OK, for all the Kaizers concerts I’ve seen, I’ve always written a report in German and then translated it to English; which is the easiest way for me. However, there’s just no way I could write and translate one report per day and get all the other stuff done that I’ve planned, so for the last few concerts, the English version will have to do. Let’s see if writing a report in English instead of German actually works … And sorry to all you German speaking people out there – but then, honestly, who of you actually noticed that there IS a German version and clicked the German flag to display it? Right. =;-)

Siste Dans. The very last Kaizers Orchestra concerts for – at least – a long time. If not forever. But that’s not what I want to cover in the report. I went into the concert with very high expectations; the setlists last week in Oslo and Bergen were totally awesome, Kaizers played almost three hours, everyone who was there talked about their best concert ever.

The first night in Stavanger (well, actually the second night, because the first one was a school concert, but I didn’t attend that one) was different from the others in that it was a concert sponsored by DNB, and all the money from the ticket sales went to Kaizers Orchestra’s UNICEF project. Awesome! Tickets were very cheap, only 100 NOK, and were sold out in the course of a week.

And you could see that from the moment the intro started. Nobody was clapping! The first few rows seemed excited, but the rest was obviously there because the tickets were cheap, uhem. They didn’t know any of the songs, didn’t clap if they weren’t asked to do so, and the same for singing along of course. Until the very end, people on the stands were sitting down. But, and that’s the important part: They were interested in the concert. At festivals, you often have it that people don’t care and start talking and ruining the show for others. That didn’t happen at all (at least not where I was standing). People were into it and enjoyed the show.

It started out as usual – Aldri vodka Violeta, Siste dans (but the “jentene” were of course from Stavanger today *g*), Bøn fra helvete, Tusen dråper regn (with great lighting!), and Din kjole lukter bensin mor. Uuuh… what, Din kjole lukter bensin? Hadn’t they finally dropped that one? They even did the old introduction to the song, that they need to have a female singer to sing along and asked Susanne Sundfør – but she said no. So they had to take number two on the list. Carola – but with her, Kaizers said no. Or actually “no, thank you”, because they are nice guys. And so the number three female singer is … Mr. Geir Hellraizer Kaizer!

And that part of the concert made me realize two things: 1) They were playing a festival show, with the old festival setlist, not a Siste Dans show. 2) They were in a very talkative mood, and they were incredibly funny. *g*

And yep, both of these realizations turned out to be true. The only surprise in the setlist was Prosessen, the rest was the plain festival list. And I have a hard time remembering the last concert where I laughed so hard and so much during the show. So yep, it was a festival show, but that was okay since it was only the first of many concerts for me. And it was hysterically funny. I don’t even know how and why – I think that Kaizers themselves were a bit sarcastic about the audience at times, and instead of just playing their set without interaction or any comments at all, they decided to have fun. Guess for them, it was really more of the last festival than a good-bye show. But without the rain! *g*

So, I’ll try to piece together some of the stuff that happened:
– Omen had candles this time. I’m not quite sure what he did when he got them (or was it just one? I couldn’t really see) out of his suitcase, but it involved a lighter, and it took a long time until the candle was actually lit.
– Kaizers have some songs that are “gypsy punk rock”. As Hellraizer got up on the barrel, the Jackal asked him: “So, what part are you? The gypsy? The punk? The rock?” He didn’t really get an answer, so he asked Killmaster. “Me? I just do whatever I’m being told to do!” It … doesn’t seem funny at all when reading it. But it was hilarious. *g*
– Then they actually messed up the ending of Sigøynerblod completely, playing at totally different speeds. Still, they managed to finish at the same time. =;-)
– The Jackal pointed out the DNB Arena, which was dressed up really nice (but sorry, it still looks like an ice hockey arena …). “What a fantastic place to celebrate a funeral!” =:-(
– After Killmaster’s solo in Kontroll på kontinentet, the Jackal asked us if we liked it. And Killmaster got sincere: “Thanks so much that I got to play a solo!” Not quite sure who he was addressing though. =;-)
– And then we actually got the old introduction again …! Or so I thought. Nope, they just stopped at the place where the introduction used to happen, and the Jackal took some questions from the audience. “Are you single?” – “No.” – “Is he single?” – “Yes, room 505!”
– In Resistansen, the Jackal noticed the stands. And had to include them, of course! So there was a competition on who was the loudest – Kaizers, the stands, or the people on the floor. The result was clear: “Well, we’re the loudest!” The audience didn’t like that, so we got another chance to prove ourselves. =;-)
– Not really anything special in Svarte katter, Omen blew some soap bubbles again. But after the song, the Jackal explained that Omen is really a “finding”. The just found him in 1999 – the last century, by the way! – out in Bergen, dressed in his suit, sitting at his pump organ. So they asked him to join the band, and he … didn’t say anything. Because he doesn’t talk much. Only in the megaphone to say it LOUD. Or right now, he’s saying “thank you all very very much” in his very special way …
– Oh yes, and Omen is “93 kilograms of gold”.
– Then the Jackal noted that we were a really good audience, listening when he was talking and cheering when need be. Listening – cheering – listening – cheering. And the audience actually went along, even though all of this was pure sarcasm (unlike in Trondheim).
– And the listening/cheering is just like his father does it, who is almost 70 by now. Which is true, so the Jackal could say it. He could not say it about Hellraizer’s father, even though he’s almost 70 as well. Oops, now he said it …
– By that time, I was rolling on the floor laughing. But the Jackal could still top it. He was looking for a scarf from the audience (to start Hjerteknuser, of course). “It must be from a girl, about 1.70m, plus or minus, and from the fourth or fifth row!” *lol*
– Of course they did the waving part again at the end of the song, and after they stopped, the Jackal replaced his usual “I want to see that again, let’s start it up again” with a “Oh, you didn’t get to take a picture of it yet? Let’s do it again so you can take a picture!”, pointing randomly in the audience. Did I already say that they were a tiny bit sarcastic and hysterically funny? *gg*
– And then it was over – and honestly I think that either they forgot to say before Hjerteknuser that this was supposed to be the last song, or that they forgot the fact itself or hadn’t planned it like that. In any way, it seemed like everyone was surprised that the concert was suddenly over.
– Except for the encores of course! The last song was Maestro – which the Jackal changed completely by, instead of “Sving din hammer til din pappa drar deg inn”, singing “How much do you like me now”. And bathing in the answer of course. *g*

Wow, that was a weird concert. But definitely not a bad one! I think I would have been annoyed if I had been traveling somewhere for just this one show, but as the first concert of a series of shows it was perfect. Really really funny and entertaining, and setlist-wise, there’s a lot of room for improvement! =;-)

Here’s the setlist:

• Aldri vodka, Violeta
• Siste dans
• Bøn fra helvete
• Tusen dråper regn
• Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
• En for orgelet, en for meg
• Diamant til kull
• Støv og sand
• I ett med verden
• KGB
• Sigøynerblod
• Prosessen
• Ompa til du dør
• Kontroll på kontinentet
• Resistansen
• Svarte katter & flosshatter
• Hjerteknuser
  ————
• Begravelsespolka
• Drøm videre, Violeta
• Maestro