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ULVER + MOTHLITE Live At Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 9th October 2009 Story online since: 23.11.2009 / 10:37:07 ......................................................................................................................................................... It was a rainy and cold night in London, after a walk we arrived at Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre with enough time to look at the merchandise booth, with t-shirts rapidly dissapearing; and we easily and instantly got our internet reserved tickets from the automated machine. We met Kristoffer 'Garm' Rygg before the event started, he was drinking water on a plastic glass and walking on his socks. A great man, in most of the word's meanings. He looked relaxed and seemed surprised to know that we came from Spain to see them (Ulver) play live.  A short time after (which seemed forever), we went to our seats (third fucking row!) and waited for the lights to dim. Mothlite entered the stage more or less in time, the band comprised of two vocalists (one female and one male that was Daniel O'Sullivan, who later performed with Ulver), one clarinet player (also occasional timpani), one drummer, one bassist and one guitar player. Sometimes, that guitar player, as well as O'Sullivan, switched instruments, also opting to the piano or keyboard that were present. There was also Antti Uusimaki who handled electronics. The result was a quite interesting mix of electroacoustic pop with melancholy and a bit of heavy noises. They performed a song from 'The flax of reverie', and several other songs unknown to me, including one on which we saw a cameo by Garm, where we witnessed for the first time how well he handles vocals live and such energy he has for doing it right, his voice was clean and powerful in the few lines he sang. After about thirty or fourty minutes of performance they left the stage and we got a break from our seats, until the lights dimmed again and Ulver appeared in some time that was longer than expected.  As for the Ulver show, it was epic, from the moody start with 'Little blue bird' to the grand finale with 'Not saved' played with Theremin and a silent, moved crowd in the very last, dying decibels of it. Emotively beautiful. I am not sure about the lineup, but I think it was the Three Wolves plus Ole Aleksander Halstensgård, two drummers whose names are unknown to me, Daniel O'Sullivan and of course Pamelia with her Theremin (who calmly and beautifully performed two times almost solo with her theremin and a looping pedal). Later I learned that one of the drummers could have been Lars Pedersen from When, or at least he played drums on past shows. One of the drum guys performed awesome rythms while he looked like jamming most of the time, the other one did good things too, but he was behind Garm from my point of view and there being two of them it was confusing to know who did what. But he played the more tranquil tom parts, like in 'Let the children go', and very suitable in the live setting. Garm's vocals were good indeed, he sang the Ulver songs sometimes a bit different than in the albums, I think he wanted to put more energy for the live show, but sometimes it was just melodic and powerful in the same quantity (and quality) as in the recordings. Very good voice overall, and our possible doubts on it got vanished very soon; one must take into account that the albums often feature several layers of voice, and you can't replicate him to sing multiple lines at a time, so even with that in mind I found the vocal performance excellent. It was nice to listen to the 'real voice' of Rygg, despite the more 'energetic' type of performance in comparison to the records. Also, I was glad to see him operating knobs and buttons and things, I got the impression that he played a Kaossilator or some other kind of device too. Other times he just played timpani, tambourine or gong.  Jørn H. Sværen took care of electronics as well as the beret guy with the turntable (who I suppose was Ole Aleksander Halstensgård), while Tore Ylwizaker played keys and sometimes grand piano with his Sinatra hat on top of his head. Also sometimes Daniel O'Sullivan appeared with his bass or guitar, or sitting on the grand piano that stood on the opposite side of the stage from where I was watching, the same which Ylwizaker used at the end of the show to play the beautifully shy notes of 'Not saved' while a young boy stared at the crowd from the projections screen, in a white image that contrasted with the dim lighted stage. In some songs, like 'Hallways of always' or the second part of 'Porn piece or the scars of cold kisses' I got an impression that they were just jamming until some signal by the beret guy or Garm, and then change to another part or well finish the song. Particularly, the interpretation of 'Hallways' was full of energy, with all the electronics, synthetic beats, two drummers, effects and the hell, it was some of the times when the stage vibrated more violently, in contrast to those moments where the whole place stared still to the almost silent music that came out of the theremin or the music made from piano, noises and glitches. Of particular interest also was the live version of 'In the red', surely a crazy tune and indeed a crazy experience to watch on stage, very well performed and complete with two different microphones, turntables, the two drums that seemed to be jamming but fitted very well... complete madness.  The visual part was full of old movies except for the last song which featured the clear image of the staring boy. The piano strings and spinning vinyl images on 'Like music' accompanied the music while the weird dances and peoples shown when 'In the red' sounded contributed to the mindfucking atmosphere. We saw also olimpic swimming and jumping, nazis, worried politicians and concentration camps or even hunting animals in the savanna. My companion thought (and I agree) that some visuals from 'Svidd Neger' would not have been out of place when they performed 'Rock massif', but they didn't put any. I have to praise also the lights set used for the show, which was carefully chosen for each song and resulted in a great ambience. A show full of contrasting, mad and calm, dark and light moments, all of them very intense and satisfactory. Intense for less than an hour and a quarter but all of us would wanted it to last forever. Sadly, after a little bit more than an hour of show, they appeared on stage again to face the crowd (now standing up in applause), and to share some hugs among themselves and then the Trickster told us that they had nothing more prepared to be performed ('We really don't have an encore', said Garm). Then we all left the place with kind of a pleasant bittersweet smile (in part because of the calm and solemn last song, 'Not saved', and in part for the end of the show and its short duration), and now wish for a professional video recording to remember that special night.  Tracklist: Little Blue Bird Rock Massif For The Love Of God Funebre Let The Children Go Porn Piece Or The Scars Of Cold Kisses Plates 16-17 In The Red Hallways Of Always Like Music Not Saved Photos courtesy of Furia contra la máquina Adryuu |
