SPIDERGAWD – Oslo – Rockefeller

First (and last) time I saw Spidergawd live was at Tilburg last year, on the small stage of Het Patronaat (a church turned into a concert venue). I was really surprised by then that the venue got so packed and the reaction was so fantastic that I was really looking forward for their Oslo performance, even if the concert day was a Wednesday. At Rockefeller. And I was worried it might be an empty venue, but luckily, by the end of the evening, I was proven wrong and the recent Spidergawd tour through Europe has surely sent their name climbing up some well deserved rankings.

But, first thing first, support act by the name of Frances Wave were baptised Frances Wave and Kapstad’s drumkit, due the fact that the beautiful white kit was strategically placed in front/middle of the stage, splitting the 5 pieces band in two and having some of the members forced to play ‘in the background’. This was probably the biggest minus of the concert as the 5 young guys seemed to really want to go more crazy on stage, but they just didn’t have the space so they had to let the music do the talking. Which started kinda softly but by the end of the show I was pleasantly surprised by the ingeniousity of their compositions and the amount of sounds and instruments they managed to gather together and mix in their blend of pure good old rock sound and modern/indie experiments with all sorts of flavors. Afterall, you have two guitarists who occasionally split to playing each their own keyboards and quite inspired riffs compositions. They’re certainly a young band worth keeping an eye on especially since they seem to be working on new material now.

Changeover break and the Rockefeller downstairs area gets quite full, making it a nice surprise even for Spidergawd members who thanked several times to everyone who bothered to show up on a Wednesday. But the biggest thanks were gived through the performacne itself, since things kinda went from mad to insane within each song they performed. There were two lineup changes compared to what I saw at Roadburn: bass was now performed by Bassist Hallvard Gaardløs (Orango) took over Motorpsycho’s Bent Sæther place and there was also Roar Øien on lap steel guitar. And I loved this addition since the melodic and metalic sounds of the steel guitar made such a nice spice over the sax and regular guitar.

The band has a recent release, Spidergawd III and they started with songs from this album, received ok by the crowd – some did jump and headbang from one end to another of the concert. But nothing compares to the euphoria of familiar riffs that came in later during the concert, when older songs were performed. But be it old or new, the inspirations from the 70s rock felt extremely refreshing and the ears were nicely treated with groovy riffs and an insane drum playing by Kenneth Kapstad. Even when one of the pedals gave up he managed to find a very uncomfortable position in which he could compensate from the hi-hat side of the drums, yet still delivering with full enthusiasm and intensity. A big thanks went afterwards to the sound guy and drum engineer who quickly climbed on stage and fixed the issue so Kapstad didn’t have to end up breaking his back to perform the rest of the concert like that.

All evening long there was a fantastic level of energy coming from the stage and while the overall soundline surely sent people back in time, it surely proved that with talent and inspiration one can do so much more when it comes to reviving old sounds and mixing them in a very natural and modern fashion. And on top of that add the musician’s good mood and continous smiles and you have the perfect treat for a gloomy wintery Wednesday evening.