Rockhal

24.04.2011 Xutos & Pontapés (Rockhal, Luxembourg)

Monday, April 25th, 2011
24.04.2011 – Photos Xutos & Pontapés (Rockhal, Luxembourg)

Last June, when I saw Xutos & Pontapés in Évora, I would have NEVER expected to see them again two more times in less than a year. But in February, they played in Switzerland, and now they played in Luxembourg!

And well… even though I loved the concert in Switzerland, now I know that it sucked. Big time. At least compared to what Xutos delivered in Luxembourg, yeah! =:-D

First of all, I was impressed by the size. I attended a concert at Rockhal just a month ago, and it was a rather small venue. OK, I knew that they had another hall as well, and I expected that to be maybe twice the size, but that would still be small. Well… turned out that the big hall was actually about ten times the size of the small one, and the small one was actually used as cloakroom this time. (No, I’m not kidding…) My guess is that there were about 5000 people at the concert. Which means 5000 Portuguese, somewhere in Luxembourg… I’m still amazed by that. =:-)

So a huge hall, lots of people, sunshine outside, great atmosphere inside. There was a support band as well, playing hard rock/metal, didn’t get their name though. It was nice as support, but nothing really special.

Then, at a quarter past ten, the lights went out again and it was time for Xutos! As I noticed that a lot of people were googling for the setlist of the Switzerland concert, I had decided to try and get a setlist after the concert, so I could post it here – didn’t manage to get one though, sorry… =:-( So here’s just a list of songs that I’m pretty sure they played. It’s definitely not complete though:
Ai se ele cai, Sémen, Não sou o único, À minha maneira, O mundo ao contrário, Perfeito vazio, Superjacto, Homem do leme, Para ti Maria, Chuva dissolvente, Dia de S. Receber, Alta rotação, Circo de feras, Contentores, Quem é quem, Classe de 79, Alegre casinha, Para sempre

The concert lasted almost two hours. Unlike in Switzerland, Xutos didn’t play as many new songs in the beginning but started with well-known songs – a good idea, I think. And the audience loved it right from the beginning! Somehow, it seemed much more like a concert to me and less like some kind of “happening”, as it was in Switzerland. So the atmosphere was great right from the start, and the band seemed happy to give us all they had in store. Just amazing!

In the middle, we got a little acoustic set, just like they did it last year in Évora. That was nice – however, I think it was a pity they played Maria during that part of the concert. I mean, everybody was waiting for that song, and we enjoyed it as well, but then… the “real” version rocks so much more! It felt a bit like an economy version of the song. =:-/ But then they went back to the “real rock” afterwards, with a gigantic speaker on the backdrop and “Alta rotação”. So I’m not gonna complain. =;-)

Xutos did play some of the new songs as well, of course, at the beginning of the encores. And it was obvious that a big part of the audience didn’t know them, and the reaction was close to zero. That was sad! Especially because it really doesn’t take much to like these songs… I mean, they played Classe de 79. My Portuguese is really pretty bad, but when I first heard that song live, I loved it right away. So if you actually understand what they are singing about, how can you just stand there and wait for the song to be over?!?

But apart from that, the concert was just amazing! =:-D Thank you for coming to Europe, Xutos! Now, how about a little concert in Germany next? *gg*

Here are some YouTube videos from the concert:

24.04.2011 – Photos Xutos & Pontapés (Rockhal, Luxembourg)

Monday, April 25th, 2011
24.04.2011 – Photos Xutos & Pontapés (Rockhal, Luxembourg)

24.03.2011 Kaizers Orchestra (Rockhal, Esch/Alzette)

Friday, March 25th, 2011
24.03.2011 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Rockhall, Esch/Alzette)

And here it goes again! (Great – now I have Zombie Porkchop’s “History” in my head… *argh*) Kaizers made it down to Europe after the “warm up gigs” in Scandinavia. First stop: Luxembourg! Which means the tour started terribly confusing: German, English, Norwegian, Luxemburgish, French, and Portuguese (’cause I had to buy a ticket for a Portuguese band playing at Rockhal *g*) – all in one day. Argh!!

But wait, I wanted to keep my reports short, so let’s get started. Unfortunately, Rockhal was pretty empty – not much of a surprise, of course, because it was the first Kaizers Orchestra concert in Luxembourg, but a pity. On the other hand, that not too bad for the first concert of a tour, because like this, Kaizers can test their show in front of a “neutral” audience to see the reaction to the different songs.

The concert started with the local support band The Disliked, who played ska punk. Great, I liked it a lot! But very confusing language-wise… the band itself didn’t know whether to talk English, French, or Luxemburgish. *g* Next up was Jarle Bernhoft. I didn’t know him at all… and my conclusion after seeing him for the first time: Seems to work fine as support act. He uses loops to “imitate” a band, which is really fascinating. However, it’s definitely not my music; and I fear that the loop-thingy won’t be fascinating for more than a few times. But the “common” Kaizer fan won’t be seeing all concerts, so I’m not really representative here. =;-)

The setlist: Intro (“Begravelsespolka” according to drmowinckel.com), Delikatessen, Veterans klage, Sigøynerblod, Resistansen, Philemon Arthur & The Dung, Femtakt filosofi, Din kjole lukter bensin mor, En for orgelet en for meg, Psycho under min hatt, Svarte katter & flosshatter, Bøn fra helvete, Kontroll på kontinentet, Maestro, encore Dieter Meyers Inst.

So that means that a couple of great songs didn’t make it… =:-( I’m not surprised about Hjerteknuser, and I don’t really mind that one either. =;-) But I REALLY hope that Djevelens orkester, Señor Torpedo, and Diamand til kull will make it back on the list at least once in a while!

Some remarks about the concert:

  • In the beginning, the Jackal greeted the audience in French. (I’m still waiting for a concert where he speaks _only_ French. That would be cool! *lol*)
  • The day was very nice and sunny, and they had time to enjoy it, because they had arrived the day before already. “And back home in Norway, it’s snowing!”
  • At the beginning of “Din kjole lukter bensin, mor”, the Jackal and Hellraizer are singing together. So the Jackal ordered Hellraizer to the mic and explained that Hellraizer was very very nervous. “Just don’t forget the lyrics now!” Hellraizer: “Do you think they would even notice?” =;-)
  • In “Svarte katter & flosshatter”, Omen has his 5 minutes of fame when he grabs the megaphone. And boy, was he cheered! Of course he combed back his hair dramatically afterwards, before the song continued. And after the song, he started cleaning up, and dropped the crowbar in front of Killmaster’s feet. *g*
  • The Jackal and Hellraizer also sing together in “Bøn fra helvete”. The Jackal let go of the microphone this time, so that it was swinging back and forth on its stand. And of course the two of them had to swing back and forth as well in order to sing into the mic. *lol*
  • During the introduction in “Kontroll på kontinentet”, we first got a looooong bass solo. First a normal solo, then played with a stick. Afterwards, the Jackal introduced Killmaster: “… always playing on… an electric guitar!” What, were did the Firebird go? =;-) And because of all the confusion, Killmaster’s name is Gary now. *cough* But then we can call the real Gary by his Indian name now: “He who wears a towel over his head and gives out picks willingly.” (I’m NOT gonna tell you what I understood instead of “picks” at first. *rofl*) And I’ve never seen that before, but both guitar players were throwing lots of picks into the audience this time.
  • During Maestro, the audience was singing along much louder than I would have expected, and almost everyone seemed to know the song. I have to admit though that the spontaneous new “clapping/stomping choreography” in the middle went over my head, so I couldn’t keep up. *argh*
  • The encore was dedicated to Matthieu, who was enjoying the whole concert enthusiastically and managed to ask for Dieter Meyer just when Kaizers were getting ready to play… Dieter Meyer. *g*

So, all in all this was a typical “first” concert in a new city, which means the expectations were rather low. But like (almost) always, Kaizers managed to get the audience excited and totally convince them. And even though the plan was probably more to concentrate on the music this time, they put on quite a bit of a show, and it was really entertaining!

Uhm ja. “Short”. I fear I’ll have to practice that a bit. Tune in again tomorrow to read the next episode of “Susi S. tries to report about a Kaizers concert in ten short lines!” *lol*

24.03.2011 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Rockhall, Esch/Alzette)

Friday, March 25th, 2011
24.03.2011 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Rockhall, Esch/Alzette)