were a bit too much like the poppy prog stuff from marillion, IQ, etc.. Not bad though. I think the only people there were friends of the band and a few people who came in from the cold to get a beer! This was the first show with the new drummer for XIXIXOO. They played a set pretty close to what they did at the RAT! I think they keep getting better and better everytime I see them. Good band.

327. Deep Heaven Festival. $8
115 Kingston St. Loft, Chinatown, Boston, MA. 4/5/97
Saturnalia, Abunai, Lockgroove Lullaby, Juneau, Primordial Undermind, Cul de Sac, Bardo Pond

This was an amazing event in a loft in Chinatown here in Boston.
I recorded the complete sets of all these bands (except Saturnalia) on my Sharp Minidisc MS-200-A unit with Core Sound Cartioid Microphones. All the recordings came out excellent!! MD is the way to go for recording live music!! I have recorded bands for 16 years on analog cassettes, but this is so much of an improvement, even better than DAT (not for technical reasons, but for the easy of recording, the functional aspects of the MD and the sound quality).

About the music, Saturnalia, transported me back to the commune in Germany in 1969 where Amon Duul would play for endless hours. This band was great, unfortunately, I only caught two songs of their set. Great stuff, a bands with drums, stand up bass, thermion, guitar, female vocals (or whispers and sounds, I should say), and a guy who played banjo or cello.

Abunai are a great new band who are spacey (psych), folky and have a great guitar sound. The vocals are way out of tune, but who cares, cause the songs are so good. Hot new band!

Lockgroove Lullaby are a very heavy driving type of psychedelic music. Almost a heavy punk feel and anger at times, but with great distorted guitars! Pretty intense stuff.....

Juneau, are two guitars, drums and a guy who basically screams or yells.... They seem like total improve and you don't know where the song is going to go and neither do they, so they are real hit or miss. I did not care much for them last night but upon listening to the MD, it was not too bad. I think they are closets to bands like Marble Sheep or Fushishitsu from Japan.

Primordial Undermind were the most melodic of the bands, but still a very heavy dual guitar rhythm going. The lead singer also played a lot of lead guitar, but not the soloing type, just adding a melodic tone thru the tunes. Pretty interesting band.

Cul de Sac I had been wanting to see for years, but they rarely ever play. Anyway, these guys are heavily into the Kraut rock style with synths, drums (great drummer), guitar and bass. The synth is very high in the mix and he uses mainly old electronic gear, and gets great sounds.. The guitar player impressed me a lot. A few of the songs had a great oriental/mid eastern feel to the tunes. They ranged from the wall of sound noise to beautiful songs all with a psych feel.

Bardo Pond, set up and only got to play for 8m before the show was shut down because of the sound curfew, which was a drag, as I had a feel that they were going to be great!! Pretty incredible show!

I feel quite lucky to have been one of the people who attended this special event! Also, if you are thinking of recording concerts, mini disc the way to go... no question...

328. Architectural Metaphor and two guys from Saturnalia. Gilreins, Worcester, MA. 4/17/97 $5

I went with Bob and Anne Rudich and met up with Ian and Chris Raymond. It was a horrible cold, rainy night and only about 20 people showed up. The two guys from Saturnalia played guitar and therimin and it was pretty boring stuff. I started to recorded them but recorded over it before Arc Met came on. Arc Met were great. It seems like they always do the best shows in Worcester! Greg was really able to stretch things out a lot and they sounded great! Bob and I both had matching Sharp MDS200 minidisc players and I had Core sound mics and he had marc Sounds. We had them hooked up on a pole side by side and made matching recordings. This is the way to really test out the mics. From what I recall from hearing both recordings, his mics gave nicer bass sound while mine had a better overall clarity, but less low end. One funny thing was when the band had played about 70 minutes and we needed to switch discs, I yelled out for them to hold on for a minute! The band is very much protaping! The set list was: Holy Ground, Pterindarian, In Between Dunes, Golden Void, God Emperor, Lost Waltz, Holographic Caves
Karios, Creature, Welcome to the Future

329. TERRASTOCK- THE PTOLAMAIC PROVIDENCE PERAMBULATION Providence RI April 25-27th , 1997
TOTALLY SOLD OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 500 TICKETS ONLY..
$35
All I can say is that this was incredible!
Friday:

7- Silver Apples
8- Witch hazel (didn't play)
9- Abunai
10-Windy and Carl
11- Thee Hydrogen Terrors
12- Deviants
1:00 Cul de Sac

Saturday

12:00 Noon- Barbara manning
1- Science Kit
2- Azusa Plane
2:30- Lothars
3:30- Primordial Undermind
(in lounge- Tom Rapp of Pearls before Swine played acoustic alone and with his son and also Nick Salomen. First time Tom has played in front of an audience in 15-20 years!)
4:30- Orans
5:30- Neutral Milk Hotel
6:30- Break
7:30 Supreme Dicks
8:30- Mary Lou Lord
9:30- Tadpoles
10:30- Flying Saucer Attack
11:30- Medicine Ball
12:30- Bevis Frond

Sunday

12:00- Damon and Naomi
1- Alva
2- Olivia Tremor Control
3- Wayne Rogers
4- Alchemysts
5- Papas Fritas
6- break
7- Bardo Pond
(Flying Saucer attack and bardo Pond make noise together in lounge)
8- Hilkka
9- Lhasa Cement Plant
10- V.Majestic
11- Hovercraft
12- Richard Davies
1- Magic Hour reunion

Well, that was the line up and as you can imagine was an exhausting time, especially driving back to Boston every night after the music stopped at 2 or so (56miles). It was a very cool vibe in a art gallery sort of warehouse space in Providence. A lot of the bands had tables set up selling stuff, they had event posters and t-shirts, a lounge that sold food and drinks (no alcohol) and bands played in a mostly acoustic and unannounced fashion. All the artists were abound and accessible. I spoke with NIck Salomen, Phil mcMullen (of the Terrascope), Mick farren, Ade Shaw, Andy Ward, guitar player from the Alchemyst, Rustic Rod Goodway, and the guys from bardo Pond,etc.... Very cool time. They were amazingly efficient at getting the bands up and running and staying pretty much on time, with most bands playing about 40min sets, with Cul De Sac playing 75 and Bevis Frond playing for 95m. The sound over all was excellent for all the bands!

The whole event was recorded on 16 track for a future compilation release. People traveled from all over the world for the event (England, Sweden, Australia, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Ontario, Virginia, Baltimore, Georgia, etc..)

Now for the music. Well, I was a bit late and missed the Silver Apples, but everyone I spoke to really liked them a lot. Abunai, were great, with their style of folky guitar psych. Just a great band. They will have a CD out this year, but currently have a 35m demo (abunai@negativland.tiac.net). Windy and Carl consisted of windy on bass and Carl on guitar, playing very spacey atmosphere music. They were more enjoyable that I would have expected. The crowd really loved them. Thee hydrogen Terrors were very loud and aggressive punk rock. I didn't think they were psych at all, but I enjoyed them! Mick farren and the original Deviants guitar player (Andy) were incredible. they were backed by Andy Ward and Ade Shaw on drums and bass (both from the Bevis Frond band). This was very entertaining. Mick was drunk, like I suspect he was suppose to be and told these great stories in the form of long songs with some great ripping psych garage guitar from Andy. The crowd loved this and they were great!! Cul de Sac were the headliner for Friday night and put on an excellent show, despite taking forever to set up. The crowd had dwindled to like maybe 100 or so people by 12:45, but I thought they were great. They play a sort of kraut rock style but with an oriental flavor on the guitar for several of the tracks. They have a great drummer as well. End of day 1!

Well, I missed Barbara Manning, Science Kit and Azusa Plane. I spoke to people who said that Barbara was great and that Azusa Plane were pretty cool but sounded just like Hovercraft. The Lothars are a therimun band accompanied by a guitar player. These guys are tough to listen to; three therimins going mad....... The high frequencies that they insist on using drove a lot of people out of the room for there set (Nick Salomen said it was getting painful........) I was lucky to run into Nick after the lothars and he said he was going to sit in with Tom Rapp from pearls before Swine, so we followed him into the lounge and took a seat. Tom's son Dave did like three really lame songs and then he joined his dad and that was very cool. Tom also played a few on his own and then was joined by nick salomen (autoharp) and Phil mcmullen on finger cymbals. They only did one song.

Primordial Undermind were really excellent. This band is great live, I don't know what their studio stuff is like, but they are excellent live! The Orans were pretty boring pop kind of stuff but with a twisted sounding guitar sound.. Ok... A lot of people were all psyched for Neutral Milk hotel and the crowd got much larger. These guys were very eclectic. They were joined by some of the guys from olivia tremor control for most of their set. The crowd loved them and I thought they were pretty interesting live and did enjoy them. Hard to describe them.... The Supreme Dicks were quite heavy and aggressive. Can't really recall more about them... Mary Lou Lord (Boston busker!) played 3 or 4 solo numbers then was joined by nick Salomen on guitar and a bass player and drummer. They played songs that she and nick either co-wrote or nick wrote like lights are changing. Very enjoyable, but loose..... She did play (solo) a great song that nick co-wrote called Subway.. The Tadpoles were up next and one of the big surprises of the whole event. These guys were great! A super heavy wall of sound psych sound like Sundial, the heads, etc.... I was quite blown away.. Great band from NY. Flying Saucer Attack (one original member only) were greeted with a big crowd and anticipation, but I was not very impressed, mostly sort of lame poppy songs with wierd guitar sounds and effects going on.. Medicine ball, a local band, got a long set and were pretty much not very interesting. Melodic Rock band... Ok...

Finally, what most everyone had come to see, Bevis Frond! They increased the volume quite lot and the band were really primed... They opened with a jam and then went into Well out of it and Nick really opened up and ripped up the guitar right away. The band followed that with Wild Jack hammer, maybe AND STONED TRAIN DRIVER, with some more great guitar. They did a great version of Stoned Train Driver. Then nick took it down a bit with new river head, He'd be a Diamond, stain on the Sun, lights are changing, and a new one called Redhair. After an aborted attempt at oh Gideon, in which forgot the words they blast into Eyes in the back of my head, which someone had yelled out! Signed DC was one of the highlights with nick sitting down to play the electric dulcimer.. They really smoked on this one... The encore was nick by himself doing Another year followed by a long 20 min jam on the tune bad time from the Fred bison V lp, which included a drum and bass solo.. Pretty fun, but I would have rather heard House of Mountains! They were great!! What a day.. then the drive back to Boston, got to bed at 3:45..

Ok, we were back on the road to providence at 12:45, which means we missed Damon and Naomi and Alva. We made it in time to see Olivia Tremor Control, who were really interesting and eclectic, for such a young group of folks. The first three songs they did were all kind of weird pop, a bit like Phish, but then they really mixed it around. Very entertaining. A band I think you have to see live to appreciate. Wayne Rogers and Kate from Magic Hour were up next with a new group called Major Stars. I thought there set of music sounded just like the Magic Hour stuff, a lot of distorted guitar with some ripping leads, but mostly a very noisy sound.... Pretty cool, but a little too over the top on the noise... The Alchemysts from England were incredible!! I loved them. A sort of aggressive psych, with great guitar leads.. They just had really good catchy guitar riffs and a heavy sound. Quite awesome! Papas Fritas were a local Somerville MA band who got on the bill thru the back door some how as they were god awful pop music, with nothing interesting about them at all. We went to go eat..

Bardo Pond were hotly anticipated by all and didn't come on until 7:30, but played a very heavy distortion set for 45m. These guys have some great parts and some hard to handle parts. They play some incredible spacey music and get the distortion going into a sort of sonic wall of sound, that if it gets out of control is hard to listen to but if kept under control, is great..... Hilkka were a very aggressive punk sort of sound (reminded me of Nomeansno with a totally different guitar sound). The guitar player tunes his guitar very strangely, so it was an interesting sound., Very tight band though with lots of time changes. Pretty good.. We could not handle anymore so bailed out and missed the rest of the show...I heard that Richard Davies was great and that Magic Hour was pretty cool.. That was all folks.. An incredible three days of music and fun with lots of cool people.

330. Jazz Mandolin Project, Helborg Sipe and Lane, Buckethead! Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA. 5/2/97 $12.00

I went to this show with my friend Ed, whom I had first met at a Gov't Mule show. Really great guy (ecologist), now living in Maine! This was my last concert in MA before moving overseas. The show started earlier than stated on the marquee or ticket so Buckethead was already playing when we got in. We still caught 22 minutes and he was amazing! Very far out stuff with some smoking guitar. Mostly all instrumental. Helborg Sipe and Lane were pretty decent. Helborg is a famous jazz bass player and Shawn Lane used to play in Black Oak Arkansas and Jeff Sipe was the drummer in the Aquarium Rescue Unit (he smokes!!). They played for 59 minutes and had some really great jams and some boring parts as well. The Jazz Mandolin Project were pretty ripping. The bass player had a load of effects, while the drummer and Mandolin player were just damn good players. We only stayed for 65 minutes because of the subway train times. I recorded all three acts!

331. KISS, Strawberry Slaughterhouse, Helicopters. Valby Idrætspark, København, Denmark 6/21/97 200 kroner

I went with Philip Galante from work. He is one of the other Americans working at the Hagedorn Research Institute. We got tickets for 200 kroner from the den blå avis (want ads). It was a totally shit day though with pouring down rain and muddy. We missed the Helacopters and only heard part of Strawberry Slaughterhouse. Luckily the rain mostly stopped right before KISS came on and it only rained on and off lightly during the show and again started to pour down after the show. What a mess, all the drunken people and the mud, but I guess this is what it is like at outdoor concerts in Denmark!! This was my first concert in Denmark. I had to wear my microphones upside down on my hat to protect them from the rain, but the recording came out really good despite. We had a good view of the band, We were like 100 feet away or less on the right side. The bass was just pounding but the sound was great! The set list was: Deuce, King of the Nighttime World, Let me go R&R, Do you love me?, Firehouse, Watchin' you, Shock me, AceGuitar Solo, Calling Dr. Love, Shout it Out Loud, Love Gun
Cold Gin, I was made for loving you
God of Thunder, Back in the NY Groove, 100,000 years, Black Diamond, Beth, Rock and Roll Allnite

332. Hoven Droven Pavillionen, Fælledparken, København 7/2/97 (gratis)

These guys are a Swedish folk rock band that Carl had just sent us a tape of. Pretty good stuff. Lani and I went together and sat pretty close to the stage and had a beer or two! They did two sets of music and a total of about 100 minutes. I quite enjoyed it but they violin and sax players seem to overuse the same scales over and over, so a lot of their songs sounded just a like. They had one incredible song in which the guitar player did a great jam!! I had a nice chat with the guys, as they had just come back from a US tour that went pretty good, they said! I got a pretty decent recording!

333. Fu Manchu and Misdemeanor 40 kroner Rock A'mar, København 7/6/97

I went to this show with Kim Christensen, a guy whom Chuck Wax ( a guy I have traded tapes with for many years now) told me about. We both recorded the show. Misdemeanor were an all female 5 piece band, whose greatest influences were Fu Manchu and Kyuss!! I was really blown away by them and thought they were great!! They had two really amazing songs. Very good and the heaviest female band I had ever heard! Fu Manchu were heavy and loud as hell. Rock Amar is a small place, it probably only holds 75 people. They played mostly new songs and the cover of Godzilla was great!! The new song, Saturn 13 was really heavy and spacey! I spoke to Scott Hill for a while. A really nice guy. He said they would be back in November. I recorded both bands.

334. Status Quo, Blue Oyster Cult, Mick Taylor All Star Blues Band, Allan Olsen. 5-Ørens, København 8/9/97 60 kroner

What an incredible day! Warm and sunny and right off the water! A very nice place for a show. I met up with a guy named Daniel from Sweden, whom I had met on the BOC-l internet list. We met at Christiana and then took the bus down to the show! Mick Taylor were playing when we got there and sounded pretty good. We sat in the shade and chatted while he played. Allen Olsen is a local Danish folk rock guy from the 80's who had a few big hits here in Denmark (I am told), so the crowd was familiar with a lot of his stuff. He was alright! He ended up getting three encores so BOC started late and would only play for 55 minutes. BOC were really great. Buck was really smoking on the guitar. He just gets better and better everytime I see him, too bad the bad holds him back some. They did not play any new songs, which I think was a big mistake. Instead they waste 10 minutes on drum and bass solos, when they could have played two new songs and turned the audience on to something new. The set list was: Intro, Stairway to the Stars, ETI, Buck's Boogie
Cities on Flame w/ Rock and Roll, Last Days of May, Burning for You
Godzilla>bass solo >drum solo, Godzilla, Buck semi blues Jam,
Don't Fear the Reaper

By the time Status Quo came on the crowd had been sitting in the sun drinking for 6 hours and were really hammered! I had a good place in the center with a decent view of the band, but could not get away from the loud drunk folks. Daniel tried his best to shield me from a really drunk guy who really seemed to like us and wanted to talk even though neither of us could understand him (he spoke Danish). Anyway, QUO were great!! I had never had a chance to see them and really enjoyed them a lot. The set list was: Paper Plane
Softer Ride, The Wanderer, Backwater, Medley: Mystery Song, Railroad, Most of the Time, Wild Side of Life, Rollin Home, Again and Again, Slow Train, Gerdundal, Roll over Lay Down, Get out of Denver, Whatever you Want, In the Army Now, Something 'bout you Baby
Don't Waste me Time, Rockin' all over the World, Roadhouse Blues
Caroline, Rain, Anniversary Waltz:, Let's Dance, Red River Rock, No Particular Place to Go, The Wanderer
I hear you Knockin', Lucille, Great Balls of Fire, R&R music, Sweet Soul music, Bye Bye Johnny

What a day!! I got good recordings of BOC and Status Quo as well!

335. Spiritualized and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (135 kroner) Lille Vega, København, Denmark 27/9/97

I went by myself but met up with Kim's friend Michael Bjerne. It was just sure accident. I came in and was standing next to him mentioned that there were so few people there and he asked me if I was Scott Heller. He is a really nice guy. We chatted a lot before and in between the bands. Anyway, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci had an interesting sound to them. At a few times they reminded me of Hieronymous Firebrain. The singer/keyboard player really got manic at times. The violin was a major part of their sound. Their last two songs were the best of the set. They played about 46 minutes and the set list was: Tidal Wave, Barafundle, Starmoon Sun, Patio, Merion Wyllt, Dark Night, Let's get Together, Pentref, Blood, Diamond Dew, Heart of Kent.

Spiritualized played a lot of stuff off the new CD and the lead singer had his eyes closed for most of their 85 minute set. They were very heavy psych with a wall of sound at times with all instruments going full bore.. The light show was pretty intense as well but not as good as the Ozrics, but well above average. The bright lights right in to the face made you have to close your eyes quite alot though. The violin player from Gorky's joined them for most of the set (all the new numbers). Got a pretty good recording as well.

336. Voi Vod and MNA. (40 kroner)´Loppen, København, Danmark 9/24/97

Cliff and Craig, my cousins from NYC were visiting and we decided to go. I wanted to go but they were not sure and almost left to go back to Amsterdam, but decided to stay and were really glad as VOI VOD were really hot! My first time to go to Loppen in Christiana for a show. A small club about 2-300 people would pack the place. It is long and skinny with the stage in the middle facing out. Not a great arrangement. Sound was quite good.

MNA were a hardcore/metal style band from Danmark. They were alright, some pretty powerful stuff. Voi Vod were really great. Before they played Craig and I talked to Away (Michel) about past concerts (I tried to see if he had any memories of when I saw them in 1985 in Phoenix with Celtic Frost- he didn't) and Craig spoke with him about artists that have influenced him and they got onto Roger Dean a bit. Very cool guy. As for the musical show, they were brutally heavy. The new singer is in the style of Snake on the first two Voi Vod lps. The new songs have very complex guitar riffs and the drumming is amazing! I got an excellent recording of the show considering the volume of the band! Great time...

The set list was: Rise, Insect, Microwave Body, Tribal, Mercury, Phobos, Project X, Bacteria, Nanoman, Astronomy Domine, Forlorn, Nuclear War, VOI VOD!

337. Sorten Muld (Black Earth) 90 kroner Lille Vega, København, Denmark 11/20/97

Sorten Muld are a Danish folk rock band with a techno sound at times. The band take ancient Danish folk songs and transform them into folk rock/techno music. It is not that heavy on the techno and almost psychedelic at times. They are an 8 piece band with a female vocalist, drummer, percussionist (who also plays banjo and other string instruments), guitar, two keyboard/synth players and a very talented guy who plays all sorts of flutes, a bagpipe, and violin. All the songs are sung in Danish. I was very impressed with the show. It got a bit too dancy techno like at the end but it is still a very interesting mix with all of these instruments and the synth player (the one with all the analog gear, not the guy who was dancing about (probably likes Madonna)), he made very interesting sounds during some parts. The guitar player also liked to use effects on the guitar and had a great solo during one of the songs when the band was really in a psych groove! IT was sold out and very smoky. They like to smoke a lot in Denmark! Fun show. I went with Jan Jensen and Trina, both from work. Got an excellent 85 min recording. I missed the last encore song, as I paused the machine. I saw my friend Kim (also a taper) at the show.

338. UFO and Danger Danger. 160 kroner Pumpehuset, København 11/28/97

I went by myself and hung out with a Swedish guy named Patrik who is a big southern rock fan. Really nice (short) guy!! I also spoke with some of the roadies a bit and they commented on how beautiful all the Danish women were!!! They were selling a 25th Anniversary Michael Schenker double CD for 200 kroner and Michael was sitting at a table and he would sign them for you. He did not seem that friendly when I tried to speak with him. The CD had stuff from Scorpions, UFO, MSG, and other projects, but no totally unreleased material. I did not by one.

Danger Danger were from NYC (hard to beleive) but played a commercial metal style. I only watched two songs and I did not like them at all and it was really loud, so I went back down stairs, where you could at least talk with people, even though you could hear the band loud and clear! They played for an hour!

Pumpehuset is not a bad place, if you are up front, otherwise there was a bit of an echo or something. It is like a big open house or small barn, is what it really reminds me of. It holds about 750 people and it was pretty crowded. I was nearly dead center about 15 feet away and had a great view as there were no tall people near by (but tons of smokers!). UFO opened up with Natural Thing and boy was it fucking loud!! Straight into Mother Mary. The tunes sounded just like off Strangers in the Night (probably within 20 seconds in length of the originals as well!). They sounded great and Pete Way was the only one who dressed up for the occasion and was running around. There was no interplay between the band, almost like they just get up there and do there job and go their separate ways. Phil Mogg, looked great and sounded great but did not say one word to anyone in the band the whole set on stage. Pete tried a few times to get Michael into it and sway back and forth etc,, but Michael mostly just acted like he was in the way. Schenker sure can play the guitar!! It was great to watch him. He only did extended solos on Rock Bottom and the new songs all seem to have longer solos, same pretty short solos on the old tunes. He has such a great guitar tone though. This was the first time I had seen him since MSG days in 1984, when he opened for Ted Nugent! The main surprised of the night (if you had not seen the set list on the internet) was Electric Phaze (sounded great) and One more for the Rodeo. Both were pretty hot tunes. I loved the slide guitar Michael played on Electric Phaze! The new songs were the best though. Self Made Man was just amazing and it really has that old style guitar riff from the Obsession days! Venus and Pushed to the Limit were also awesome, showing that this line up can write some great material together!
The full set list was: Natural Thing, Mother Mary, Self Made Man, Electric Phaze, This Kids, Out on the Street, One more for the Rodeo, Venus, Pushed to the Limit, Love to Love, Too hot to Handle, Only you can Rock me, Lights Out 65 min

Encores: Doctor Doctor, Rock Bottom, Encore 2: Shoot Shoot 21m

339. GUTRIX (free show) RUST, København 12/2/97

I went to the show by myself but when I arrived there was hardly anyone there (9pm), but Hank Shermann and Bjarne were sitting at a table chatting so I introduced myself. Fucking nice guys! Both of which play in Mercyful Fate, when not doing Gutrix (pronounced Got-tricks). I hung out with them until they left to get the other guys and then came back. They played two sets, each about 40 minutes long. There were only about 35 people in the whole place and maybe only 15 or so actually showed up specifically to see the band. RUST is a small place that holds only about 125 people and is a college hang out, so people just come to drink (smoke cigs) and hang out. Anyway, the band sounded great and really smoked! They played most of the songs off the Mushroom Songs CD as well as a few covers, like Purple Haze and Free Wheel Burning by Judas Priest. The best songs were the two ten minute instrumentals. In the first set they called it Salsa Jam and the 2nd set instrumental was Bolivian Mountains from the CD! Both were incredible. The bass player, Claus, had a huge pedal set up, which I thought was ridiculous for a bass player but he did end up using most of them at some point in the set. Great bass sound! I got a great recording and thought it was a great show. I will go see them again on the 17th of December as well. The set list was:

Set I: Sky's the Limit, The Mushroom Song, Move Over, Out of Control, Purple Haze, Salsa Jam

Set II: Hell to Pay, Natural Born, Inzane, Bolivian Mountains, Crazy, Freewheel Burning

340. The MOOR and Nik Turner at Molotow, Hamburg 11/1/98

WOW! What a day this was, both before and after the show. The Molotow is a small club right in the heart of the local prostitute hang outs and the strip and gambling joints, pretty seedy! Very nice people run the place and we (Christian Mumford and I) got there early and hung out until the band arrived and we helped them load in the gear and chat. They were all really nice folks. They arrived at 7:30, 1.5 hours late, so everything got off to a late start. By 8 or so Christian and I had Nik cornered in a tiny room and we chatted with him for 45 minutes and he was quite frank and spoke a lot about his new record label, his new Allstars project CD, the possibility of a 1999 tour (with or without Brock and Lemmy), and other things. You will read it later in Aural Innovations (issue #2 or 3).

I had been reading Julian Cope's Krautrock sampler and I am listening to Unknown Deutchland: The Krautrock Archive Vol. 1 right now, but at the club the DJ had awesome taste, playing Guru Guru, Can, Scorpions (first record 1972 on Brain!!), Grobschmitt, etc.. It was the best preshow music I had ever heard and it really got you in the mood for the show, which was totally different! The MOOR opened up with a Calvert poem, and one new song, followed by Nik coming out with his blue face paint, and that wild suit that he wore in Chicago at JJ Kelly's in September. He entered the room playing the sax, walking through the crowd (about 60 people) and up onto the stage. Then went into one of their own new songs, followed by a very cool version of Watching the Grass Grow. The MOOR created their own type of groove, different from the ICU or Pressurehed backing band grooves. It was much slower and spacier but worked very well. The band working with Nik stretched most tunes out to around 10 minutes or so. Some of the best material was when they played material from Nik's 1978 lp, Xintoday. The bass/keyboard player switched over to a tabla style drum, as did the excellent drummer, and Knut played tambourine. This was great as with Nik chanting and playing the flute you had a really awesome mid east feel, not the heavy rock versions of the tunes that were on Sphinx or played with Pressurehed. Excellent! More of the MOOR material followed with the occasional Calvert poem throw in. They did a long encore of several HW tunes, Children of the Sun, Brainstorm with a bit of Steppenwolf in the middle and that was not enough, he few people remaining demanded more and Nik played solo Silver/Washing Machine and the band heard what he was doing and they came back out and it turned into another massive jam.. The 20 or so people left loved it. I think more people would have been at the show had it not been so late (started at 11 pm) on a sunday night! The band played for 126 minutes! The recording came out excellent.

I really liked the show a lot. The MOOR's new material is very dark, gothic rock, with synthesizers and Nik playing the sax over the top really adds a unique element. The guy who read most of the lyrics for the MOOR did not have that great of a voice when he tried to sing at all (Which was not often). He mostly did like spoken word stuff. The lyrics seem quite good and socially conscience type stuff. Great band, nice people, and a good time, except after the show. We roamed the streets of Hamburg trying to avoid the prostitutes (who were everywhere) looking for a youth hostel, which was closed when we did find it, so we crashed in the train station until 4 am and took the train back to Kobenhavn, having spent only 12 hours in Germany! I had a great time for the most part.

I think that Christian will have a totally different take on the event (but he was in a totally different state of mind ( I did not drink or smoke anything).

341. ODE TO A BLACKMAN II- Mindekoncert for Philip Lynott, Pumpehuset, København, Denmark 17/1/98
Featuring: Mark Dignam, Sean Martin, Johhny Hjørt Band, and The BLACK ROSE!

I was not sure what to expect of this show and was quite pleasantly surprised. There were 5 acts this night plus a very special guest at the end of the show. It was a near packed house (over 500 people). The show started out with two announcers, one from Ireland (Dave McSavage), who thought he was a cool comedian, but most of the audience did not get off on him at all and he was quite obnoxious, but he had trained as he had all the comebacks, like when someone yelled out "Fuck You", he said, "Not until after you buy me dinner"! Stuff like that. Obnoxious. He had a beautiful, tall Danish female counterpart (Anne Kronborg), whom spoke to the audience in Danish, so I am not too sure what she was saying.

The first act was the Dezzi Higgins and Shane Donnelly Experience, an Irish trio of banjo (one song), acoustic guitars, drum and pennywhistle and they were joined by a Danish woman on violin. They played all traditional Irish music for the most part, which was only lukewarmly appreciated by the audience. Their last song was All round the Hat (Steeleye Span made it famous) which they went into Whiskey in the Jar, which the crowd quite liked. I thought they were great!

Next up was Mark Dignam whom was accompanied by Ken on another acoustic guitar. They opened with Little Girl in Bloom followed by an a capella version of Sarah. They ended with a awesome version of The Sun goes Down.

They were followed by an older man named Shaun Martin, whom read several poems by Philip Lynott. He was not always understood as it was hard to get the crowd at the back to be completely silent and shut up. He read Shades of a Blue Orphanage, Hero and the Madman, johnny, King's Rengeance, Look at what the Wind blew in, and Randoph's Tango. It was an interesting choice of stuff to read.

Next up was the Johhny Hjørt Band. It was cello, guitar, bass and vocals (Johnny). They performed only song. The Phil Lynott song
with the chorus, "The people in this town could never understand". I can't recall the title of the song. Excellent version.

The Black Rose were quite excellent and performed a pretty cool selection of songs, so typical and some unexpected! The vocalist was excellent! He had a powerful voice and sounded a lot like Philip at times but not exactly. I was very impressed with the musicians, as they were extremely good. They copied Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham nearly perfectly, but seem to not quite have the speed to copy John Sykes quite as well, but pretty damn good! The set list was:

Are you Ready?
Chinatown
Do anything you want to
Boys are Back in Town
Cowboy Song
S and M
Dancing in the Moonlight (with Guest sax player)
Bad Reputation
Jailbreak
Got to Give it Up
Still in Love with You
Killer on the Loose
Dedication
Emerald *
Holy War *
Waiting for an Alibi
Cold Sweat

My favorite songs of the set were S and M, Bad Reputation, and Chinatown. I liked it all though. They had a guest guitar player come out on Emerald and Holy War, who I swear he said was from Duran Duran? The guy (Simon) was a sort of heavy set oriental fellow. He seem to have a great time on the two songs he played on. It was a great show.

Philomena Lynott (Philip's mom!) then came out thanked the Danish Culture Ministry for supporting this event and she presented the Black Rose with a small guitar in a glass case, for doing such a professional job of paying tribute to her son's music. She also read a very sad poem that Philip wrote. I was surprised that she did not break out into tears. This in itself made this event really special!

342. ON TRIAL- LOPPEN, KØBENHAVN, DENMARK 1/31/98 80 kroner

On Trial are a Danish band that I just found out about in the last few months. They play a style of psychedelic rock that ranges from Monster Magnet style to the more garagy Rorky Erkison style. They have been around in various forms for 11 years and have released three lps, the most recent is Head Entrance on SPV out of Germany ( I got a copy of it on Helicopeter Records out of Denmark, only 300 made on vinyl!). I also have the 2nd one called 70 kilometers of underwater nothingness, Kaptain! I spoke with the guitar player Henrik for quite a while and Delerium records in England has shown some interest in the next lp, which they will record this month (2/98). They were opening for Thee Headcoats from England this night but due to the freezing weather and lateness of the show, I did not stay to see them as I would have had to walk home (45 minutes) or take a taxi (125 kroner), so I opted out for the last bus at 12:23 near the club.

On Trial were excellent! Very psychedelic and a cool low budget light show, but very effective! They played several new songs, two from Head Entrance and one from 70 kilometers. The sound mix was excellent and the crowd seem to be into it as well. A lot of their songs seem like they could have really went off in a psych jam in the middle but cut it short due to time. Henrik said that they have been known to really go off and play only 4 songs in an hour on occasion. He said they don't usually improvise much by stretching the songs out when they are opening act. I guess I can understand.. They did do a 15 minute version of Slip inside this House by Rorky Erickson during the 50 minute set!! The set list was:

Flashincast
Sleeper
As if I was In
Cast it Aside
Blood Butterfly
Doubt
Human Twin
Slip Inside this House
Encore: Psychotic Reaction (cover song)

I got an excellent recording and it was a good time. Loppen is a cool place but way to smoky,ugh..

343. NARNIA- Backfisch, København, Denmark 2/14/97

I saw Narnia listed at this club in the Ibyen section of the Politiken newspaper which comes out every Friday and tells you what is going on everywhere in town. They listed the band as Spacerock, so that caught my attention and I had to go! I had never heard of this club before but I had walked by it as it is right on the street you walk down to go to Christiana. It turns out to be a pretty cool place and they have a great JBL PA! As for the band they, played two sets and over 2 hours. It was all instrumental music with influences taken from rock and jazz but also some folk and funk. Most of the first set was performed as a 4 piece, dual guitar, bass, and drums. They had a guy come out at the end of the first set and the whole 2nd set who played various drums, flute and synths. They always spoke to the audience in Danish, so I could not understand what they were saying. Many of the pieces of music were over ten minutes long and had flashes of Ozric Tentacles, Djam Karet (they have never heard of this band!), Eric Johnson/Electromagnets, type stuff. The lead guitar player was not anything like Eric Johnson but more like Ed Wynne. I thought they were very interesting and I look forward to following their development as a band. This was only their 5th concert ever and they are planning on recording a live demo in April.

344. EAT STATIC- Pumpehuset, København, Denmark 2/17/98 155 kroner

Interview with Joie Hinton of EAT STATIC in Copenhagen Denmark 2/17/98!

Well, I have not seen Eat Static live since their debut US show at the Limelight in NYC in September 1994, which was great! I was really looking forward to this show.... I arrived early (7:30) to Pumpehuset, the venue in downtown Copenhagen and tried to find anyone associated with the band but had no luck, until the doors opened at 8. I ran into the Danish guy who was involved with the record company that promotes that band here in Denmark and I told him who I was and that if he saw Joie from Eat Static that a friend of Jim Collins from the US was here and wanted to have a chat.. He came back after a few minutes and said that Joie would chat with me before the gig but they needed some time to get some food and I would not have much time, so I said that was cool. Two Danish radio DJ's did an interview with Joie and when they returned I was taken up by the Danish record guy and had a nice chat with Joie and here it is!

Scott Heller= SH
JH= Joie Hinton

SH- So why does the new CD, Science of the Gods sound so different?
JH- I think time, makes us experiment more and the sound collage is a little more expansive than early works because we had more time. Also there is a wider diversity of grooves and influences than before.

SH- What % of the stuff you perform live is on tape versus made up on the spot?
JH- None of it is so much is on tape as it is data files, sequences running live. There is only one section of the set where it is a complete out there jam, but the rest of the set has to be mixed and sound right and all sorts of things. So it is a live performance, nothing on tape.
SH- MacIntosh or PC?
JH- Uh.........................PC..... I can't remember exactly what he's got...
SH- Merv is more into the computers?
JH- Yeah Yeah...
SH- Do you know if there ever was a 4th Wooden Baby tape?
JH- No, I don't think there were any others.
SH- Do you ever miss playing live with a real band?
JH- NO, Not really.. I did before, but no.. It is still so much fun to do this, that I don't really miss it. Occasionally it would be fun, but I don't miss it, no.
SH- What are a couple of things you have been listening to on the bus lately?
JH- Oh, there is alot of lounge core going on at the minute, loungey music, other peoples weird tapes that they give us, anything that comes our way, we are interested in everything.
SH- How was the US tour with shows in San Francisco and the Big Top?
JH- It was entertaining. It was good fun travelling around with so many bands and so many people. So socially it was fantastic. I think it wasn't that successful a venture, because some of the gigs weren't very well attended, but a good turn out in LA and Dallas, so some of it was good. I enjoyed it all, but it is a great place to do gigs. I think there was a slight lack of advertising or maybe people just aren't interested yet, whatever.. but it is still fun..
SH- Was the last show you performed live with the Ozrics the Sun and Phoenix Festival in the UK?
JH- Yeah, that is right... Kind of a symbolic ending.. having a phoenix rising out of the ashes.
SH- You did do one track on the Become the Other CD with Ed?
JH- yeah, I helped him write it.. There is one part, it is the last track isn't it, kind of reggae like track, the middle section where it goes kind of spaced out, I helped him program it, so it is a sort of partly composed it with Ed but I am not actually on it.
SH- So you came out to the MILL?
JH- No, We did that before I left, it is quite an old one. Just tag it on at the end, cause it's a nice tune, you know..
SH- Have you heard that latest Ozric Tentacles, Curious Corn?
JH- yeah, yeah, sure.. yes, it carries on, maybe a little more computery, interesting textures, its good, they keep going, don't they..
SH- I think that the complaints that some people have is that it all still sort of sounds the same, even though it is evolving, it is still in a sense, because it is all instrumental, heavily synthesized, it still all sort of sounds the same...
JH- That tends to be the case with any band that releases a lot of records. I have noticed it with other artists. It is almost gets to where if you have one album, you could have all of them, you know what I mean.. Uhmm.. in a way that is one reason why Merv and me wanted to move on, was because we felt that it was sounding so similar, it was like a recipe, we will go in the studio and make the ozric album, their all different, but there is a vibe that prevails amongst all of it. We had to move on and do something fresh and different.. but I am glad that it is still going on..
SH- Do you have any favorite Ozrics memories from the 80's?
JH- There are many good times, so many... good laughs, fun in the studio, fun on the road..
SH- I have a couple of live tapes from the 80's that I really like a lot, where you go out on 30 minute jams.... I like the gig from Savernake Lake..
JH- Savernake Forest.,.. yeah, I remember that one..
SH- Another one is called Doris's Birthday..
JH- yeah, yeah.. that was near Reading, sort of near London. That was cool also.
SH- I am glad that band has allowed people to record so that these shows are preserved so that the fans can enjoy them...
SH- Do people record Eat Static?
JH- Oh yeah..... we probably are gonna do a live album next anyway. yeah, we have loads of tapes of gigs. There are not many out there though.. which is quite nice for us so we can hit people up with a nice live CD..
SH- Do you think the live CD will have improvised bits from tours from over the years?
JH- I would like to see it cross the whole time span..... we will have to see what kind of quality it will stand up to be..

Now about the concert... all I can say is this was the most psychedelic show I have ever been to and I was totally blown away. They had a huge backdrop with had a set of like leaves and trees that were in fluorescent green and this large 3 dimensional Brain in the center, which contained multiple strobe lights and they would project patterns onto the brain. On the left and right of the huge center backdrop were large aliens. The music was loud!! They started the show with some really spacey sounds for about 2 or 3 minutes before Merv started to mix in any beats and then this pulsating brain started in and this was totally far out.... They seem to play a lot of stuff from Science of the Gods and at least one song from Implant, but it is really hard to tell what the songs were. They went into a lot of spacey parts when they began songs often, so it was not always beat driven and the best part about it was they were really making incredible wild psychedelic sounds that were really much louder than the beats, which often dominate the techno music. I think if you removed the beat driven parts it was some of the most spacey and psychedelic music I have ever heard. Parts of it remind me of the early Alien Planetscapes music, which is super space music.. They played a basic set of about 70 minutes and then were drawn back out by the crowd three times for a total of about 90 minutes... Super show... I left in sort a weird state as the visual assault was so intense that it takes your eyes (brain) a while to recover from so much intense visual stimulation. The way the band uses the strobes and points them out at the audience and changes the patterns, and uses fog (dry ice) is so trippy. The brain was totally amazing, the was they would have swirling patterns projected into the sides of the brain and the pulsing strobes, totally amazing..... Incredible night. I would guess about 300 or so people showed up. Tickets were 155 kroner (which is about $22.50) and it was a Tuesday night, so that is not that bad. The venue holds 600.

345. The BEVIS FROND- Rust, København 3/10/98 (guest list)

Well, I showed up at the club at 4:45 to meet the band and they were not there yet (one hour late according to the club). I had arranged with Ade Shaw via the email to get together with the band here. They showed up a little after five and I helped them unload the van (they have two roadies, Ronnie and Matt, on the tour. Matt plays in the UK band the Alchymests. We sat around and they drank beers and then the club provided them with all the beer they wanted and some nice food. I went off to get some food and came back. After the soundcheck, which was extremely funny as nick was joking around a lot and sang a little song to Andy. They did Hole Song No. 2 as the soundcheck song. Sound was excellent. Andy Ward (the drummer) has a bit of a cold so he was pretty miserable and actually passed out for a bit after the soundcheck, while Nick, Ade, Matt and I headed to the dressing room for a chat until the band went on at 10. They had a story about how they almost did not get off the ferry from Germany to Denmark and would have been off to Sweden which would have really fucked them up for this show, but they did make it off the ferry at the last minute!
I went out at 9 to see if Kim, Michael and Stig had arrived to let them know that taping and video was fine with the band. These are some of the nicest guys you could ever meet and boy do they joke around like mad. If they ever get tired of doing a full set of music they could easily do stand up comedy as well! Great blokes!

Now to the show... RUST is a great club. Good sound on stage for the band and out front it is not too loud but loud enough and a very even mix. The club holds only about 150 or so and there were about 60 or so people there, enough of a crowd to fill the front part by the stage and make the band feel like there was a crowd there. They opened with a slow jam song that was pretty cool and then went into Hole Song No.2 and Nick let off his first ripping leads to excite the crowd. This is a great new song off North Circular. Hole Song No.1 is off London Stone. Don't know if they ever played that one live though! Wild Jack Hammer followed which is a great song. I love the lead guitar in this one. It was always a great jam when Bari Watts was in the band. (We talked a lot about Bari in the dressing room, a great guitar player and friend of Nick's!). Stars burn out is another song from North Circular and one that features acoustic guitar on the lp, so I was surprised to hear this one. I had tried to figure out which songs they would be doing from the new lp live and I was only correct 1 out of 5! Stone Train Driver is a classic Bevis song with witty lyrics and a good riff. Always a great one live. Maybe really gets the crowd up and going as it is fast and loud! Love is another from the new lp, is a great song as well. I am getting a little tired of hearing Lights are changing, He'd be a Diamond and new River Head but I can't deny they are good songs. Red Hair is the only song they played off the last Bevis lp, Son of Walter. Same as last year at Terrastock. I had hoped to hear Barking Point blues! The Wind blew all around me and He Had you are both from North Circular. He had You Mary Lou Lord played last year at the Terrastock in Providence but Nick's version is better I think! Stain on the Sun is now of my all time favorite BF songs. Nick started the beginning a little differently this time and slowly lead into the main portion of the song. Now he switched over to the electric dulcimer for the Arthur Lee song Signed DC (pretty depressing lyrics). This song is just a heavy jammer that just builds into a raging psychedelic guitar (dulcimer) jam! Nick sits in a chair for most of this song but when Matt the roadie removed the chair when Nick wanted to stand up, the cord was wrapped around the leg of the chair was pulled out, so we briefly got to hear Ade solo.... Great version. They encored with a killer instrumental in which Nick played a sitar guitar. This is a new jam song that really builds and last for nearly 10 minutes! Then I was very surprised and honored but Nick said they had a surprise for Scott Heller and they played Undertaker, which is a song from the old days that I love. This is not listed on the normal set list they are playing on this tour, so that was pretty special. (turns out they did play this in Holland!) I was very honored. It was a great show. I had a few words with them afterwards and headed out. They were really tired and needed to catch up on sleep.

Here is the set list:

Jam
Hole Song No.2
Wild Jack Hammer
Stars Burn Out
Stoned Train Driver
Lights are Changing
Maybe
Love is
He'd be a Diamond
New River Head
Red Hair
The Wind blew all around me
Well out of it
He had You
Stain on the Sun
Signed DC

Encores:
Eastern Jam
Undertaker (dedicated to me, nice guys.....)

105 minutes

346. FU MANCHU and Spiritual Beggars- LILLE VEGA, København 3/13/98

I rode my bike across town (4.5 km) to the show and that was not too bad. I am just getting back in shape for bike riding after taking the winter off, which has turned out to be very mild and it is now colder than I was in most of Jan and Feb! The weather does not stop the Danes, they ride the bike even when it is snowing, ranging, hailing.... When I got there the only people at the show were Swedes who had invaded from Helsingborg, Malmo and other cities close to the border. I had a nice chat with some of them. They were very curious to talk to an American and get his point of view and see what music I was into. They were a bit bummed though that I had seen bands like the Melvins, Butthole Surfers, Nirvana, and they never had, since most of those bands don't come to Sweden and they are just now coming to age to be able to travel to Denmark to see shows. They were all getting totally hammered on Danish beer and smoking tons of cigs... A lot of these Swedish kids chew tobacco and have no clue as to how dangerous it is.

So the Spiritual Beggars hit the stage at 10 and rocked the place! I was really blown away by them and liked them a lot. I had been listening to their first CD (they did not play anything off it) and Another Way to Shine, which I really like a lot. They might not have played anything off this one either! Since Another way to shine they have added a organ player and percussionist, but they fit well into the sound. It is a heavy organ, like the old Uriah Heep or some of the organ fromAtomic Rooster, mixed with 70's influenced metal. The singer had a great style. I was pretty impressed with their 45 min set. It seemed like they would just play the songs like they are on the CD, but the last tune, Mushroom Tea Girl, they stretched out to 10m and the bass player/singer came off the stage and played in the crowd, which was cool. Good band! Being that they are Swedish, they spoke to the crowd in Swedish, since most Danes can understand them, but at this point in the evening at least 50% of the crowd seemed to be from Sweden!
The set list was:

We won't be Back

Euphoria

Send me a Smile
Wine
Mushroom Tea Girl

Fu Manchu wasted no time getting started and hit the stage right at 11 with a heavy short instrumental number before blasting to numbers off the new CD, the Action is Go, and numbers off In Search of..
I think they did regal Begal, Asphal Risin', Redline, Supershooter and a lot off the new one, like Saturn 3. They did not do Godzilla, which kind of surprised me. I asked Scott Hill before the show if they had ever played Chevy Van live and he said never, only played it in rehearsal. I mentioned that it seemed like it would be a fun tune for them to play and he agreed. Who knows if they will do it. Anyway, they were very loud and heavy and the crowd was really into them. They were the best when they varied a bit in the way some of the songs were done. At times a lot of their guitar riffs sounda lot a like. I really liked the old lead guitar player better. He has a more nasty, growling fuzzed out tone! I have heard that his new band Nebula was quite good! Overall, it was a Very good and aggressive set of music. They played for 60m total, including the encore, so it was a short set. Great recordings of both bands were made!

347. NARNIA (now called Mantric Muse) and Fabeldyr- Krudttønden, København 3/14/98 40 kroner

Krudttønden is a really nice quaint club with artwork for sale on the walls about a 5 minute or less bike ride from our apartment. Every table has candles and it has a high ceiling and good sound! I guess 150 people could fit but there was only about 45 and still not all the tables were taken. Fabeldyr (means fantasy animal in English) were an eclectic group of bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, flute, sax and a female singer, who sang in English. Some of it was folky, but most of it was more rock and pretty interesting, not pop at all, but not really psychedelia either. I enjoyed their set and would go see them again. I did not record them, but would have if I had brought more blank minidisc.

Narnia had changed their name after hearing about the UK band that featured Tony Banks (from 1974) as well as a Swedish symphonic rock act who has like 6 records out! Mantric came from a work off the back of the Ozrics Live Underslunky CD and I don't know where they got muse from! The band played mostly the same songs as last time but they arranged them a bit different at times. The last song was a new one called Lunar Groove and some of the members of Fabeldyr joined in after about 10 mins on hand drums and the acoustic guitar player, he did some vocals that he made up on the spot. The jam lasted 23 minutes and was pretty good, but I was a bit disappointed that Magnus (I doubt that is spelled correct!) the lead guitar player was timid and would not really ever let it rip, even though I can tell he has it in him somewhere. The had a santana like groove going that just called out for some ripping leads and he wouldn't do it. The keyboard, flute, percussion player also said he thought that Magnus was too timid and wishes that he would let it go and stretch the jams out. I really like this band a lot and they have a lot of great song ideas but I feel like when they have this nice groove going a Magnus starts a solo he could just continue on and the rest of the guys would just groove but he stops his solo after 1-2 minutes (some thing Ed wynne or Frank zappa sure took advantage of when they had a great backing band!) and never really shows much adventureness.. Maybe that will change with maturity! I meant he people coming to see this kind of music are not expecting standard chorus, bridge chorus music..... and you should have fun and jam... Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't... I heard the band were going to try out a female vocalist and possible a Pakistan female singer as well... Could be very interesting... The whole set was about 95 minutes with the jam!

348. JUDAS PRIEST and Gorefest. Vega, København 4/3/98. 160 kroner

Two very cool guys named Gabriel Lillehook and his friend David invaded from Sweden for the show, since Priest were not playing any other shows in Scandinavia except for this one. The show started really early, so we completely missed Gorefest who went on at 8. We really did not have any interest in seeing them anyway. JP came on at 9:10 and played for about 100 minutes. Vega is a really cool place which holds perhaps 1200 or so. It is hard to tell as I could not see how many could fit on the balcony section but we were on the floor. Good size stage and great sound. I was surprised that it was not louder actually as I could hear people talking during JP and it was quite annoying... Anyway, they opened with The Hellion/Electric Eye from the Screaming for Vengeance lp. This was the last time I had seen JP, back in 1982 and that was a great concert! The new singer Ripper Owens was quite impressive. He could sound pretty close to Halford but he did not have quite the dynamic aspects of halford at either the low or the high end, but never the less, he was a very good singer, no doubt. It just made me really appreciate just how incredible Halford really is. Anyway, Metal Gods and Grinder followed and the crowd was totally into it by this time. These songs sounded great. you could tell that Glenn was having a great time, as he was smiling and interacting with the audience visually. I could not see KK very much throughout the concert due to the tall Danes in my way, but there was a nice whole which allowed me to see Glenn, Randy Travis and Ian Hill for most of the show and Ripper he moved all over so that was not a problem. The band played perhaps 4 new songs and some other killer classics like the Ripper, Victim of Changes and Beyond the Realms of death. The main set ended with Green Manalishi. The encores were what you would expect, you got another thing comin', Hell bent for leather and Living after Midnight. Judas Priest definitely still have a very heavy live sound. I thought that a couple of the new songs had sort of lame, Pantera like guitar riffs and just were not that interesting but it was a great show. The recording came out quite good considering I forgot my hat, which I usually put my mics on and had to put the mics on my shirt which is below the basic level of the audience. The full set was:

Hellion/Electric Eye
Metal Gods
Grinder
Blood Stained
The Sentinel
Touch of Evil
Burn in Hell
The Ripper
Bullet Train
Beyond the Realms of Death
Dead man Walking
Nightcrawler
Victim of Changes
Breakin' the Law
Green Manalishi
Encores:
You got another thing Comin'
Hell bent for Leather
Living after Midnight

349. Claus Bøhling's Electrum- Cafe Sverjk, København 4/4/98 50 kroner

Gabriel, David and I spend most of the day going to record shops and listening to music. We were not sure what we were going to do but we wanted to see some music. David wanted to see metal and Gabriel did not care.. When we were at Be bop records owned by Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate, we got talking with Michael and a friend of his about 70's Danish band and it was mentioned that the guitar player from the great Danish band Hurdy Gurdy was playing in a small club this night. We decided to got check this show out. My friend Henrik, the guitar player in On Trial, met us at the club as well. They had great Czech beer on tap at this place. We took a seat straight across from the stage on some bar stools. This place was really small, holds maybe 60 people. There was 30 that I counted. The band was made up of Claus Bøhling on guitar, Ian McDonald on Bass, and flute and Darren Hayden on drums. Before the show Ian and Claus came over and chatted with us at our table and was really cool. Claus talked about the old days when they would tour alot and play 5 hour shows. He talked a bit about the Secret Oyster period after Hurdy Gurdy. I had no idea what to really expect from the band. They were billed as rock fusion. They started at 11 and played two sets of 60m and 70m long. The show started off with some spacey guitar and the drummer coming out and playing digeridoo and then the bass and full band started in. There was some really intense jamming. Some of the first set was jazzy and blues and some spacey. The 2nd set was much more spacey and like the Ozrics but without the synths. Ian actually mentioned during the set break that they were friends with the Ozrics and that they might open for the band on the next UK tour. We told us a story about how at a festival Ozrics had just played in a big tent and they were playing at a small tent near by and the band really liked what they heard when they walked by and ended up hanging out for the next two hours! Anyway, I was really blow away at this show. Claus played a wide variety of guitar styles, blues, jazz, Ed Wynne style stuff.. awesome. I got excellent recordings of both sets. They will be playing several shows more in the area in the next few weeks, but they are based in Cornwall in England and only come back to Denmark once a year.

350. Claus Bøhling's Electrum- Stengade 30, København 4/29/98 40 kroner

This was one of the last shows that band was going to do in the area, so I decided to go even though we had an early meeting the next morning. Turns out the band did not start till 11:30, so I only ended up staying and recording the first set. I met up with Ian MacDonald, the bass player and he said he tried to call me a few times when they had day off and were around but this was when we were in Italy. Too bad.. This club is mostly a punk and techno club and a hang out for a lot of pierced folks in town, so there was a lot of young people who just come to see whoever, which was good for the band and the crowd, about 50, were totally into it and a mixture of old folks who were into Hurdy Gurdy in the 70's (and friends of Claus) and the punks.. They played a much more funky set that the previous two sets I saw three weeks previous. They started with the same opening tune with the drummer playing digeridoo, but Claus was really smoking and ripped it up! The next number was really hot as well. He has some friends from the old Hurdy Gurdy days there who put on a pretty cool light show with projections and the colored ink blobs. When they started to funk it up several people started to dance. It was a cool first set, about 52 minutes. I had to go though as we had a meeting the next morning and the next set would not start till 1 am. I left Ian a note on his amp to drop me a line sometime!

351. KØBENHAVNS UNGDOMS SYMFONI ORKESTER performing the music of STAR WARS. Den Grå Hal, Christiania, København, Denmark 5/2/98 75 kroner

Tine, who lives in the house we live in, plays in the orchestra and tried to encourage the restof us who live in the house to go check it out, so 6 of us did go. Palle, Nanna, Henning, Bent, Helena and I. The Grå Hal is an old shipping warehouse in Christiana, where they have concerts and meetings. It holds perhaps 1000 people and there was 250 or so at the concert. They had some interesting lights they could shine up thru the stage that the orchestra was on and on the walls as well. They started with the first movie and did music from all three movies with a break between each movie. Some of the music was very dynamic and interesting and some was horrible drippy pop type stuff like the Luke and Leia section. The Tuba player was really excellent on the piece called Jabba the Hutt! It was pretty fun. Lots of people smoking joints and drinking cheap beer! The conductor was a really young guy named Morten Ryelund Sorensen (only 28!). For the Empire Strikes back portion he came out in a Darth Vader outfit and conducted the Imperial march in that outfit. He was quite casual for the rest, performing in black jeans and boots. It was a fun night.

Here was the program. Suites from the movie motion picture score by John Williams.

1. Star Wars: A New Hope

I. Main Title
II. Princess Leia
III. The Little People
IV. The Battle
V. The Throne Room and End title

2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

I. The Imperial March
II. Yoda's Theme
III. The Asteroid Field
IV. Hans Solo and the Princess
V. Finale

3. STAR WARS: Return of the Jedi

I. Parade of the EWOKS
II. Luke and Leia
III. Jabba the Hutt
IV. The Forest Battle
V. The Throne Room and End Title

They did three encore songs as well that were not in the program.

352. BURNIN' RED IVANHOE- Pumpehuset, København 5/3/98 75 kroner

I have really liked their first lp, that Chris Snow recorded me a year or more ago. My friend Michael was going to go to this show so I decided what the hell, I would go to. Michael saw them a year ago and said that they were really good, with three of the original five members. There were like 250 people at this show. We had a table on the left center side 6 meters from the stage. Great spot, except we were surrounded by chain smokers. The band consisted of the original sax and keyboard player as well as the original trombone and harmonica player who sings. He also played digeridoo, Andean flute, flute, acoustic guitar, suitcase..... He was very talented. The original guitar player was not there and they had a young guy who was pretty good. Drums, bass and a female vocals who had a nice voice, powerful blues soul type singer. I really liked the first two songs a lot. The guitar player had a really good solo in the 2nd song. They were a really unique band and jammed a lot between all the instruments and they all seemed to have a great time. They played two sets of about 45 to 60 minutes each. Michael he recorded the show but I decided not to. It was fun to see one of the classic Danish rock bands from the 70's. even though they really don't play any of the old music anymore.I think they played two old songs but when some one yelled out for the gammel (old) number the leader of the band said something about moving on to new music. They spoke only in Danish and had the audience laughing many times with some humor. I wish I could have followed it but I don't understand enough Danish yet.. It was a fun night though and it is always good to see bands perform who play not commercial music, have fun and can really jam at times. The sax and harmonica playing was really great at times. Fun show...

353. Motorpsycho- Stengade 30, København 5/7/98 50 kroner

Motorpsycho hail from Norway. I met up with Henrik from On Trial and his friend Ralph, who was really cool. We talked about music and neither one of them had ever heard anything by Motorpsycho. I had been loaned one of their Cd's (Timothy's Monster) and it had some cool stuff on it, but the Nerve Tattoo Ep was interesting and a bit pop oriented I thought. The Demon Box Ep had one heavy tune on it, but the live tape from Delft Holland 94' made me think these guys could be really good live. Well.............................
They were... I was not disappointed. They really took nearly every song to a new level, with most songs going around or over 10 minutes! They started with a 22 minute song called Un Chien on the set list. This was really an excellent way to open the concert. They had nice visuals and some good lighting to go along with the music. Most of the songs moved through very heavy, sometimes repetitive parts with only some singing. At times I thought they sounded like Bardo Pond meets Spiritualized. That is the best description I can think of. The encore really surprised me with a weird version of Young Man's Blues, which was not on the set list!
Very different from the way that Gov't Mule do this kick ass song. Overall, an excellent show. I wish people would have shut up during the quiet parts, but it is a bar you know... The set list read:

Un Chien
S.T.G.
Manmower
Evernine
Sure Super
Radiator Freak
Other's Fool
Cherry Red Rose

Encores:
Young Man Blues
Vortex Surfer

Total length was 105 minutes. There was also a song somewhere in the first part as their were 8 songs played before the encore!

354. ZEN GUERILLA- STUDENTERHUSET, KØBENHAVN 5/16/98 gratis

WOW! I met up with Henrik and his friend Ralph who works for a booking agency here in København. I gave him a tape of various bands to turn him onto some new music like Nebula, Dozer, Core, Space probe Taurus, Sheavy, Alien Planetscapes, Tadpoles, Bardo Pond, Arc Met, and Gov't Mule! He gave me an advance tape of the new Monster Magnet, which I am listening to now and it sounds great! Anyway, what about Zen Guerilla....... They are a band from Delaware that suffered the east coast for 6 years before deciding to move to San Francisco, where they have been for 3 years now. I had no idea what to expect, but Ralph had told Henrik that the promo pack he had seen on these guys was pretty cool... This place is where the students hang out and a pretty cool place. Not that many people there last night (60 or so..). The band were pretty drunk by midnight when they started but were excellent. The music reminds me of a mixture of John Lee Hooker and MC5! The singer, he was incredible! He could really sing and belt it out but he had a box that he added a ton of effects to his voice.. He also played a great harmonica and Gibson hollow body with only two strings.. The bass player was really solid and the rhythm guitar player was good as well. The drummer seemed to be the weak one but it was explained that he had smoked too much hash and was pretty wasted...... Usually he is much better.. They started the set with a slow blues, John Lee Hooker type thing and then things really took off.. We were all quite impressed, especially with the singer who really gave it all in every song... Fun show. They played with high energy and emotion for 70 minutes and the drummer could not handle anymore......

355. MANTRIC MUSE- Playground Studios, København 5/30/98 30kr

This was a very special gig, as the band were recording a live CD direct to 16 track ADAT. It was mostly an invite only thing so only like 120 people at the maximum were allowed. I guess there were about 80 people. The studio was quite nice. For the first set they had chair for people to sit down while in the 2nd set most of the chair were pulled out so people could dance if they like. They also had a nice light show setup with a mirror ball, dry ice, three slide projectors, the acid blobs on the overhead projector, and a nice rotating light thing. The guys were not very good at it but it was a great effort and really added to the show. This was the first show with the new female singer and the guest Sufi singer. The band line up was:

Marie-Louise Bahn- Vocals
Rune Svoller- Flute, Keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar
Magnus Hannibal- Electric Guitar, OSCar
Michael Kroglund- Bass
Jeppe Elmer- Drums
Tahir Shah Jee- Tabla, Vocals

The set list for the first set was:

Do you Feel Happy?, Twisted Mind, talking Trees, Exotic Wine, Pholkreg> Spread your Wings (piano improv), Sinope, Ouverture, Play with Fire. (68 minutes)

These songs featured the new singer and were not as spacey and Ozrics influenced but still good songs. Marie has a nice strong voice. She reminded me of Joan Armatrading at times with the inflection she would use. Others have said Ricky Lee Jones..... Talking Trees is an old Narina song that they reworked with vocals and it has some really nice flute on it. Pholkreg was very cool and it lead right into a 3 minute piano only piece by Rune that was quite nice. Sinope was the highlight of the first set with the guest Sufi singer from Pakistan, tahir. Really great psychedelic middle east oriental song.... Excellent! Play with Fire ended the set with a sort of salsa groove to it..

The second set was really long and more in the traditional Narnia/Mantric Muse style of spacey Ozrics Tentacles influenced musical explorations. Marie only sang on one song and the encore, which was a repeat of the last song from the first set..

The set list was:
Hale Bopp's Comet, Complexsus, Sinbad Søfareren, Sufision, Narnia, Animal Azure, Alsan blew his Mind, De Mystiske Union, Jacques de Sheeba. Encore: Play with Fire (125 minutes)

The second set was the highlight for most people I spoke to as this is where the band really takes off. The first set of music is mostly to try and reach out and expand their audience but you can clearly see that the second set of music is where the band was really into it. I think Magnus only really cut loose during Ouverture in the first set.. In this set most songs were over 10 minutes and one was 18 and Jacques was 25 minutes long! Hale Bopp's Comet is an excellent song to open the set with. Nice groove.. Complexus and Sindbad Søfarenen were all instrumental also and had an OZrics flair to them. Sufision was the incredible with Tahir again singing but they had such an excellent groove going that lasted like 18 minutes! Aslan blew his Mind had Marie joining the band again and was a long reggae like jam that was like 20 minutes long! Jacques de Sheeba, the last song of the set was very cool. It had Magnus remove the guitar and fiddle with the Oscar. IF you are not familiar with the Oscar, it is a analog synth type thing that has a lot of knobs on it and you twist them and get weird sounds. The guys in Eat Static and Ozrics love this thing! They had an excellent almost techno like groove going though and Tahir came in and sang over the top of it mid way through.. Excellent...

It was a very fun show and I got to meet some very cool people, mostly friends of Magnus. Only had a little time to chat with Magnus at the end of the show though as he was very busy. I am a bit bummed though as my recording has a buzz hum in the left channel throughout the whole recording. Don't know it was the battery dying or due to part of the wire coming out of the one mic... I will replace the battery today and I retaped the mic. In short tests though, I have not been able to repeat the buzz.. I might have to make a mono recording out it though..

356. G3- Joe Satriani, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth- KB Hallen, København 5/31/98 215 kroner!

This was a totally amazing concert! I met up with a Swedish guy named Patrik, whom I first met at the UFO concert back in November. Really nice guy, whom I still have not managed to find the time to get together with in Helsingborg, where he lives. We hung out the whole night. KB Hallen is a good sized hall for about 3500 people, but it has no ventilation, therefore it was incredibly hot and smoky.

I had been playing with my mics on and off all day to see if I could get rid of the hum in the left channel and to no avail. Lani and I are listening to uli right now and it sounds amazing! No hum... So more about Uli.. He was just simply amazing..... He is so incredible.. He opened with something off the Sky of Avalon and then into the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. WOW... the sound is really great on this recording. Now we are treated to a great version of Earthquake!!! Totally amazing.. Then they did Hiroshima today with guest vocalist Liz, that went right into the full version of Enola Gay, which was incredible. Uli had a great band, Clive Bunker on Drums, Don Airey on Keyboards, and Francios Guilme? on bass (Belgium).. Next up was a small piece of Beyond the Astral Skies. This was followed by Polar Nights sung by Liz again. They ended the set with a Pagnini number into the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th symphony. The crowd was really into this. I think in America most of the crowd would not have reacted at all hardly. It was a short 45 minute set but incredible.... Uli is truly a master of the guitar......

The set list was:
Sky of Avalon piece
Four Seasons
Earthquake
Hiroshima Today
Enola Gay (full version)
Beyond the Astral Skies
Polar Nights
Pagnini number
Ode to Joy

After Uli, I thought that there would be no chance for Micheal Schenker and I have to admit that Michael seemed so mediocre after Uli Roth. But Micheal was able to play on my vulnerable memory cells and really play some great music ranging from Scorpions, UFO and some of his best MSG stuff. Micheal played the least lead guitar (by far) of any of the artists but.. what an amazing opening, I was stunned.... In Search of the Piece of Mind off of Lonesome Crow, not a short version... but the whole thing! They then ripped into a great number off Assault Attack. I was really surprised by the ripping version of Another Pieceof Meat off the Lovedrive album. I had actually worn my Lovedrive tour shirt to this show and got a few compliments! The new singer was a too high pitched screamer type... They went thru a lot of great songs like Captain Nemo, Into the Arena, Let it Roll, Essence (ripping instrumental off Written in Sand), and Written in Sand (mediocre song). The real amazing thing was that original MSG singer Gary Barden came out and sung the best MSG song ever, Lost Horizons!!! He looked just like he did back in 1984 and he sounded great! He would also sing Attack of the Madaxe Man and share the vocals with the new singer on the last song, Armed and Ready... They also did a small acoustic set in which the bass player and drummer played acoustic guitars, playing the background , while Michael did acoustic leads on bijou pleasurette off the first MSG lp. This sounded really great! The next tune was off some acoustic lp he had put out called Thank you and it was called Positive Forward. Overall, a pretty incredible set of music..
This was how was in his band: Seth Bernstein- guitar.keys/ Jeff Goldman- bass/ Shey Dallas- Drums/ David Van Lendy- vocals

The set list in order was:
In Search of the Piece of Mind
Tune off Assault Attack.....???
Another Piece of Meat
Into the Arena
Let it Roll
Captain Nemo
Written in Sand
Essence
Lost Horizons
Attack of the Madaxe Man
Bijou Pleasurette
Positive Forward
Armed and Ready

Next up was MR. Guitar, Joe Satriani.. I was pretty damn impressed. I was not sure what I was going to think, as I had stopped listening to him back in 1990 and have not heard one of his songs since! His new material was really excellent though. I had kind of wished that he would have stopped after 30 minutes as I was blown away by him by this point, but found myself bored by the end of his set waiting for him to end so the jam could happen.... He did not announce to many of his songs but he played Ice 9, Time (off the new one), and Surfing with the Alien.. He played for about 73 minutes and then Uli and Michael came back out and they jammed on a BB King number, The Brother's Gone. This was pretty cool. It was a natural feel for Uli to jam the blues and Joe was pretty into it as well but seemed strained for Michael.. They would go back and forth trading licks but it was mostly Uli... They ended the set with Voodoo Chile (slight return). THis again was mostly Uli and Michael seemed really out of place and just stood there and played minimally.. What a way to end the show.... I was exhausted though after standing for 4.5 hours in a hot and smoky place..... Great show....

357. German Hawkwind Fan Meeting 1998, Tipsy Apes HM Club, Hamburg, Germany 6/12-13/1998 gratis

6/12: Tranquilizer
Growing Seeds
Nik Turner and Judge Trev from ICU with jam session

6/13: Zone Six
Bedouin (Alan Davey)
Mandragora Light Show Society

This was one hell of a weekend. It is a 4.5 hr train ride to Hamburg main station and then another 20 min train ride out to Heimfeld. Walk down the hill and then down a road (Am Radeland) and the club is in a sort of industrial area but away from all the houses so the music can go 24 hrs! Had no problems getting there. Met up with Feddo Reiners and his girlfriend who had hitchhiked from Den Haag in Holland for this event. I had a great time with them! Really great people. Also met up with Bernhard Pospiech, a great internet Hawkfriend of mine. We had never met and that was quite a pleasure. We had a nice chat as well, but he did not camp out and only came for the Saturday bands (even though I did meet him on Friday!). Lots of other great folks as well...Thomas Leonhardt, the organizer is one hell of a nice guy and was quite happy to see all went well. The folks from the HM Club were all really great and were into great old 80's metal, so I heard a lot of my favorites. I just wish they could have turned it down a little between 4-7 am.. Motorhead Ace of Spades, Overkill, Bomber at maximum volume is really hard to sleep to.. Ok...... as for the weather, well, for the middle of June it sucked! It was cold and rainy, although the rain stayed away when the bands played, which was nice. It got down to nearly freezing each night and I was not quite prepared and thus suffered.. They did have a nice bon fire you could warm yourself with though.. As for the music....

Tranquilizer are a young band with two rappers who switched off. I had heard people compared them to Massive Attack, whom I don't know... They played a slightly psychedelic funk with a rapper and a guy who made synth noises and scratches, a DJ! It was bass, drums, guitar, digeridoo, Dj and two rappers who took turns, never together on the same song.. They were alright... There last two songs were actually quite good and one could have been an Ozrics tune... They played for like 50 minutes.. I should say now that the sound for all bands was excellent. They really had a guy who know is shit and the mix was always great. Congrats to this guy.. Makes it great for us who are trying to record. I recorded most all the music from the audience, while there was a German guy recording on MD also but from the board and Feddo recorded from the audience as well. Also, they had an excellent psychedelic light show by Lucifer's Sun Dream. Great light show..... A little hard to see until it got dark but only the first band really played when it was light. Remember that it stays light until 10:30 in Hamburg at this time of year.

Growing Seeds were next and I had read great things about them in Crohinga WEll and the Freak Emporium catalog, so I had high expectations...............and they were exceeded! These guys play just my style of heavy psych.. Killer stuff.. Heavy fuzzed guitars, nice synths sounds and great 60's sounding organ on some of the songs and great spacey echoy vocals.... Spaced out...... long jams as well, with most songs 7-10 minutes in length. I think they played for 75 minutes. Funny how the bands never seem to play as long as they could. All were given 2 hours and only did Bedouin and the Friday night jam session go that long. Anyway, Growing Seeds are awesome and I highly recommend them. I bought their CD, Miraculous Journey (73min).

Next up was Judge Trev Thomas from ICU playing with Nik Turner. They did a bunch of old ICU songs acoustic with sax or flute. Then were joined by various members from Tranquilizer first and then Growing Seeds later. They did long jams on Silver Machine, Master of the Universe and some others as well that were somewhat interesting but a lot of times the guitar player did not know the riff for the song, so it sounded strange.... I thought everyone who was at this festival and was a musician would know the chords for the classic HW songs, but I was wrong. It would be the other way around, that most don't know the HW songs at all! It was a bit windy this night and there is a little bit of wind noise in the recordings of this session here and there but overall the clarity is excellent! I even used the windscreens.....

Bucket on their Heads, Little White Egg, Don't do it, Spanish instrumental, D-Rider, Bones of Elvis (incredible!)

Jam with Tranquilizer:
Sax and digeridoo intro> some 50's number but funked up a bit, Riot goin' On

(60 minutes)

Jam with dig player, Zone Six guitar player and drum from Growing Seeds?, Organ player from Growing Seeds.. bass player comes on, Growing Seeds guitar player replaces Zone Six... etc..

Sax solo, into mellow jam with flute, Heavy funk jam, (Master of the Universe*), Brainstorm jam (recorded from tent)
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Johnny B. Goode, Silver Machine, space jam, more space......

*missing from recording

(75 minutes)

The whole set with jam session was like 3 hours long.. and now it is like 3 in the morning... and the loud heavy metal starts until 7am...

Day Two:

Nik and Trev are playing old 60's tunes outside their tent... I record two half numbers: CS and N song. ??

Trev does an acoustic set with Nik at 5 in the afternoon. (20 Minutes)
Mostly all new numbers which were quite cool. Incredible version of Candle in the WInd but with totally twisted lyrics..

Trembling Hand, Set Free, ?, Candle in the Wind, Brew Crew

I really liked these folks songs a lot. Excellent stuff..

Zone Six starts about 9 I guess and plays three total improv numbers in which Nik joins them on two of the numbers. I think normally they are much harder edged, Monster Magnet like, but this was really pretty cool and interesting as well... Good band.. Guitar, bass, drums and the guitar player from the Growing Seeds he played a bit of MOOG synth and did some CAN like vocal chants...... Pretty cool. I spoke with the band and they really had a good time in their set. They played for 45 minutes.

Bedouin took a long time to set up and did not start until 11:30 I would guess but boy were we in for a treat as Alan was quite psyched up and they played an incredible set. 80 minutes of Bedoiun and HW numbers and then Nik joined them for a set of classic numbers: LSD, Watching the Grass Grow, Bucket on his head, Master of the Universe, Silver Machine, Assassins of Allah, Brainstorm (bass, drums and sax only!) The whole set was like 125 minutes! Bedouin are a very heavy band.. remind me of late 70's Motorhead a lot... Sean, the guitar player is excellent. I was not really impressed by the Bedouin CD that much but live these guys really play and Danny Thompson has really improved and is quite excellent. Their set was incredible and the light show put on to compliment it was incredible.. They really gave the audience everything they wanted!! The HW numbers with Nik at the end were a bit frustrating for Sean on guitar as he did not always know what to play, not being familiar with the songs. He finally gave up for Brainstorm and they tried to get Trev to play it on acoustic (the guitar part), but he was missing...so they played it without a guitar.. sounds very strange.

Opened The Call, Mirage, Dagger Dots, Queen of the Night, Sputnik Stan, Vision Quest, Arioch, Ancient Rite, Wings, Rock Palace, Elric the Enchanter, Passion is an Animal, Sword of the East, LSD
Master of the Universe*, Watching the Grass Grow, Bucket on his head, Silver Machine*, Assassins of Allah, Brainstorm

* recording missing these songs

117 minutes

By the time they finished it was like 1:45 and I was totally exhausted after only two hours of sleep the previous day. I warmed myself by the fire and then went to lay down but it was so cold and loud that I did not get any sleep.. I was falling in and out of sleep while listening to Mandragora Light Show Society and they sounded really incredible.. IF I had know that the recording of the last half of the Nik set from the first night sounded as good as it did, I would have recorded them from the tent as well.. They did not start playing until nearly 3 am. I hope Feddo got a good recording of them as they sounded really great, spacey 60's meets 90's psych stuff.. (he did!)

Well, that was a hell of a weekend. I am left completely wasted... Good night....... I highly recommend this event and it was well worth the travel.. I will for sure come again next year if they have it.. Ed, a huge Hawkfan from Iowa was there. Great guy!

358. ARTILLERY, Missing Link, Thorium 50 kroner Lille Vega, København 8/6/98

This was a very unique show as this is the first reunion of Artillery since they disbanded in the 80's, with the original members. I felt very lucky to have experienced this. I remember the dorm days listening to the demos and especially cranking up Fear of Tomorrow to high volumes. Great record! Anyway, I met up with Magnus and his friends Jesper and ....... I can't remember his name. Thorium (a Danish and Swedish mix band based in København) started the show and these guys were a very intense black-death metal band. Very heavy, complicated, fast stuff with those deep growling vocals. I have never seen anything quite like this. I actually enjoyed watching them a lot even though I don't think I could sit at home and listen to them. They only played for 30 minutes and did not have much material it appears as they played their last song, Countless ways to Die twice! Cool song though. These guys had enormous amounts of flying hair.

Missing Link played next and they have three of the original artillery members (drums and two guitars). Their music is much more straightforward power metal style, not as aggressive as Artillery and the singer has a pretty standard metal voice while the original Artillery singer is very unique. They only played four songs, Lobotomized, All Mine and I don't know the other two. IT was a short set. Lobotomized had an excellent guitar riff. Pretty good...

There was a little break and then Artillery came out and so did the crowd, from all corners of the club. There was probably 150 people there and they were really into these guys. I was amazed at the crowd response, but there were great. They opened a killer version of Out of the Sky. The vocalist, he looked like he was a family man now and had not done this for years (as did the bass player!). He even had to read some of the lyrics but his voice was great and sounded just like 1985! Both guitars were ripping as well. This song has the crowd singing and really into it. They next ripped into Terror Squad! I did not recall this song to be as cool as it was. Excellent! Maniac followed and was also really good. The last song I was not familiar with and I think was called Don't beleive a word (not the Lizzy song). They were called back out and played Paranoid by Sabbath.... I was a bit disappointed that the set was so short but that was it, like 25 minutes.... It was a fun time and what memories it brought back.. I met up with Michael, one of the lead guitar players on Monday night when Jim powell and Kevin were in town. He was really nice and we had a chat this night as well. He told us great stories on Monday of when the band toured Russia and played with Slayer and MEtallica here in Denmark.. This was probably a one time event and won't happen again. Unfortunately, my microphones were lost by the company when I sent them back for repair, so I could not record the show...

359. SPACE AND ROCK FESTIVAL- Rocksjön, Jönköping, Sweden 8/14-15/98 225 Swedish kroner

The best Space Rock Festival ever put on, that no one came to.... The music at this event was really incredible but there were only 46 people to observe and document the event.. I believe that Carl Anderson and I were among, perhaps 15 paying people and the rest were the members of the bands that played at the event. It was an incredible disappointment for the bands and especially Evert, who spent a lot of time and money to pull this event off and no one came.. Dietrich Pless and his wife drove 16 hours from Germany for the event, a british guy living in Trondheim (Norway), Andreas from Germany, and a few Swedish rock fans had traveled from Stockholm, but that was about it for the paying fans...

8/14 SEAMONSTER- 25M local band
EVIL KNIEVEL- 25M Göteborg
THE MOOR w/Ink Turner- 90M Falköping
MAN- 75M (Nik on Encore) Wales

The Rockjön was a beautiful place. A fenced off area right on a lake with bathroom and shower facilities as well as a little place selling drinks and some food. We were able to camp right on the grounds behind the main stage. We would have gone swimming but the weather was not that great, with a temperature of around 60F (14C) and raining on and off, mostly on..... Anyway.... The place was set up with two stages. All the local acts except Ryno played on the 2nd stage. They tried to time it so one band would start soon after another finished. Seamonster, a local three piece band played very heavy psych. They played all instrumental numbers some reminding me of the Japanese noise bands like Fushitsusha. Pretty cool band.. Next up was Evil Knievel from Göteborg, Sweden. They were also all instrumental four piece included a female organ player, which made their sound a bit more 60'ish.. They had really great bass lines and some pretty spacy stuff. These guys are really young and this was their first show, so we might want to watch out for them.. The MOOR were next and sounded really great! They played about 55 minutes of their own music and then they were joined by Nik Turner and played some of his numbers from the Xitintoday like Thoth and Pyramid Spell. The MOOR were really excellent today, much tighter than when I saw them in Hamburg in January. The recent flux material was very heavy live. For those not familiar with the MOOR, they play a heavy gothic space rock. The vocals are spoken words in which the singer (Hans) improvises a bit upon, sort of his own brand of poetry, making social commentary along the way. The guitars can be quite heavy (almost metallic) using wah wah and phaser at times. Kenneth lays down an excellent synth sound (very rich) providing the backdrop for the excellent rhythm section of Stefan and Ulf.. Great band who have two CD's, Every Pixie sells a Story and Flux.

The set list was: Candlelight, Now, Stay, Body, Soon, Bell, Consider Death, Suck, Dream Worker, Pyramid Spell, Thoth, Watching the Grass Grow, Bucket on my Head

MAN closed the show this first night, which for some including the hangout with the band after the show. I had never seen MAN live and neither had nearly anyone else in the audience. The last time they had played in Sweden was 1973! They were playing without their keyboard player (who lives in Denmark), so this limited the set they could (or would) play. The band opened up with The Ride and The View and that really got things started. The thing you noticed right away is that these guys can really play and there is a great interaction between each instrument. We had Martin Ace on Bass, Mickey on guitar and vocals, Deke on guitar and Terry on drums. Next up was a killer version of C'mom lasting over 20 minutes. The slide opening by Micky was great and then the guitar kicks in and everyone is moving.. Excellent jam.... The band followed with Do it and Many are called but few Get up. These were both great as well, with cruchy guitar riffs... They closed their set with a 20 minute version of Spunk Rock with Nik Turner sitting in on sax. This was the first time Nik had jammed with the band since 1974! Everyone was talking about how great MAN was after the set and many headed into a small tent behind the main stage to party with the band. I had Deke sign his book, Rhino's, Wino's and Lunatics. He was a very nice guy. We spoke a bit about some of the things in his book and then Carl and I called it a night. If you have not read this book, you must. It is one of the best music biographies I have ever read.

8/15 CHÖUAGHAH- 20M local (horrible)
RYNO- 60M (w/Nik Turner) local
MAN- 75M Wales
PSEUDO SUN- 32M Stockholm
SPACIOUS MINDS- 67M Lovånger
DARXTAR- 30M Sweden
HAWKXTAR- 45M (NIK AND DARXTAR)
DARK SUN- 60M Finland

Chöuaghah, a female trio of bass, guitar and drums started the music off at around 4 (2 hours late) and were really amateur and the guitar player had a really bad amp that kept feeding back all the time driving the soundman mad... Ryno played next on the main stage and were a guitar and bass duo who were joined by Nik for the entire set on sax and flute. The band played mostly cover songs by Dylan and Neil Young but few originals as well. They were enjoyable but nothing very special. Nik sounded really great on some of the songs like I shot the Sheriff and Like a Rolling stone. The band also played Rockin' in the Free World, and All along the Watchtower.

Ryno set List- Dark Harried Lady, All along the Watchtower, Heart to Heart, Hey Hey My My, Fall out on the Street, Like a Rolling Stone, I shot the Sheriff, ?, Let it rain, Rockin' in the Free World, Dark Harried Lady (w/Nik Turner) 51min

MAN were up next on the main stage and seemed a bit tired but still jammed nonetheless. The band played most of a song off 2 ounces of plastic (It is as it must be) during the soundcheck but would not do it for the audience. The band opened the set again with The Ride and the View and went into C'mom, which was 3 minutes shorter and the guitar solos not as hot as the night before. After Do it and Many are called but Few get Up, we got a great version of Bananas! This song has the great lyrics, "I like Bananas 'cause they ain't got no Bones, I like marijuana because it gets me stoned". They followed Bananas with a short blues number called Romain. Still a great set, but not quite as inspired as the first night. I was a bit disappointed that a band that has been playing together on and off for 30 years would not play a different set of music knowing that the audience of 40 was the same as the night before... Oh well...

After MAN, we sprinted over to the side stage to check out PSEUDO SUN. This is the band that Juba Nurmenniemi formed after leaving Darxtar. They are a heavy 3 piece band of bass, guitar and drums, with Juba handling the vocals and running the pre-recorded sequences (which you could not really hear at all except at the beginning of the set!). The band started off with a new song called Mutiny. This was a great song with a heavy bass line and a long solo by the guitar player. This was followed by the excellent Signs of Life from their CD. This songs was like 15 minutes long and really spacey at times. They closed their 33 minute set with Atmosfear, another new song. The 20 or so people who watched their set were quite impressed and everyone was talking about them afterwards. A band to look out for, especially live!

Next up were the SPACIOUS MIND from northern Sweden (Lovånger and Skellefteå). This is a band that I have been waiting to see for a long time. Their CD's are really incredible psychedelic mindfeasts...They don't play very many live gigs so this was quite special. It was dark enough now that they could utilize the light show and theatrical smoke as well. The band started off with a killer 32 minute version of Interplanetarian Love Machine. This was just totally amazing. Thomas, one of the lead guitar players provided the psychedelic textures, while Henrik, who handled the vocals, played the more intense guitar lines and some leads as well. Jens was just truely a synth keyboard organ wizard creating so many interesting and every changing organ to synth textures and sounds... This song was really incredible. The band followed that with a song off Cosmic Minds at Play CD called House in the Country. They dedicated this song to me, which really touched me. The song again was quite stretched out and moved through several transitions in which the band would come back into a heavy guitar riff. Very cool... I should mention that the bass player and the drummer were really excellent flowing exceptionally well in and out of the various psychedelic moods that the bands created. The set ended with a 22 minute version of Euphoria Euphoria off the new Garden of a Well Fed Head lp, in which Nik Turner joined in on saxophone. He was able to squeeze the sax playing into a unique niche within the wall of sound that the band created. It worked quite well most of the time. Nik incorrectly thanked the band for the jam calling them the Spasms, a punk band that would play later in the night! That's Nik for you!

While Darxtar were setting up, the SPASMS played a wild and crazy set on the side stage. They were like a cross between Blue Cheer and the Dwarves. The singer was just completely mad and had most of those watching laughing quite a lot. I thought the guitar riffs were pretty cool but it was pretty much over the top....

DARXTAR, another band I have been waiting many years to see started their set with a killer spacey version of Breath Messages. The band has such a great mixture of spacey guitar sounds and synths. I really think the synth player is excellent. He provides a very spacey sound, not super complex, but the right sounds...The bass player is really good but he does not have as heavy a sound as Juba, so the bottom end is not quite as heavy as it used to be. The band followed that with 7 from the Sju release and this was great as well. I really like the guitar solo in this song. The band closed it's 35 minute set with an excellent version of Eternal War from Daybreak. I was very impressed with them but was disappointed that they did not play any longer. The band was now joined by NIk Turner to create HAWXTAR 1998! Because we were running a bit short on time and Dark Sun were to play last and they had traveled all the way from Finland, the Hawxtar set had to be trimmed down. They opened up with Sonic Attack, which was mostly spoken words as Jens (from the Spacious Mind) and the synth player worked on getting the audio generator/synth up and running.. The band next launched into a great version of You shouldn't do that. I have seen Hawkwind (90's), Nik and Pressurehed, and Sun Machine all perform this song but never has anyone done such a rendition that was so true to 1971.... Really amazing... wow... Next up was Kadu Flyer.. musically this sounded great but Nik got confused and had forgotten where the lyrics fit in and this really through the band off and so the rendition was a bit strange. Jens was creating some really amazing space sounds to augment the keyboard lines for the song and were a bit too wild, maybe.. A very strange version... The band moved back into Brainstorm, a song Nik could do in his sleep! Again, the band really reproduced the 1972 sound with amazing clarity! The band ended their set with a great version of Master of the Universe. I really think that Jens was incredible during this song going really over the top. Really great set of about 40 minutes. The band had planned to play for 90 minutes and do Paranoia, D-Rider, You know you're only Dreaming, Children of the sun, Time we Left and Silver Machine, but there was no time, if Dark Sun were going to get to play.

DARK SUN came on about 12:20 or so and started the show with a improv jam that just sort of materialized out of the soundcheck. The band opened the set with Iskariot, a new song that the band has written. The song starts slowly with some very nice space sounds and chirps and 12 string acoustic guitar. The vocalist, Janne has a really excellent singing voice. I really love his vocals, combining power and finesse. The song really builds up to a climax and then spaces out again. The acoustic guitar player, Ylli, is really good and was dressed in a traditional Finnish costume, which was cool.. The band also had various painted wooden symbols and cardboard figures of people up on the stage, which was an added touch. Kari, the lead guitar player was excellent, but a little too low in the mix. I really liked the way that Mikko used a lot of sampled sounds from MD and CD and then played layers of keyboard and synth over the top. The band then performed another new song called Ethics about a man who went out to space and never came back! The band then played Abduction Files from their excellent (sold out only 1500 copies) CD called Feed your Mind. This version was over 10 minutes and was one of the highlights of the bands set. This was followed by another new song called Dream Circuit in which Nik Turner joined the band. This was a very cool, song with an excellent almost funky space rock groove to it. Having Nik playing on it and not really knowing the song certainly changed the arrangement a bit. The band closed the normal set with great versions of Psychedelic Warlords and Hassan I Sahba! The band really wanted to keep playing so the soundman cut down the volume of the PA and the band played another new song called Wooden Man. Really excellent vocals on this song... The band tried to start up another song but it was already near 1:30 and the town has a sound code regulating music after 1:00 am and we were already well after this, so the soundman killed the PA and the band played on for several minutes until Janne realized that his vocal were not being heard at all and he called it quits. Ylli kept on playing the acoustic guitar and Nik kept playing as well and they did a bit of Silver Machine and the audience sang along and it all ended well. The party continued for several hours and everyone hung out and had a good time....

Evert Wysell must be congratulated for the effort that was put forth to make this event happen. It is quite a blow that so few people showed up and that he lost a lot of money but one can never know why there were not 100's of people. Anyway, this was an incredible weekend of music and one that I enjoyed as much as any I have ever experienced. I met many incredible people (Evert, Henrik, Jens and the Spacious Mind, Deke, Kenneth and the MOOR, Janne and Dark Sun, Andreas, Juba and Pseudo Sun, and Sören from Darxtar). I did not mind that only 20 people came, like Martin Ace from MAN said. " It's very nice to be here amongst so few beautiful people. But don't forget, you are the ones that are here and everyone else is nowhere, man!".

360. HAL 9000 and CONMAN- LOPPEN, KØBENHAVN 9/9/98 GRATIS

This was a free show featuring a local Danish band (Conman) and a psychedelic rock band from Germany, Hal 9000. I had heard part of their CD 6 months ago and it was pretty interesting stuff, so I was curious what they would be like live. I got together with Magnus and Michael from Mantric Muse and few of their friends (Jimmy and Jen) before the show to listen to some tunes before heading over there.

There was only about 35 people at Loppen even though it was free. I met up with Henrik and Ralph as well. Conman, were a sort of Stooges to more hardcore style punk band. Some of their stuff was pretty good. The people I went with hated the singer but for the style they were playing he was pretty good.

Hal 9000 started off with some Ok stuff but then they really got into a groove and played some excellent psychedelic stuff. They had a person running some different film projections and the acid blobs but I thought they were pretty lame considering they had all this cool stuff. Oh well... The band had a bit of a lull in the middle of the set but then really picked it up. I was much more impressed live then I was when I heard their CD. Pretty cool band..

361. MOTHER SUPERIOR and Screamin' Eric and the Erections- Loppen, København 9/24/98 40 kroner

I met up with Henrik, Ralph and the guys in On Trial at this show. A poor turnout at the beginning but I would guess around 75 people were there when Mother Superior assaulted the stage! Screamin' Eric and the Erections started things off about 10:20 or so, early for Loppen. They had this buzz in the PA which they had been trying to track down all day and it was still there for all of Screamin' Eric's set but it was not that annoying. It would disappear between sets... Screamin' Eric and the Erections really sounded a lot like the Stooges at time. I really liked the guitar sound. They are a pretty good four piece. Eric is wild while the other guys do their job.. Pretty standard heavy riffing Stooges influence punk rock.. not bad.. They have a limited edition lp out as well.

Mother Superior comes from Sweden and their bus broke down on the way here and it took them like 17 hours from Stockholm, so the band was completely knakkered and did not even get a soundcheck. The band played a lot of new material which I think is even more aggressive than the stuff on The Mothership has Landed CD from 1996. The singer is totally wild, while one of the guitar players and the bass player also get totally into it. This really helps the crowd as these guys were drunk and jamming!! Very heavy Stooges influence here as well. It was a hell of a sonic assault on the ears and lasted about 60 minutes. Maybe the band would have played longer if they were not so tired, only arriving like 4 hours before the show, just in time to set up, eat and get drunk before playing.. Pretty fun.

362. DEEP PURPLE and Hammerfall. KB-Hallen, København 10/1/98 200 kroner

I went by myself but I met up with Robert, Patrik and Mads friend from Helsingborg, who is a huge Deep Purple fan. We chatted for a bit before the show started and then I never saw him again. I stood on the floor for the whole show and it was impossible to avoid the chain smokers, as it is pretty much everyone in the crowd.. Hammerfall were a melodic speed metal band from Göteborg in Sweden and I am sure the older people in the crowd were wondering what the fuck was this, all these guys dressed in leather singing about the middle ages etc.. I thought they were ok, but they sounded like a speed metal version of Manowar but not nearly as good.. They played 40 minutes and they had a decent crowd response. It only took like 30 minutes and DP hit the stage with a thumping bass and whipped right into Ted the Mechanic.. I would have preferred the HUSH intro song they used at the beginning of the tour, but oh well.. I had a good spot maybe 10 meters from the stage with good sound and I could see everyone but there was a drunk Dane behind me who was a huge DP fan and was clapping with his hand right in my ear for a lot of the show.. I did move to the right later or was forced to the right and could not see as well but was a little bit away from this guy. He was a really bad singer as well.. Ian, on the other hand, sounded incredible! Strange Kind of Woman followed and the crowd was totally into it now. The crowd response was incredible.. WOW... They next played Bludsucker, which was one of the highlights with that great heavy guitar riff and screamin' vocals.. Pictures from Home sounded really great and the jam in the middle was really good.
I especially like Watching the Sky. Woman from Tokyo was fine but it is one of my least favorite DP songs. Any Fule kno that is a great song.
These two new songs sounded really great and have a really heavy end.
Steve's solo was great while jon's solo was short and not that interesting. Lazy was a pretty straightforward version as well, not very extended at all. Smoke on the Water was also played pretty straight but sounded great. You could tell Steve was having fun playing this one! The lighting was really great during Perfect Strangers. Speed King was incredible and the jamming between jon and steve was really good. Jon was having fun for sure. Interesting how they played a bit of Radar Love and Jailhouse rock in the middle... 7th Heaven, another new song, was great as well and they closed with a ripping version of Highway Star, what they used to open the set with a few years back!

It was a great show and I had a very good time. Steve Morse and the whole band were smiling the whole time and really were having a great time. I thought Jon Lord was really into it tonight and really played well, luckily, he was mixed higher than he usually is. Great show, but a bit too short, only 105 minutes.

Set List:

Ted the Mechanic
Strange Kind of Woman
Bludsucker
Pictures from Home
Almost Human
Woman from Tokyo
Watching the Sky
Any Fule kno That
Steve guitar solo>Instrumental jam
Smoke on the Water
Jon Lord solo
Lazy
Perfect Strangers
Speed King

Encores:

Seventh Heaven
Highway Star

363. New Ensemble featuring Billy Cobham. Lille Vega, København 10/6/98 85 kroner

I met up with Patrik and Mads at the Central Station and we walked over to the venue, which they had never been to before. It was still closed so we went to a local pub and had a beer and chatted about various music. When we did get to Vega, there were hardly any people there and not that many would show up, only perhaps 50 at most. It was guitar, bass, two drum kits, congos, saxophone and keyboards and they also had a vocalist who made vocal noises... They were all very competent musicians and the sax players really stood out as outstanding to me. As for the music it is pretty polished, pretty arranged jazz, not really that improvised or interesting. Some of the songs were quite good but it was not really my thing. The first set was 50 minutes and then they played a 65 minute 2nd set which included an encore. The 20 minutes of drum solos got really boring during the 2nd set, both Mads and I thought. Still an enjoyable evening and you can now say I saw a guy who was considered to me one of the world's best drummers..

364. BAZAAR- Skt. Andreas Kirke, København 10/8/98 gratis

Magnus and I went to check this out on the Kulturnat in København. This is a special night in which for one price you can buy ticket and get into many different places for music, art, and other activities. They had stuff that never happens, like the Zoo being open at night, night fishing in the lakes, various Art museums were open, etc.. Anyway, BAZAAR are a three piece of Hammond Organ, Percussion, and wind instruments. They are influenced by Balkan folk music alot. The wind instrument player played mostly Oboe but also flute, and two types of clarinet. The Church was totally packed and we barely got in the door before they wouldn't let anymore in due to the fire code. It was to cost 25 kroner but since we had to stand, they did not charge us. The Hammond player used to be in the famous Danish band Savage Rose, but I guess these guys have been playing together for years. Magnus had said they got really spacy at times, but not so much tonight, but there were quite interesting.. They played for 60 minutes.

365. Claus Bøhling's Elektrum- Stengade 30, København 10/21/98 40 kroner

Well, I went to the show by myself but I met up with Mads and patrik from Helsingborg as well as Henrik. Magnus, it was his birthday and he was spending it with his family, so could not go out this night. Cold and rainy, but a great time. I spoke with all members of the band and they were selling their new CD, which was recorded at Operan in chrisitana back in April. I was hoping to hear some new songs but Ian, the bass player said that they had not worked them up yet. I thought no better place than live, but he was hesitant. I asked the drummer, Darren the same thing and he was psyched to jam and try out new things and he said that Claus was as well but Ian was holding them back.. Anyway, back to the show... Claus's old friends from Hurdy Gurdy were there with the killer psych light show and visuals. These guys are really great. Excellent bright colors and images.. The band opened with their standard opening tune E45, which has Darren playing the digerridoo and Claus playing some really spacey guitar, then Darren jumps back to the drums and the band starts ripping it up.

Set I- E45, Headwear, Red Lead, Platin, Killer, Skies the Limit, Hinterland
52m
Set II- Jungle Juice, Elektrum, Mandala, Lost in the Jungle, Back to Back, Opus 9, Round the Mountain
65m

During Red Lead, the band all play drums and they get a good jam going. This is a really hot band and I hope more people discover them. I sort of think of them as the Ozric Tentacles without the synths. Great band. I will be seeing them again in two weeks.

366. Claus Bøhling's Elektrum- Studenterhuset, København 11/6/98 30 kroner

I went with Magnus and we met up with Henrik, who had been there early to try and learn something's from the excellent light show guy that works some of Claus's shows. Magnus, I had tried for months to get him to go check out Elektrum and we finally did. Magnus was very impressed. The band played extremely good at this show and the opening number E45 was really extended, to almost 15min tonight. Red lead, was very deep dub version this night with great looped guitar and spacey sounds.. The sound mix was very good. They did play the same set in the same order for the first set but there were quite a few different jams. I really think Claus does whatever he wants in the middle of these songs which are 6-15min in length. The second set was quite good as well and some great jams. They did Solid Underground instead of Back to Back this show, as well as encore, which Claus pulled out his old Les Paul and slide for a cool jam on the old Hurdy Gurdy song Ride On. Great show and great sound. Great recording..

Set I- E45, Headwear, Red Lead, Platin, Killer, Skies the Limit, Hinterland
53m
Set II- Jungle Juice, Elektrum, Mandala, Lost in the Jungle, Solid Underground, Opus 9, Round the Mountain
Encore: Ride On
69m

367. THE WIDOWS- UFI Coffee Lounge, Haverhill, MA 11/13/98 $4

It has been a long time since I saw Heather perform with the Widows, so I was really looking forward to this gig. The band was really tight and they played very well. Heather was miked to a good level so you could really hear her and she really has improved her tone and I think is really ready to move on to doing some solos as she pretty much just plays as another rhythm instrument. Many of the songs are quite long and leave plenty of room for jamming. The new drummer and keyboard player were great. The bass player is back in the band from the very first line up back in 1994, when we saw the Widows first gig at the Penalty Box on Causeway street. It was a very good gig and I had a lot of fun. John has really written some great songs. I really like Turn the better man down the best. He still really needs to work on his vocals though..

The set list was:

Loan me a Dime (Boz Scaggs), Blues and Nothing More, That's his Job
I ain't Done, Come to Me, Jigsaw, Turn the Better Man Down, Ominous Sign, Wanna See Heaven, Wild Weekend (by Rockin' Rebels), Dark house, Rock and Roll (Lou Reed)
---------------------------
Lady Madonna by the Rocking Horse People w/Heather on Sax!

The next band were an all Beatles cover band called the Rocking Horse People. We only stayed for 5 or 6 songs. Heather sat in on the first song, Lady Madonna, but she was hardly miked so you really could not hear her.

368. BLIND MAN BUFF and Screamin' Eric and the Erections- Stengade 30, København 11/28/98 40 kroner

I was quite looking forward to seeing Blind man Bluff as Henrik had given me a copy of their miniCD and it was quite good. A real Kyuss- Monster Magnet feel in a way. I had a nice long chat with Ralph who was putting on the show and doing sound as well. All the guys in On Trial were at the gig except for Morten. They all seem to be pretty psyched about the new 10" and Cd coming out soon. Anyway, Screamin' Eric opened the show with a good set, pretty similar to the one I saw at Loppen in September. They did end the set with a great version of I wanna be your Dog by the Stooges. Some friends of Eric grabbed him off the stage and were carrying him around horizontally while he continued to sing.. Quite entertaining.. They played for 55 minutes.

Blind Man Bluff really blew me away. These guys are a great live band and the guitar player, I love the way he uses the spacey effects and switches back and forth to heavy riffs. Excellent. I missed the first two songs on the recording but got the rest of the show.
The set list was: Firepuppy, Grow, Under the Tree, Back on the Headless...., Senses, Dragon's Cave, Walk the Monster, Supertrigger, Alien Frequency, Embrace. Too Stoned was on the set list as an encore but due to the time, they were unable to play this song, which is one of their best! I can't wait to see them again.

369. SLAYER and Down on a System. KB-Hallen, København 11/29/98 200 kroner.

I met up with Magnus and his friends Jesper, and ???.. We had the best seat possible, front row on the balcony. It was even better than it might have been, due to the fact that they moved the stage up and it is usually further away. There was about 1000 people, I would guess. This was the first time for Magnus and I to see Slayer so we were pretty psyched. None of us knew the band Down on a System at all. They were ok. Political metal in a sort of thrash rap style. The singer was really into it which was cool. They really did have a unique style and they mixed it up a lot during the first 5 songs but then it was a bit the same, but not bad. They only played for 36 minutes.

The set list was: Know, X, Sutte Pep, Mind, 36, DDevil, Suggestions, Cube it, Sugar, War?, Varts? (taken from the soundboard)

SLAYER came out pretty fast and the volume was cranked much louder. In fact this was the loudest concert I have been to since either Motorhead or Voi Vod (in San Francisco). The band opened with something I did not recognize off hand and then hit us with Hell Awaits. The sound was just incredibly clear for this type of music. The guitar solos just cut thru the sound and were right in your face, the way they should be! I was quite amazed.. The band played great and were very intense. The crowd responded in kind and were really loud and into it. The band played for 70 minutes and then went off for the encore and came back and played Mandatory Suicide and ???.. I am not sure we could have handled much more. It was a great mix of old and new though, with such cuts as DIe by the Sword and Evil has no boundaries off the first record, Hell Awaits and Angel of Death off the 2nd, South of Heaven and Dead Skin Mask, and a few new songs as well. Also, Chemical Warfare and Captor of Sin blew me away off the haunting the Chapel Ep! Overall, a great show. Pretty cool use of red lights and strobes with some smoke as well.

370. MONSTER MAGNET, Ash, Backyard Babies. Stor Vega, København 12/6/98 185 kroner

What a day! Freezing outside and snow on the ground as I wait outside Vega for the band to arrive. They arrive from the hotel and I greet Ed, Jon, Tim and Joe as they get out of the van. We head into the club and Ed tells the tour manager to give me a pass for the show. This is about 4 in the afternoon. The band grabs a drink and then goes straight to the soundcheck. Tim is very busy working on getting the lighting right and the band is testing their stuff. Dave does not come to soundcheck anymore, the band said. They run thru some riffs and then finally play Evil, andpart of Temple of your Dreams, and Cage around the sun. It takes about 30 minutes. I stood at the back of the stage and recorded some of it. Evil with the roadie Coz singing was pretty cool. Ed complains that they can't get anyone to come out and sing the stooges song! I hang out with Jon, Joe and Ed and we eat some food and talk about touring, living in Denmark, etc.. We are planning to go out and walk around as the band isn't playing for 5 hours. Phil, the new guitar player, is having troubles with his guitar and says 15 more minutes several times and then a hour goes by and we take off without him. As we walk down the street towards the red light district (the only place in town with places open on Sunday afternoon!). They are freezing and stop and see this giant rocket, like 3 feet tall that Ed really wants to buy and set off for 350 kroner, but they don't have enough money. We did not buy it and the store was closed when we came back by and they were bummed! We continue on and are not seeing that much so decide to stop in the Spunk Bar for a drink. Ed and Joe have a tuborg Christmas beer (Jul Øl) and Jon a whiskey. We are sitting at a table next to some drunk Swedish kids, one wearing a Powertrip t-shirt. it takes him a while to catch on who is sitting next to them. He is freaking out a bit. They traveled all the way from Göteborg (100 miles). The band has a fun time laughing and joking around and we talk about music and the Swedes interrupt and ask questions now and again and get some autographs. The band is really into different stuff. Jon likes BEck a lot and is writing country and western songs like Hank Williams Jr. Ed is really into 70's rock, Allman Brothers, Tommy Bolin, Cactus, etc.. Ed was still on a total high after just jamming with Gregg Allman and Gov't Mule on One Way out at the Filmore in San Francisco. I told him I would get him a copy of the show. Joe is still really into punk. They complained that Dave was wierding out and listening to techno and new GOA crap. They all agreed that there was a need to work on their own stuff since Dave does not allow them to have any musical or artistic input at all. After 45 minutes or so we head back and the Backyard Babies start soon. Joe and I listen to them from underneath the stage. They rock out seriously and come back thru drenched in sweat after only like 30 minutes. Crowd seem to dig them. I got to hear a few tracks off the CD in the dressing room and it sounded good. They even steal the riff for Superjudge on one track and Dave later tells me the he stole it from the Groundhogs! Ash are some really young UK punk pop band who have given the band the cold shoulder because Rob Zombie dropped off the tour and they were suppose to headline the show in the Lillie Vega and it was decided now they would combine the two gigs and they would play second. Ed and I went up to the balcony and checked out a couple of their songs and they were sort of standardish fast punky popish stuff. We were not impressed, but Ed did like the female guitar player's SG! We went back downstairs and Joe and I chatted again and he was interested in checking them out a bit so this time we watched from the backstage. The band actually play a very cool song while we watch, but Joe still hates them just from the attitude they have showed towards the band. Funny that Ash complained about having to play for an hour and they only played 45 minutes!

I have a short Chat with Dave while he is preparing his voice for the show. Seems that Phil, the new guitar player was brought in mostly to boost the guitar sound as Dave is really not playing much guitar these days and really being a wild front man. The band is really not that happy about Dave wanting to do the same set every night so that is script works out as he apparently says the same shit every night in every city. Joe said it was funny, because Dave used to never say anything between songs and now he has this script... Well, I head off for the balcony, where I sit dead center in the first row. The balcony was closed off at this show so only roadies, bands and friends were sitting up there. The guys in Backyard babies and Ash watch the whole show and were really into it. It was great sound (very loud) and the visuals were very cool, but a bit obscured by the use of too bright of lights from the top. It is a pity as Tim had a huge screen this night and some great film clips from Apocalypse Now, the smashing skull, etc... but the band needs to use darker lights so you can see the screen more. It was kind of lost. Anyway, the band open up with a stretched out version of Atomic Clock, which I guess has been the opener for the whole tour. Ed's lead guitar was nice and loud and in your face! This seem to change depending on which guitar he played! He and Phil changed nearly every song from cool old SG's, Les Paul, stratocaster. Phil used some weird guitars I did not really recognize. Next up is a ripping heavy version of Tractor. The crowd gives a different response to the old versus the new songs. Powertrip was up next and followed by a ballsy version of Dopes to Infinity but Ed cut the solo to short.. Living Crop Circle was cool but Dave fucked up his mic at the end of the song and you could not hear him out front even though they could hear him thru the monitors on stage. Cage around the Sun was the highlight of the show even though you could not hear Dave's vocals at all but Ed played some awesome spacey stuff with a sort of sitar like guitar. Temple of your Dreams was good but Bummer sounded really heavy and the band seem to really be into the groove. I love the flanged out guitar on Teenage Negasonic, makes it sound really spacey. The band ends the set with Space Lord. Phil's guitar sounds like it is tuned strangely to me and the opening riff sounds kind of weird. The band can't quite get the guitar sound live that was on the studio lp. They split and this is about 70 minutes. The band hang out at the back of the stage for maybe 5 minutes. There is a constant guitar feedback going on though and it is quite loud for the audience to clap and yell over it. They come back out and rip out a 3 minute version of Kick out the Jams by MC5 and then Dave pulls out his therimon and starts making really cool spacey sounds while Ed plays the opening chords to Spine of God. The intro is maybe five minutes before Dave starts singing and they have alot of effects on his voice for this song, something I think they should do more of. They do about a 15 minute version that is pretty far out. I am not too sure what the new fans of the band thought but the old ones like myself thought it was great. I spoke to the bad afterwards and they thought that it was good show and a cool version of Spine of God, a song they look forward to as it is one of the ones that allows them to break the routine! What a fucking day!! I spoke with Dave and the rest of the guys after the show and wished them a merry Christmas with their families and headed on home. I just caught the last bus as 12:19! Got Ed's home address so that I can trade some tapes with him. He is a really great guy. I had a fun time. They said they might be back in March.

Some last notes that I recall from all the conversations. I really would have liked to have done an interview with the guys but everyone is pretty much down on the situation as it is, with Dave becoming further and further away from the band yet exerting more and more control. I really got the idea that if the band does not see some money from this record and they have some success with the side project that this could be the end of this line up which the band has had such success with. The way things are now though, there would be 100 guys lining up to play in the band, not giving a fuck that they had no say at all, just for the touring and partying and pussy! Joe said he has been in the band 9 years and that the band has earned not a single penny from royalites, in fact the band owes A&M like a million dollars! Totally fucked. Dave is the only one who sees any money cause he has 100% of the publishing royalties. The rest when they are off tour go back to living at home or with girlfriends and working shit jobs like stocking shelves at night in Sears or painting houses or flipping burgers... So if you think playing in band on a major label is a great life, think twice.

Joe said that the band has a lot of old four track recordings of stuff that they could release some day. The next CD single will be temple of your Dreams. The record company wanted 19 Witches to be the single. Joe thinks the b-sides will be live cuts but he said that two other new cuts that have not made the record were also sitting around. They never did finish up the cover of Mistreated by the Groundhogs from the Dopes recording session. I guess that is all. The full set list is below. Glad to see a few changes from the US tours so far. Looks like they may open for Marilyn Manson early next year and then hit the Ozzfest before taking some time off and doing another record. Not likely another record will be out until the year 2000 sometime.

Atomic Clock, Tractor, Powertrip, Dopes to Infinity, Living Crop Circle, Cage Around the Sun, Temple of your Dreams, Bummer, Teenage Negasonic Warhead, Space Lord Motherfucker

Encore: Kickout the Jams, Spine of God