Torsdag, 7 mai 2026
A crowd gathered at John Dee to see the master, to hear the string machine. For a little over an hour and a half, Bjørn Berge held the audience in the vice-like grip of his two hands while he wrenched and coaxed music out of his guitar and drove the rhythm with an exquisite combination of his stamping foot and the cadence of his thumb on his detuned bass string.
Although it was the release concert for his new “Morphine” record, a tribute and re-interpretation of some of the band’s best work, he included other covers and a few songs of his own. More than that, he also included more of Morphine’s work than he had chosen for the record. The set was dynamic, with carefully managed changes of pace and light and shade, from the gentle introduction of “Early To Bed” to the energetic “Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer”. The voices in Morphine’s songs are personal interior monologues taken from gritty, urban settings. Berge brought these to life, investing them with personality through the uncompromising tone of his voice, the harsh delivery and also with eye contact, keeping in touch with the audience, raising his eyebrows suggestively in “Potion” or slipping into his local dialect and grinning in “You Speak My Language”. Every piece was delivered with care and authority, with utmost respect and commitment but also with energy.
Beyond the musical sensitivity of the performance, there was great technical ability on display as well. “Trains” was dazzling in pace, “Buena” gave full voice to his slide guitar technique. His ability to keep time, to split his right hand and also drop in and out of rhythm and lead with his left was on display in nearly every number. For pieces that needed more accompaniment, he made sparing and clever use of a loop box to capture motifs to play against, but he didn’t need it all the time. He was already a one-man band without the electronics. The longest piece in the set was “You Look Like Rain”, and here he took the time to expand his musical expression, filling out the song with lyrical obligato work but also making full use of the effects available with the abrasive quality of the slide and his finger pick on the ridges of the lower strings. First rate stuff. This, and the earlier “All Wrong”, got the biggest response from the audience. Otherwise, the highlight had to be the dripping, sinister menace of “Whisper”, another bonus Morphine track, with its clever use of unusual tunings and special guitar effects.
The encore was “Black Jesus” by Everlast and a single off the new record “Eleven O’Clock”. Berge amusingly swapped the lyric out – instead of singing “Every night about Eleven O’Clock I go out”, he said “I go to bed”. He had joked when he came back out: “Sorry, it’s just me”, and then thinking of Saturday Night Live, he said “Hello, I’m Bjørn Berge and you’re not” – well, no-one else is. An excellent performance of well chosen, well ordered, and beautifully rendered tracks, and all just from one man, his voice and his guitar. Simply wonderful. 5/6
Text: Alex Maines
Photography: Anne-Marie Forker
