The award-winning roots rockin’ octet Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado are road warriors in the truest sense – not a month passes without them being on tour, it is the environment that they live for, so it’s only fitting that as they are about to head out on an enormous tour across Europe that they reveal their new single, the live version of ‘Said I Was Hurt’.
The song was recorded on 29 November 2025 at Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen, Denmark; one of the band’s final shows on their ‘House of Sticks’ winter tour, and saw the band fully flexing their sophisticated might.
Situated at the heart of Copenhagen, the Hotel Cecil has played home to a Jazzhouse, a Playhouse and originally served as a meeting place, lecture hall, and administrative hub for the women’s emancipation movement in Denmark when it was built in 1936. Set to an Art Deco backdrop, it perfectly suits the smooth, smoky blues sounds from Denmark’s hardest working band.
Thorbjørn adds: “The song is written by our guitarist Joachim Svensmark. This live version of the song was recorded at the wonderful venue Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen in November 2025. It’s always special to perform in your own home town in front of long time friends and fans. The place was packed and the crowd was just wonderful. A very special night where everything just came together perfectly.”
The song is taken from the House of Sticks album, which was released in January 2025 via Provogue/Artone and serves as the perfect foil to winter, it emits a slow warming sensation. Slow and soothing, it’s a song that wraps itself around you in a sorrowful embrace. You can visualise it right now.
The eight piece band adorn the high stage, the curtains are raised and, as the lights are turned down low, the band’s neon logo dominates your attention and the drape flanked room catapults you to another place and another time. That’s where the Danish sensations draw you in; Thorbjørn Risager (Vocals, Electric Guitar), Emil Balsgaard (Organ, Keys), Joachim Svensmark (Electric Guitar), Kasper Wagner (Baritone Sax), Hans Nybo (Tenor Sax), Peter W Kehl (Trumpet), Søren Bøjgaard (Bass) and Martin Seidelin (Drums, Percussion).
They’ve won four Danish Music Awards (with seven nominations), the “Best Band” in the European Blues Awards and won the prestigious German Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Jahrespreis – German Record Critics’ Awards. Blazing a trail worldwide with more than 1.500 shows, they’ve captivated crowds with their dynamic stage presence and a sound that fuses soul Chicago blues, boogie, and rock ‘n’ roll with a voice where Ray Charles, Van Morrison, and Billy Gibbons meet in the middle. They’ve opened for Bonnie Raitt, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, jammed with the legendary Buddy Guy and even picked up a fan in Elwood Blues himself – Dan Aykroyd! – who hailed their “Hot rhythm and blues.”
They’ve sold over 100.000 physical albums and surpassed 32 million streams over the past two decades with fourteen albums, including eight studio; From the Heart (2006), Here I Am (2007), Track Record (2010), Dust & Scratches (2012), the multi-award-winning Too Many Roads (2014), Change My Game (2017), Come On In (2020), Navigation Blues (2022) and House of Sticks (2025) as well as a Best Of (2021).
