Hamburg 02.05.2006 - VISIONS review & torrent

Live in Trondheim 22.04.2006 (pic by Lars Sandaker)

Among the five German shows the band performed during their 2006 spring tour the Hamburg concert might have been the least spectacular regarding setlist choice, jams & just general momentum. The major German alternative music magazine Visions reviews the show in their current issue: While they give the band due credit for masterful musicianship & longevity they do criticise the "infinite" jams which obviously failed to captivate the reviewer (save for "The wheel" of which the reviewer typically exaggerates the running time by ten minutes, but okay, it felt like half an hour plus indeed, always does).

Read the review below! And if you want to make up your own mind about the performance go to Bt.Etree.Org for a Torrent download of a complete & very good MiniDisc recording of that night.

Motorpsycho
02.05.2006 - Hamburg, Fabrik, ca. 800 visiters
by Sascha Krüger


The new album raised hope: After the Pop /Jazz /Psychedelic-"Gedudel"* of the last years and the very first line-up change in the decade-long history of the Norwegians one looked forward again to juicy, power- and forceful rock played by one of the best trios of all times. Secretly one also hoped for a small fireworks of hits as excursion through a voluminous body of work. Latter wish remained unfulfilled -- obviosuly the double album "Black hole/Blank canvas" is presently too powerful for them to stray far from it. And that's how the show starts in the Fabrik, which boast a near-capacity crowd comprised of mostly long-haired guys (and a few girls): Four new songs of epic extent -- first the regular song itself, then a diffuse, infinite jamsession trailed onto each song. Surely the new drummer, Jacco van Rooij, who only feels a 100% comfortable with the new material is to blame for that, but more still Øyvind Brandtsegg and his so-called Bodysynth -- an utterly mad top-device, a cross between vibraphone, synthesizer and chaos-pad. Crazy sounds can be produced thereby, and the band seems to currently enjoy that! For ten or more minutes Bent & Hans Magnus, these super-instrumentalists, repeatedly dissappear behind their endless curtains of hair & create spaces for the session. A firm & short version of the only hit tonight, "Hey Jane", leads to a brief trip into the early repertoire before they return to the new material. Masterful & exciting playing & musicianship throughout -- nevertheless, despite the love for improvisation, the concert had some lenghts. The finale old again but simultaneously exemplifying the present: "The Wheel", already a 17 minute number on "Timothy's monster" turns into a half hour plus sound-orgasm, just the billowing of sounds & layers. Motorpsycho "rockdaddeln"* again -- sometimes too much.

* "Dudeln" & "daddeln" are impossible to translate German expressions, referring to pointless, superficial jamming/playing in this context. The latter is also commonly used as a synonym for "playing computer games".

Thank you to Susann for the transcription of the review! The quick & dirty translation done by BabelFish, cleaned up, edited & corrected by me. Also thanks to Lars for the nice picture & Øystein for the ticket-scan!