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14/05: MORE GIGSCHRIS THOMPSON/MADS ERIKSEN BAND AT SKÅNEVIK BLUES FESTIVALChris Thompson will perform with Mads Eriksen Band at the Skånevik Blues Festival on July 7. The Skånevik Festival is one of the biggest of it's kind in Norway, and over the last couple of years artists and bands like ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, Gary Moore, Foreigner and Alice Cooper have played there. Other artists this year include Thin Lizzy and Beth Hart. May 19: Chris Thompson/MEB at Europa Park, Rust (GER) 12/03: GIGSMADAM FELLE GIGS MOVED; GERMAN DATES COMING INThe annual gigs with Chris Thompson and Mads Eriksen Band at Madam Felle's in Bergen had to be moved from May 4/5 as announced earlier, to June 1 and 2. Quite a few German gigs are confirmed up until late October - it means that Mads can stop worrying about how to celebrate his birthday this year, it will be business as usual with Chris and the boys on stage at the Empore in the charming city of Buchholz. The Rolling Clones, who will celebrate their 30th anniversay this year, are booked in at Madam Felle's on March 23 and 24. May 6: Euro Speedway Lausitz, Klettwitz (GER) 11/03: BUYING/DOWNLOADING MUSICJust a reminder; Mads' music is available on amazon.com, iTunes and Spotify. If you prefer CD's you can get them at cdon.com, (EU) or email: hg@musikkoperatorene.no (outside EU).03/02: DESTROYER ON VIDEO!Here is a brand new video of Destroyer, the opening track from Mads' critically acclaimed album "Just What The World Needs". The video is filmed and produced by Audun Hasti.01/02: NEW GIGSFebruary 10/11 : The Rolling Clones, Rick's, Bergen (N)March 14: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Olsen Bar og Restaurant, Oslo (N) May 4/5: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Madam Felle's, Bergen (N) September 1: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Marokkofestivalen, Kristiansund (N) Look out for details on German tours in April and October with CT/MEB!! 31/12: NEW YEARGREETINGS FROM MADSJust wanted to say thanks to everybody who has followed my site this year and and big thank you to all of you who listen to my music and come to our shows. I'm happy to say that 2011 has been another busy year for me. It seems fitting that we will be rounding up the year with Chris Thompson in Berlin on New Year Eve, we've done 45 gigs together this year and have done two tours as well as festivals and corporate shows in Germany and the German audiences have been really wonderful to us. The year started a bit difficult - we recorded our show in Aschaffenburg on January 18 for DVD production, but due to technical failure only 7 tracks were usable. They ended up on the album CHRIS THOMPSON - LIVE IN BERLIN together with a double CD recorded at Radio Berlin's facilities in April. The recordings from Berlin are totally unhampered with, it is completely live - what happened that night is what you hear (even my glorious mistake on the riff after the solo on Mighty Quinn was left in, creating a "jazzy" vibe.. I hope). We also had 7 shows with the N3 project, where I have the pleasure of sharing the stage with two of my favourite guitarists Terje Rypdal and Ronnie Le Tekrõ. We managed to do a couple of shows with Mad&Hungry at Madam Felle's in Bergen, which is always a pleasure - we hope to be able to start working on a new album soon. Speaking of Madam Felle's, I'm very pleased to see that they keep on going, even if there was talk about closing down last year. MF has become our "home ground", all the projects I'm involved with play there regularly and we just had two sold-out dates there on November 11 and 12 with The Rolling Clones, that have kept on rolling throughout the year. A personal highlight for me was course that my album Just What The World Needs was selected as Album Of The Month and got a five-stars-out-of-five review in the January 2012 edition of the Guitar Techniques Magasine. Hopefully, 2012 will be busy to - plans at this stage involve German tours with Chris T in April and October as well as festivals in the summer, gigs with N3, hopefully starting on an new album with Mad&Hungry and a 30-year anniversary party for The Rolling Clones!! Hope to bring solid details very soon. A big thank you to my musician mates Chris, Frank, Gunnar, Steinar, Zsolt, Terje, Ronnie, Paolo, Hungry John, Bård, Pytten, Beinet, Bøggen, Ronny, Hans and Mykle for all the good times this year. Thanks also to Tomas Hovland, our sound engineer in Norway, Graeme and Andreas (our crew in Germany), Pål, Lars and Jann (N3 crew) Joe Casella and my good friend and personal manager Stig Nedreberg - as well as my helpers on the web, Stein Høgseth and Linda Lossius Iversen. CHRIS THOMPSON LIVE IN BERLIN WITH MADS ERIKSEN BAND ON NEW YEARS EVE!! Chris Thomspon will perform live backed by Mads Eriksen Band on New Years Eve at the RBB (radioBERLIN) stage at Strasse des 17. juni in Berlin. The "Jahreswechsel" celebration in Berlin is one of the biggest events of it's kind in the world, and around 1 million is expected to take the streets that night. CT/ MEB will start playing at 10:30 pm. 23/12 2011: HAPPY CHRISTMAS!A great Christmas to all of you! Thanks to everybody who has posted nice comments about the Guitar Techniques review.01/12 2011: ALBUM OF THE MONTHJust what the world needs has been elected ALBUM OF THE MONTH in "Guitar Techniques Magazine", the biggest guitarmagazine in Europe. The album was rated 5 out of 5 stars and was rated album of the month ahead of Joe Satrianis Chickenfoot and Rage Against The Machine (4 stars each.. by all means, very good too;-)).You can see the whole page here (pdf). This is the second time one of Mads' albums have been selected as Album Of The Month in a major guitar magazine. Storyteller (1991) won the title ahead of Eric Clapton's Rush album and LA Blues Authority (featuring George Lynch and Zakk Wylde) in the June 1992 edition of "Guitar For The Practising Musician", at that time the biggest guitar mag in the USA. (See "PRESS"). You can order the CD here.
22/11 2011: LEARNING TO PLAYJust a little reminder for those of you who are interested in learning the guitar; download information about Mads Eriksen Gitarskole(Word/doc-file, norwegian only) 13/11 2011: LIVE IN BERLINThe new live CD/DVD "Live in Berlin" with Chris Thompson backed by Mads, Gunnar Bjelland, Frank Hovland and Zsolt Meszaros is out!! The two-CD live recordings are from a show at Radio Berlin in April this year. It is totally live as it went on air, with no fixes or overdubs. There is also a live DVD in the package with 7 tracks from a show at the Colosaal Bar in Aschaffenburg in January.Check it out: "Live in Berlin" CD/DVD 02/11 2011: MORE REVIEWS AND PHOTOSTime to brush up on your German language skills, two more reviews from the tour in Germany:Review from concert in Bruchsal, Germany. Also some photos from the gig in Weert, Holland 27/10 2011: REVIEWNice German review from concert in Wolpertshausen (German, pdf).25/10 2011: PICTURESPictures from the concert in Bruchsaal, Germany.12/10 2011: GERMAN TOURThe German tour with Chris Thompson starts tomorrow, with 9 gigs in Germany and one in Holland. See "CONCERTS" page for full details.11/10 2011: MAIN GUITARBelow is Mads' main guitar: "Eugen Mads Eriksen Signature Tele". Click the pictures to see larger version. Specs are under the pictures.
Above: Mads' main guitar, "Eugen Mads Eriksen Signature Tele" 15/09 2011: MORE GIGS, MADS AND CHRISChris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band: German tour in October extended, Mad&Hungry and The Rolling Clones are grinding their axes for Madam Felle shows..October 8: Mad&Hungry, Madam Felle's, Bergen (NOR) October 13: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Merhzweckhalle, Wolperthausen (GER) October 29: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Festhalle, Plauen (GER) November 5: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band at Rauma Kulturhus, Åndalsnes (NOR) November 11 and 12: The Rolling Clones at Madam Felle's, Bergen 25/07 2011: REVIEWS FROM GERMANYGood reviews from recent gigs in Germany: Bergheim and Schleswig. 15/06 2011: NEW GIG THIS WEEKENDChris Thompson and Mads Eriksen will play at the Aland Palais music club in Osnabruck, Germany on Saturday June 18, in between gigs in Dexheim (Friday 17) and Kiel (Sunday 19) as announced earlier. 02/06 2011: NEW GIGSSummer festivals for Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, N3:June 24: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band "Harley Days", Hamburg, GER As always, see "Concerts" for the complete gig-list. 04/05 2011: MORE GERMAN GIGSChris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band will play at the Sternfahrt Festival in Heidepark, Soltau (GER) this Saturday, May 7. 27/04 2011: TORSTEIN FLAKNE GUESTINGTORSTEIN FLAKNE FROM STAGE DOLLS GUESTING WITH CHRIS THOMPSON/MADS ERIKSEN BAND On the annual Madam Felle's gig on April 30 this year, singer/guitarist/songwriter Torstein Flakne from the Norwegian rock band Stage Dolls will be special guest. Stage Dolls had massive international success in the 80's and early 90's with hits like "Love, don't bother me", "Soldier's Gun" and "Love Cries". His participation means that 2/3 of the original Stage Dolls will be on stage that night, since drummer Steinar Krokstad also was a founding member of the group. 05/04 2011: REVIEW/PICTURES FROM GERMANYTime to brush up your German language skills, review and pictures from Mads and Chris tour in Germany.25/03 2011: N3Concert with N3 at Øvre Årdal, article in porten.no (Norwegian)11/03 2011: MADS ON FACEBOOKYou can now follow Mads on Facebook too. Search for Mads Eriksen (Artist) on Facebook, and click the "Liker"/"Like" button and you will get notes and updates on upcoming gigs.10/03 2011: MORE GIGS, CT, N3, ROLLING CLONESNew gigs for N3, Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band and The Rolling Clones:March 22: N3, Årdal Kulturhus, Årdal, Norway See "CONCERTS" for full updated gig-list. 29/01 2011: LOTS OF GIGSNEW DATES FOR CHRIS THOMPSON W/MADS ERIKSEN BAND INCLUDING SUPPORT CONCERT FOR JOE COCKERLots of upcoming gigs for Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band this year, check out "CONCERTS" menu for more info. 31/12 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR!23/12 2010: ACTIVITIES IN 2011/HAPPY CHRISTMAS!LOTS OF GIGS FOR CHRIS THOMPSON/MADS ERIKSEN BAND, GERMAN TOUR AND NEW LIVE DVD, MORE N3 GIGS AND MAD&HUNGRY BACK IN BUSINESS!A lot of gigs are already confirmed for next year: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band will be reharsing for the January 18 gig at the Colozahl-Bar in Aschaffenburg, Germany, this is going to be filmed for DVD-production. They will play Madam Felle's in Bergen prior to that, on Friday January 14. There are several other gigs happening in January, then a tour of Germany in March/April and the annual Madam Felle's shows last weekend of April. There will also be at least four shows with N3 (the project with Terje Rypdal, Ronni Le Tekro and Mads) this spring - 2010 was rather quiet for that project with only one gig (at the Beiarn Jazz Camp), in sharp contrast to the 17-date tour that took place in 2009 (see reviews in the archives). This is what's happening the first couple of months: JANUARY January 14: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band at Madam Felle's, Bergen, Norway FEBRUARY February 4/5: Mad&Hungry at Madam Felle's, Bergen, Norway MARCH March 23: N3 at Gjøvik Kulturhus, Gjøvik Norway APRIL April 29/30: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band + special guest (TBA) at Madam Felle's Bergen Norway There is also quite a few confirmed and not-so-confirmed gigs right up until November 2011, we'll keep you informed when we have all the facts. HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND KEEP SHREDDING! Happy holidays to all of you out there who keeps an eye at us. 08/12 2010: NOT WORTHYSince 2010 is coming to an end, we bring a picture from a private gig that Chris Thompson and Mads Eriksen Band did on October 16 where two partcipants have dropped to their knees in classic (and we dare say, suitable) " We are not worthy" fashion during Mads' solo. We hope to see similar incidents happening a lot in the year to come..We will bring details about next years gigs very soon - a lot of gigs throughout the year are already confirmed. 
PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE Mads is interviewed in the Christmas edition of the popular The Good Times magazine in Germany- The free CD that comes with the magazine has a special Christmas edit of the track Praying For A Miracle from Mads' latest CD, complete with bells and all. The original idea was that Chris Thompson and Mads should write a Christmas song together for the CD, but this proved impractical, so they have contributed one song each. In the article you can read about the origin of the track as far as Mads' Christmas tradition. Time to brush up your German! The full track of Praying For A Miracle is now out on Mads' MySpace profile. 29/11 2010: NEW WORKSHOP - MARCH 2011The great Stefan Grossman will visit Bergen once again and give a workshop in cooperation with Mads Eriksen Gitarskole - this time alone. Stefan Grossman delivered a highly succesful workshop in May last year together with another legendary guitar player, John Renbourn. They also gave a concert at Madam Felle's in which Mads was invited on stage for a humorous jam.The workshop will take place on Friday March 18 and Saturday March 19 next year. Stefan Grossman will also give a solo concert at Madam Felle's on Thursday March 17. Stefan Grossman is one of the greatest exponents of the acoustic guitar an has remained so for more than four decades. He has worked an recorded with some of rock's greatest artists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Paul Simon to name but a few - he has also released and produced numerous tutorial tapes, books and CDs/DVDs. For more info, contact Mads at mads@madseriksen.com 11/11 2010: PICTURESVidar Grønland sent us some photos from the Chris Thompson and Mads Eriksen Band concert at Gjøvik Kulturhus, October 14. Thanks Vidar!You can see more photos here.
26/10 2010: NEW GIGSNEW GIGSChris Thompson and Mads Eriksen Band will play at the Marshall F. center in Varel (near Oldenburg) in Germany on Saturday October 30. This will probably be the last show in Germany this year, exept for a private gig in Leipzig on New Years Eve. Plans for next year include concerts and dvd filming in January as well as a German tour from late March until mid-April. There will probably be a new N3 tour in 2011, look out for further details. ROLLING CLONES will "tour" Bergen before Christmas: 05/08 2010: VIDEO FROM ESCHWEILER GIGHere is a video from the Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band gig in Eschweiler, July 30:02/08 2010: REVIEW AND PHOTOSCHRIS THOMPSON/MADS ERIKSEN BAND PLAYED TO 4500 ECSTATIC FANS I ESCHWEILERSee review and pictures from the memorable gig in Eschweiler in Germany on Friday July 30 29/07 2010: MORE GIGS AND REVIEWSNEW DATES FOR CHRIS THOMPSON/MADS ERIKSEN BANDJULY 30: Markplatz, Eschweiler (near Düsseldorf), Germany GOOD REVIEWS FROM GERMAN GIGS WITH LEO SAYER AND FISH The gigs in in Germany with Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band and special guests Fish and Leo Sayer went down really well, as this review (German, pdf) will show you. Here you can read about "Saitenhexer" Mads Eriksen and Chris Thompson's "gewaltiges Stimmorgan" (no, it's not naughty, it is in fact very, very good..) Review and pictures from the July 9. gig 31/05 2010: MORE GIGS FOR CHRIS AND MADSCHRIS THOMPSON/MADS ERIKSEN BANDThu 23 September: Elverum Culturehouse, Norway 05/05 2010: TONS OF GIGSTONS AND TONS OF GIGS - GUEST PERFORMANCES BY FISH AND LEOWe have a lot of new gigs to announce: Most of them with Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band who just finished a highly succesful tour of Germany and two sold-out nights at Bergen's Madam Felle last weekend. Leo Sayer was special guest on those nights as he was in 2005. CT/MEB have quite a few gigs lined up for them in Norway, Spain and in Germany, where Leo Sayer will once again be featured guest along with ex-Marillion frontman Fish, who participated int the annual gigs at Madam Felle in 2008. NEW DATE FOR NØTTERØY KULTURHUS, NORWAY A new date has been set for Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band at Nøtterøy Kulturhus. The show scheduled for April 8 had to be cancelled due to a severe throat problem for Mr Thompson, who has not cancelled a show for 40 years. The new date is October 15. CT/MEB AT GRESSVIK ROCKWEEKEND - AGAIN For the third year in a row CT/MEB will perform at the Gressvik Rock Weekend.The show last year drew 750 people and became the most succesful Friday in the festival's history. Here are the gigs so far (more TBA soon): June 5: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Braunschweig (near Hannover), Germany June 11.-12: The Rolling Clones, Rick's, Bergen, Norway June 18: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Valencia, Spain July 3: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Open Air Sportgelände Allmed, Rathshausen, Germany August 6: Chris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band, Gressvik Rock Weekend (near Fredrikstad), Norway 04/05 2010: TV LINKSThese links are from the program "Førkveld" on NRK1 on Thursday April 29 at 18.00:http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/211535 http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/211553 27/04 2010: CONCERT AND TELEVISIONChris Thompson and Mads Eriksen Band plays at Madam Felle on Thursday April 29 (Friday April 30 and Saturday May 1 with Leo Sayer as special guest, as announced earlier).MADS ON NATIONAL TELEVISION THURSDAY APRIL 29 Mads will be profiled in the program "Førkveld" on NRK1 on Thursday April 29 at 18.00. Mads and the band will play music from Mads' new album and will be joined by Chris Thompson for one song. 12/04 2010: GREAT REVIEWS OF MADS' ALBUM!See musikkavisen.no and heavymetal.no11/04 2010: CONCERT OF THE YEARAnother great review (Norwegian), from the Friday April 9 show.01/04 2010: GREAT REVIEWGreat review (Norwegian) of Friday March 26 show19/03 2010: MINICONCERT/AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGMINI CONCERT AND AUTOGRAPH SIGNING AT 4SOUND BERGEN On Tuesday March 23 Mads and band will give a free miniconcert at the 4SOUND music store (Hagstrøm Musikk) in Strandtg. 197. Mads' new album Just what the world needs will be on sale, as well as his debut album Journey, which was released exactly 20 years earlier, in February 1990. It starts at 16.30. 15/03 2010: ACOUSTIC GUITAR WORKSHOPMADS ERIKSEN'S GUITAR SCHOOL ORGANISE WORKSHOP WITH TWO LIVING GUITAR LEGENDS We are proud to announce that Mads, together with friend and guitar afficionado Egil Kjerstad organise a 2-day workshop with two of worlds foremost acoustic guitar players on May 12 and 13 in Bergen. Stefan Grossman (from whose GUITAR PLAYER- columns in the 70's Mads learned the alternate thumb style as explored in songs like "Memphis-Elvis-Travis" and "Hopeless Romantic" on the Redhanded album) and John Renbourn will in addition give a concert in the evening of Thursday May 13 at Madam Felle in Bergen. 18/02 2010: NEW WEBSITE!After 9 years with the old website we have decided to brush things up a bit. The old site has served its purpose well, but frankly it was getting a bit long in the tooth. There is still some work to do, so if things seems to be missing, they will probably show up eventually.. 15/02 2010: 3 NEW SONGSfrom Mads' upcoming album on MySpace!!! One hard ("Destroyer"), one sweet ("In the streets and alleys of the town") and one strange ("Yukon River") for your listening pleasure. 10/02 2010: MORE GIGS MADS ERIKSEN ON ELM STREET 29/01 2010: RELEASE AND CONCERTSNEW RELEASE DATE - RELEASE PARTY AND PROMO GIGS! 08/01 2010: STARTING OFFChris Thompson/Mads Eriksen Band start off the new year with a show at a festival in Augsburg, Germany, Saturday January 9. Also playing that night are Slade, Sweet and Suzi Quatro. News archive 2009 |
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(Photos: Vidar Grønland)