LEGENDARY PINK DOTS , Cafe Mono, Oslo 21.10.09
From Aural Innovations April 2010 update
Well what a fantastic show and what a time I had, as this was an amazing display of psychic flashback from the Dots once again, only in a more intimate setting than when I first saw this cryptic underground group of mad druids over 11 years ago at So What! in Oslo. The killer version of "Grain Kings" blew my mind at the end before the encore which was "I Love You In Your Tragic Beauty" and another song, and they opened the set with "An Unlikely Event", and all the stuff from the recent "Plutonium Blonde" CD sandwiched in between makes me feel like its a classic release by now. I spoke with frontman/genius Edward Ka-Spel briefly after the show and he noticed my "Chrome" logo t-shirt and I had him sign the "A Long Red Ladder To The Moon" CD which I had bought and I also got the "Sterre" CD single and the "Live At The Metro" CD. I drank only three beers which I afforded just about after the merch and the entrance fee of a mere 100 NOK. No food. Well, The Legendary Pink Dots ruled the night! Someone was yelling "Skinhead power!!" in the back. Gotta laugh, the crowd were a pretty normal looking bunch though. I think I kind of offended Edward by saying he had "an empire of merchandise to live off" as I left. I guess I did not explain that I would not mind inhereting the Pink Dots Mansion with a LPD collection to boot! Too swell, Edward is the epitomy of cool. I just saw Amon Düül II in Oslo last month and they were GREAT but this was also a Special nite of cosmopolitan like ilk of underground Euromusic! Edward is a charismatic person and performer, and he looks like an old crone or a Wiccan priest with his long scarf and his long robe, an almost frail and short man with a seeming hunchbacked gait as he shuffles through the crowd after the end of the performance, yet he commands so much power in his character you just can tell he is an High enlightened One of grand proportions.I mentioned to Edward when we spoke after the show that "A Long Red Ladder To the Moon" was the album of the week on the Cloud Zero mailing list - so I bought the CD and had him autograph it! I saw the "Alchemichal Playschool" CD at the merch stand, a CD which I do not have... an opportunity for next time Chez Dotz weave their magick spells in these here parts of the North. The only CDs cost 120 (about 20 USD) NOK and the "Sterre" single 80. Norway is far more expensive than Denmark. The Danes only paid 60 the previous night to get in too. Long may they Sing.
Reviewed by Christian Mumford