Ulver - Zweizz

Such a long, long time I had to wait to see ULVER performing live. When a full tour got finally announced with gigs in a reachable distance I was psyched and could hardly await that special day. Time has come, so I took the ride down the highway towards the Matrix club in Bochum.

:: pics ::

Stupidly I was struck by a fucking migraine making this trip with all the pains and drugs inside my head to somewhat of a quite surreal experience ;)

This impression got even amplified when :: ZWEIZZ :: hit the stage, way too early by the way. ZWEIZZ is the brainchild of Svein Egil Hatlevik, known for his musical art in bands such as Dødheimsgard and Fleurety. I knew that ZWEIZZ was doing experimental noise; I had a first listen and thought that I’d be prepared. Musically. Visually… well… um… anyways, when he feels well, I won’t nag ;) But also musically ZWEIZZ is a tough go. Having attended many of the Geräuschwelten concerts in my hometown where I experienced quite a couple of really strange sound and noise artists, I though hardly got any access to what ZWEIZZ has offered here. The collage of all these effect pedals might have been interesting, at least for musicians, but when it came to the toilet-video-performance my face probably looked as questioning as the other ones. By the way… did you ever get the idea to try out how many effect pedals might fit into a toilet tank? No? You’d be surprised… ;) Short show, not even 25 minutes, and very, very strange…

Ok, never mind, more time left for :: ULVER :: to play an extended show :) No? I thought so at least… Toilet and pedals got removed quickly and it did not take long till the intro heralded the beginning of something special. Surprisingly ULVER played their entire new album Wars Of The Roses, which is set to be released on April 25. Vinyl lover could already buy the new album at the merch for 20 Euro. Pointless to try to describe the music, especially since ULVER artistically improvised in between, parts you definitely won’t find on the record. But it made the show to a thrilling experience. Norwegian Gothic reminded me of Perdition City and perfectly connected to the one and only encore Hallways Of Always. February MMX again has somewhat of a prog Rock approach. Experimental music? Yes, of course! Always. Just the way you know ULVER ;) Really beautiful and touching was the narrated Stone Angels as well as Providence. Wars Of The Roses is such a great record.
The encore already followed 60 minutes later. With ticket prizes at door of 30 Euro an unbalanced value for money if you ask me.
Gifted multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Piano, Bass, Gitarre) was the lively one. He could not stand or sit still any second and called a bottle of red wine his own during the entire show. Also the drummer acted much lively. The rest of the band more or less disappeared behind knobs and mix- and sample desks, smoking like chimneys. Yes, that was an awesome show. Way too short, of course, and quite unspectacular, I expected more, though… breathtaking!
Setlist: February MMX, England, September IV, Norwegian Gothic, Island, Providence, Stone Angels // Hallways Of Always