Woven Hand in Bern (CH), 07. December 2008
thanks Hanspeter and Alex
























































































































































































Setlist by Alex:

1. Kicking Bird
2. Beautiful Axe
3. The Speaking Hands
4. Splinters
5. Tin Finger
6. Poor Mouth
7. Whistling Girl (DEE solo)
8. Cohawkin Road
9. Horsetail
10. Kingdom Of Ice
11. Not One Stone
12. Horse Head Fiddle
13. Winter Shaker

===============================
14. As I Went Out One Morning (Bob Dylan Cover) (DEE and Ordy)
15. American Wheeze
16. Deerskin Doll



Review by Alex:

CONCERT REVIEW
Woven Hand (Bern, ISC Club, 07.12.2008)


After the Vienna show, which was – apart form the “audience” - really an excellent one, I headed to my final “Ten Stones” live experience to Bern in Switzerland. I arrived the day before the show so I had enough time for some sightseeing. Bern is a beautiful city – especially the older part of the town is amazing.

Before I started my sightseeing tour I looked for the location “ISC Club” which was not really easy to find. It’s hidden behind an autonomous area which is called “Reitschule”, the club itself is located in an university building. I saw only one Woven Hand poster by going through the city for some hours, so I was curious how many people will find their way to the show. As David played here for many times (with 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand) I was sure, that the concert will be well attended.

As the doors were opened at 8 o’clock I was waiting 15 minutes before outside of the venue with some other fans. When I entered the location I headed the stairs above to the so called concert room. But this was really very small but at the right hand there was a curtain and so I thought to myself “behind this, there will be the hall”. So I lifted the curtain a little bit and saw directly behind it the “stage”. A very tiny one which was only knee-high! So I fetched myself a beer and waited for the support act Birch Book again. As I heard about the last concerts, B’ee aka B’eirth played the last shows (Utrecht and Leuven) with Ordy on the drums! So I was very looking forward to see this and as the curtain was opened he was sitting behind the drums, gave me a little wave and then Birch Book (with one guitar player) started his wonderful set. It was magic again and luckily the audience was very quiet during the show so this was really an amazing performance. Especially the final song (“The Trip goes on”), in which Ordy played a little bit louder, was simply unbelievable! Then the curtain was closed again and the club get more and more crowded. I had my place in front of Pascal this time and so me and a lot of fans were waiting for Woven Hand approximately 15 minutes. During this time a girl asked me if I have seen Woven Hand live before. So I have to laugh a little bit and so I told her my live experiences. She was very curious and nervous, because it was her first Woven Hand show. I said: “Just wait and see – you won’t trust your eyes and ears, bu you can trust me.” Then a drowning filled the room and the curtains fell for Woven Hand – the band was already on stage and so they started directly with “Kicking Bird”. As the last note was played, the people cheered and applauded very loudly – so they loved the hard and heavy performance like me. “The Beautiful Axe” was next, followed by “The Speaking Hands”, which was a personal highlight again. This one caught everybody and after the song the people went really nuts. Then the first riffs of “Splinters” gave me the creeps again. After that David had some technical problems with his amplifier. So it was the first time for me hearing him saying the F-Word. After two or three minutes he handled the problem and it seemed that he worked off some anger in an unbelievable hard and heavy version of “Tin Finger”. Some vocal improvisations on “Into the Piano” followed before the big surprise came next: “Poormouth”! I really didn’t trust my ears – one of my personal 16 Horsepower favorite was played live! With wet eyes I enjoyed this wonderful song. So it was no surprise that the audience went crazy again after the song was finished. While the people cheered loudly, Ordy, Pascal and Peter left the stage and David gave an amazing solo performance of “Whistling Girl”. After that the boys returned to their instruments for “Cohawkin Road” and “Horsetail”. Again David made a lot of gestures during the songs and after that he fetched his banjola again. While tuning it, somebody shouted “Sinnerman”. David’s answer: “I don’t know this song.” Nearly everybody laughed and then “Kingdom of Ice” hit the audience with full force. Another heavy version of “Not one Stone” followed and it was such an enjoyment to see the band playing this gorgeous song live again. “Horse Head Fiddle” with a lot of improvisations took us the breath away – it’s simply unbelievable which sounds they created again. And with a rocking “Winter Shaker” the regular set was closed. Some Indian chants supplied the encore break before Ordy and David played the Bob Dylan Cover “As I went out one Morning”. After this beauty David fetched the bandoneon and you can imagine what happened next: The people went nuts again and a lot of them sang some lines to the unbelievable “American Wheeze”. And with “Deerskin Doll” a heavy final chord was set. Unfortunately they didn’t play “Dirty Blue” and “Your Russia” but therefore “Poormouth” was much more than a consolation.

After the show I asked the girl next to me, who has her first Woven Hand live experience, what she was thinking now. She shaked her head and answered luckily and with a big smile. “Unbelievable”! Then I met Hanspeter from Bern and Millie from France. It was quite fun again to meet people in real life, who I only knew from the internet. I was standing on the stairs watching the scenery, as the guitar player from Birch Book asked: “And did you enjoy the show?” As I had my Birch Book shirt on I do bet he was curious about my opinion. So we talked for approximately 15 minutes about Birch Book, his musical background and the touring so far. Finally Dean (he is from Manchester) signed some Birch Book covers for me and before he had to leave Hanspeter was so nice and shot a picture of me and Dean – many thanks again!

Then I met Ordy and Peter for a short “Hello” and after that I left the club. As I headed to the hotel I passed the tour bus where some people loaded all the instruments and gear. As Dean told me they left tonight and drive through the night to Lausanne, where the next stop was scheduled. But no more shows for me – five times is enough! And I’ve also to spare some money for the next tour in 2009 – see you there again!” (Melomane)






home