The series starts with an almost HBO-like intro of a withering metal-snake turning into a tattoed snake belonging to the main character, Takeshi  Kovachs (Joel Kinnaman, Will Yun Lee). And yes, the main character is played by more than one actor, as the premise of this science fiction series is that resleeving is not merely a distinct dream, but the harsh reality of the world. Resleeving is the act of downloading the mind of a human and inserting it into another body (called a sleeve).

Your body is not who you are

This is possible as long as the cortical stack, which is a chip inserted into ones neck, isn’t harmed.

Of course new  bodies aren’t cheap, exemplified by the family of three, where the seven year old daughter was killed. The government gave her a new body, but a body of a middle-aged woman, leaving the family between the hard choice of letting her grow up in that, buy a new body they couldn’t afford or put her mind back into the darkness..

Takeshi Kovacs was a freedom fighter who was killed and had his mind imprisoned in Alcatraz for 250 years. After  being resleeved into a new body (Joel Kinnaman), he was released as property of Lauren Bancroft (James Purefoy), a wealthy meth. Meths are methuselahs, wealthy people living hundreds of years by resleeving to a new body when necessary.

Kovacs, still reliving his memories of his violent murder 250 years ago, is brought back by Lauren Bancroft to solve the murder of Lauren Bancroft.. Bancroft was murdered and his cortical stack destroyed. But being a filthy rich, he regurlarly uploads his mind to a satellite, from which he was resleeved after his murder, but now lacking the last 48 hours before his death. And Bancroft wants to know who killed him and why..

Altered Carbon is exposition heavy in the pilot episode, but cyperpunk Bay City looks great, and Joel Kinneman and especially Wil Yun Lee are good in the role as Takeshi Kovacs, and the story is interesting, although a typical detective-noir story (besided being hired by the murder victim after his death).

(all images are from Nørreport Metro in Copenhagen where all the ad spaces have been bought by Netflix at the premiere of the series)

Since 2016 they have released a new album, Visions of a Life, which is heavily featured at the setlist, but without forgetting about the great songs from the debut-album “My Love is Cool”.

The setlist has a wide range, from atmospheric songs like “St Purple & Green” to the raging riffs in “Yuk Foo” and “Moaning Lisa Smile”.

Ellie alternates between singing and roaring, using two mics showing off the dynamic range of her voice.

Wolf Alice is a energetic band, which they proved from the beginning of the setlist with Heavenward and  Yuk Foo with bassist Theo Ellis heavily gesturing to the crowd. They lost a bit of the energy in the middle of the setlist where Ellie Rowsell seemed a bit distanced to the crowd and the music, but their snarling energy returned a little later  with renewed power.

Wolf Alice is a great live band and despite seeming a bit distanced (or maybe tired) for a few songs in the middle of the concert, the band is entertaining and gave a rousing performance tonight.

My favourite Wolf Alice song

Figured out I’m good
Turn me down like I knew I should
Punch drunk, dumb struck, pot luck happy happy

Don’t chicken out, it’s all good
You’re allowed to be what you could

Blush is my all-time Wolf Alice favourite song and they played a beautiful rendition of it as the first song of the encore. It’s low-key which is a great contrast to the energic songs ending the ordinary setlist.

Support: WY

Support was the swedish duo WY. The short seven song performance proved their songs to be good, although the live versions had muddled bass and some of them were a bit too sample heavy to my taste.

WY would also profit from a bit more stage presence although that improved a lot in their last song.

Better sound, less samples and WY is a good live act.

Setlist

1. Heavenward
2. Yuk Foo
3. You’re a Germ
4. Your Loves Whore
5. St. Purple & Green
6. Don’t Delete the Kisses
7. Planet Hunter
8. Bros
9. Silk
10. Lisbon
11. Beautifully Unconventional
12. Formidable Cool
13. Sadboy
14. Space & Time
15. Moaning Lisa Smile
16. Visions of a Life
17. Fluffy

Encore

18. Blush
19. Giant Peach

Gogle Play Music Playlist featuring the setlist