Uploaded to Aural Innovations: December 2003
You know you are in for a good time when one of your favourite bands comes to town and they also are your friends! I met the band at the venue about 30 minutes after they arrived after driving 8 hrs from Oslo. Everyone looked great and they were in good spirits and we were all happy to see each other after spending 3 great days on the road together back in February.
The sound check was long but the sound was fantastic and we laughed a lot and hung out until 20:20 when Powergrill finished their soundcheck and we went back to the venue apartment, where WE would stay for some home cooked vegetarian food. Quite a nice meal with a mango salad with pine nuts and cherry tomatoes, spinach and mushroom filled pancakes with a great oyster mushroom sauce and some really nice bread. We were all stuffed. We all went back to the venue at 10, when the doors were to open. People show up a bit late here and usually hang out up in the bar upstairs (Stalingrad) until they hear the music start. Powergrill started at 10:40 and the place quickly filled up to over 100 people, which was great to see on this rainy, cold night. I had never heard Powergrill before but Jesper from Gas Giant was here and he used to play with the bass player, Smiley, years ago. The band play a fast paced bad religion inspired punk rock. They played about 40 minutes and the crowd gave them a decent response.
It took about 20 minutes to get the stuff moved out and WE set up but we were soon ready to go out into the psychedelic space rock universe called WE. After that heavy duty stuff, the band decided to glide us into the show with a spacey intro and "Wooferwheels". This was great and Thomas has put in a new vocal part with a segment about travelling the autobahn of life. Great stuff. This went right into "Livin’ The Lore". "Jinxed" was next and I was surprised and glad that the people were so into it. This was the best crowd WE had had in their 4 visit to Copenhagen. WE were turning people on tonight as most of the people here did not know their music. I was selling merchandise for the band and tonight we sold 10 CDs or something like that. Anyway, to promote the new Lightyears Ahead CD, they played their tribute to the Rolling Stones and AC/DC called "Kickin’". A very catchy number. Next up was one of 4 brand new songs that the band had never played live before and have just recorded for a new CD that will be out next summer or fall. They started with "Sugar And Cannabinoles", a very Sabbath inspired song. "Lost Crossroads Found", also from Lightyears Ahead, was next and this is such a cool groovy song with great slide guitar. I hope someday they extend this song out a bit more live. The next 3 songs were new, "Wroom", "Crawling Out Of The Wreckage Of Yesterday:, "Catch Electrique"! All the new songs are very short numbers as there was not enough time to work out the playing of the new longer songs. Anyway, "Wroom" has a really intense psychedelic slide guitar and a good melody. A real psychedelic gem! "Crawling Out Of The Wreckage Of Yesterday" starts with a cool bass line and delay guitars before the intense groove kicks in. I can hear that this one will be very different in the studio version, when they can layer in different sounds and things. Thomas said "It is time to shake your skeletons with this one". "Catch Electrique" is a fantastic number with an incredible bass line. This is a really fast song with a catchy groove! Wow. Could be the new single?? The band ends the main set with the incredible "Freak Capital Of The Universe", dedicated to Copenhagen! 15 minutes of Hawkwind inspired psychedelic space rock at its best! The crowd were totally stoned and captivated by the end of the song. The band are called back for a couple of encores and play a good jammy version of "Cherry Red" and a heavy "Carefree". That was it and what a great 80 minute show. Do yourself a favour and catch WE when the tour in March 2004! Visit WE at: http://www.werock.org
Set List: Wooferwheels, Livin’ the Lore, Jinxed, Kickin’, Sugar and Cannabinoles*, Lost Crossroads Found, Wroom*, Crawling out of the wreakage of Yesterday*, Catch Electique*, Freak Capital of the universe, Cherry Red, Carefree (* First time played live)
Reviewed by Scott Heller