Ulver Gig Review 10/02/2010
Setting The Scene
A decent couple of months ago a dear friend (Gareth Hunt) informed me of a epic show going down in London town. This gig being headlined by folk metal/electro wizards Ulver( Norwegian for wolves) who iv been fairly influenced by and have respected so much over the years. So me and Mr Hunt set to 'organising' this colossal journey to a foreign land (England)
We were very lucky in knowing a fellow (remaining nameless) in London who could get us into the show for free and on the guest list ooh. We contacted him a week or two prior to the gig and he said that it would get sorted for us. It was until the night before the musical eargasm and we got the response that we wanted......We were on the guest list, So with no further notice we booked our bus tickets to London.
The Trip ( There, leading too and back)
We set sail from Neath train station promptly at 12:40pm to arrive at Cardiff at sometime around 13:20pm. We got into Cardiff bang on time and had a brisk walk towards Fabian way to catch our carriage, we got to the station early and our bus was already there (Megabus = Megafuss). All was fine and dandy and going to plan. We docked into Victoria station at around 17:20pm and found the tube to take us to Kings Cross where the gig venue was situated, We got there and aimlessly walked around for around 20mins trying to find the Venue (Scala) We asked a London Cabby driver and he gave us the answer of 'I'm not sure, Iv never heard of it' with a smug look on his face. After walking about another five minutes we found the Scala which was right under our noses, The cabby had pulled a fast one.Tosser. We sniffed out the venue and had some time on our hands to go eat and replenish our beer stocks, I found a quaint little pub on the main Kings Cross stretch and popped in for some much needed Bwyta, On looking at the menu I gasped the prices were abit extravagant but i ordered anyway, £10 for a bowl of pasta and Gaz had a pint of bog standard ale £3.80..Shocking.. After my extortionately priced pasta we had the idea of going to an off licence to by some Heineken to save some notes. We then headed for the Scala, as we approached we saw the Que was winding around the outer walls of said venue but this wasn't going to be a problem as there was a separate and smaller Que for the guest Lister's. Happy days you may think. We got into Que which comprised of around 20 people and proceeded with our Heineken drinking/downing. The Que moved swiftly towards our destination which was a hole in the wall, by this point excitement was high and i was anticipating the night ahead, We reached the hole in the wall and gave our names, the 'hole wench' scoured the list and i started getting twitchy, she looked up and said 'I cant see your names on the list' my heart stopped and Gaz piped up saying that our names were defiantly on the house guest list. the woman replied with 'We have no house guest list', so we phoned about like mad men trying to get hold of our Contact who sorted the gig out.....It went straight to his answer phone, this was fastly turning into a nightmare but we had to deal with the bad hand that we were given, So we ended up purchasing tickets to get into the show.Bad Times. Once we received our tickets we were promptly frisked and searched by door security which found a can of Heineken in my bag and disposed of it, Gaz was also frisked and they found contraband A.k.A one can of Heineken and a bag of cocktail pasty's. Hahaha.
But finally we were inside the venue. (Gig review at bottom of page)
After The Gig
Setting The Scene
A decent couple of months ago a dear friend (Gareth Hunt) informed me of a epic show going down in London town. This gig being headlined by folk metal/electro wizards Ulver( Norwegian for wolves) who iv been fairly influenced by and have respected so much over the years. So me and Mr Hunt set to 'organising' this colossal journey to a foreign land (England)
We were very lucky in knowing a fellow (remaining nameless) in London who could get us into the show for free and on the guest list ooh. We contacted him a week or two prior to the gig and he said that it would get sorted for us. It was until the night before the musical eargasm and we got the response that we wanted......We were on the guest list, So with no further notice we booked our bus tickets to London.
The Trip ( There, leading too and back)
We set sail from Neath train station promptly at 12:40pm to arrive at Cardiff at sometime around 13:20pm. We got into Cardiff bang on time and had a brisk walk towards Fabian way to catch our carriage, we got to the station early and our bus was already there (Megabus = Megafuss). All was fine and dandy and going to plan. We docked into Victoria station at around 17:20pm and found the tube to take us to Kings Cross where the gig venue was situated, We got there and aimlessly walked around for around 20mins trying to find the Venue (Scala) We asked a London Cabby driver and he gave us the answer of 'I'm not sure, Iv never heard of it' with a smug look on his face. After walking about another five minutes we found the Scala which was right under our noses, The cabby had pulled a fast one.Tosser. We sniffed out the venue and had some time on our hands to go eat and replenish our beer stocks, I found a quaint little pub on the main Kings Cross stretch and popped in for some much needed Bwyta, On looking at the menu I gasped the prices were abit extravagant but i ordered anyway, £10 for a bowl of pasta and Gaz had a pint of bog standard ale £3.80..Shocking.. After my extortionately priced pasta we had the idea of going to an off licence to by some Heineken to save some notes. We then headed for the Scala, as we approached we saw the Que was winding around the outer walls of said venue but this wasn't going to be a problem as there was a separate and smaller Que for the guest Lister's. Happy days you may think. We got into Que which comprised of around 20 people and proceeded with our Heineken drinking/downing. The Que moved swiftly towards our destination which was a hole in the wall, by this point excitement was high and i was anticipating the night ahead, We reached the hole in the wall and gave our names, the 'hole wench' scoured the list and i started getting twitchy, she looked up and said 'I cant see your names on the list' my heart stopped and Gaz piped up saying that our names were defiantly on the house guest list. the woman replied with 'We have no house guest list', so we phoned about like mad men trying to get hold of our Contact who sorted the gig out.....It went straight to his answer phone, this was fastly turning into a nightmare but we had to deal with the bad hand that we were given, So we ended up purchasing tickets to get into the show.Bad Times. Once we received our tickets we were promptly frisked and searched by door security which found a can of Heineken in my bag and disposed of it, Gaz was also frisked and they found contraband A.k.A one can of Heineken and a bag of cocktail pasty's. Hahaha.
But finally we were inside the venue. (Gig review at bottom of page)
After The Gig
The gig ended dead on 11pm due to a noise curfew, c'mon its a music venue what do you expect
We got on the phone to a dear friend who lives in London who had kindly said he would put us up for the night, When we got to the tube we hopped on a train heading towards his abode in Bethnal Green, We arrived and gave him a call and he directed us to a near by pub where he would meet us, the pub was literally around the corner to my joy, I spotted him (Marc Jones A.k.a telly) and we ran into each others arms and embraced and gazed deeply into one another 's eyes then I spotted a pub opposite to the one we were at, I looked at the banner across the front of the establishment and it read 'Tom Jones tribute next week' I was sold, this was going to be like the green green grass of home, a place in London where the Welsh are accepted. We ambled in, a dozen or so old men were drinking ale at the bar mumbling about past lovers and the sort. All three of us lined up at the bar to taste the best beers and ale's that London had to offer,all two of them, it was basically dark ale or pale ale, Marc and Gaz got served first and I put on my most amazing common Welsh accent and said pointing 'That one there please butt', He did not bat an eyelid to my surprise and stepped to pulling me a pint of Piss. We huddled in a recess near the wood burning fire and the large LCD television and began exchanging stories and generally having bit of banter, the ale was going down nicely and the company was exquisite, then telly made a comment he said 'This looks like a gay bar' ... I looked around and there were only guys listening to tunes on the duke box, tunes such as Neil Diamond and some other dodge sounding country folk, He could be right I thought but carried on enjoying the company and warmth of the fire. After finishing our ale's we headed towards a newsagents because i was in need of cigar, I smoked the cigar as we walked back to my friends place which was yards away, On arriving at my mates i was really tired and that twigged something in my brain that turned me abit nuts, it happens every so often. I offered Gaz the bed and i slept on a air bed on the floor by the time i woke in the morning my ribs were pressed firmly against the wooden floor. We got up and telly being the hostess with the mostest made us breakfast and we left soon after eating. We departed at the tube station where he was heading to work and we were heading for Victoria bus station, As we got into Victoria train station i felt the urge to go to the bog and i had to pay 30p for the privilege of making a poopy..shocking... Our bus was in when we got to the bus station and I was looking forward to getting out of the hustle and bustle of London town, we boarded the Bus and headed towards the back, Behind me sat what i can only call a Whale of a human being, the bus roared of into the streets of this perverse city and the whale behind me started making phone calls in his east London drawl, He just couldn't whisper and kept on talking about his family problems and the sort, It weren't to bad to start with but he just kept on calling people on the phone all the way to wales, I wished his blow hole would have blocked up but it didn't happen, We finally got into Cardiff and jumped on the first two carriage delayed train to Neath that was chock-a-block.
The Gig Review
The first band in the line-up were east London's very own Necro Deathmort who's style i would consider as being an experimental electronic doom band, the band comprised of two members,Mac book and many a technical gadget. This band were right up my street and a must for any Ulver or doom fan, I would defiantly see these gain if given a chance.
We got on the phone to a dear friend who lives in London who had kindly said he would put us up for the night, When we got to the tube we hopped on a train heading towards his abode in Bethnal Green, We arrived and gave him a call and he directed us to a near by pub where he would meet us, the pub was literally around the corner to my joy, I spotted him (Marc Jones A.k.a telly) and we ran into each others arms and embraced and gazed deeply into one another 's eyes then I spotted a pub opposite to the one we were at, I looked at the banner across the front of the establishment and it read 'Tom Jones tribute next week' I was sold, this was going to be like the green green grass of home, a place in London where the Welsh are accepted. We ambled in, a dozen or so old men were drinking ale at the bar mumbling about past lovers and the sort. All three of us lined up at the bar to taste the best beers and ale's that London had to offer,all two of them, it was basically dark ale or pale ale, Marc and Gaz got served first and I put on my most amazing common Welsh accent and said pointing 'That one there please butt', He did not bat an eyelid to my surprise and stepped to pulling me a pint of Piss. We huddled in a recess near the wood burning fire and the large LCD television and began exchanging stories and generally having bit of banter, the ale was going down nicely and the company was exquisite, then telly made a comment he said 'This looks like a gay bar' ... I looked around and there were only guys listening to tunes on the duke box, tunes such as Neil Diamond and some other dodge sounding country folk, He could be right I thought but carried on enjoying the company and warmth of the fire. After finishing our ale's we headed towards a newsagents because i was in need of cigar, I smoked the cigar as we walked back to my friends place which was yards away, On arriving at my mates i was really tired and that twigged something in my brain that turned me abit nuts, it happens every so often. I offered Gaz the bed and i slept on a air bed on the floor by the time i woke in the morning my ribs were pressed firmly against the wooden floor. We got up and telly being the hostess with the mostest made us breakfast and we left soon after eating. We departed at the tube station where he was heading to work and we were heading for Victoria bus station, As we got into Victoria train station i felt the urge to go to the bog and i had to pay 30p for the privilege of making a poopy..shocking... Our bus was in when we got to the bus station and I was looking forward to getting out of the hustle and bustle of London town, we boarded the Bus and headed towards the back, Behind me sat what i can only call a Whale of a human being, the bus roared of into the streets of this perverse city and the whale behind me started making phone calls in his east London drawl, He just couldn't whisper and kept on talking about his family problems and the sort, It weren't to bad to start with but he just kept on calling people on the phone all the way to wales, I wished his blow hole would have blocked up but it didn't happen, We finally got into Cardiff and jumped on the first two carriage delayed train to Neath that was chock-a-block.
The Gig Review
The first band in the line-up were east London's very own Necro Deathmort who's style i would consider as being an experimental electronic doom band, the band comprised of two members,Mac book and many a technical gadget. This band were right up my street and a must for any Ulver or doom fan, I would defiantly see these gain if given a chance.
Check them out: www.myspace.com/necrodeathmort
The second act is from Norway and he is better known as being the singer from the black metal band Mayhem, his stage name is Attila Csihar (Don't ask me how to pronounce the last name) He entered onto the stage wearing a monks habit with the hood up an his face covered and proceeded to chant over the mic and messing with some loop machine he started to build the chants up and kept looping them until there was one continuous wall of noise, I didn't enjoy his set as i could see no great ability or talent in what he was doing and it sounded terrible. He was obviously ridding on his bands name (Mayhem) because there was no other reason for him to be there.
The main event
The third and final band were the almighty Ulver who opened this set in style with a projected background of a sun rising over a arid mountain and quietly the song 'eos' (Shadows of the sun album) fades in with its haunting organ sound and cue Garm on vocals with his slow soft hollow voice, enough to send chills up any one's spine. The opening set the scene of the whole set which was relatively chilled and comprised with mostly newer material from the last decade of there career. This gig was definitely up there with the greatest shows iv seen to date, it was visually and musically brilliant, I couldn't help but be drawn into and hypnotised by the backdrop projections of all sorts of imagery from desert scenery to Nazi propaganda images which fitted well with the set list. I give this gig 10/10 for there sheer musical talent and the ability to create a unique atmosphere. I felt honoured to be a part of such a great and rare show performed by this wonderful band.
Ulver set list
Eos, Little blue bird, Rock massif, For the love of god, In the red, Operator, Funebre, Silence teaches you how to sing, Plates 16 - 17, Hallways of always, Porn piece or the scars of cold kisses, Like music, Not saved.
Check them out on: www.myspace.com/ulver1
Excuse me for bad layout of the post!! Blogger was being a pain..
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