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author: Serge Defraene

Ed Mundell gig at Sojo, April 16th

CONCERT REVIEW

Mindblowing stuff at JH Sojo (Leuven / Belgium) yesterday, that’s for sure ! For their final stoner-session at that location the people at Orange Factory couldn’t have booked a more appropriate bunch of musicians. The evening started out in a very relaxed way with an acoustic set by Ed Mundell. Great versions of Monster Magnet songs such as "Look to your orb" / "Dopes to infinity" and more varied with some of Ed’s own songs and Atomic Bitchwax’s The Formula … awesome stuff !
Next Ed Mundell invited some friends on stage for what turned out to be the greatest psychedelic jam-session I ever heard. The entire Hypnos 69 lineup including their sax player and Ed Mundell on guitars … you can’t go wrong with that. They started out with a swirling version of Pink Floyd’s “Set the controls for the heart of the sun” and continued the set with a never ending psychedelic (and at the same time heavy as fuck) session featuring top level musicianship which can only be achieved by years and years of experience. Imagine "Tab" on high quality acid multiplied by ten ... go figure ! The guitar duels between Ed and Steve Houtmeyers were simply unbelievable, the Hypnos 69 rhythm section was as good as it can get and the sax player added the excellent finishing touch to the whole thing.

April 16th 2005 was a great day for rock and those who weren’t there will never understand. Definitely cool to see Ed feeling relaxed and “at home” in his new homeland with his girlfriend Tamara. The guy is full of plans both with Magnet and with his own projects so expect lots of all kinds of stuff featuring one of the best guitar-players in today’s rock scene. I heard rumours about an upcoming clubtour featuring fine folks such as Duane Hutter (Black Nasa), Bob Pantella (Monster Magnet) and Ed himself … GREAT! All in all a fantastic farewell to the stoner-sessions @ JH Sojo (thanks to the fucking neighborhood who couldn’t appreciate great music after 10 p.m., to hell with them!). Lucky enough Orange Factory found a couple of other places in the surroundings who will host the sessions ‘till they found themselves a new permanent place.
Over and out ….

Serge
www.monstermagnet.net
www.monstermagnet.be
www.cowboysandaliens.org