Tribute
Location:
Tribute, Sandnes
Lineup:
Zensor
Duration:
60 minutes
Audience:
30
Setlist:
Nothing
Sick Puppy
Strict
Wither
Intimat
I wish
Epikris
Residuum
Anaemic
Stasis
Saliroman
We meet at HQ at 08:00, most of us. Glenn arrives last and receives the Zensor Golden Watch Award for heaviest sleeper. We pack the car, pick up Mads at Rockefeller 11:00, and have to do it over again to fit his rig in with the rest. The ride is crowded but cozy, as usual - with all the necessary junk food and coffee stops.
This is our first gig in in a long while, down south, no people country. We arrive late, but unloading, rigging and soundcheck is all done in 25 minutes. We settle in the curtain backstage, produce the last merchandize and stagewear, and start out for food. The town is deserted, which is normal, we are told, on a thursday night. Picking the nearest empty kitchen, we loose a few nothces of stamina to fry pan grease before returning.
Tension is still up high when we return - The new songs, the long time span since last performance, and finally, how big a crowd will be attending, the answer to which is dismal. A very select crowd gets to witness a stripped down, crowded band, visibly uncomfortable by the lack of lights and faces.
As the speakers fire, we find ourselves wrongly scaled and embarrasingly coldly programmed in front of this audience. It's Godzilla trying to be meek, or at least avoiding the china, and the usual distance is found suppressive. Following policy, we plough on as planned, noting the most insistant adjustments for later.
Glenn has to punish his guitar effects box which acts up during I Wish. Patricks piano samples at Wither comes off amazingly loud. We pause too long between each song, tuning and shuffling tapes and keyboards. Martin is missed badly on lighting, which is scarce and lousy timed - And somehow the tunes themselves plays off close to ok. The new material blends in nicely among the old slugs and drones, and ads more space to the project. Anaemic reels out as possibly the best fit this time, but we're too stressed to notice while in the act.
What turns out to be the best part of this night is the aftermath, backstage and at the hotel, where we dissect our performance and strategy, and come up with a few crucial paragraphs that turns the lingering self-loathing into a renewed sense of urgency and prime tribal community. This shines through the next morning as determination to return to Tribute in the near future. On a saturday, though.