From Aural Innovations #30 (February 2005)
This was the first time I had ever been to the ROCK and this is for sure the coolest Copenhagen venue. This was the first concert by Gas Giant in Denmark in nearly a year. The other bands were quite new bands but the turn out tonight was very impressive with over 200 people. The Pickups started the show about 9:45 and the people slowly crawled out of all the small bars and places to check them out. They are a five piece band with two guitars, bass, drums and lead vocals. They played hard driving ROCK with a punky attitude. I was not too into it and also busy with a lot of things preparing for Gas Giant.
Set List: hard On, Pick a Fight, Get Around, Slither, Got no Education, QOTSA, Trust, Age of Pamparius, Biker giver Frækt, Stripsjov med Jens
Next up was Bondage Corporation. This was a very interesting mix. The band were a four piece with guitar, bass, drums and vocals and feature members of Raunchy, a Danish metal band. Anyway, at times the vocalist reminded me a bit of Glenn Danzig with a more punky attitude. The guitar player was really cool and although the heavy metal sound was quite strange in the mix of evil blues they played, I liked it quite a bit. Strange stuff. I would like to see them again.
Set List: From Texas, Boozin', Just the Kind, Tin Man, The Single, Unicorn Laura, Helter Skelter, Roulette, Nye Tunge, Chilitime, Mad Dog Blues
It took 30 minutes before Gas Giant hit the stage and by this time the place had a lot of people and all the bands friends were there. After an introduction by myself, the band hit the stage with a loose jamming version of "All Creatures". This is a great song to get people moving. Next up were two brand new songs, "Vølvens Spådom" and "Be As One". "Vølvens Spådom" features some awesome slide guitar by Stefan. "Be As One" is a really fast rocker with a very melodic chorus and some ripping heavy metal guitar soloing! The sound in The Rock was awesome on this night and very loud on the center of the floor. "Phantom Tanker", from the Mana CD, slowed things down but in a heavy way. Tommy was great on the drums on this song. Next up the band played "Mama Cool", from the split 7" record with Colour Haze that was released in 2004. This is a really heavy Gas Giant rocker. The people were really into it by now and the band were playing the best they had in a long time. The band slowed things down with a really old song, "Alien Frequency", from their first EP, recorded in 1998. Stefan broke a string during this song and his other guitar wasn't in tune so the mid section of this song was a bit different than it would have normally been. Now the band was really to space out a bit and played "Back On The Headless Track", which included a really cool jam. The band closed the main set with their now classic song, "Too Stoned". This is always a crowd favourite. The band did not leave the stage and decided to go straight into "Never Leave This Way". This is probably the bands best song as it has everything, the melodic spacey parts, the heavy parts and the ability of the band to jam within it's free structure. The crowd wanted more but that was to be all tonight. What a great show. I hung out until 3 in the morning with all the cool fans and the band.
Set List: All Creatures, Vølvens Spådom, Be As One, Phantom Tanker, Mama Cool, Alien Frequency, Back on the Headless Track>Jam, Too Stoned, Never Leave this Way>Jam
Reviewed by Scott Heller