March 2nd
I am at the airport with Kasper, the organizer of the event and guitarist in
Måneskjold. We are waiting for the band to arrive. Plane was on time from Luton
and all is well. It has stopped raining after pouring down all day. The band came out and were in a good mood but
tired and hungry. We made our way to the bus, which did not come so we took the
train to the city center. Nik said he had a terrible car accident just the
other day and was lucky to be alive. His car flipped two times and end up in a
ditch. Front end is totaled but he is ok but he says he feels pretty beat up.
He looked and sounded tired. I left them for the night in Kasper’s hands. He
will take them for some food and to an apartment. We meet up at the venue at 15
tomorrow.
March 3rd
Kasper came by at 12:30 and picked up my gear for the gig. It was on the stage when I arrived at about 15. The Måneskjold back line was set up and he and his crew were working on the light projections, sheets, etc.. The mood was great. Will was the sound man so this was a good thing, as he does a great job. Nik and the band had not arrived yet. I went about just setting my stuff up so that I would be ready. They showed up about 15:30 and it was nice to meet them and we went about doing the soundcheck. We played Cybernetic Love as they had changed the set list from what they told me a week ago. I did not know this one. We did a bit of Reefer Madness and Steppenwolf as well. It went ok but Gary, the bass player was not happy at all but did a poor job of communicating what was wrong so how could Will help him out??
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| The new Space Ritual with Dr. Space (Copenhagen, DK) |
19 The food has just arrived but the venue has been very
unresponsive in getting the band any beers even after many requests and now the
food was finally here and still no beer. We finally did get endless cheap
Danish Royal Pilsner beer. Food was a
nice veggie Indian curry with potato, carrot and chickpea but basically no
chile. Lots of Rice.. People enjoyed it but in the backstage light the sauce
looked much redder than it actually was. I jocked the chef lost a finger and
some blood in the food so it was no longer vegetarian!
Måneskjold had a long soundcheck and never seem to get it
quite they way they wanted it. IT is a tough band to get just right with three
guitars who all play leads at different times and all have very different
guitar tones. This would me more difficult if they all sounded the same??
20:15 and Måneskjold hit the stage. I did not hang out in the backstage. I stayed upstairs nearly all the time recording all the bands and talking with friends and fans. Very cool that Evert, who put on the Space and Rock Festival in Jönkoping back in 1998 with Man, The Moor, Spacious Mind, Dark Sun, Pseudo Sun, and many other cool bands was here. Nik was a special guest at the festival and played with most bands. Seems he does not remember it much according to Evert. Anyway… some people from Sweden. There were about 50 people for the Måneskjold set. I don’t remember the order. They played one new song but otherwise it was the same set they have been playing for 2 years. Great songs that have really developed. Nik appeared on stage for the end of She lives in a Pyramid and then Kasper started up the riff from the Hawkwind song Psychedelic Warlords and they had a jam on that for 10mins. The crowd dug it and so did Nick. I am sure he could hear nothing of what he was playing though. Some of it was good but not at the start. Fun though.
Dødstrom, ?, Skov, Bilspil, Kometten Kommer, Bilspil, Jørdslæet, Hun bor
I Pyrimiden (with Nik), Jam with Nik
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| Måneskjold (Moon Shield) |
We were now behind schedule as they had gone 20mins over but
it was no stress. A lot more people here now. I think Kasper said they have 120
paid, which is not bad for a Thursday night and 275kr for 3 bands. Two
international. Yuri was pretty fast to set up and I think we only started 15
mins late. This was really fun to play this super heavy space rock stuff. I was
really in the zone and trying to focus on the notes I had made for the songs
but the guys had the same attitude as Nik, just do what you do, fuck the notes
and just play along. Anyway, the place was pretty full now and people were into
it. The band was way louder on stage so I had to turn up to hear myself. Will
had to adjust. Great guys and powerful
stuff. The set was all new songs except the opener, Sonic Invasion. My favorite
to play was probably the New Order or At the Center. Set was about 45mins and went by pretty fast.
I thought it went pretty well but I did get lost in Oblivion and sound sounds
were off… Band said they did not hear much of what I played but was sure it was
great. They love what I am doing and want me to play more with them. They have
invited me to come up and play with them in Göteborg.
Set List: Sonic Invasion, Cluster of Minds, The New Order,
Sea of Dust, At the Center of Infinity, Oblivion
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| Gary and Meurig |
D-Rider was the first real Hawkwind song appearing nearly
half way into the set and the crowd really loved this. I felt I played pretty
cool stuff on this one. Sonic Attack, I went mad on the synths and think it was
very cool. Afterwards, Angel told me she thought I was totally amazing and she
loved what it was that I played. Quite
a nice compliment. She also has really cool costumes and the dancing is a good
distraction and fun for the audience and she does it well.
Set List: Co pilots of spaceship Earth, Watching the Grass
Grow, Reefer Madness, Fallen Angel, Something’s not Right, Sonic Savages, Time
Crypt, D Rider,Sonic Attack, Cybernetic Love, Steppenwolf, Space Invaders,
Walking Backwards, LSD, Master of the Universe, Brainstorm, Dangle
Great!
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