Longfield & Super Skeleton

08.06.2019 Skambankt (supporting Bon Jovi) (Viking Stadion, Stavanger)

Sunday, June 9th, 2019

The first band I ever was a fan of was Bon Jovi. That was loooong ago, and I haven’t kept up with them at all the last 25 years or so … (gosh, I’m old!). Still, when Skambankt announced they would be supporting Bon Jovi at their concert in Stavanger, there was not a doubt in my mind what I would be doing that weekend!

As a concert junkie, getting a ticket wasn’t a problem, but just for the record: I hate Golden Circles. The people who get there first should be the ones who get to stand in the front, and not the people who pay the most – which might even be the people who got their tickets last, because those hilariously expensive tickets were the last ones left … Anyways, I got to the arena in time to secure my spot in the front row of the non-Golden-Circle area, which was pretty much in the middle of the area. Thus far enough away that if Skambankt had put body-doubles on stage, I wouldn’t have noticed. *grmbl*

Add to that the fact that when Skambankt played, a lot of the Golden Circle audience hadn’t arrived yet, and there was therefore a huge gap in the audience, which totally killed the atmosphere. I mean, nothing compared to Longfield & Super Skeleton, who were the first band out – nobody cared for their show, and there was hardly anybody there yet. Such a pity! =:-( At least for Skambankt, it had filled up quite a bit, and before the show I saw quite a few Skambankt shirts and heard a lot of talk about them, so people actually wanted to see Skambankt. Still, there weren’t enough fans there to create a real buzz in the stadium while Skambankt were on stage – but as Skambankt themselves said on stage: It cannot be that easy – they have to do some work to deserve the favor of the audience!

Even though the easiest way to create a buzz in the stadium was to simply … ask for it. =;-) Which definitely worked, it sounded impressive, and Skambankt seemed to love it! What was awesome to see was how well they managed to fill the huge stage. Their setup was a lot smaller than Bon Jovi’s, of course, but they spread out to the sides whenever possible, and they used the catwalk into the audience quite a bit. Not always successfully – during Stormkast #1, both Terje and Panzer went to the front, just to simultaneously realize they wouldn’t make it back to their positions in time and start running back … which resulted in a musical mess, so after a quick band meeting on stage, they decided to start the song over. *lol*

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Stormkast #1 & #2 #skambankt

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The weather report for the evening was bad – it was supposed to rain basically all night. However, it held up until Skambankt came on, and it wasn’t until O Dessverre and “after sunshine comes the rain” that it started raining … They didn’t take the blame though, because come on, let’s get real here, “you’re all gonna be soaking wet by the end of the night anyway, so let’s just not give a damn about it”.

For the final song, Kommer snart hjem, they got some help on stage – Longfield’s guitar player (I think) and a saxophone solo (by a guy I could have sworn played a concert in Sandnes earlier that day – but hey, I was too far from the stage to really be able to tell, and I guess I’ll never know …).

The full setlist:

  1. Dynasti
  2. Skambankt
  3. Voodoo
  4. Mantra
  5. Horisonten brenner
  6. Vår bør
  7. O dessverre
  8. For en evighet
  9. Malin
  10. Balladen om deg
  11. Stormkast #1
  12. Kommer snart hjem

Definitely a fun experience to see Skambankt on such a huge stage! It could have been even better if the audience had been more into them, but well – I guess you can’t ask for that if you’re only the support band.

Half an hour later, it was time for Bon Jovi. And I was suddenly 25 years younger and surprised about how much of my brain capacity is apparently blocked by Bon Jovi lyrics … *uhem* Great fun, even though the singing especially on the old songs was quite sloppy at times. But still: two and a half hours down memory lane! And all in all, an amazing night. =:-)

16.03.2018 Skambankt (Samfundet, Trondheim)

Sunday, March 18th, 2018

After all the traveling, time for my home game in Trondheim! Unfortunately on a weekend where I was way too busy – hurrying from band practice right to the concert, just making it in time, and having to take it slowly and soberly so I would manage to get up way too early the next morning … Well, I guess I shouldn’t complain, because Skambankt playing in Trondheim this weekend made it possible for me to still see them! =;-)

Sadly, I missed the last support gig from Longfield & Super Skeleton, but from what I heard, they got a great reception as always. Samfundet wasn’t quite sold out, but it looked really crowded, and everyone on the floor was HOT for the concert! Lots of Skambankt shouts before the concert even started, and once Skambankt came on, people were really into the show. Interestingly enough, it seemed like most knew the new songs really well – and maybe even better than the old ones? The poll a bit later on showed as well that there were a lot of “first-timers” in the audience again.

At least on the floor. It seemed like the seats were filled with the … guess I’ll have to call them “old-timers”? =;-) During the last (non-Skambankt) concerts at Samfundet, I noticed that it seems to have changed so that the seats are now actually for sitting, not for standing, dancing, having fun without anybody jumping into your back anymore … =:-( And that’s how the Skambankt concert started out as well, with people sitting down, relaxing, and enjoying their beer. Hey guys, this is a concert!!

Anyway, that lasted for about half the concert, until Terje pointed out that he can actually SEE them sitting there, and that unless they have a very good reason for sitting, they’d better get up! His first request was collectively ignored, but the second time it actually worked, and people stood up and started getting into the concert. Which was awesome!

And just to make that clear – this does not mean that the atmosphere was bad before! Quite the opposite, actually, because the fans on the floor made up for what those in the seats lacked in the beginning. Loud singing, a huge mosh pit, and constant Skambankt shouts – yep, all props to Trondheim, that was amazing!

Unlike at the other concerts, Skambankt started out with Protest dommer, then Voodoo, then I dette huset. And this worked great! Protest dommer sounds great live. The only downside – maybe? – is that whenever Skambankt play Protest dommer, they don’t play Fremmed i en fremmed verden … or well, at least they never did at any of the two concerts I saw where they played Protest dommer. *lol* I might be overgeneralizing a bit here, who knows. =;-)

In any case, the concert was awesome, and the audience was amazing. Or “sinnsykt”, as Terje put it before they went off for the first time. As always, we got Anonyme hatere, Malin and Skambankt as encores – and during Skambankt, Longfield & Super Skeleton came out to celebrate their last concert. Fully dressed, fortunately – guess they are slightly more sane than Kvelertak. =;-) And since the stage was full anyway, Terje started to get people from the audience up on stage as well. =;-)

Off they went again, but the audience wasn’t satisfied with that – so for the first time ever on this tour, they came on again for a second encore! Mantra as very last song, and that was it – even though the audience still hadn’t gotten enough. =:-) They did come on one more time, but just to say bye (probably since it was past midnight already). And everyone walked out with a huge smile on their faces … yay! Venerunt, viderunt, vicerunt! =:-D

The full setlist:

  1. Protest dommer
  2. Voodoo
  3. I dette huset
  4. Kommer snart hjem
  5. O dessverre
  6. Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
  7. Balladen om deg
  8. Levende legende
  9. Vår bør
  10. Stormkast #1
  11. Gribben
  12. Horisonten brenner
  13. Me sa nei
  14. Dynasti
    ———
  15. Anonyme hatere
  16. Malin
  17. Skambankt
    ———
  18. Mantra

10.03.2018 Skambankt (Union Scene, Drammen)

Sunday, March 11th, 2018

You just got to love this band! If not for their amazing concerts, then for the fact that they actually give me something to write about every single time … =;-)

Third concert for me on this tour, and for the third time, the concert was completely different from all the other concerts. This time, we were back to club show size. Unlike Høvleriet in Haugesund, Union Scene felt pretty empty though. =:-( When we came in, there were maybe twenty people in there. It filled up a bit more when Longfield & Super Skeleton started (they are awesome, by the way – guess Skambankt are the rocket strappers of Norwegian rock now =;-) – but PLEASE: I don’t need to see Longfield running around on stage naked at their last show, like I saw Kvelertak at Union Scene the last time I was there … *lol*). Still, before Skambankt came on, I looked around and felt kinda bad – where the hell was everyone?! Well, Skambankt came on, people got closer to the stage, and suddenly it felt as if the venue was full! Yay!

And again, just as in Oslo, everyone was into the concert – both the new songs and the old, people knew the lyrics and were into it, and the atmosphere was hot. I think I wasn’t the only one surprised by this, but just like the band, I loved it. =:-) Skambankt asked who had seen them before and who was at their first Skambankt show, and amazingly, almost half of the people were there for the first time! I would have never expected that, but it explained why a good part of the audience was familiar with the new songs.

One thing I noticed though is that while I dette huset works perfectly as a first song music-wise, it might not be the best song to start with if you have to sing it … =:-( Terje had trouble with it at the record shop gig already, and it was similar at the concert. It got a lot better during the show though – at least until the last few songs, where his voice was pretty much gone, so they even skipped one of the encores (after promising three songs, pfff! *g*). Luckily, this was the last show for the weekend, so some time to recover.

When they started the intro for Balladen om deg (a lot of pling plong on the guitar – I guess the musical term would be arpeggio *g*), they stopped after a bit and noticed that Terje’s guitar was in the wrong key. So he changed to another one, started off with all the pling plong again, and then the rest of the band came in – in another key. *lol* No clue which guitar was wrong now, but of course Terje had a good explanation for it (which also passed the time while they were figuring it all out *g*): When they were sleeping on the bus in the morning, backliner Kjell suddenly woke up when a thieve slunk in. And after almost getting hold of him and grabbing him by his ankle through the window, he had to chase him through half of Oslo … no wonder he’s a bit exhausted and messing the tuning up a little … =;-) Anyway, third time’s a charm, and “eg driter i den introen nå, okay”? *rofl* Well, and for the rest of the night, we got constant “Kjell! Kjell! Kjell!” chants.

#skambankt#folken#preprod

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For the first time, I got to hear Protest dommer live, and it worked really well. And after Horisonten brenner, Terje asked that after this Skambankt pop, are we ready for some Skambankt punk? We were, and so we got Me sa nei – including a count-down part down from 30. Talk about killing time. =;-)

But yes, a really awesome concert, and totally worth the trip! Can’t wait for the show in Trondheim – even though I’m a bit curious about the audience there. During the last concerts, the average age was quite high (which is probably not that surprising considering that Skambankt have been active for like 10, 15 years now). And the Trondheim audience usually consists of students only … so let’s see how that will turn out!

Here’s the full setlist:

  1. I dette huset
  2. Voodoo
  3. Protest dommer
  4. Kommer snart hjem
  5. O dessverre
  6. Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
  7. Balladen om deg
  8. Levende legende
  9. Vår bør
  10. Stormkast #1
  11. Gribben
  12. Horisonten brenner
  13. Me sa nei
  14. Dynasti
    ———
  15. Mantra
  16. Skambankt

09.03.2018 Skambankt (Rockefeller, Oslo)

Saturday, March 10th, 2018

Time for a trip down south (this still feels a bit weird for me to say, even after living in Trondheim for three and a half years now) for two concerts in Oslo and Drammen!

It feels like it’s been forever since I last was at Rockefeller, but great to come back – and yes, it’s one of the nicest concert stages around! It was pretty crowded as well, and with people who were clearly there to see Skambankt. So when they came on, the atmosphere was hot, and the crowd in front of the stage didn’t stop moving throughout the concert. People were singing along – not only during the old songs, but all the time! =:-O But of course, the old hits were the ones people were most excited about. O dessverre was the first (of many) song were the whole floor was shaking! Still, I don’t think anybody was disappointed about all the new songs in the setlist either.

I was impressed about how different this concert was to the one in Haugesund. That one was a club show, this one was way bigger. I couldn’t say which of the concerts was better, because both were awesome – I love small shows, but this one was “tighter”. Hardly any talking inbetween songs, full power from start to finish (yes, even through the ballads =;-) ).

And clearly, this resonated with the audience, they were in it 100% all the time. At one time, Terje thanked the audience, just to mention afterwards how weird it feels to him to be the little boy from the countryside, remembering traveling to Oslo to stand in the crowd at Rockefeller, now being on stage and saying “Thank you Rockefeller”. And it did look like the whole band was quite touched by the awesome reception when the concert was over. =:-)

Not much more to report, so here’s the full setlist:

  1. I dette huset
  2. Voodoo
  3. Fremmed i en fremmed verden
  4. Kommer snart hjem
  5. O dessverre
  6. Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
  7. Balladen om deg
  8. Levende legende
  9. Vår bør
  10. Stormkast #1
  11. Gribben
  12. Horisonten brenner
  13. Me sa nei
  14. Dynasti
    ———
  15. Anonyme hatere
  16. Malin
  17. Skambankt

The next morning, there was a small encore when Skambankt played a short set at the record store Big Dipper. It was early from a rockstar perspective, so some vocal chords weren’t quite awake yet =;-), but it was still a fun little show! Watch it here:

01.03.2018 Skambankt (Høvleriet, Haugesund)

Friday, March 2nd, 2018

Finally the Skambankt tour started for me as well! For various reasons, I couldn’t make it to the concerts the last two weekends – but this one had been in my calendar right from the start. Haugesund is maybe not the most obvious and logical town for me to travel to, and when you’re traveling somewhere, weekend shows make a lot more sense than concerts on a Thursday, but … I have this tradition of spending my birthday at concerts. And after Aalborg and Øystese, this was the third time Skambankt arranged my birthday concert! =:-D

So I basically spent my birthday on planes and airports, made it to Haugesund in a fantastic sunset, grabbed some food and met up with Helene for some pre-concert beers – and for catching up of course, it’s been a while since those Kaizer days! And I started feeling extra old when I looked up that my first Skambankt concert in Haugesund was in 2009. =:-O

When we got to Høvleriet (a really nice venue btw!), I was greeted with birthday wishes everywhere. This social media age is scary!! But really really nice as well. *g* I got a glimpse of the setlist before the show – didn’t really want to check it to keep the element of surprise, but when I figured out that “Levende legende” wasn’t on there, I just had to address that. Call it complain or insist or mase or “det går jo ikke an!!!”, but hey – this is my totally favorite song on the new album, they played it at (some of?) the previous concerts, and they want to leave it out ON MY BIRTHDAY?! No way! =;-)

But first off were Longfield & Super Skeleton (let’s see if I’ll manage to type their name without looking it up by the end of this tour …). I had seen them at Skambankt’s last Christmas festival and really liked it, and they lived up to my memory and played a fun, short show. And then it was time for Skambankt! It started to get more crowded in the front, and it was clear that this would be a fun concerts, ’cause people were excited. Not the reserved “let’s stand in the back and maybe nod our heads a little if we approve” kind of crowd. And this turned out to be totally true – at least in front of the stage. There were a lot of people sitting in the back, but they seemed to enjoy it as well, and everyone in the front was really having a great time!

I didn’t really take any photos at all this time, but check out the pictures that Grethe Nygaard/@photosbygrethe took at the concert – they are awesome!

Before the show, I had decided to not worry about taking notes or writing down songs during the concert – I could always revert to a “my birthday present to myself was to not write a detailed report this time” kind of report if I didn’t have anything else to write. =;-) And with a few exceptions, I managed to stick to that resolution – and I still have stuff to write about! Because the concert was really awesome, so much fun, and only slightly awkward. =;-)

It was off to a great start right away – “I dette huset” as opener works as expected. “Voodoo” next, and already by the third song I remembered why I love this band and their concerts so much … “Slukk meg (for eg brenner)”! <3 I was about to forgive them for not playing "Levende legende" since they took that one in instead. And they remembered my birthday and let everyone know that they are not only celebrating their new album, but also my birthday, and that people should buy me drinks. Well, I didn't get any drinks, but a weird drunk Janove-lookalike-wannabe trying to talk to me in the middle of the concert. In the middle of a song even! WTF?! Not sure if it was "Fremmed i en fremmed verden" or "Kommer snart hjem" though, one of the two I think. Next up was "O dessverre", awesome as always, followed by ... well, they had to make a little change to the setlist there, because someone came up to them before the show requesting they play "Levende legende" tonight. Yaaaaaaayyyyy! It was over way too quickly, but lived up to the expectations while it lasted. =:-) It was obvious though that not everybody knew the new album and the new songs - of course. That's a pity, and I understand Skambankt wanting to vary the setlist a bit. I still want "Levende legende" at all of my upcoming concerts, thank you. =;-P "Balladen om deg" was the next song, and I was positively surprised - I love the song, but I couldn't imagine how it could work live. It does though! It feels much heavier and cooler live than on the recording. "Vår bør" and "Mantra" were great as always and people knew them, and then it was time for ... a birthday song! Uuuh ... I already got all the shoutout and "my" birthday song, not sure if I need everyone staring and singing at me as well ... =:-O But it was really nice of them of course, and I was drunk enough to not run off into the corner and hide under a table. =;-) But still nobody bought me a drink. *pff* At least weird-Janove-guy had moved over to the front of the stage and teamed off with creepy drunk lady who started getting her hands all over whoever musician happened to come too close to the edge of the stage ... I'll never understand getting drunk the "Norwegian way", I guess. =;-)

Anyway, birthday song ended in “Me sa nei”, and after that, the PA died. Noooooo! =:-O Fortunately, it took only a minute or two to fix it, and we still got “Horisonten brenner”, “Gribben”, and “Dynasti” before Skambankt went off.

Of course they were back for encores! “Anonyme hatere” and “Malin” are not my biggest favorites (and where was “Stein for stein”???), but I loved the whole concert and the atmosphere and FINALLY seeing them live again. And of course they closed the show with “Skambankt”, after which the snare drum broke down as well, so that was it for the night!

Here’s the full setlist:

  1. I dette huset
  2. Voodoo
  3. Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
  4. Fremmed i en fremmed verden
  5. Kommer snart hjem
  6. O dessverre
  7. Levende legende
  8. Balladen om deg
  9. Vår bør
  10. Mantra
  11. Me sa nei
  12. Horisonten brenner
  13. Gribben
  14. Dynasti
    ———
  15. Anonyme hatere
  16. Malin
  17. Skambankt

I couldn’t have wished for a better first concert of the tour – it was so much more intimate and relaxed than the tour opening at Folken could have been (of course I wasn’t there so I can’t judge it, but that’s the feeling I got). So nice they are back – and I can’t wait until next weekend when I’ll see them again in Oslo and Drammen!

Oh, and just for the record: I think this report already makes up for me writing “concert was great, here’s the setlist” for the next couple of shows, doesn’t it? =;-)

17.12.2016 O Jul med din Vrede (Tennishallen, Bryne)

Sunday, December 18th, 2016
17.12.2016 – Photos O Jul med din Vrede (Tennishallen, Bryne)

“O Jul med din Vrede” – Skambankt’s Christmas festival – has been growing for the last seven years. This year was the first time I could make it, and by now, it’s a full-grown festival in a huge tennis hall … Which seemed a little scary at first (the bigger the venue, the more people that don’t really care about what is happening, more annoying people in the audience, and less fun during the concerts). But: no reason to worry! The hall was big enough so that everyone who wanted to talk could gather in one area, and everyone who wanted to listen to the concerts could do so in front of the stage. Add Christmas decorations (Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling), food and drinks without lines, and great bands, and everyone is happy. =:-) Except that “Silent night” is maybe not the most perfectest background music between the concerts, and that there were so many bands and so little time that each band – except for Skambankt of course – got only 30 minutes.

A photo posted by Konzertjunkie (@konzertjunkie_) on

First up was Vrakfeber from Bryne, nice opener, followed by Hear Me Roar (a bit too calm in my opinion) and “the band with the difficult name” (quote Terje lateron) Longfield & Super Skeleton, who were the first band to really get the audience excited, and rightfully so! Next up were Cloroform as first headliner of the night – which made me expect them to get a little bit more time; but no, they were done after half an hour as well. Too bad! But hey, more time for Skambankt then! Finally it was their turn – after a short “surprise act”, which turned out to be O helga natt performed by some (local?) tenors. Nice! =:-D

Skambankt started out with Anonyme hatere, Dynasti, and Slukk meg for eg brenner (jaaaaa! =:-D), before they welcomed us to “O jul med din vrede 2017”. A little futuristic maybe, but I’m not gonna criticize that, since … “it’s not that easy to talk between songs, you guys should try it once!” Uh, no thanks. I’ll leave that up to you and just put it on the internet afterwards. =;-) But I did pretty much stop taking notes after that, so there you go. *gg* Or actually, not quite true: I did note down Hans’ back salto during the next song (Me sa nei), but only because it was so perfectly executed, just the way it was planned and practiced! =;-)

After Som en sirene and Vår bør (impressive as always!), Skambankt asked us if we wanted an old song or a brand-new one – quite a risky question to ask, and the audience was clearly split. But since they had practiced it, they wanted to show off their new baby! =:-D The first impression was definitely good, but it’s always hard judging new songs from one live performance. Here’s a little clip that I filmed:

After that, back to the songs everybody knows and loves: First O dessverre, then Voodoo, Malin, Skambankt (Btw, if you have a new phone that doesn’t have Skambankt in the auto correct yet, noting down that song name might result in a sudden giggling flash when the phone turns it into “Sjamantromme”. I want a song with that name!! *lol*) – and suddenly “the last song”! Wait, what, already?! Yep, Mantra and off they went …

But of course we got a (short) encore, starting with another surprise: A cover version of Dio’s Holy Diver with a special guest singer. I have no idea who it was (sorry, my knowledge of celebrity Jærbuer consists of Skambankt and Kaizers, uhem *g*). Still, great fun! After that, Stormkast #1 as very last song of the night, and that was it!

A great Skambankt concert, an awesome event, smiling faces everywhere, and I guess I ended up with a new Christmas tradition … =:-)

The full setlist:

  • Anonyme hatere
  • Dynasti
  • Slukk meg for eg brenner
  • Me sa nei
  • Som en sirene
  • Vår bør
  • Horisonten brenner
  • O dessverre
  • Voodoo
  • Malin
  • Skambankt
  • Mantra
  • Holy diver
  • Stormkast #1