Spids Nøgenhat

support none
author BV date 20/09/14 venue Den Grå Hal, Copenhagen, DEN

For quite some time now, actually since the release of their second album, ”Kommer Med Fred”, Danish psych-rockers Spids Nøgenhat have been on quite the rise – playing Roskilde Festival, Gutter Island festival and the like while also achieving a sort of milestone when they managed to sell out Danish venue Den Grå Hal completely – more than a month in advance of the show. Seeing as I’ve been following the band since my mid-teens it was obviously a high priority of mine to catch their Copenhagen show at Den Grå Hal, this time managing to bring more than a few friends along for the ride. The show had no support act – however, there was plenty of activity in the form of “DJ Slangeklædt Fjergud” and a screening of the documentary “Har Du Set Mit Psykedeliske Tapet?” for the duration of the two hours from the doors opened and all the way up to the point when Spids Nøgenhat would finally take the stage.

All photos courtesy of: Henrik Moberg Jessen

Spids Nøgenhat

As the various colors and images of the band’s psychedelic light show sprawled their way across a canvas on the stage, as well as the rest of the concert hall, the band silently took the stage before launching into “Mere Lys” – the opening track of “Kommer Med Fred” which has proved to be a more than suitable opening track to get the proceedings going, due to its memorable lyrics and upbeat drive. With the words; ”Det revolutionære underholdningsorkester Spids Nøgenhat er landet / Det revolutionære underholdningsorkester Spids Nøgenhat letter nu!” (roughly translated to: the revolutionary entertainment orchestra Spids Nøgenhat has landed / the revolutionary entertainment orchestra Spids Nøgenhat is taking off now!), the band launched into their second track of the night, “Hobbittens Flyvetur” which added a certain heaviness to the soundscape with its simplistic riff and highly drug-inspired lyrics. At this point of the show, however, the mix was a bit unclear with a lot of the lower end muddying things up a bit - possibly due to the surroundings of Den Grå Hal which are less than ideal for concert experiences.

However, with “Mit Psykedeliske Tapet” the band slowly started to incite mild singalongs due to the song’s catchy and easily memorable chorus. Yet, quite naturally, the real singalongs didn’t appear until one track later with the introduction of crowd-favorite “Den Gennemsigtige Mand” which stood out – not only as a crowd-favorite but also as the earliest, yet most predictable, highlight of the show. Fuelled by the signature echo-bubbles of Henrik ‘Hobbitten’ Klitstrøm and Morten ‘Aron’ Larsen’s fuzz-guitar solos, the track transcended the obvious hits and shorter tracks that the band opened with, making way for a far more enveloping experience which mixed the utterly stunning visuals with the echo-fueled instrumental jams and Uffe ‘ Guf’ Lorenzen’s magnificent vocal work before finally reaching a complete connection with the crowd as most of those present at the show were singing, or at the very least mouthing, the words; ”Mand, kan du ikke se / at jeg kan se lige igennem dig / mand, kan du ikke se / at du er lige så gennemsigtig som mig?” Following the musical thread of “Den Gennemsigtige Mand”, Spids Nøgenhat launched into their cover version of the highly political Røde Mor track “Lil’ Johnny’s Mund” which not only showcased some proficient slide-guitar soloing, but also underlined the very backbone of Spids Nøgenhat as a live entity – the bass grooves of Anders ‘Moody Guru’ Skjødt and the forceful drumming of Anders ‘Fuzz Daddy’ Grøn.

After this brief venture into Danish psychedelic rock’s golden age, the band returned to yet another batch of their own material, temporarily peaking with the hit “Lolland Falster” which, quite predictably, once again had the crowd singing, dancing and waving peace signs in the air. The instrumental peak of the set, however, was reached with the track “Hvad Har Du Taget?” due to a performance that practically reeked of joy and an adventurous spirit which saw the band expanding the otherwise relatively short track into a sonic onslaught lasting close to 20 minutes in a frenzy fuelled by organ freak-outs, echo-oscillations, powerful rhythms and a set of seemingly improvised lyrics near the end of this completely baffling musical showcase of psychedelic prowess which ultimately led to end of the band’s main set. As the band returned for no less than five encore tracks, it became abundantly clear that Spids Nøgenhat has reached a new level or ascended into another league, if one will. – One that could easily end up being dubbed arena-psych, seeing as the only noticeable flaw of the performance (save for the initial sound) was the lack of intimacy due to the large attendance of the show – an attendance which I highly doubt will recede any time soon. However, with that being said, some level of intimacy and a tranquility of sorts was reached during set closer “Ud På Landet” which mellowed out the crowd before we all eventually ventured out into the brisk autumn air, breaking what has become a tradition of sorts since their Roskilde 2011 performance, as the ritualistic chanting of the song’s closing lines; ”er vi de sidste her på jorden?, never quite appeared.

Setlist:

  • 1. Mere Lys
  • 2. Hobbittens Flyvetur
  • 3. Giv Slip
  • 4. Lever Vi Nu?
  • 5. Det Psykedeliske Tapet
  • 6. Den Gennemsigtige Mand (Hyldemor cover)
  • 7. Lil’ Johnny’s Mund (Røde Mor cover)
  • 8. Spids Nøgenhat I Græsset
  • 9. Jorden Kalder
  • 10. Lolland Falster
  • 11. Vand, Brød og Te
  • 12. Hvad Har Du Taget?

--Encore--

  • 13. Fred
  • 14. Langebro (Gasolin’ Cover)
  • 15. Når Spindelsvævene Blomstrer (Tømrerclaus cover)
  • 16. Udkoksning i 3 Satser (Cinderella cover)
  • 17. Ud På Landet (Aron cover)

Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.