Archive for July, 2014

Stavernfestivalen, Odderøya Live and Tysnesfest

Tysnesfest, 12 July 2014 (Picture by Jakob)

Tysnesfest, 12 July 2014
(Picture by Jakob)

Morten played 3 festivals in Norway this weekend, starting with Stavernfestivalen in Stavern on Thursday, Odderøya Live in Kristiansand on Friday and Tysnesfest in Tysnes yesterday.

Stavernfestivalen and Odderøya Live seem to have been shortened 13-song festivals sets, while at Tysnesfest (which I attended) Morten delivered a full 18-song set.

After a slightly reserved opening, Morten warmed up to the audience in Tysnes and gave a focused and solid performance.

The Danish-Swedish band has become really tight at this point. Vicky Singh brings his own signature to the guitar parts, and the brilliant bassist Lars Danielsson really seems to be enjoying playing these songs. a-ha veterans Per Lindvall and Christer Karlsson complete the lineup.

Tysnesfest (Picture by Jakob)

Tysnesfest
(Picture by Jakob)

Tysnesfest setlist
(with links to my YouTube videos):

1. Do You Remember Me?
2. Oh What A Night
3. Spanish Steps
4. End Of The Line
5. Darkspace
6. Did I Leave You Behind
7. Send Me An Angel
8. Movies
9. Lay Me Down Tonight
10. Shooting Star
11. Safe With Me
12. There Is A Place
13. Wild Seed
14. Los Angeles
15. Whispering Heart
16. Brother
17. A Kind Of Christmas Card
18. Let It Be Me (w/ Vicky Singh)

 
More pictures from Tysnesfest:

Festival reviews and articles:
VG   Dagbladet   Østlands-Posten   Bergens Tidende

London concert, July 7th

London, July 7th (Picture by Chris F)

London, July 7th
(Picture by Chris F)

Morten’s concert at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, rescheduled from May 16th, was held on Monday night.

The setlist and band seems to have been the same as in Paris.

Some YouTube videos:
Spanish Steps
Los Angeles
Lay Me Down Tonight
Movies
A Kind Of Christmas Card
Let It Be Me

Photos:
Getty Images

BTW, an additional concert in Russia has now been announced. Morten will be playing at the Lensoveta Palace of Culture in Saint Petersburg on October 18th.

Paris concert, July 5th

Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Lars Danielsson, Morten, Peter Kvint, Christer Karlsson and Vicky Singh

Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Lars Danielsson, Morten, Peter Kvint, Christer Karlsson and Vicky Singh
(Picture by Chris F. Click to enlarge.)

Morten was back at at l’Olympia in Paris last night, to play the first of nine concerts this month.

The Paris gig was originally going to take place on May 14th, but had to be rescheduled due to Morten’s sudden throat infection.

This time Karl Oluf Wennerberg was sitting in for Per Lindvall on the drums, while both Peter Kvint and Vicky Singh played guitar, which provided a rich sound.

The 18-song set was quite similar to the May concerts, but with “Send Me An Angel” and “Movies” replacing “When I Reached The Moon” and “Should The Rain Fall”.

These video clips from Paris have been posted online so far:
End Of The Line   Darkspace   There Is A Place    Brother

Photo gallery: caribou-photo.fr

Now Morten and the band are off to London tomorrow for another rescheduled gig, before it’s time for more Norwegian festivals, starting on Thursday. The Brother album is still doing really well in Norway, in fact it climbs up from #15 to #10 in its 12th week on the official album chart.

Morten in Musikkpraksis magazine

Musikkpraksis 3/2014

Musikkpraksis 3/2014

Morten appears on the cover of the current issue of Norwegian music magazine Musikkpraksis.

Inside there’s an 8-page article detailing the writing and recording process of the Brother album, featuring interviews with both Morten and producer Peter Kvint.

“We have built up this trust between us and have a really good collaboration going. There are creative sparks flying constantly and we always end up with something when we sit down to write. Often we’ll just sit there and jam, make melodies and just kind of float”, Peter Kvint tells the magazine.

The song they struggled the most with on the new album was “Safe With Me”, which Morten feels suffers somewhat from the production:

“That’s a very primal song, basic and simple, but also very distinct. So we had remove all the extra fluff and crap. Still we didn’t manage to remove enough crap, there are still things in there that disturb the pure nature of the song. But that’s OK, it’s not too bad. I’m at peace with it. (…) But that’s also one of the songs I like the most on the album. That one, “There Is A Place” and “Brother”. Those songs have the clearest identities.”

Morten is also honest about how Out Of My Hands and the collaboration with Steve Osborne didn’t end up exactly as planned:

“What happened was that Erik [Ljunggren] and I didn’t reach the level of contact that we really wanted with Steve Osborne. (…) Steve really has a lot to offer and is a very interesting musician and producer, but I didn’t feel that we managed to bring out the best in each other.”

Peter Kvint is asked about Morten’s abilities as a guitarist:

“I think he plays really great! Of course he doesn’t know guitar tabs and things like that, so there’s no use in suggesting ‘F major’, he he. It’s like he doesn’t want to learn those things, he wants his head to be clear – and that works for him. He likes things that are a little odd, unusual chord progressions for instance. He’ll often slip in a chord you wouldn’t have expected.”

The full article can be found in Musikkpraksis #3/2014, available now.

Moscow concert announced

Morten will return to Moscow on October 20th, to play a concert at Crocus City Hall, management announced today.

He played at the same venue on the Out Of My Hands tour in April 2012. No further Russian concerts have been announced yet.

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