Electric Wizard

OCTOBER, 19th 2000 at Doornroosje / Nijmegen, NL

With two good friends to this concert...it seems that it would be a very impressing and unforgetable evening. And it was!!! The Doornroosje is a nice club and the perfect place for a gig like this. Walter of ROADBURN was responsible for the DJ-ing and he played a lot of classical heavy Doom and some new stuff. He also supported both bands with the ROADBURN video-show. Before the concert started, he shows a lot of nice 70's movie clips. A good introduction and cool entertainment.

Then, SONS OF OTIS start with their mighty heavy spaced-out Bluesrock. This trio starts with two songs, which were new for me. This tracks continue the way the band took on "Templeball". Finest 70's heavy riffing and the rough and powerful vocals of Ken Baluke were making both songs to real winner. Ken's voice is awesome and when you hear it live, it's a killer. I think, about 80 people were hypnotized from this precise and powerful psychedelic heaviness. A music you can 'touch' ! Like a steamroller SONS OF OTIS rolled over the place. They performed songs from both records like "Diesel", the cover-version of MOUNTAIN's "Mississippi Queen" or "Window", just to mention a few. The band played again with a drummer, but he's like a phantom that sits most of the time in the dark, playin' like a clockwork. I was only a little bit disappointed, that OTIS didn't play any improvised or jamming parts within their songs.Maybe they weren't in the right mood to do it. After ca. 1 hour the band finished. Together with the ROADBURN show, it was an amazing gig.

After a short break ELECTRIC WIZARD entered the stage !!! And what should I say, OTIS were good but the WIZARD was purest sonic heaviness.I was amazed how tight the band played and they were total in their music. Fog crawled over the stage and time and space were lost. With such a music you don't need any substances...it opens your mind right away. And, beside that, it rocks. Bass and guitar were one big unit, a thick stream and when the band became very, very slow there is no chance to resist. They played songs from all records, except the first album. "Supercoven" , "Son of Nothing" , "Return Trip" or songs from the new album like "We Hate You" or "Dopethrone" were all performed very well. Like I expected, there is a lot of improvisation in an ELECTRIC WIZARD live-set. This isn't the band for people, who wants to hear live-songs like on the album.

It was very interesting, to see this band live. They played with a great intensity and absolutly effective. An album is like a cage for the WIZARD, now in the live performance he was spreading his merciless power. The ROADBURN video-show underlines the vibe of the WIZARD perfect. The powerful 'battledrums' of Mark Greening, the subsonic bass-waves of Tim Bagshaw and Jus Oborn, who plays a heavy and sonic guitar-style and throws sometimes a little bit of singing into the songs. The whole gig ended with a really long long improvisation, that was maybe the heaviest Space Rock song ever performed on Earth. And it wasn't boring !!! After, I don't know, 2, 5 or 8 hours (haha!) the show ended and the audience was really satisfied. I was still speechless, overwhelmed and lucky to be part of this event. With a big smile we left the Doornroosje in the night. Only a few of this concerts, where everything was perfect. Two outstanding bands, presented in a very good live-mix and the engagement and the good music of Walter was the reason for it. Thanks a lot! I'm still in my Doom-mentia.

(KK)

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