Kula Shaker – 21st February 2016 (Paradiso – Amsterdam)

After nearly six years without any news of British Kula Shaker, this 2016 they surprised us with the release of K2.0, a reinterpretation 2 decades later of the album that gave them fame. To mark the presentation of the album, the room Paradiso in Amsterdam received them nine years after their last performance in the Dutch capital, and on the basis of the great amount of audience that were at the room, the expectation was high. It is surprising that a band that in the mid-90 remained at the wrongly called second step of brit movement (as Ocean Colour Scene, The Blue Tones or Marion), currently enjoying greater recognition by the public of the one they had at the time of greatest splendor..

With a delay of about 30 minutes of schedule due to problems of sound, the band came to light to stage wrapped in a suffocating smell of incense sticks caused by typical neo Hippie shops with which they attempt to create the right atmosphere for their proposal.. However, the start of the concert was somewhat slow and also with small problems of synchronization between the band members, which showed even more vocal problems that Crispian Mills dragged and made they to cancel the concert the day before in Paris. Should be the fourth song of the show, the powerfull "Grateful When You're Dead / Jerry Was There", the one that would give the real green light to the start of the concert, creating a conducive enviroment to the concatenation of "Temple of Everlasting Light" with two themes of the new revision as "Infinite Sun" and "33 Crows", which sounded much better in their proposal live than in physical form, probably due to the increased presence of the wah wah effect wah wah on lead guitar.

Again boredom takes over much of the room when some minor songs from their discography sounded, until surprisingly the only two songs from their latest album Pilgrim's Progress appeared on the setlist, creating with its immediacy and perfect blend of guitar and keyboards a favorable atmosphere that no longer disappear until the end of the concert. The return to the origins, in this case represented by LP Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts and their themes "Mystical Machine Gun" and "108 Battles (Of the Mind)" served for personal brilliance of Crispian Mills on the guitar, showing that as soon as the band fuse psychedelia of Grateful Dead with their Hindu influences it is when they connect with harder their fans.

Proof of this were the last five songs from their repertoire, with "Hash" triggering the madness as an absolute hit at the end of the concert, and also with "Hey Dude" and "Great Hosannah" as perfect prelude of the messianic "Govinda" where the sound was perfect as a band, highlighting the synchronization between the slide effect on Mills' guitar and organ and keyboards of Harry Broadbent. Therefore gig with two clear distinct parts, where surprised the good reception of recent songs despite the criticism when the album was released and where the criticized immobility of the band proved to be a favorable factor to a legion of followers that yearn for better times, either of the brit 90s or 70s psychedelia.