Konzertjunkie

Festivals 2016?

Sunday, July 17th, 2016
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Schon Juli und noch kein Post über die Festivals des Jahres? Etwa keine Festivals dieses Jahr? Whut? 😮

Nun ja, doch, natürlich. Das erste Festival des Jahres, das Steinkjerfestival, ist sogar schon rum (und war absolut grandios!). Und es stehen auch noch weitere Festivals auf dem Programm: am kommenden Wochenende ein Tag beim Fjellparkfestivalen in Flekkefjord (Südnorwegen) mit u.a. Razika und Skambankt, danach die Olavsfestdagene hier in Trondheim (wo ich noch nicht weiß, welche Konzerte ich mir ansehen werden, weil ich da als Freiwillige arbeite und nur bei den Konzerten reinkomme, die nicht ausverkauft sind), dann wie jedes Jahr das Taubertal in Rothenburg und zum Abschluss noch das Pstereo-Festival hier in Trondheim (auch hier wieder als Freiwillige und nur am Samstag “zum Vergnügen”).

Wie immer also ein Haufen Festivals! Nicht wie immer ist allerdings, dass ich diesmal bei keinem der Festivals in “Presse”-Funktion unterwegs sein werde. In den letzten Jahren hatte ich immer mindestens zwei Festivals, von denen ich berichtet habe, nämlich das Mini Rock Festival und das Taubertal. Aber durch meinen Umzug nach Norwegen ist das stressig geworden – denn schließlich bedeutet eine Festivalreise nach Deutschland nun, dass das mein Urlaub ist. Und im Urlaub will man frei haben – und nicht dauernd daran denken müssen, dass man alles mitkriegen muss, um berichten zu können, nicht morgens früh aufstehen müssen, um den Artikel vom Vortag fertigzustellen, und nicht dauernd im Hinterkopf haben, dass die Fotos noch aussortiert werden müssen. Kurz gesagt: nicht dauernd müssen müssen müssen …

Daher in diesem Jahr die Entscheidung, mal wieder als ganz normaler Besucher aufs Taubertal zu gehen. Ohne jegliche Privilegien – aber auch ohne jegliche Verpflichtungen. Wer weiß, vielleicht werde ich trotzdem berichten, aus alter Gewohnheit … (OK, wobei es bei der aktuellen Häufigkeit der Einträge hier auf konzertjunkie.com wohl eher unwahrscheinlich ist, who am I kidding …)

Das Mini Rock muss diesmal leider leider für mich ausfallen. 🙁 Sehr schade, zumal das Line-Up wie immer gute Überraschungen verspricht. Aber rein reisetechnisch passt es diesmal nicht – mal gucken, wie das im nächsten Jahr aussehen wird.

Und obwohl ich mir doch jedes Jahr vornehme, im nächsten Jahr weniger Festivals zu machen, stehen auch in diesm Jahr wieder fünf Sommerfestivals auf dem Plan. Und ich bin sicher, sie werden alle grandios! 😀

Ja det var tider det …

Monday, March 9th, 2015

What? A blog post? Here, on this site? 😮

Well, I guess it’s about time to write a bit about my move to Norway. Or to finally blog about my “Concerts 2014”. Or plan the summer festivals for 2015. Or … uhm.
Nope, I wasn’t much into blogging lately. I should pick it up again, and – maybe I will. I think I might. But I’m not promising anything. =;-)

This post, however, is not about any of those topics. It’s about – surprise surprise! -: Kaizers Orchestra. Who woulda thunk? *gg*

I saw the new Kaizers movie yesterday. I really liked it – but then, I don’t think I can really judge it. OF COURSE I liked it, since it is about Kaizers, and it actually contains new interviews and both old and new unseen footage. So it is, without a doubt, a must-see for Kaizer fans.

In one scene in the movie, Helge mentions that towards the end of Kaizers, in the last months and weeks, the friendship and the bonds between the members grew stronger. I found that really interesting, because (in a completely different context) I’ve experienced that once an “end” is decided, everything kind of falls apart, because there is no need to fix things and keep them together anymore. It’s awesome to hear that this worked out so well for Kaizers and they did not break apart in the end.

But it also got me thinking … From a fan perspective, looking back now, I have the feeling that while the bonds in the band apparently grew stronger, the “fan community”, the huge Kaizer family, started falling apart. While there was one group of “Kaizer fans” in the past, it turned more and more into one faction here, one faction there, oldtimers, newbies, Hjerteknuser fans, “everything was better in 2001” fans, …

Of course, this isn’t surprising. The number of fans grew so much that there was just no way to have one family. And just to make that clear right away, I’m not putting the blame on anyone. I’m sure I’m just as much to blame as everyone else. While in my early fan days, I wanted to meet EVERY other Kaizers fans out there, I’ve gotten less and less interested in talking to fourteen-year-olds, I tend to look down on fans that tour for festival shows (why don’t you wait for REAL concerts?!), and I just don’t understand fans that queue hours before a show.

Years ago, there were surely also some fans that kept separate from the rest. But all in all, it felt much more like “family”. I met one of the old DMA family at the screening yesterday, and while we couldn’t even remember the other’s name, we remembered “the old days” right away. Lots of great memories – and I feel that years from now, ALL my Kaizers memories will be from the old days. Violeta? Well, yes, sure. Siste Dans? Yep, I was there. But the good times were back then, long before Violeta.

Lots of people “dropped out” of the Kaizers universe since then. That’s totally fine, everybody got their own reasons for that. I just hope that people will remember the times we had, instead of ridiculing them. Just a short while ago I was told “well, SOME of us are over Kaizers now …” Hmm. Should I congratulate you now? Because you’re over the stupidities of your youth? Or should I rather pity you because it seems you don’t see that even though this part of your life is over, we were part of something huge and we should keep it in our hearts?

OK, I might be getting a bit melodramatic now. 😉 In any case, it’s a fact that for me (other fans might be at different stages in their fandom, of course) the time of one big Kaizers family is over. Finding people to meet up with for Kaizers events is getting harder and harder, and while years ago, I was looking forward to every concert because I knew that – even without arranging anything – I would meet awesome fellow fans, I now hardly care anymore because there are only very few of those people left. And those I can meet without organized events as well.

Of course it was great to see that it’s still possible to “unite” fans without too much effort (with a few kilos of confetti or some hundred balloons – even though nobody knew how that would turn out, almost everyone was in). But there are so many fans by now that there is not one community anymore. But one of oldtimers, one of newbies, one of Hjerteknuser fans, … And I hope that all the “everything was better in 2001” fans will manage to find their way to the cinema in the upcoming weeks, to be reminded of what we had.

It might be over. Life moves on. But I’m still proud and happy about the times we had. Me går langt tilbake til de gamle dager …

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. =;-)

Concert summary 2012

Sunday, December 30th, 2012

2012 is almost over – which means it’s time to look back at this year’s concerts! All in all, I saw 60 concerts this year; plus two musicals and three WWE events.

The “first place” is shared between Kaizers Orchestra and Die Ärzte this time, with 15 visited concerts each. But they share the first place only if you look at nothing but the numbers. Most of you know where my sympathies are … =;-) And not only the general sympathies, but Kaizers’ concerts were so much more fun as well. In the competition about the worst concert of the year, I really cannot decide between Mas Shake (absolutely uninteresting, boring dance music without any profile) and Die Ärzte in Zwickau (audacious to actually take money for what they delivered there!).

It’s even harder to determine the best concert of the year … if I had to come up with an answer, I would have to decide between the Kaizers concert at Nordic Sounds (the first Kaizers concert after several months, and again they managed to turn an unsuspecting crowd from “what the hell do they want” to “waaah, they are awesome” in the course of minutes) and Kaizers in Oslo on March 1st (my birthday concert *g*). But there were more amazing concerts, apart from Kaizers, in 2012: Thees Uhlmann – always amazing, over and over again. Herrliche Jahre – our DÄOF birthday; oh, excuse me, the DÄFC birthday of course. Krafklub, Kraftklub, and Kraftklub again – six times all in all, and none of that was boring. Xutos & Pontapés – a little vacation in Portugal, but in Switzerland. H2O – during the soccer cup, watching the Germany game without any jerseys or “Schlaaaand” chants, outcasts among themselves; and a great concert after the game. Madsen, Bakkusan, and Die Toten Hosen – German punk is not dead. Fozzy – hach, Fozzy … =:-)

In the summer, I attended six different festivals. The nicest of all was by far Odderøya live – and totally unexpected! The festival was so nice and relaxed, and so absolutely professional at the same time. But the other festivals weren’t far behind. And even though this summer was rather cold and rainy – looking at the music, it was perfect!

As always, let’s take a peek at the map: The northernmost concert this year was probably the Kaizers concert in Levanger (where we actually wanted to drive back to Oslo during the night, but that was prevented by a snow storm …), the westernmost was Helmet at House of Blues in LA (which was a rather unspectacular concert, but well, if you are a concert junkie and you are in LA, you just HAVE to see at least one concert, not matter which!), the southernmost was LA as well, of course, but apart from that one, it was Nordic Sounds in Zurich, and the easternmost was Die Ärzte in Vienna (old men flagrantly using their popularity, and the young girls don’t even notice … how appalling! But a nice sunny weekend in Vienna *g*).

And finally, a short outlook into the new year 2013: As always, the year will start with some Busters concerts, before the Kaizers tour starts. First in Oslo, then all around central Europe, and finally the conclusion in London. Where WWE will have some events in the same week – how convenient! =;-) In the summer, there will probably be quite a few Kaizers festivals in addition to the yearly festivals. So I guess I won’t get bored next year!

Gampel 2011

Saturday, February 25th, 2012
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Toll war’s am Gampel 2011! Ein kleiner Rückblick:

Concert summary 2011

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

It’s the end of December! So it’s time for another “concerts of the year” blog entry, looking back at all concerts of 2011! And a little outlook on 2012 of course…

Let’s start with the statistics: I saw 49 concerts this year – less than I had expected before I counted, but still quite a lot. Count in the literature reading (of a rock musician *uhem*), the four Sonny musicals and one WWE event, and I’m at an average of more than one concert/event per week again… *argh* No wonder I was kinda tired of concerts and especially festivals a few times this year!

Yep, especially festivals: I attended 10 festivals this year, one in early June (Rock im Park), on in mid June (Southside), and the rest in the seven weeks from mid July until early September. OK, I only attended one day for half of the festivals, but that still leaves five full festivals with LOTS of great music! And temperatures between 5°C and 30°C, thunderstorms and waterfalls, mud, and sunburn as well.

For the first time, I “worked” as photographer at some of the festivals and spent the first three songs of each band in the aisle in front of the stage. It was fun, no doubt, but I found out it’s not really what I long to do. It’s nice once in a while, but I’ll rather concentrate on the music instead of taking pictures that I’ll never ever look at again (and that are too bad to make any money out of them – especially since I don’t plan to make money out of going to concerts instead of going there to enjoy the concerts!).

Of course, most of the concerts I saw this year where somehow related to Kaizers Orchestra – all in all, I saw them 20 times this year. *cough* That might sound boring, seeing one band over and over and over, but it’s not. I love their concerts, I can’t get enough, and for some reason I don’t get tired of seeing them. There were some weaker concerts of course, like the one in Gent or at Eier mit Speck, but then there were so many concerts where I had blinking hearts in my eyes after they went off and couldn’t stop smiling for hours afterwards. Hell, I was close to tears at Vega! Because of Kaizers, and because of the beautiful time I had with my tour- and travel companions. THANK YOU for the wonderful time!

Apart from Kaizers, I saw four concerts of Die Ärzte (ok, actually three were not Die Ärzte but Laternen-Joe, but… you know how it is), four of Itchy Poopzkid (including an amazing tour conclusion just a week ago), and four of Monsters of Liedermaching (and these four were all completely different).

The last years, I listed the “geographical dimensions” of my concert trips – that’s not really that impressive this year. I was traveling a lot, but not really that far… I guess the south-eastern point would be Wien or Graz, south-west would be Gampel (probably the best festival of the year! Even though Serengeti was also amazing, just way too cold and overshadowed by the shootings in Norway). North-west was Amsterdam and north-east probably Oslo, with Øya and the Spektrum concert.

Most impressive concerts? Hmm, that one’s always hard to answer. Especially since all concerts are so different… I already mentioned the Kaizers tour, and all in all, that’s probably my favorite. The most surprising concert for me this year was Fozzy in Copenhagen. Yes, in Copenhagen… I never traveled that far for a band I hadn’t seen live before. But it was SO SO SO worth it! They just blew me away. Newcomer of the year was definitely Kraftklub. I hadn’t heard about them before I saw them live at Serengeti, where I instantly fell in love with them. I saw them again at Mini Rock (another great festival I haven’t mentioned yet, but it should be mentioned because it started out as a tiny festival and has constantly grown over the years, without losing its great atmosphere) and then just a few weeks ago at a club show. The club show was so crowded it was hard to enjoy the concerts, but then, it was impossible to not enjoy it. They will make it big! No newcomer but someone I hadn’t noticed before is Wirtz – I saw him at Taubertal, was very impressed, loved his gig at Gampel as well and was a bit disappointed by his club show a few months later. But then, I didn’t know his songs well enough; I do love the album now that I have it. And finally, I must mention Xutos & Pontapés; a Portuguese band that actually played in Switzerland and Luxembourg this year, yay! Great concerts, and a great experience as well.

So, what’s coming up in 2012? Actually, I thought at a concert a few weeks ago (don’t remember which concert it was, it doesn’t really matter either): “OK, maybe I should cut back on concerts a bit next year; if I don’t see so many concerts, I might appreciate the ones I see even more.” Makes sense, right? Sounds like a plan, right?

Well, looking at my concert schedule for 2012 demolishes that plan, sort of. =;-) There’s already 31 concerts planned; 16 times Die Ärzte, 7 times Kaizers Orchestra (and they haven’t even announced their European tour yet…). Plus probably a few festivals – Mini Rock is pretty much set, Taubertal would be fun again as well, and the rest is up to the bands that will be playing.

Guess I will be busy next year as well. Happy 2012!

Festivals 2011

Monday, May 30th, 2011
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Der Sommer steht vor der Tür (genauer gesagt schickt er schon seit ein paar Wochen die ersten Vorläufer vorbei, wie schön!), das heißt, es ist höchste Zeit, sich endlich mit den Sommerfestivals dieses Jahr zu beschäftigen und zu entscheiden, welche einen Besuch wert sind!

Letztes Jahr verbrachte ich neun Wochenende am Stück auf Festivals und Konzerten – das war schön, das machte Spaß, es war aber auch seeeeehr seeeeeehr anstrengend. Daher für dieses Jahr der Vorsatz: weniger Festivals! Das war anhand der ersten Bestätigungen der großen und kleineren Festivals nicht schwierig. Problem nur: Festivals haben es an sich, dass die Bands erst nach und nach angekündigt werden und das Line-Up sich daher immer mehr verbessert… Und das Resultat: Die Festivals dieses Jahr sind mindestens so vielversprechend wie letztes Jahr, und ich fürchtevermute, ich werde auch diesen Sommer wieder im Freien mit Krach auf den Ohren verbringen…

Also, hier mal (für mich und Euch) ein kleiner Überblick über die relevanten Festivals diesen Sommer!

Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, 3.-5. Juni

Los geht’s am Himmelfahrtswochenende mit Rock am Ring und Rock im Park. Hier fand ich das Line-Up zu Beginn sehr sehr schwach. Mittlerweile aber? Echt nicht übel! Von den Headlinern ist zwar nur System of a Down so richtig mein Fall, aber unter den kleineren Bands verstecken sich einige Perlen, so dass es einem ganz sicher nicht langweilig wird. Besonders stark ist natürlich der RiP-Samstag und RaR-Sonntag mit – für mich – durchgehend tollem Programm. So toll, dass ich sogar über eine Tageskarte nachdenke… System of a Down allein wären es schon wert, und dann noch DIESES Vorprogramm? Mal gucken. Auf jeden Fall war das hier schon mal ein schönes Beispiel dafür, wie ein Line-Up wachsen kann!

Southside/Hurricane, 17.-19. Juni

Ein wenig im Gegensatz dazu das Southside (und Hurricane) dieses Jahr. Hier treffen die Headliner (bis auf die Chemical Brothers) komplett meinen Geschmack, dafür ist bei den kleinen Bands eher wenig dabei, was mich anlockt. Natürlich Kaizers Orchestra, wegen denen ich auch hinfahren werde, aber sonst? Eher dürftig, finde ich. Und da ich ja insgesamt absolut kein Southside-Freund bin (Klartext? Okay: Das Southside ist das am schlechtesten organisierte Festival hierzulande, und es ist nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis etwas Ernsthaftes passiert, denn es gibt einfach kein Sicherheitskonzept. Siehe hier.), wird es daher bei mir nur der eine Tag werden, nämlich der Samstag. An dem natürlich die Chemical Brothers Headliner sind. Kashmir spielen am gleichen Tag – und zwar parallel zu Kaizers. Juchhe. Na ja, Southside halt. =;-)

Rock a Field, 26. Juni

Vom Rock-a-Field-Festival in Luxemburg hatte ich bisher noch nie gehört. Dieses Mal wurde ich darauf aufmerksam, weil Bullet for my Valentine dort spielen. Und woah, was ist denn das für ein Line-Up? Für EINEN Tag? Nicht schlecht, echt nicht schlecht. Die Gefahr ist natürlich, dass sich die Auftrittszeiten überschneiden und man nur die Hälfte der Bands zu sehen bekommt, aber auch das wäre noch die Anfahrt wert. Nur schade, dass es ein Sonntag ist, ein Samstag wäre praktischer; dennoch glaube ich, das kann ich mir nicht entgehen lassen!

Sonnenrot, 15.-16. Juli

Im Juli geht es dann weiter mit dem Sonnenrot. Das Line-Up des letzten Jahres war unglaublich stark – daher ist klar, dass das kaum getoppt werden kann. Bisher fehlen im Programm noch ein Headliner und ein Co-Headliner; daher ist es schwer, das diesjährige Line-Up wirklich zu beurteilen. Der erste Blick ist jedoch nicht allzu vielversprechend, zumindest was die Bands angeht. Bis auf wenige “Feier-Bands” wie Bonaparte, Russkaja und die Ting Tings (und natürlich Kettcar, für diejenigen, die mit denen etwas anfangen können – da gehöre ich nicht dazu), ist es doch eher durchwachsen. Was aber nichts heißen muss – ich habe das Sonnenrot letztes Jahr sehr positiv empfunden, da die ganze Atmosphäre sehr schön war und man wunderbar neue Bands kennenlernen konnte. Und genau DAS geht ja nur, wenn man die Bands nicht schon alle kennt!

Happiness, 15.-16. Juli

Am selben Wochenende wie das Sonnenrot findet in Schwann bei Pforzheim das Happiness-Festival statt. Die beiden Festivals sind natürlich nicht zu vergleichen, da das Happiness doch sehr viel kleiner ist. Wobei sie sich mit Sum 41 dieses Jahr aber auch einen ziemlich hochkarätigen Headliner geangelt haben! Für mich sind natürlich Disco Ensemble der Grund, da hinzuwollen, und dazu gibt’s noch Yakuzi und eine Handvoll weiterer namhafter Bands. Sehr sehr vielversprechend! Leider ist bei solch lokalen Festivals immer ein wenig die Gefahr, dass die Dorfjugend aufläuft und Alkohol viel wichtiger ist als die Musik. Mal sehen. Einmal war ich bisher dort, das war vom Programm super und vom Publikum durchaus machbar, wenn auch nicht perfekt. Ich bin gespannt, wie es sich mittlerweile entwickelt hat.

Slottsfjell, 14.-16. Juli

Und gleich noch ein Festival am selben Wochenende: das Slottsfjell-Festival in Norwegen. Ich war vor zwei Jahren dort, und das Festival ist wunderschön. Für Norwegen sehr groß, für deutsche Verhältnisse ist das aber immer noch sehr familiär. Dazu aber richtig professionell aufgezogen, was man bei kleineren norwegischen Festivals nicht immer behaupten kann. Aber es passt alles: die Lage, die Organisation, das Publikum, die Verkehrsanbindung – nur das Programm, das passt für mich dieses Jahr leider gar nicht. Kaizers Orchestra sind die einzige Band des Festivals, die mich interessiert – die spielen dafür aber auch gleich zweimal, einmal als Headliner, einmal ein “Privatkonzert” für ein Handvoll Ticketgewinner. Nettes Konzept, aber das restliche Programm reißt das leider nicht raus. =:-( Na ja, nächstes Jahr dann vielleicht wieder?

Eier mit Speck, 29.-31. Juli

Wo wir schon bei Kaizers Orchestra sind: Die spielen auch beim Eier mit Speck-Festival in Viersen. Den Namen kannte ich (den vergisst man ja nicht, wenn man ihn mal gehört hat *g*), sonst hatte ich mich mit dem Festival noch nie beschäftigt. Aber ein Blick aufs Line-Up sagt: nicht unspannend! Natürlich kann man hier kein 1A-Line-Up erwarten (ich meine, Kaizers sind Headliner =;-)), aber für ein kleines Festival kann sich das durchaus sehen lassen. Neben ein paar altbekannten Bands sind einige dabei, von denen man mal den Namen gehört hat, aber sonst noch nichts – ich erwarte hier also ein schönes “Neuentdeckungs-Festival”. Das werde ich mir sicher nicht entgehen lassen! Ich muss mich nur noch zwischen einem Tag und dem ganzen Festival entscheiden…

Mini-Rock-Festival, 5.-6. August

Das Mini-Rock hat sich im letzten Jahr zum “Mindestens Medium wenn nicht fast schon Maxi”-Rock entwickelt, ist dabei aber geblieben wie es war – sehr positiv! Dieses Jahr zeigte sich dann, dass sie den Stand vom letzten Jahr wohl nicht halten könnten. Kein Wunder, Fettes Brot als Headliner waren schon eine Nummer, die sich nicht leicht wiederholen lässt! Daher habe ich sehr skeptisch aufs Line-Up geschaut und hatte das Festival für dieses Jahr innerlich schon abgehakt. Nachdem nun aber noch Disco Ensemble und die Monsters of Liedermaching bestätigt wurden, wendete sich das Blatt… und hey, La Vela Puerca sind auch dabei, sowie ein ganzer Haufen “oh den Namen kenne ich, die wollte ich immer schon mal angucken”-Bands. Also, beide Daumen nach oben, und dabei werden sie noch ganz fest gedrückt, dass das Festival auch ohne einen Headliner wie Fettes Brot das Niveau halten kann!

Prima leben und stereo, 5.-6. August

Einziges Problemchen für mich mit dem Mini-Rock: Am selben Wochenende spielen Kaizers Orchestra in Freising bei München beim Prima leben und stereo. Von dem Festival hatte ich vorher noch nie etwas gehört, und ich muss auch gestehen, dass ich beim Line-Up mehr Fragezeichen vor Augen habe als sonst etwas. Aber auch hier gilt: Kann man nicht mit z.B. dem Mini-Rock vergleichen, da das ein völlig anderes Level ist. Mein Gefühl sagt, dass das hier wohl ein schönes, familiäres, kleines Alternativ-Festival ist. Und zwar mit Kaizers als Headliner. Was will man mehr? Also, außer Sonnenschein und guter Laune an dem Wochenende, versteht sich. =:-)

Taubertal/Open Flair/Rocco del Schlacko, 11.-14. August

Mitte August dann DAS Festivalwochenende des Jahres. Ich verwende das Taubertal jetzt einfach als Synonym für Taubertal, Open Flair und Rocco del Schlacko, obwohl sich das Line-Up der drei Festivals natürlich geringfügig unterscheidet. Das Rocco ist klar “abgeschlagen” mit weniger Bands (dafür ist es aber auch kleiner und billiger), das Open Flair hat noch ein paar Extra-Schmankerl (wie die Busters), und das Taubertal – nun ja, das ist halt das Taubertal und damit eh immer toll. =:-) Und das Line-Up? Nun ja. Draufgucken, staunen, jubeln sag ich da nur! Für mich sind wahnsinnig viele Bands dabei, die ich unbedingt sehen will. Jetzt muss ich mich nur noch für eins der drei Festivals entscheiden… wobei das Taubertal natürlich klar vorne liegt, denn: Es ist halt das Taubertal!

Open Air Gampel, 18.-21. August
Das Open Air Gampel hatte ich bisher kaum auf dem Schirm, und es ist ja auch von Süddeutschland aus nicht gerade “um die Ecke”. Das Line-Up macht die Reise allerdings wert! The Offsping und die Guano Apes sind Bands, die ich sonst noch nirgends im diesjährigen Festival-Line-Up gelesen habe, und zusätzlich gibt es noch NoFX, Skunk Anansie, Chemical Brothers, Simple Plan, Seeed und die Baseballs – von den “kleinen” Highlights, allen voran natürlich Kaizers Orchestra, aber auch Katzenjammer und Russkaja, mal ganz abgesehen. Und Schweizer Festivals sind ja sowieso immer was Tolles, ganz grundsätzlich.

Rått & Råde, 1.-3. September

Mein letztes Sommerfestival 2010 war das Rått & Råde in Stavanger, ein tolles Erlebnis. Dieses Jahr werden Kaizers dort spielen. Das restliche Programm ist zurzeit noch ziemlich unklar… ich hoffe aber auf ein paar richtig tolle Ergänzungen, denn da würde ich gerne wieder hin. Mal sehen, was sich ergibt.

Vermutlich habe ich jetzt noch das ein oder andere Festival vergessen und übersehen, was ich dieses Jahr erwähnenswert finde – das wird dann einfach im Nachhinein ergänzt. Für sachdienliche Hinweise bin ich dankbar! Fakt ist aber auf jeden Fall: Das wird ein lauter und anstrengender Sommer! Ich freu mich drauf! =:-)

Three weeks of Violeta!

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

One band, two weeks, three off-days. Four friends! An average five hours of sleep… Nine countries, 14 concerts, 6400 kilometers. Uncountable fond memories!

Each tour holds special moments, tiny details, funny occurrences that will be remembered. The memories of the concerts fade, but there are a few things that are extraordinary. Those are the memories I’d tell my grand children or write them in “The memoirs of a concert junkie” (if there ever was something like that).

And as these moments are the ones that I want to remember, I need to write them down. I have no clue if they make sense for anyone who wasn’t there, but they do for me. And I’m sure I forgot a lot, but here are some special moments – ordered rather randomly:

  • First concert of the tour. The first support band is just done. I check my mobile – a new message: “Congratulations! You’ve been elected!” Elected? What? Why? Oh wait… this other band I work for. More responsibility! More work! Yay… ARGH! But well… two and a half weeks with Kaizers now. Let’s worry about the rest afterwards…
  • The Norwegian voice of my GPS. “Sving din hammer – NÅ!”
  • Worst timing ever: “Help, we don’t get in!” – “Not now!!!” Uuuh, okay, we can talk after the concert then… *lol* (And of course we did get in. And even made it to the front row. *g*)
  • Handing out flyers… A lot of people didn’t want to take them, of course. However, a handful actually passed us and CAME BACK afterwards. “Oh, Kaizers? Yes, I’ll take a flyer after all!”
  • Tasting Violeta vodka in the middle of the night…
  • Arriving in Vienna at 7:15 pm after four hours of sleep and ten hours in the car. Checking in. At the concert at 8:05.
  • And then there was the Mac incident…
  • Cologne. The first breath-taking concert of the tour. If the frontman is crying, the audience did everything right.
  • “Sind Sie Frau Fuchss?” (No offense! It was just really funny… *lol* It was great meeting you, see you again soon!)
  • Stealing toilet paper in Vienna. I wasn’t even part of it, but the story itself is just incredibly funny. *g*
  • My first trip to the casino – and instead of losing 30 Euros as was the plan, I actually won 30. Makes a plus of 60! (And still I didn’t have the slightest problem staying away from the casino on the ferry. *g*)
  • Watching WrestleMania on a tiny screen in the car between Vienna and Munich.
  • Schorndorf. Seemed like nobody in the audience knew the band. During the last song, Bak et halleluja, I looked around and saw smiling faces everywhere – no, not smiling, gleaming. Incredible!
  • “The best song was the one where Frankenstein was screaming into the megaphone!”
  • Sightseeing in Berlin at 2 am. “Let’s walk over to O2 World. You MUST see O2 World!” And of course, stopping at the wall afterwards.
  • Speed-shopping in Svinesund, on the way to Oslo, last concert of the tour. “You’ll get a can of sweets and something we can turn into a crowbar, we’ll find a baby body and markers. Let’s meet here in… five minutes?” We made it! =:-D
  • There’s still gaffa on my netbook!
  • Getting to the after show party after the Oslo concert. First thought: “Urgh, I don’t want to be here!”. Second thought: “Alcohol! That might help!” And then Kaizers went on stage, sang Mr. Kaizer, hans Constanze og meg, and we were standing arm in arm, singing along, concluding the tour. Afterwards, the party was just the party we had hoped for…
  • Copenhagen, the last “real” concert of the tour, because Oslo was so much bigger and I was tweeting during the concert. Front row, last song “Die Polizei”, standing arm in arm singing along… and Janove’s expression when he saw us.
  • Two weeks of spring. In March and April… =:-D

Thanks so much to all of you who were part of this tour! Most of all my travel comrades, of course, and everybody I met up with at the concerts. Thank you for the amazing time! And also a huge thanks and big smile for everyone who walked up to me during the concerts and said hi – we’ll meet again on the next tour.

Because yes, of course: There WILL be a next tour. And I will be there.

The four of us at the after show party in Oslo.

Concert summary 2010

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

2010 is almost over – this means it’s time for my annual concert summary!

Let’s start with the numbers – which are surprisingly low, compared to other years: a total of 42 concerts (at least it’s a nice number *g*), nine of these were festivals. Not counting the festival appearances, I saw five Skambankt concerts and three concerts each of Katzenjammer, Monsters of Liedermaching and Kaizers Orchestra (if you count the promo gig in Zurich) – so it was a rather mixed year this time, without real tours of one artist/band!

Geographically, Zurich was probably the concert furthest south – or no, not true, Portugal was further south of course, and at the same time the westernmost concert of the year. Xutos & Pontapés in Èvora, yay! In the east, I didn’t make it out of Germany this year, but in the north, I again crossed the Arctic Circle for three Skambankt concerts.

Even though there weren’t that many concerts this year, I won’t mention all of them here now; that’s what the reports on www.konzertjunkie.de are for. But of course I’ll point out the highlights!

Guess the first highlight was the Dúné concert in Karlsruhe. I went there with little expectations, was shocked during the first few songs, and afterwards, I was so enthusiastic that I wanted to see them over and over again. Unfortunately it worked out only two more times this year: at Schlossgrabenfest in Darmstadt and at Sonnenrot in Munich – both were wonderful gigs that left me absolutely euphoric. And gnaah… I’ll miss their tour now in January, so I hope they’ll return soon!

The next highlight was of course the Kaizers tour, or rather the two concerts in Stavanger and Oslo. The concerts were nice, but not special (the Demoner tour raised the bar quite a bit there), but overall this was another great concert trip!

Next up were very impressive concerts of Pétur Ben and the Monsters of Liedermaching – I knew Pétur Ben from his gigs as support for Kaizers, but I hardly remembered anything about his show. When I arrived, I saw that there were chairs set up for the audience – what the heck? But it was simply amazing! Within minutes, I remembered all his songs, and his performance captured me completely (COMPLETELY!) . Wow! Similarly with Monsters… Actually, I didn’t really want to go, because I’d seen them before, right? And seeing and hearing the same things over and over again … is GREAT! Their shows are so much fun, every time!

A few days later I found out once more that it is a good idea to buy tickets in advance. Otherwise I don’t think I would have gone to see the Fettes Brot concert. ‘Cause I really didn’t feel like it; but then, I had a ticket, so I had to go. And I was flabbergasted! Just like later on this year after their festival concerts at Mini Rock and Taubertal. They were SO amazing – but now they’ll take a break, too bad… =:-(

Next up were two Katzenjammer concerts, including the last concert at the old Substage. Oh, the memories …

And then it was time for the festival season 2010! This year, I saw lots of festivals. I chose those festivals that had a great line-up and got a press accreditation for some of them; and of course, I went to Norway again! In Norway, I saw Kartfestivalen (with, among others, Skambankt and Jethro Tull) and Rått og Råde, a new festival in Stavanger. Both were great! In Germany, I decided for Helfenstein Festival, Sonnenrot, Mini Rock festival, and Taubertal. The latter I enjoyed only because of the line-up. The weather wasn’t so great, the festival has become much too big, and my tickets was for one day only – so no, Taubertal definitely wasn’t perfect this time. Still, I was much more “festivaljunkie” than usual this year – and I actually enjoyed the various festivals. However, it was a bit too much this summer. After the festival season, I was quite glad that it was over, and I cut back on concerts for the next few weeks. =;-)

At least until the DÄOF Super Drei parties started! The first one took place in Berlin, featuring Rock Shoe (and two less interesting bands *g*), and the next one was in Stuttgart with a Die Ärzte cover band and the Monsters. Both parties were great, albeit exhausting. But I definitely wouldn’t mind repeating this! =:-)

After that, there was a little non-concert digression to WWE (it’s in my concert list, that’s why I mention it here, but I didn’t count it as concert *g*), a four-hour Monsters concert in Karlsruhe (AWESOME!) and my first live encounter with Bullet for my Valentine (which I had expected to be even better – but I guess I just wasn’t in concert mood), before my last Norway trip for 2010. Three Skambankt concerts in Northern Norway! And just like in 2007, it was absolutely gigantic! The concerts were getting better from day to day, with a fantastic climax in Bodø. And of course this is… well, perfect would be the wrong way to put it, but at least it’s the best possible way to face the upcoming live-break!

The last concert of the year was Sportfreunde Stiller in Munich then… well, it was okay. =;-)

If I had to elect THE concert of the year, I’d have to decide between Monsters in Karlsruhe and Skambankt in Bodø. Closely followed by Pétur Ben, Dúné at several festivals, and the whole Rått og Råde festival.

And next year? When I look at the list of concerts that are scheduled already, I get dizzy… =;-) Let’s see how many of those I’ll really see in the end. This is the current plan: First, there will be two Busters gigs (Karlsruhe and Tübingen, as always), then the Kaizers tour (first in Norway, then the entire European tour), and then I have to figure out how to fit in Katzenjammer, Itchy Poopzkid, and the Monsters of Liedermaching at the same time (because they are all on tour at the same time *grr*). In the summer, Bullet for my Valentine are on a festival tour, and the way it looks, Taubertal/Open Flair/Rocco del Schlacko will have lots of great bands. So I’m pretty sure that I’ll visit one of these festivals. *g* And then, at the end of the year, the Kaizers musical will premiere.

So much for “I won’t do that many concerts next year.” Yep, sure… =;-)

Concert summary 2009

Monday, December 28th, 2009

2009 is almost over, and it’s time to look back at the concerts of the year! Quite a lot again, so I won’t mention all of them but just remember the highlights and “lowlights”. Much more highlights than lowlights, fortunately! ... read on!