Three years ago, I went up to Northern Norway for three Skambankt concerts, got to meet some great people up there and had a fantastic time. In the meantime, we became good friends and met up at Skambankt and Kaizers concerts all over Norway. And now Skambankt returned to Northern Norway for a couple of concerts, and it was time for another trip up north!

I made it out of Germany just before the big winter chaos started (and went from -4 °C in Germany via -16 °C in Oslo to 2 °C north of the artic circle?!). First stop: Tromsø! After a quiet and relaxing (and dark…) day, it was time for the first concert of the “mini tour”.

Skambankt played at Driv, which is much bigger than Blå Rock where I saw them last time. It probably wasn’t sold out – but it looked full anyway! The atmosphere was great, with lots of excited people in front of the stage. We decided to stand up on the gallery – great view, lots of space to dance, and a lot of fun! =:-D

After the intro, Skambankt started with Mantra, followed by Skambankt and Slukk meg for eg brenner. And yep, they traveled a long way for this concert, all the way from Vestlandet – and right, I traveled even further. =;-) Next up was Amnesti (I still have to laugh at the ahahah choirs… uhem *g*) and Dynasti. The atmosphere under the following Vår Bør was amazing – everyone was singing along loudly, and we got to take over the singing completely for some lines.

The next song was Terje’s favorite from Hardt Regn, namely Løgnprofitør. After that one, he pointed out that this was the last time for probably two years Skambankt would be playing in Tromsø… ARGH! I mean, we all know they’ll (have to) take a break, but don’t say it this bluntly… =:-( Anyway. The next song was about a girl they met in Tromsø in 2006: Malin!

Then Terje announced they would go from a good pop song to some good old punkrock now, and play a song everybody had surely heard before: Me sa nei! Someone in the audience claimed to not have heard it – but well, then it would be the first time now! In the middle, we had to count down from 23 before they continued.

Next up was Kaos, så inferno, followed by O dessverre (great response, as always!) and Tyster, with the audience singing the chorus at the end. The last song before the encore was Stormkast #1 then.

I had kinda missed the “rare” songs under the concert – no Fritt fall? But well, there were still the encores! And they actually started with “Bak låste dører”! YAY! Not sure if I have even heard that one live before. If I have, it was loooong ago. But it was great to get to hear it live! =:-)

The last song was Min eliksir, which I still don’t really like… but yep, I gotta admit, it does work live and was a great conclusion.

So that was a great start for the tour! Way too short (come on, 60 minutes?!?), but great atmosphere, great energy, great audience. One down, two to go – can’t wait! =:-)

Report by Lena V.:

It was just hours since the last (mini-)concert, and already time for me to go to Driv. I arrived about 45 minutes after the doors opened, and it seemed the concert had already begun. As it turned out, an unannounced support band was playing – they were really great, and I decided on the spot that I will definitely see them again in the near future. Because there were going to be two support acts, the first band started as early as 21:30, just half an hour after the doors opened… They were called The Great Big Taters, and this was their second concert in Tromsø this year. Had it been up to me, they could have been both support acts, that’s how great they were live… *g* I had found myself a spot a couple of meters back from the stage, but when The Great Big Taters left the stage, there was suddenly a lot of space free in front, right in the middle… For some reason I don’t really understand, I felt myself drawn to the empty space… And I HAD actually planned to enjoy this concert from inside the crowd… :pJackie Moonshine, the second support band, was as I had foreseen better indoor in the evening than they were earlier in the day at the university campus. They seemed to really enjoy playing for such a big audience, and savoured the applause and cheering from the crowd. And when they were asked to do an encore, they literally shone with delight… But they had used up their stage time, and had to pack up their gear. ... read on!