"This is a once in a lifetime, I doubt Skambankt will ever play in such a small club once again" is not a fair thing to say to a concert junkie. Especially, if this small club is a minimum of eight hours traveling away – and we’re talking just traveling time here, no waiting, checking in, whatever… So it was an easy decision to just ignore the concert and NOT go there.

But well, when I read through my old concert reports, a LOT of them start with "I first thought it was completely crazy, but – so what?" And of course it was the same this time… =;-)
So I got into the car, the plane and the bus, spend a day and all my money in Oslo, and then took a nice eight-hour train ride the next morning. But I have to say, it IS kinda cool if you forget to check where the train goes and you sit there reading the Kaizerbook and suddenly you hear: "Neste stopp er: Bryne."

There was no monument at the station though.

But I’m drifting off a little here… *g*
So, arriving in Stavanger (in sunshine! =:-o), spending more money, catching up on some sleep and then a real-life Norwegian lesson at the Vorspiel at Helene’s. =;-) Thanks a lot guys, that was really fun! And even though my Norwegian still doesn’t suffice for real conversations, I noticed I can talk to one or two persons at a time, if they are reeeeeaaaaly patient. Which they were. =:-)

And then it was finally time for the concert. People crowded in in front of the stage, which really was tiny – no way you could get any closer to the action at a concert! Well, actually it was too close for my camera, so my pictures are all crap, but who cares – it was perfect. That’s the kind of concerts I love. Screw festivals and big halls…

Skambankt started the set with two new songs: Dynasti and Stormkast. Somehow I had the feeling I knew the first one – no idea how that could be, probably I just imagined it. Anyway, I loved that one. Also the second one, even though I don’t remember anything else about it, but it was cool.

After that, it was time for a dark song, namely Nok et offer, and then "the big hit" Me sa nei. From that on, we mostly had to guess what would be the next song – okay, if you have the setlist right in front of you you feel a little like a traitor there, but well. *gg* The next songs on the list were Revolusjonens aggregat and Desertør, followed by Skambankt, Alarm, and "the song everyone has heard before", KKK.

Then Winters started telling about the next song, another new one, that was basically a "rock elixir": It makes you stronger, like in Asterix & Obelix, and this song is such a magic potion. And actually, they were thinking about calling the new album like that: Elixir. Either that, or just "II", thus a roman two. And they have a new logo, it is like this, with this underneath and here to the sides… (and here Mr. Ted started to draw in the air and the audience started to look and sound very confused *rofl*). But they haven’t decided on the title yet – but hey, why not do a vote right now? And that’s what they did, and we could choose between "Elixir" and "II". The result was "tydelig", what means clear and obvious according to my dictionary, but well, I’m not so sure in what direction. I guess Elixir though, or maybe I just hope that. =;-)

Anyway, after this they played the new song "Min Eliksir". I loved the beginning and was a bit bored by the rest, but well, I’m not gonna judge a song by hearing it only once. =;-)

Then the song with THE intro, Skamania, and that was it, Skambankt went off stage already. But of course they came back again to deliver some more songs, namely Panzersjokk and Systemets Makt – the latter with the sound guy on guitar and the merch guy joining Ted on the mike.

And that was really the end of the show. Of an awesome show! Skambankt really know how to heat up the audience and make them go crazy. The atmosphere was hot from the beginning (ok, that might be due in part to the typical drunk Norwegian, of course =;-)), and Skambankt kept it up. I’m not gonna mention the stupid "Uh – ah"s though – but well, maybe I just wasn’t drunk enough for that.

I was amazed by the clear and perfect sound in the beginning. OK, that dropped a little after a while, as Winters’ guitar failed (Remember: If you don’t pay your backliner, he won’t tune your guitar. *g*), and some people should really know that turning up amps is a no-no – but it didn’t matter at all.

Hmm, what else do I remember? I didn’t catch too much of the stuff said between the songs this time, that was too much jærsk probably, or whatever =;-) So what I remember is mostly things that went wrong, and that’s not really what I want to write here, as the concert was too cool to list the things that were planned to go differently… But it was kinda funny when we were supposed to count in the song and were already up to 10 or so when Winters stopped us and made us count at the right speed. *g* Or when he bent down at the beginning of Skamania and started yelling at the first row, but nobody had the slightest idea what he wanted – well, it turned out he just wanted to know the first line. *lol*

So, all in all it was more than worth coming to Norway for just this one concert! Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing Skambankt keep on playing such small clubs. But they definitely deserve the bigger clubs, and I’m sure those concerts will be just as much fun. Looking forward to the tour next spring! =:-)

Then, after making a complete fool out of myself by gaping at a "ghost" (hey, come on, you really can’t expect to see the same person at concerts in Germany and Stavanger =:-o), Nachspiel at Cementen. Back to Oslo, and two more days in the rain there – spending money of course =;-), back home at 3 a.m. and right to work the next morning…

But by now, I feel fairly alive again – and the trip was perfect, I’d do it again right now if I could. I had a great time in Norway again. Thanks to everybody at the Vorspiel, and thanks for the amazing concert! See you all again in spring! =:-)