To be perfectly honest: I didn’t expect much from Janove’s solo concert. I mean, I like the album and there are some awesome songs on there (and a few that I don’t notice at all, which means they are pretty much made for skipping …), but from the live clips and photos I’d seen, I feared that the concert would feel quite a bit like “Kaizers wannabe”. Of course Janove is/was a big part of Kaizers, but he IS not Kaizers. And I was dreading to see him act like he was, just with another band …

And I mean, just look at that other band: An eccentric piano/keyboard guy (wearing a cape instead of a gas mask, duh), a guitar player that moves exactly like Hellraizer, a drummer with a hat (where have we seen that before, hmm?), and a bass player that – at least in some photos – looks like an older version of Killmaster with a beard. No wonder I went into the concert rather skeptical …

The first surprise was the audience: Way older than the average Kaizers audience. Maybe that was due to the fact that the concert was at Byscenen, not at Samfundet, where most other Kaizers concerts in Trondheim had taken place. Or maybe … well, I guess we’ve all grown four years older since the last Kaizers concerts, right?

The concert started with a rather weird intro – no idea what it was, and it just sounded strange and didn’t really fit anything. But “Aldri la de tro de er bedre enn deg” was a nice song to start the show with, as it has a long-ish intro where Janove could make the audience wait for him. =;-)

And then the next surprise: The audience actually KNEW the song! And not only this one, but all of them, and they were singing along! Okay, at least in the front they were. The live video that Janove posted during the show suggests that the people in the back were the typical Trønder-audience – chatting away even during the songs. *grr* But nope, not in the front, there people were really into what was happening. And rightfully so, because it was a lot of fun!

It didn’t feel like Kaizers wannabe. Of course the songs have a Kaizers feel to them, no question about it. But the show is more focused on groove than rock, more dancing and less jumping. So it is a different thing, which is really good – and even though I personally am much more on the rock/punk/jump/pogo side, I enjoyed the concert a lot. The only two songs that disappointed me a bit were my favorites from the album, the fast ones: Both “Trixing & fixing” and “Me vokser aldri opp” were fun live, but not as fun as they could have been. It felt like they kinda “softened up” Trixing & fixing – making it more groovy, true, but this killed the energy a bit. And while this was not the case for “Me vokser aldri opp” and it was played with all the energy I had hoped for, Janove wasn’t moving. Micke from Sweden at the keyboards was jumping around like crazy, but not the frontman … And just to make it clear: Those songs were still great. It’s just a little disappointing to know that they COULD have been not only great, but absolutely fantastic. Yes, sorry, my bar is high for Janove … =;-)

Another thing that struck me was that this is really a one man show. The band is there, you see them, but the only one you might notice once in a while is Micke from Sweden. Otherwise it’s just Janove. Which makes perfect sense of course, because it is his solo thing. And it’s another point where his solo show is different from Kaizers.

There wasn’t a lot of talking in between the songs, just very short announcements, but of course Janove was animating the audience to clap and sing along right from the start, and then in pretty much every song. Which worked really well! Except maybe at the end of Perler & svin, where the melody seemed a bit too complicated. =;-)

And one final remark: The light show was awesome! =:-) You can see a little bit of it in the videos I streamed on Facebook (I siget, Regnbuen treffer oss ikkje lenger, Spinner for deg, Et hjerte som sloss), but that doesn’t give it justice. It was great!

Here’s the full setlist:

1. Aldri la de tro de er bedre enn deg
2. I siget
3. Marlene
4. Regnbuen treffer oss ikkje lenger
5. Mine siste berømte ord
6. Om me går ned
7. Spinner for deg
8. Trixing & fixing
9. I natt blir du fri
10. Me vokser aldri opp
11. Et hjerte som sloss
12. Perler & svin
    ————–
13. Verden går til helvete, tralala
14. Vår uendelige sang