WUHA!, Blå
Location:
Blå, Oslo
Lineup:
Farout Fishing, Zensor, El Caco
Duration:
31 minutes
Audience:
300 (+)
Setlist:
Nothing
Epikris
Intimat
Wither
Saliroman
Stasis
A new venue for us, Blå, with all the anticipation and scepticism an empty concrete hall can generate during sound check. Other peculiar aspects included the roomy schedule from playing close to home and resources, but most importantly, that this concert as part of the WUHA! festival - a band-aid for Ethiopia and Eritrea. On 30 venues round Oslo, 60 artists performed freely - including the three bands on sold out Blå's extended stage this night.
When Zensor started playing concerts we originally decided to avoid arrangements that were political in any way. But when the offer came to support this amazing project it seemed stupid to say no, and we reformulated the paragraph to allow engagement on a private, personal basis - Meaning that we could well allow ourselves this one, since we each and all felt our conscience demanded it. I'm not sure if everyone knows, but the amount of sacrifice Simen Joner and Kjetil Bjørke, the two main catalysts behind this festival, has put into it is just unbelievable. Their efforts alone prooved reason enough to've said yes, although our consent was given while the idea was just a loose sketch and heaps of determination.
Besides, we got to be the first “extreme” metal band to play at this highly credited venue in Oslo. We decided early on to do a short but effective set. All three bands this evening was quite massive, and playing an hours worth of material probably would have exhausted the audience, especially the new faces bound to be there, in addition to straining the time schemes and volunteer workers. It's not that we didn't want to play longer though - as felt strongly after the set was through.
Soundcheck was a mixed pleasure. The sound on stage was far from perfect but that's something we'd better get used to regarding festivals and touring. Still we were a bit tense as to how it would sound with people filling in the empties. Afterwards we had to rush to an Ethiopian café for the free meal. The taste of the food was a pretty much ok, but the concistency was like nothing experienced before. We were instructed to share plates and eat with our fingers, for that full ethnic immersion. Obliging to do so, this reminded us perhaps a bit of the recording sessions for “Subsistant”. But it was a cool thing to get a chance to taste their food and eat it in this traditional way.
We went onstage at 23pm and the venue was completely sold out, with people still in line outside and a temperature onstage close to unbearable. This all inspired us to play perhaps a harder and aggressive set, allthough a bit restrained with regards to stage movement and sound levels. Steinar was rather exhausted from the previous nights of video-editing, and remained half in daze. The resonant sounds from the soundcheck was as good as gone. The monitors seemed to turn on an off by themselves, but at least the portastudio behaved this time, adding to the noise in "Wither".
The crowd response was fantastic - if unusual - all the way, and we can barely wait for our next concert in Oslo. After the show everyone of us were happy, for once, and stayed to watch El Caco and relax with easy talk, chainsaws and beer.
Thanks as always to our technicians, Mads and Martin, in control as ever, and the resident light enthusiast, having buildt a rig just for this occasion, that in its simplicity held a lot more than was comfortable to those not bringing sunglasses. Also thanks to Farout Fishing for splitting their backline with us, and the many new faces in the audience who opted to hear something different. Hope to see you all again next time.
WUHA: www.wuha.no
Dugnad 2004: www.dugnad2004.no