Monster Magnet Powertrip Tour Leeds Uni Stylus 23 January 2020

Monster Magnet Powertrip A CelebrationTour at Leeds Uni Stylus 23 January 2020 with support from Those Damn Crows.

Legendary rockers Monster Magnet ‘Powertrip A Celebration’ Tour arrived in town today to celebrate the 21st birthday of the album Powertrip, released in June 1998. Monster Magnet lead by space lord himself Dave Wyndorf; promises an evening of celebration and much more as they play the Powertrip album in full. Bringing with them support band Those Damn Crows.

Those Damn Crows

Welsh rockers Those Damn Crows have bagged themself a slice of celebration pie as they join Monster Magnet on their UK tour, granted its only three dates but its great exposure for the upcoming band to gain a wider audience. The first time I saw this band was supporting the Quireboys in 2018 and they’ve come a long way since then. With an upcoming headline tour in February to promote their soon to be released 2nd album Point Of No Return.

Here’s what Steve Tottle of PlanetMosh had to say:

The honour of getting things going tonight falls to a band that is making quite a name for themselves on the circuit – Bridgend’s THOSE DAMN CROWS. Having only heard of them this week, I was not sure what to expect. What we get is a young band delivering a set of quality hard rock songs. Their enthusiasm soon gets the crowd bobbing along merrily.

Singer Shane Greenhall addresses us all three songs in – “Can you lot understand me? I’m so fucking Welsh, I am!!” – obviously having fun, this infectious good nature soon wins the Leeds hordes over. Shane takes to a walkabout that has him up at the back of the balcony getting us all to sing “rock and roll’s not dead”, before returning to the stage to take a seat behind a piano for the last couple of songs. The rest of the band go offstage during the last song, leaving just Shane and his piano skills, before rejoining for a rousing finale.

These guys are a fine tightly honed unit and show a lot of promise for the future. Don’t hesitate to go see these guys play headline dates in support of their new album in February!

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/thosedamncrows/

http://thosedamncrows.com/

Monster Magnet

Back in June of 1998, Dave Wyndorf and his band Monster Magnet released their most revered and fourth album Powertrip. Hailing from Red Brick, New Jersey the band has had its share of powertrips, fallouts, reunions, ups and downs. So tonight it’s a great pleasure to hear them play Powertrip in full. Well almost. Not to keep things straight up the band mixed around with the song order to deliver 10 smashing tracks, my standout songs were See You in Hell, Space Lord, and Look To Your Orb.

With uplighting giving singer and guitarist Wyndorf an eerie appearance, it reminded of the scene from Wayne’s World see here for a nostalgic flashback. The dark downlighting really set the mood for opening track Atomic Clock.

Here’s what Steve Tottle of PlanetMosh had to say:

The venue has really filled up now in anticipation of King Dave and his merry band of Monster-men. Entering the stage to a thundering intro of Atomic Clock and rapturous applause. Dave throws us the horns and is beaming from ear to ear. The band is ready to party as they launch into Tractor.

Dave asks us ‘if we are alright’ and have we all ‘taken our medication’. Looks like he doesn’t miss his old self medicating days; as he and the band are on fine form. Temple of Your Dreams quickly rolls into a Third Eye Landslide as the Powertrip playthrough rocks on.

Next up are the two gentlest tracks off the album See You in Hell and Baby Gotterdamerung both sounding superb in the live setting. After a rousing version of Bummer, it is time for the two songs that everyone, including me, is ready to go wild for.

And so we set off on a Powertrip to find the Spacelord. It sounds like everyone knows the words and is singing along.

The title track Powertrip ends with Dave and guitarist Garret Sweeney cranking up lots of fuzz, wahs, and feedback from their guitars; before an extended intro to Spacelord ensues. The crowd are all loving it, flipping the bird to the ‘rules and establishment’ and raising their horns to the Gods of rock and roll!

There are more voices singing the word “Motherfucker” than at a Pulp Fiction script recital convention, as we all bounce around like maniacs to this obvious favourite.

So, that was Powertrip. Not the entire album, but 10 of the best tracks, and we are not disappointed. The band leave the stage for a well-earned breather, and Leeds shout for more.

After a few minutes, the band return for a four-song encore of other crowd favourites from two other albums – Dopes to Infinity and Monolithic Baby.

And finally to quote Deadpool on the best superhero name ever ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead’. A lively quartet to finish off the night.

Well, it has been 22 years since I last saw Monster Magnet live and ironically enough on the original Powertrip tour. This time around, I think they were better. The musicianship was spot on. The band all looked like they were in a good place, and King Dave ruled in his own indomitable style.

Setlist:

Atomic Clock. Tractor. Crop Circle. Temple of Your Dreams. Third Eye Landslide. See You in Hell. Baby Gotterdamerung. Bummer. Powertrip. Spacelord. Encore: Dopes to Infinity. The Right Stuff. Look to Your Orb. Negasonic.