Ozric Tentacles-Stengade, København, DK Sept 27th, 2024

I arrived at the venue about 16 and the nightliner was there and all the gear was in the venue and doors wide open. There was Ed. He saw me and said Hello Scott and has been a long time and we shock hands.  He then went back to his guitar and I said hello to Silas, Pat the drummer, light guy Jasper (Fruit Salad Lights), sound guy and Cory, the new bass player, Saski… It was lovely.  I had a chat with Ed about his guitar effects, if they brought an extra Supernovation II with them on tour incase one went down but they only bring an extra power supply and since they bought the extra power supply they have had no problems!! I watched the sound check. They mostly use it to just adjust the in ear monitoring, playing a bit of Eternal Wheel, Sploosh, Throbbe and that was it it. No complete song.  Sound was great but the drums are too loud. This sound guy they have had for more than 10 years brings a great clarity to the sound but the drums are like 50% of all the sound.. If he brought them down 20%, he could the best soundman I have heard with them but no way..

Concert was sold out. I stayed until about 1815 and went and had some dinner while they had caterered vegan food, which Cory loved but a lot of the band/crew said it was one of the worst meals of the tour. Pity… 

Anyway, Doors opened at 20 and the place filled up and we all hung out in the bar. I saw and spoke to lots of old friends (Mikael Krog and his girlfriend, Magnus and Sonja, Jesper, Peter, Yann, Finn, and Christina, and many others..)   Silas and Saski started a bit after 9 and played a great set. Cory played bass on nearly all their songs and it was great. It is very Ozric like in some ways but with their own more world music twist. She as a beautiful voice and plays lovely guitar and flute as well. It would be more powerful if they had a real drummer.  The programmed drums are good (too loud) and they have great songs. Silas (who looks a lot like a young Steve Hillage), is a great guitar player and keyboard player. They said their album is nearly finished and will for sure be out next year. Tonight was their last gig on this tour. 

Set List: Vespers, Spheres, Allisone, Universal, Moonsong, Dreamer, Milky, Shaow, Shakti

Ozrics were on pretty fast after they finished. I missed 15 seconds of the intro on the recording. The started with Eternal Wheel and then into Erpland. Wow.. Great start.. It was a fantastic show of old and 3 songs from the new album. Lotus unfolding, Green Incantation and Burundi Space Port, which I do not think they played before this tour. Ayervedic was one of my faves and not sure I had ever seen them play it before.  We got the Throbbe, Sunscape, Mooncalf, and ended the show with Sploosh… It was almost 100 min show. 

Set list: Eternal Wheel, Erpland, The Domes of G´Bal, Lotus Unfolding, Sunscape, Burundi Space Port, Ayurvedic, The Throbbe, New song, Jelly Lips, Sploosh 

Sadly, we got no projections tonight and the lights were ok but I wanted the projections… It is a bit hard in this club with the low ceiling but ØSC, we always manage..  Anyway, amazing night. I hung around a bit after and talked with the band, and Magnus and Sonja..  Awesome night… 

Progressive Circus 2024- Babel, Malmö, Sweden Sept 28th, 2024

I was still tired from the night before but I took the train over and met Jocke, Tobias, Lars, Pär, and 5 other of their friends and we had some amazing burgers at this place before this 4 band event was to start.  We arrived at the venue and were surprised that the doors were not open yet. It was 16. I talked with old friends I did not expect to see like Anders, Ann Karin, Erik, Yann and others while we waited.  Agusa was supposed to start at 1610..  Doors opened about 1615 and Agusa started 1630. I had not seen them in years and they were better than ever. I think they played 4 songs. Tim (Ex Ozrics, ØSC), he joined his old band on percussion, congas, bongos, etc. IT was great.. I think they played 45mins.

Green Asphalt, another local band, they did a tribute to Gentle Giant, with half their set originals and half Gentle Giant songs. They opened with Out of my Head, played Power and the Glory and some other great songs. They had two female singers, one who played violin. Their dad was the other main vocalist and played keyboards. It was very cool but their songs were not nearly as good or interesting as the Gentle Giant songs. Fun…

Bossebandet, a tribute to Bo Hansson was next.  The youngest guy on the stage fot this did was probably 65!!! Kenny Håkensson (Kebenkaise) played guitar but all these guys were well known Swedish musicians. It started off with really spacey instrumental vibe. Cool stuff. They played more shorter songs and a few rockers as well. I liked the beginning part the best but it was all good…

Ozric Tentacles were on at 21 exactly and played the same set as the night before in Copenhagen but tonight we got the awesome Fruit Salad Lights by Jasper.  It enhances the show so much.  I enjoyed it just as much as the night before but stood on the 2nd tier up so I could enjoy the visuals and the band. They were having fun but the energy was different from Denmark where the audience was right in their face and really into it. This was an older crowd, more proggy….  Still they got a great response and it was awesome.. After Burundi Space Port, Tim, who used to play drums with the band before the new guy Pat, joined on percussion, congas, etc… What a cool addition and they all seem to enjoy being with and playing with Tim again. Sadly, the sound man, mixed him so low you could barely ever here him. Only in the most quiet parts, so he did a lot of lovely air drumming. It was great. 

After an amazing version of the Throbbe they played a new spacey track. Ed said something funny about Shrimp in the name…  The last two songs were very electronic and Sploosh very cool..  I could see them every night.  This show was filmed by the band and 2 cameras from the venue. My friend Anders also filmed 4-5 songs as well. I know they multitrack recorded as well. 

We hung out until they nearly kicked us out and I said by to the band. Great to see so many old friends from Sweden (Anders, Ann Karin, Erik, the guys in Agusa, etc.). It was a great two days. 

The next day of the Prog Circus was Soen, Soniq Circus, Paatos and Moon Safari. 

Set list: Eternal Wheel, Erpland, The Domes of G´Bal, Lotus Unfolding, Sunscape, Burundi Space Port, Ayurvedic, The Throbbe, New song, Jelly Lips, Sploosh