riddle

Ok, this entry needs to be brought up to date, as I'm not trusting my mobile battery enough to key it manually in right now.

the time is 2030, I'm in a large tent in Ã…ndalsnes, expensive beer in hand at my employer's expense, due to Telenor sponsoring this trip for its best people of July. It's been hard leaving Callie behind, but I felt it would be most prudent of me to accept the invitation in order to consolidate my new position and get to know my colleagues a little better. It's a party trip to Raumarock, a very local music festival. And I have to admit that a weighty factor for me going was that I really wished to see GÃ¥te play live.

and now I have just done so. Any details on the trip and the partying itself will have to wait, as I'm writing this in an effort to put words to my feelings in the wake of this gig.

riddle, continued

Where to start... Okay, the start seems like a good place. When they went on stage they got the best reception from the relatively sparse audience that any band has gotten this far into the festival. Unsurprisingly the guitar player, Magnus Robot got the bulk of the attention from the youngest segment of the female crowd members, pretty-boy Goth that he is. =)

But then they began playing. And the tears which I felt pressing on at the end of their 1st song came welling out as soon as I had sent a few SMSes to friends. It was absolutely moving. The distance from their sound on records to their performance live is astounding, and their stage presence is nothing short of unique. The supremely charismatic trinity of frontpersons guided me for some minutes into a parallel, mythical world.

riddle, still continued

Violinist & band leader Sveinung plays the protagonist of the tale, the knight errant or the Ashlad. Vocalist Gunhild assumes consecutively the roles of chaste maiden, a beguiling seductress, and a mysterious huldre. And Magnus of course must be the goblin with all his mischievious antics and his puckish countenance (hair dyed blue-to-lilac and lip spikes like our Steph). Together they present something which simply has to be experienced. They play witful gags on one another and the audience in one moment, them launching an assault of emotions onto us. It's downright heartwrenching.

although the set did have its weaker points, the band's energy and visual joy more than made up for it. And the sheer variety of their musical influences from folk tunes to metal, perhaps best felt in their true epics like Margit Hjukse -sublime.

riddle, last part

Yes, it was unforgettable. As the last rays of the sun setting behind the steep, trollish mist-encircled mountains bid the band goodbye they played the last number, a bridal march from Jämtland. And I wept again. Best gig I've been to since Kari.

addendum:
As I'm typing this in during our journey back, I must say a few more things than I have written on the pencilled sheet of paper in my lap. I sought out the band members after Briskeby had played their last song. Magnus told me that when he accidentally lost his Gibson on the stage floor during his wild flailing, despite it appearing as if it were glued to him, he got very worried since it was a Robotcaster, a signature custom build especially for him. But it did survive.=)

And later I had the privilege of tipping Sveinung to Famntak.

np: Gluecifer from stage