Trollrock

Concert summary 2013

Saturday, December 28th, 2013

2013 is almost over – time for the annual look back at the concerts of the year!

Let’s start with the numbers: 55 concerts in total, seven of these were summer festivals. There weren’t really a lot of bands I saw more than once or twice … only Itchy Poopzkid with two concerts and two festivals, I think, and die Ärzte with one concert and two festivals. Oh, and of course this weird Norwegian band that I saw a couple of times this year. =;-)

29 of these concerts were in Germany, the other 26 abroad. Which is a rather strange ratio, I know, but well, I’m a concert junkie. =;-) In addition to the concerts, I attended three WWE events, one musical, one ballet, and one TV award show.

The smallest concert of all was the Honningbarna concert in Stuttgart: There were ten, maybe fifteen people in the audience. It was great fun, even though I was a bit jetlagged and couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would have a week later. The biggest concert … hmm, not quite sure. Probably Rock’n’Heim festival or the Ärzte concert in Bietigheim-Bissingen. I guess both had an audience of about 20.000.

Die Ärzte … well, no, I guess it’s over. I tried to give them another chance in Bietigheim-Bissingen, but it just was no fun. If you’re at a concert and think that you could just as well be back home on your couch with a good book – there’s no need to be there. And I had a very similar feeling when they played at Taubertal festival and Rock’n’Heim a month later.

The festivals: Interestingly, the festivals that I enjoyed most were Trollrock in Norway and Rock’n’Heim. The first one was tiny but awesome – only a few bands every day, so no “overkill”, and great music, nice people, and good weather. The latter … well, I had expected to HATE it there. Big, new (and therefore unorganized), expensive, my last festival of the year. But I wasn’t “working” at the festival, thus not writing any report or taking photos, so I could just do whatever I wanted, and I really enjoyed it. Plus, it was far from sold out, which means the area wasn’t too crowded. So thumbs up!

Biggest band surprise? Hmm, hard to decide. I LOVED the concerts/festivals with Itchy Poopzkid and Madsen. A perfect mixture and two great bands on stage! Also, I greatly enjoyed the Fozzy concerts I got to see, and I’m looking forward to their next European tour. Beware, I’m coming after you! =;-) And my new discovery of the year is clearly Hoffmaestro – I saw them at some festivals and turned into a fan right away. Their album is just as awesome. The sad part is that they canceled their tour in fall, so I hope I can catch them next year!

And finally, there was … Kaizers Orchestra. 28 concerts this year – three at the opera in Oslo, one in London, one in New York, and finally seven in a row in Stavanger. If I want to list the “traditional” geographical statistics, it’s Kaizers only. Northern-most concert: Kaizers in Trondheim. Eastern-most concert: Kaizers in Vienna. Southern-most concert: Kaizers in Zurich. Western-most concert: Kaizers in New York City.

Yes – New York City. And London. Both in one year – within one month, actually. It’s crazy, but it was soooo worth it. The London trip: an awesome week together with great friends, and not only Kaizers, but also WWE and Fozzy. I can’t even pick the highlight of the week – Kaizers were just one of many highlights. New York City had been on my list of cities to visit for a long time. Still, when the concert was announced, I knew I wouldn’t go there. And at the same time I knew I would … and I did. And just like London, it was a great vacation, and the Kaizers concert (and afterparty) were just … surreal. But an experience that I will never forget. And NYC itself would have been worth the trip even without the concert, so it wasn’t fully crazy. =;-)

Not all Kaizers concerts were amazing this year – I’ve seen them soooo often by now that I know them way too well. What might seem like a great concert to most can be a bit disappointing for me, as I notice if they could do more but just don’t care, like for example at my ten-year anniversary at Ravnefesten in Kristiansand. It was still a great concert, just not as good as it could have been. Still, there’s no concert that I would have wanted to miss. So many memories, so much joy, so much fun. Thank you, Kaizers!

The last week of concerts in Stavanger was a rollercoaster ride – both emotionally and concerning the “work load” (not only caused by Kaizers of course, as I was also doing “real” work remotely, but there was quite some work related to Kaizers). It was a terrific finale though – of course! Followed and finalized by meeting Janove at the airport in Amsterdam the day after the final show … time to really say goodbye.

Or so I thought … Just last month, I went to Norway again to hand out the award for the best live band of the year to the best live band of the year! Another surreal experience, and a great honor.

So this concludes the Kaizers era now. There will surely be less concerts for me next year, and fewer trips to Norway. Skambankt will take over a bit – my first trip to Norway is booked and scheduled already – but I doubt I’ll go there as often as for Kaizers. But we’ll see …

Apart from Skambankt, I’m looking forward to a Fozzy tour, some great concerts with Thees Uhlmann, Wirtz, Hoffmaestro, and of course some nice summer festivals. Taubertal, Mini Rock, maybe Trollrock again – it’s gonna be a fun year, but it will not be as much and as rushed as this year. Which is good, even for a concert junkie like me. =;-)

26.07.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Trollrock, Beitostølen)

Saturday, July 27th, 2013

Actually, I’m not really a huge fan of festivals (or at least not such a huge fan of “Kaizers at festivals”), and my last Kaizers concert at Ravnefesten in Kristiansand absolutely confirmed that opinion. Nevertheless, I wanted to see another full festival in Norway again this year. The decision for Trollrock was pretty easy – fairly small, nice area, and an awesome line up! Besides Kaizers, bands like Oslo Ess, Katzenjammer, Tommy Tokyo, and Turbonegro were playing. Yay! And right from the start it was obvious that Trollrock was the right choice. Very nice, very well organized, enough beds nearby to sleep in (I hate camping), and awesome weather – just perfect!

And in addition to that, we got a perfect Kaizers gig as well! Right from the start, the concert was awesome; finally there were a few changes to the setlist again, the atmosphere on stage as well as in the audience was amazing, and even though there hardly was any talking in betweeen the songs, the concert was so much fun.

Omen was at his best again – or well, probably he is always at his best, but depending on which side I’m standing on I can either see him all the time or just once in a while. =;-) In any case, there were flowers and notes again, he was drinking water from the bottle cap instead of the bottle, he was dancing during Støv og sand, having long telephone conversations through the megaphone, and he was feeding his lamp. At least I’m pretty sure he did?! Later on, he threw stuff at it, probably crumbs or something. Then it was time for his solo part in Svarte katter, and as usual, he put his whole soul and body into it. Then he reached out to grab something on the organ, and I figured he was reaching for his blood pressure pills or something. =;-) But no, far from it – he grabbed some soap bubbles, put them up in front of his mouth and started blowing bubbles. *rofl* This guy is just totally insane, but in the positive way. Which the band obviously thought as well. =;-)

What else? Right in the beginning already the audience sang the full chorus of Diamant til kull, without any help by the Jackal – and all in all, the audience turned out to know their lyrics and be very loud and willing to sing. Before Kaizers played Din kjole lukter bensin mor, we had to request a duet. “Sei: ‘duett’!” During his rap part in En for orgelet, Hellraizer gave at least 120% percent this time, with a squeaky voice and full energy. And after Støv og sand, Killmaster disappeared from stage – very sudden and very hurried. There’s a German cowboy comedy movie where the chief cowboy says to his men: “Now everybody go potty again before we ride on!” – maybe the Jackal should start doing that as well. =;-) But well, that was probably due to Killmaster’s energetic dancing under En for orgelet. *gg*

Hjerteknuser has gotten a life of its own by now. “It has become less of our song by now, and more and more yours.” Haaaach … =:-)

Then it was time for the encores – first Begravelsespolka, of course, and then Drøm videre Violeta. “Can you handle another song? The organizer says you can’t, but I think you can. Can you? Killmaster, you were right, you said they could take another one!”

Of course we could handle Maestro, and after that they came to the front to say goodbye and throw sticks and pleks. Peeking towards the side of the stage at the same time – how much time is left? Turned out it was almost 10 minutes, thus enough for another song. “The police and firefighters have allowed us to play another one!” So as conclusion, we even got Die Polizei, which had been requested by the audience earlier on during the concert already. An awesome ending!

All in all, Kaizers played two hours and thus used the full time they had – so much better than the forced concert in Kristiansand. =;-) The atmosphere was amazing, Kaizers were having fun, we were excited – perfect!

The setlist:

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