This was the first of two nights this most legendary of Swedish bands played at Cafe Oto and was the band's first show for 18 months that was to promote the new Djungelns Lag/Mors Mors/Kom Tillsammans box set that came out earlier in the year on Anthology recordings https://tradgrasochstenar.bandcamp.com/ It's also 6 years since they last played in London at the Luminaire and sadly since then two of the bands founder members have died of old age, making this an even rarer opportunity not to be missed.
When they came on the two older members Jakob Sjoholm whose the last remaining original member and Sigge Krantz started things off by what at first seemed like they were tuning up and as the two younger members joined in very slowly they faded in to the first song a very slow dirge like piece with some very trippy bass as it built and built until the sound was enveloping the room and after what seemed like eons but was probably 15 to 20 minutes the vocals finally came in with some interesting harmonies and they sounded quite angry, but my Swedish is nowhere near good enough to know what they were singing about.
The second song was another long slow build into a psyche rock monster of a tune with a serious groove underpinning it and making it impossible to sit still as the music transported me to the middle of a forest somewhere sitting among the pine trees drifting off. Even if it might have been about The Railway Engine of the people in Irresistible motion but I'm not guessing at the song titles too much here.
The third song took things further out and seemed to be played a tiny bit quicker so that the song was only about 10 minutes long full of mind melting psychedelic guitars and spectral and at times rather gentle drumming. They then played a nice version of Hemlossa Katter or homeless cats if you prefer the English that grooved and grooved while the imagined travails of the homeless cats unfolded in the Swedish lyrics that added another layer of texture to the sound for me.
They dedicated Nar Drommen Var Som Vackrast or the Most Beautiful Moment Of The dream to the bands departed member Torbjorn Abelli and it was the most incredible sonic flight into the cosmos of Psyche rock abstraction and pulsating miasma of sound a great sonic adventure.
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Then they did there cover of the Teddybears big Euro hit Punkrocker the most famous version of which has Iggy Pop on vocals, Trad Gras Och Stenar slow the song down and add a hint of menace to it with the very slow deliberate vocals and restrained and yet freaking out guitars that really started to get bolder and bolder as the song went on. If you're wondering how a bunch of old hippies can claim to be punks they were at the very beginning of the Do it yourself movement that so inspired the punks, in as much as putting on their own shows and making their own posters and records which makes them true punks.
They then finished with what they described as the bands only hit which I assumed was Sanningens Silverflod that was a slow building freakout beat monster of a psyche tune and sounded just incredible with lots of twists and turns before they eventually came crashing to a stop and thanked us all for showing up to see them and then the crowd went nuts for an encore.
Yes against the bands better nature they decided to give in and play an encore and after a bit of arguing amongst themselves decided to play a "short version" of Sommarlaten one of the bands best known tunes it was one last monster freakout with a good slow build to it and just as it seemed to be really getting going and they were into the main riff they brought things to a close I think the encore had lasted over 15 minutes which isn't bad for a short version.
This was a great 2 hour show and in the unlikely event that they are playing anywhere near you Trad Gras Och Stenar are still one of the most out there Swedish psychedelic experiences you could ever treat your ears too catch them live if you can and yes they are like the A team in that respect, if you can find them and afford the fee they will come and entertain you.
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