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.
Polyfeen |
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.
Sigurd! |
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??
The Setting Son |
Adama |
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.
Kaleidoscope |
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
Zerione |
Our Solar System Set List: Solen, Merkurius, Venus, Jorden, Mars, Asteroidbältet, Jupiter, Saturnus, Uranus, Neptunus, Pluto |
Day
3
Suns of Thyme |
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.
Nicklas from Papir |
Dean Allan Foyd |
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.
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??
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??
Spectrum |
Childrenn |
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…
Flowers must Die |
Black Mountain |
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..
AGUSA |
Electric Orange |
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
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
Spids Nøgenhat |