Baby Woodrose

support The Setting Son
author BV date 06/04/13 venue Loppen, Copenhagen, DEN

For the past six or seven years, I have considered myself a great fan of Lorenzo Woodrose’s various musical exploits – most noticeably Baby Woodrose, but also his involvement in various related acts, such as his initial involvement in pushing The Setting Son forward so they could release their debut album quite a few years ago. Because of all this, it was an absolute joy for me to see that The Setting Son and Baby Woodrose were scheduled to play a gig at Loppen on the same night – in essence, I absolutely had to be there, despite initial fears of a not-so-joyous experience due to the recent cancellations Baby Woodrose had to make due to health problems. Nonetheless, it became a tremendous experience for me, and a reminder to myself that I have to see them live again in the near future. Read on to find out why:

Photos by Thomas Dyregaard

Adam Olsson of The Setting Son

The Setting Son

When The Setting Son took the stage around 22:15 not a lot of people seemed to take notice, despite the fact that Loppen was already quite crowded at this point. This however, turned rather quickly after The Setting Son blasted through song after song of psych-pop influenced garage-rock in short 2-3 minute doses. Some five songs into the set, The Setting Son launches into the title track of their 2nd album “Spring of Hate” – a simplistic, yet effective track combining the swirling organ tones with the jangling reverb-drenched guitars, all the while placing emphasis on the subtle vocals of frontman Sebastian T. W. Kristiansen - which is received with nodding heads of recognition, as well as affectionate yelling from the crowd. The crowd continues to embrace The Setting Son, as the band welcomes Emma Acs to the stage, to perform “All That Candy” and “Eat My Fear” from the band’s newest release “Before I Eat My Eyes And Ears” where Acs’ vocals are a dominating part of the soundscape. The two tracks featuring Emma Acs were performed with an upbeat attitude that kind of led my mind towards a somewhat more party-ready audience – unfortunately, the crowd never really got around to dancing or moving that much at all, rather than just standing in front of the stage and just taking it all in. The absolute highlight of The Setting Son’s 45 minute performance was without a doubt their final song “Depression” which started out with an extended jam and evolved to become a psyched out jam session lasting approximately 9 minutes. The jam, as well as the song, was performed with such a ferocity that drummer Adam Winberg pounded one of the cymbals right off the drumkit in a sheer display of power. All in all a great performance from a band I would have suspected to have their strong suits in the studio, rather than the live setting – I guess they proved me wrong.

Mads ‘Yobo’ Saaby of Baby Woodrose

Baby Woodrose

Baby Woodrose went on stage at 23:15 for a packed audience and at this point it was difficult to even move a hand without sweating. They started with an eerily psychedelic drone-jam before exploding into the first song of the night: “Let Yourself Go”, a powerful and fast-paced garage-psych song that essentially set the tone for the night, with the echoing vocals of Lorenzo Woodrose being supported by the fuzzed out and bombastic rhythm section, courtesy of Hans Beck on the drums and Kåre Joensen on the bass, and the psychedelic textures provided by the chiming yet fuzzy guitar parts. Three songs in, it is becoming abundantly clear to me, that not only has it been far too long since I last experienced Baby Woodrose live – they have also become a vastly more psychedelic act since the latest lineup change, which definitely works in their favor. Four songs into the set, Baby Woodrose launches into the new single “Light Up Your Mind” – an upbeat garage song with an amazing 60’s like pop-sensibility which works surprisingly well in a live setting, with Mads ‘Yobo’ Saaby handling the soloing on guitar, instead of the originally recorded organ-solo. The band then welcomes Emma Acs back to the stage to sing a duet with Lorenzo Woodrose, on the track “Dandelion” – one of my personal favorites, and a track I was quite certain I was never going to experience live, because it would simply be too hard to do it justice in a live setting. Nonetheless, the song is performed with a grandiose surplus of energy and not a single moment seems to go to waste from one song to another, as Baby Woodrose keeps pressing on as if this was the last gig they would ever play – they were obviously giving it their all.

Lorenzo Woodrose of Baby Woodrose

The band presses on with a psychedelic onslaught in the form of “Bullshit Detector”. This is one of the strongest tracks from the recently released “Third Eye Surgery” and is a heavily psychedelic almost stoner rock sounding piece of music, with a riff that invites you in to the darkest depths of your mind, whilst the vast sonic textures are being created by Mads Saaby’s echo-drenched oscillating guitar parts. It’s a truly psychedelic experience that leaves the crowd at Loppen headbanging as well as jumping around in pure ecstasy, knowing that they are witnessing one of the most captivating Danish live acts around at the moment, doing their thing and giving it everything they have got to offer.

Halfway through the set, Woodrose hints at the songs to come by noting that it’s a bunch of ‘oldies’. To my joyous surprise the next three songs of the set are “The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square”, “A Child of A Few Hours” and “I Lost You In My Mind” – all of these tracks are from the covers album called “Dropout!” but they had been updated slightly since the release of the album, and could now be heard in their full psychedelic glory whilst coming to life through the magic of no less than four capable musicians combining their forces. The evening culminates with the final track before the encores; “Baby Blows Your Mind” which seems to have become a live favorite for many a Baby Woodrose fan, judging from the spectacular applause it is greeted with from the get go, as well as the fact that multiple members of the crowd rushed up on the stage and danced around the band members as if they were so enthralled by the music that they had to be as close to it as possible. Baby Woodrose rounded off an absolute spectacular evening with two encores from their ‘hit’ album “Money For Soul” culminating in yet another round of heavy applause and multiple requests for the band to keep going after a performance that has lasted 90 minutes – the crowd simply couldn’t get enough. So what else is left to say then? Nothing else than: “Baby Woodrose blows your mind!”

Setlist:

  • 1. Let Yourself Go
  • 2. Disconnected
  • 3. What a Burn
  • 4. Nothing Is Real
  • 5. Light Up Your Mind
  • 6. Dandelion
  • 7. Volcano
  • 8. Lights Are Changing
  • 9. D’ya Get What You Give
  • 10. Chemical Buzz
  • 11. Bullshit Detector
  • 12. Baby The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square (The Savages cover)
  • 13. A Child of A Few Hours (The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band cover)
  • 14. I Lost You In My Mind (The Painted Faces cover)
  • 15. Baby Blows Your Mind

--Encore--

  • 16. Pouring Water
  • 17. Honeydripper

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