The first day of the festival was sold out
today and it was pretty easy to find your way to get wristbands, etc. Only two
stage today. The small and smokey Børnteater (Children’s Theatre), which hold
about 75 people and then Loppen (400 people). We met up with a lot of friends
from around Denmark and Europe (Lau, Guf, Lone, Jürgen, Jaire, etc….)….
Sekel, are a young Swedish band that were described as kraut post rock
but it was pretty much straight up indie rock stuff and not psych at all. We
did not like it. A small crowd was
watching. Polyfeen, a Danish band that recorded one record back in 1972 and
just started to play shows again. I was not sure what to expect but this was
excellent. We really liked them a lot. It looks like all except the drummer
were from the original band. The singer had a great voice. Sometimes he would
do some spoken word stuff as well. They
played a mix of old and new songs. Great organ and guitar player. Real 70s classic
rock with Danish lyrics. Not psychedelic but a great band. The audience liked
it as well.
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Polyfeen |
Set List: Leve Livet, Pigen I Skoven, Campingturen, Nattens Nar, Drømmen,
Vesterhavet, Håbet, Silhouetter
Cult
of Boydah was like 7-8 people crammed on the stage.
The place was pretty packed so we did not stay long. The place was getting
stuffy and smokey now. The Soft Moon
was next at Loppen. This was a three piece band with some sampled drums,
keyboards, etc at times and other times just a guitar, bass and drums. The
opening track was pretty cool with the bass player playing a drum pad and
playing along with the drummer and the guitar player was just singing with some
delays and samples… Then it all sort of became this 80s indie new romantics
music. The young people love this stuff but we did not like it much after
20mins and not really what I consider psych. The audience was digging it.
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Soft Moon |
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Sigurd! |
Sigges
Hjørne, is a fun project by Sigurd from
Tidsguesten. He sits and makes loops and tells funny stories and some very dark
lyrics (Ghost Stories) as well while making percussion and guitar loops and
playing over it. IT was a small crowd and people sitting on the floor and
really stoned. It was fun… He plays again at the festival as well.
We did not see any of Danske Spor but the Setting
Son was next at Loppen. They have not played a concert in 3-4 years and I
don’t think anyone knew they even really existed anymore. I think they might
have had a new bass player and drummer. This is real authentic 60s
bop-pop-psych love songs stuff, with all these 3mins songs. They do it very
good and the crowd was enjoying it. I wonder if they did any new songs??
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The Setting Son |
Set List: Running Demons, Obsession, Eat my Fear, Spring of Hate, All I want, Candy, Le Sacre, I love you, Soulmate, Winter turned to Spring, Depression, Are you the One, Desperate Soul, Laughing again, Certain Way
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Adama |
Adama, were the last band in the Børneteater and were from Sweden. This
was pretty spaced out music. Very dreamy with this droney organ sound on most
of the songs. They had some great parts but the guitar players just never took
the music to the next level for us and it became a bit boring after a while.
They started 15mins late so we saw about 20mins or more and then off toe see the
last band of the day, Orange Revival.
This was three guys (two guitar, one also did some synth drones) and bass
playing along to a drum machine. Some of this was really excellent, especially
the opening number and a few numbers towards the end of the set when the singer
played a lot more cool guitar parts. They reminded me of the more mainstream
songs but Sundial but without the amazing Gary Ramon guitar. The drum machine
became very tedious and made the songs sound too much the same in the end. We
saw all but the last song. Cool first day….. Great vibe and nice to see lots of
people from around Europe (Spain, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Finland, France…)
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Orange Revival |
Day
2
We were up late but I have to get to the
venue at 17 at the latest for the soundcheck. I will be playing with Julie’s
Haircut featuring Damo Suzuki this evening. Originally we were to be on at
21:30 but not it is 19:30 instead. This should be quite fun. Lots of great
bands today. Telstar Sound Drone, Endless Boogie, Kaleidoscope (UK).
I rode my Christiania bike with my keyboard
stands, modular and Octave Cat to the venue. Not a lot of people around yet but
some confusion. There was not on sound checking yet. Kasper said that Damo had
missed his flight yesterday and was still not on the way today and his girlfriend
was not answering the phone so they were stressed and not sure what was
happening. Julie’s Haircut was off
somewhere as well and not here. Kaleidoscope had arrived from the UK and was
really nice guys. I remembered Simon, who was working with them from the
previous Psych Fest as he was here. Anyway, what was happening at Loppen was
not certain so Kaleidoscope and Telstar Sound Drone did a soundcheck. Finally, Julie’s
Haircut was back and there was a lot of discussion about if we should just
play with out Damo or not and in the end that was what was decided. A bit after
20, we did a 40min set of some of their songs with me as a special guest. It
was three songs and was really fun to play with them. The audience really
enjoyed it a lot as well. We might play again on Saturday if they can get Damo
here. We will see. It was very stressing for me for some hours and I missed all
the early bands so I could not report on that for you all. Sorry.
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Kaleidoscope |
We did catch the entire Kaleidoscope gig. IT was fun to hear some of these old 60’s songs
but as Sue and I discussed it seems like they did not hold the time as well and
were maybe written just before the 60 pop psych thing had really found it’s
sound. There were for sure some great songs and the only original member was
Peter, the singer. The rest were a bunch of young musicians backing him.
Audience loved it and gave them a great response. Super cool visuals by the
French guy Robert.
Set List: A Dream for July, In my Box, Snapdragon, For Annie, The murder of Lewis Tollani, Sun Side Circus, N.. Goodrich, Cries, By your Bedside, Monkey, Song for Jon, Dive into Yesterday, Glorious House of Arthur, In the Room of Percussion, Bordeaux Rose, Faintly Blowing, The Sky Children, Flight from Ashiya, Music
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Zerione |
We missed Low frequency in Stereo (Norway),
Deadpan Interference (DK), and Bug Chaser. The next band we saw was a bit of
Zerione, which was a Danish male and
female noisy, drone rock duo. There were not a lot of people there but it was
ok. Now we had to choose between Telstar Sound Drone, whom I had seen many
times and Sue had seen last summer at Kildemose Festival or Our Solar System
from Sweden, which sounded pretty strange and interesting. We choose to head to
Byens Lys and just relax in the theatre and wait for
Our Solar System. And did we have to wait. More than one hour
before they started at like 23:45. It was a 10 piece band all-star signs or
something in long white robes. They had two bass players, drummer, two guitars
(which you could never hear), flute/clarinet and the sax, and two keyboard
players were female. Huge band. They started off with a very Hawkwind like
track. The drummer played just like Terry Ollis! The sound was not very good
though. Lots of bass and drums and slowly the sound guy figured it out. There
was some singing and strange chants between songs, etc. Bizarre but pretty cool
music, very early Hawkwind inspired but such a pity you could never hear any of
the guitar instruments. I was so disappointed with the sound that after 3 songs
we left, as Endless Boogie should start at 00:30 but they were also late.
Our friend said that
We are Wood (Sweden) were really great. Pity we did not see them.
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Our Solar System
Set List: Solen, Merkurius, Venus, Jorden, Mars, Asteroidbältet, Jupiter, Saturnus, Uranus, Neptunus, Pluto |
We saw about an hour of the Endless Boogie show and I really like
this band. The singer and lead guitar player says some really fun and strange
stuff between the songs. They for sure boogie. A lot of Rolling Stones like
stuff but with really long guitar solos. The old guitar player from the Swedish
band Union Carbide is playing with them when they come to Europe. Fun day and
night but it started out all fucked up….
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Endless Boogie |
Day
3
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Tales of Murder and Dust |
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Suns of Thyme |
Cloudy again and just been sitting at home
relaxing today and waiting for it to all begin again. The schedule is moved
around a bit so we had to print a new one from the Internet. Sadly, Monomyth
cancelled but the rest of the schedule is the same.
We arrived in time to get a beer and sit
down to see Tales of Murder and Dust.
They started 10 mins late. It is a Danish post rock band. There were about 60
people watching them. Great sound and songs but nothing new or inventive.
Female keyboard player making these pad, organ, drones and melodic dreamy
guitar. They had some build ups but it did not do much for us. Great visuals by
Lars. We went over to see some of Papir in the large Den Grå hall. Wow.
The visuals were great but a bit washed out from the way too light stage
lights. They played great and Nicklas had a new Ibanez guitar. We saw most of
the rest of the concert.
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Nicklas from Papir |
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Dean Allan Foyd |
Suns
of Thyme from Germany was on a Byens Lys but we sat
there for a long time. They started about 20mins late, I guess. We saw the
first 3 songs. The 2nd song was really excellent but due to them
being so late we left so we could see Dean
Allan Foyd, a Swedish band that I have never seen before. This was a great concert. I think we missed
the first song but it was a great set with some cool jamming and they played a
few new songs. The band is a trio with a really good chemistry. IT was pretty
packed. You could tell there were a lot more people around today.
Set List: Tidal Wave, Black Reflection, Laid Bare, On my Mind, Endless Repetition, Sisters, Hypnotized, When She Takes
We never managed to get into the
Børneteater to see any bands but there was some cool acts playing like Dead
Vibrations, Hortene, Catch the Breeze, a surprise act called June and ET
Tumason.
De
Underjordiske was excellent! We only saw the last
3-4 songs of their concert but it was good. They are a 5-piece Danish act
singing in Danish but they sound like the 80s band the Cult with a bit of Black
Angels inspiration. Pity they don’t have any guitar solos to speak of. Great
vibe, sound and singer. Cool band.
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De Underjordiske |
Set List: Flammerne, Under Skyggernes, Svet Ulve, Temper, Kralek, ?, vi kommer Nu, Vilde Kaniner, Pismeskæld, Næd og Klør
Spectrum was so packed. Peter (Space man 3, Sonic Boom) had another guitar
player and played along to some pre-recorded synths and Peter also played
guitar most of the time. A lot of effects on the vocals that made it quite
psychedelic. It was a bit too boring after 3 songs so we took off to catch some
of Red Lama. Wow.. They were great but
we only saw the last 2 songs. I had seen them twice before. They did not have
their album, which surprised me. I guess it is sold out??
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Spectrum |
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Childrenn |
We saw a few songs of Childrenn, a band with the Ravonettes guitar player. They had a
pretty big crowd but the music did not catch me. A bit too mainstream rock. The
guitar player on the left was a real rock star, or at least he thought so!! All
the moves.
Set List: Black Unicorn, Handcuffed, Animale, Neural Oscillations, Its time to Leave, Year of Complaint, Submission, Dancing on the Ashes, Where's the Door
We went now to see Flowers must Die in the Byens Lys. Wow… this was a fantastic concert and I think
the best we have seen at the festival. They had two female members now. One on
trumpet and effects and the other played violin, Theremin and sang. The Theremin
was insanely loud and maybe blew out the left PA speaker as it was making a
terrible distortion. When she played Theremin you could hear almost nothing
else, it drowns out the entire band! What the sound guy was thinking I don’t
know… But they played 4-5 long tracks, very Hawkwind and spaced out.. Great…
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Flowers must Die |
Now, we headed over to see a bit of
Electric Eye but ran into Fred, his son
and Jon from Earthling Society and were a bit distracted so we did not really
get to focus and get into Electric Eye. The place was pretty packed and people
were into it… A bit like Tame Impala??
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Black Mountain |
We saw about 45mins of Black Mountain. They started late, which is usual for them and it
was the exact same concert as Roadburn to start but way better visuals, which
they had none at Roadburn. A great sound and vibe to their music but I don’t
like their short melodic pop rock songs much. They are great at the epic songs
and should stick with that instead of the radio rock stuff… It was another great day and cool to see so
many people from around the world.
I spoke to Kasper and no Damo Suzuki
tomorrow.. Still not sure if we play tomorrow with Julie’s Haircut or
not?? Good night..
Day
4
I had to get to the festival early to
soundcheck with Earthling Society. We were on at 19 today, so I expect few
people as Fribytterdrømme were starting at 18:30. I sadly did not get to see
them at all but I heard it was a great concert and Lau later said it was
amazing to play to so many people.
Anyway, I arrived at 16:30 and Elevatorfører were doing their sound
check. Narcosatanicos had already soundchecked. About 17, the Earthling Society
guys arrived. We did our soundcheck, had some great food and we were ready. I
ran out to see if I could find Agusa but did not but saw one song of Skalkeskjul in the Børneteater. IT was
some sort of indie rock, from what I could tell.
The gig was pretty cool but the crowd was
small. I think we played for about 50 people. I had never played with Earthling Society at a live concert
before. We had a good chemistry. I had a great sound on the stage but I heard
that the sound was not very good in the audience. (The recording I made in front of the soundboard was good but I was a bit low in the mix). Maybe Lars’s ears are going a
bit after 3 days of loud shows. Anyway, we had a good time and were satisfied.
Set List: Mountain King Blues, Tartuga,
Outside of Time, We're not gonna Make it..
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AGUSA |
After I packed my gear down I went and
dropped off some record with the Agusa guys
and saw half of a song. Sound was a bit improved today in Byens Lys and nice
visuals for Agusa. The place was pretty full. Agusa has played every single
Psych Fest, almost the house band! I wonder if they played any new songs or the
same set???
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Electric Orange |
Electric
Orange started like 20mins late so I hardly saw any
of them. I said hello and asked if they had the new album but the vinyl was not
out for a few more weeks. They had the CD but I did not get a copy. There were
a lot of people and it was so hot in there, the sweat was rolling down my face…
Spids
Nøgenhat was on at 21 and something was telling me
this was going to be the last show ever for them. They did not even rehearse
for this gig and the last time they played was last October. They are great
musicians and it all the same songs they played for the last couple of years
with little change, so I am sure they will remember it well. Seb was doing the lights and this was the
best of the entire festival, no doubt. Especially, because of them turning off
the very bright side lights. Made a huge difference. It was a standard set but
the order was different from October. They played about 65mins and then took
10mins but did come out for one last song. Lorenzo said in Danish that it was
amazing and how would have thought 15 years ago that there was a Copenhagen
Psych Festival with 2000 people! Amazing… The audience was big and loved it. It
was a success for Kasper for sure.
Set List: Mere Lys, Gi Slip, Psykedelisk Tapet, Den Gennemsigtige Mand, Jørden Kalder, Lolland Falster, Vand, Brød og Te, Hvad har du taget?, ?, Fred, Ud på Landet
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Spids Nøgenhat |
I was pretty beat so only caught a bit of Elevatorfører and then we headed
home. It was getting packed for their
party. Cool band. and super nice guys…. They have a brand new album as
well. Anyway, lots of great bands later
this evening with Moon Duo in the main hall, URan, Tross, Second Oracle,
Presolar Sands, Late Night Venture (Silvana said they were great)…
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Elevatorfører |
Tillykke.. Congrats Kasper…. A great festival. Sure, there were some
things that did not work that well and they can improve upon next time but
people had a great time, many great bands and a cool laid back vibe…. Great festival.....