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08.11.2011 Katzenjammer (LKA, Stuttgart)

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Hmm… over the last couple of years, I saw quite a few Katzenjammer concerts, and I was always very enthusiastic afterwards. These girls are just so adorable, so lovable, the music is fantastic, and the concerts are incredibly fun. This time it’s the first time that this feeling was different. It’s hard for me to put my finger on the “why” or “how”. It’s not because of the girls! They were as lovely as ever, the music was great as well, but somehow it feels like… well, maybe they have outgrown me? Sounds weird, I know…

But: LKA was sold out. Or maybe not sold out, I didn’t check, but so crowded that you had to fight your way through to get to a place where you could enjoy the concert. The audience was rather old for Germany. In Norway, that’s one of the things I love about concerts: that I’m not the oldest one there, but that adults actually attend concerts. However, it’s different in Germany… So you have this huge crowd at the venue, and they applaud nicely after each song and nod their heads and… well, no “and”. That was it. No wild dancing, no jumping around, no partying to the Katzenjammer songs. And come on, these songs deserve it. This BAND deserves it! But no, the audience was quietly listening, clapping when a song was done, tapping their feet, nothing else. A grown-up audience, in a way.

I hate to accuse a band of selling out, of becoming mainstream – and I’m certainly not gonna do that for Katzenjammer. They didn’t sell out, they didn’t go mainstream, they didn’t do anything. Their music is just like it was, they are doing just what they used to do at concerts (even though I think they could use a break from touring – they did seem a bit tired at times). But obviously their music appeals to the mainstream audience, and these people come by to see a concert.

Which is great, don’t get me wrong! It’s fabulous to see all those people falling in love with Katzenjammer. And all in all, the show was really nice. It just wasn’t what I expect from a Katzenjammer concert. There, I want to start dancing during the first song and not stop until the last. And I would love the people around me to join. And not just stand there gaping. Too bad they did just that.

It seemed like this show was a “bad one”. I assume that most other Katzenjammer shows have a better crowd – judging from the band reaction and their “helplessness” when people just didn’t react at all. So no, I don’t blame Katzenjammer at all. I don’t blame anyone. It just felt a bit like I need to take a little break from Katzenjammer concerts in the future – to come back in a year or two and be blown away by their show again.

So: Takk for sist og ha det bra, Katzenjammer! =:-)

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16.10.2011 Thees Uhlmann (LKA, Stuttgart)

Sunday, October 16th, 2011
This entry doesn't exist in English.

Ich habe in den letzten Wochen die Konzertberichte hier ein wenig vernachlässigt, und dieses hier wird wohl auch kein klassischer Konzertbericht. Eigentlich möchte ich ja nicht Berichte und Blog-Einträge vermischen, aber irgendwie… geht es hier nicht anders, glaube ich.

Thees Uhlmann im LKA. Sein Album fand ich – wie alle Tomte-Alben – wunderschön, allerdings fiel es mir schwer, es musikalisch von Tomte abzugrenzen. Live wurde das schon klarer. Thees wirkte viel offener, lockerer, entspannter, und das zeigte sich auch in der Musik. Vielseitiger, leichtmütiger und weniger “nölig” – einfach toll! Er wolle uns nicht sagen, wie wir uns zu verhalten haben, und keine Circle Pits und Moshereien einfordern. Dafür dürften wir uns aber auch nicht beschweren, wenn er auf der Bühne rumtanzt (“Ich will mich nicht tanzen sehen, aber ich werde es gleich tun!”). Weitere Ansagen dürfen leider nicht berichtet werden, denn: “Ihr dürft es nicht weitersagen, dass das hier so entgleist ist…” Ach Thees, das kennt man doch, und es ist so wunderbar sympathisch und menschlich, dass man nur vor Freude grinsen kann.

Aber… dann ist da noch der dunkle Schatten, der über dem ganzen Konzert schwebt. Warum ist das da auf der Bühne “Thees Uhlmann solo”? Warum ist das nicht Tomte? Und was bedeutet das für die Zukunft?

Ich habe so viele Erinnerungen an Tomte, obwohl ich sie nur 10 Mal gesehen habe – für meine Verhältnisse relativ wenig. Das erste Mal in Hannover im Schwimmbad, ohne sie zu kennen. Beim Freiburger Zeltmusikfestival (“Ich will zurück nach Hamburg! Ich will zurück zu meinen Depressionen!”) und fünf Jahre später beim Ulmer Zelt, um 180° gedreht (“Ich bin so gut drauf! Happy Uhl!”). Mit mehr als einem Kloß im Hals beim Abschiedskonzert für Rocco Clein. Beim Open Flair, als die Sonne untergeht, während Thees Uhlmann “Das ist nicht die Sonne die untergeht, sondern die Erde die sich dreht…” singt. Mitten in einer anderen Tour im Stuttgarter Theaterhaus, wo mir bei “Geigen bei Wonderful World” die Tränen übers Gesicht laufen. “Ich lebe mich durch eines der schönsten Leben, mit den schönsten Songs der Welt…” JA!

Noch vor kurzem habe ich zu einer Freundin gesagt, dass das Ende zu einer Band dazugehört, dass ein Abschluss die Band “konserviert” und dass es daher ein Grund ist, sich wehmütig zu verabschieden, aber nicht zur Trauer. Und das empfinde ich auch genau so. Aber wie ist es, wenn der Abschluss fehlt und der Abschied als dunkle Wolke über sonst wundervollen Konzerten schwebt? Wenn man ein Konzert in vollen Zügen genießt, gleichzeitig aber fürchtet – ohne Gewissheit zu haben -, dass die alten Erinnerungen alte Erinnerungen bleiben werden und nicht mehr aufleben dürfen?

Das tut weh. Und bei einer Wahl zwischen Tomte und Thees solo würde ich Tomte wählen. Und auch das tut – nach einem so tollen Konzert – weh. Ich will beides, verdammt noch mal!!

Ach ja, und Thees: BITTE keine Gitarren schmeißen. Das kann auch mal schiefgehen. Und das tut dann erst recht weh – sogar als Zuschauer…

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19.08.2011 Kaizers Orchestra (Open Air Gampel)

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Kaizers Orchestra’s festival summer is coming to an end pretty soon, and my last Kaizers concert for this summer took place at Open Air Gampel in Switzerland. Because of the great line-up, I decided to go there for the whole weekend – the complete report (in German) is available on www.konzertjunkie.com.

After a great, hot, sunny summer day, Kaizers Orchestra were scheduled for 6:30 pm. An excited (but rather clueless =;-)) crowd gathered in front of the stage; compared to other concerts earlier that day, it was pretty crowded, actually (and of course it filled up even more during the concert). Still, there was lots of space to dance! I gotta admit that I was quite distracted during the first couple of songs, because I had a photo pass, and well… Kaizers! In full daylight! With a good camera! =:-D Well, you’ll get to see the results once I’ve gone through all the 250 pictures, uhem… *g*

First of all, here’s the setlist: Russian Dance as intro, then KGB, Bøn fra helvete, Delikatessen, Din kjole lukter bensin mor, En for orgelet en for meg, Far til datter, Faen i båten, Tusen dråper regn, Bak et halleluja, Kontroll på kontinentet, Svarte katter & flosshatter, Maestro. There were no encores, because Kaizers had only an hour. If they had had more time on stage, I’m sure the audience would have called them back out!

At the beginning, the audience had mostly one thing to do: watch! The majority had no clue who those guys on stage were and were just experiencing their first ever Kaizers concert. And for sure not their last! Just watching Omen during Delikatessen should be sufficient to convert everyone into a Kaizerfan… when he poured water into his helmet, keeping a totally straight face (I guess – actually, he was still wearing the gas mask, so who knows?), just terrific! And of course he used that setup later on during Svarte katter, when he dipped his comb into the helmet before straightening out his hair, while everyone was staring at him (and cheering him, of course!).

Before they played Din kjole lukter bensin mor, the Jackal announced a duet – actually, he wanted to do that with a pretty Swiss girl, but “the best I could get” was Hellraizer in the end. Well, better than nothing!

At the beginning of En for orgelet, the Jackal first wanted to know if the translation that he got behind the scenes for the song title was actually correct. “Eins für das Orgel, eins für mich – is that correct?” Well, it has never been, but apparently the audience accepted it. At least they shouted the name loudly! And it seemed no one minded that there was no big concert drum this time (well, I guess nobody KNEW there could have been one *g*).

After that, it was time for a couple of new songs. The Jackal explained that they are currently releasing a trilogy to celebrate their 10th anniversary, and now they’d like to play a couple of songs from Vol. II for us. The first one was Far til datter, and for that one, they needed a banjo of course. And such a banjo is really expensive! But the one he was holding at the moment wasn’t his own, the Jackal emphasized, because otherwise he’d have one that is cheaper… “but let’s not discuss that now!”

As second new song, we got a song that was “almost an instrumental song”, in a style like that from Cloroform (which I’m sure everyone here knows, uhem…), namely Faen i båten. And right, I didn’t think of it this way before, but it really sounds a bit like Cloroform. And you can’t really count that only line of text as lyrics. In any case, the audience loved it!

The final new song was Tusen dråper regn, and that song is just ingenious, no matter if live or in the studio version. It’s just great! But the Jackal had to talk about the surroundings a bit before that – the Gampel open air takes place at a beautiful location, surrounded by mountains! Personally, I’m really confused at night when I look up and see stars – and then I realize that those are not stars, but lights high up on the mountain. =;-) Anyway, the Jackal explained to us that the mountains are okay. “We have the same mountains in Norway. But our mountains are a little bit better!” Just kidding, of course… =;-)

After all the new stuff, it was now time to play some songs that are more familiar. Of course with a huge grin, because… well, you wouldn’t expect anyone to be familiar with _any_ of the songs, right? Well, maybe the Jackal was wrong there after all. Because the following songs got a great reception, and the audience answered every “Singen Sie bitte!” with screaming along loudly. Awesome!

Then, before playing Maestro, the question: Do we want more? “Say ja! Say ja klar!” Yeah, FINALLY they did that again, haven’t heard that forever! =:-D And so we got more; and even though Omen (“the man from the Eastern Europe”) started in the wrong key accidentally, the audience loved the song, and in the end, everybody screamed along “Schwing den Hammer”.

And that was it – the Jackal said goodbye in Norwegian (“Vi ses neste år, eller året etter!”), and Hellraizer made sure that the Jackal had a towel on his sweaty shoulders before they bowed arm in arm. And while the audience sang oh-oh-oh (that’s the way Swiss people show they liked a concert *g*), Kaizers went off.

Just amazing, again! Guess the next time will be at Sonny in November, and then the Vol. II tour some time next year… =:-D

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14.08.2011 Kaizers Orchestra (Poolbar-Festival, Feldkirch)

Thursday, August 18th, 2011
This entry doesn't exist in English.

Bericht von Maestro Morker

Dieses Poolbar-Festival ist ja wirklich eine ganz süße Angelegenheit! (Als ich mit meinem ausgedruckten Ticket in der Hand zum Eingang kam, hat das eine Mädel, das da allein auf ‘ner Bierbank saß und die Abendkasse war, doch glatt ‘ne Liste von 4-5 Din-A4-Seiten rausgeholt und meinen Namen per Hand rausgestrichen… köstlich!) Und die Österreicher sind ja auch ein wirklich freundliches Völkchen. Kaizers fingen erst relativ spät an (22:30), und ich war schon seit 19:00 auf dem *hüstel* “Festivalgelände” (Durchmesser 20 auf 20 m) herumgeirrt und kam mit wirklich vielen Leuten sehr leicht ins Gespräch.

Zur Vorgruppe (Matt Borof, erinnerte etwas an Bernhoft, viel mit Loops gearbeitet etc. nur etwas rockiger… war eigentlich gar nicht schlecht) fand sich dann zwar einiges an Publikum in dem mehr breiten als langen Saal ein, aber man hielt einen Respektabstand zur Bühne, sodass hinter der ersten Reihe erst einmal ein 3-4 m großes Loch klaffte. Ist eventuell auch damit z.T. zu erklären gewesen, dass auf beiden Seite der Bühne tatsächlich Bildschirme hingen, auf denen dann auch das ganze Konzert zu sehen war. Ein eifriger Kameramann wuselte eifrig um die Bühne herum (störte aber nie wirklich) und machte einen guten Job. Außerdem war im hinteren Bereich des Saales eine künstliche Erhöhung, wo dann auch lieber einige standen. Bemerkenswerte Ausstattung aber auf jeden Fall für so ein kleines Festival/Konzert. Ich machte mir trotzdem schon etwas Sorgen, aber andererseits war das alles so klein und kuschelig (es gab keine Security im Graben und ich konnte in der Umbaupause auch mal mit’m Bierbecher aufs Ölfass klopfen), dass es irgendwie auch sehr toll war.

Zum Russian Dance herrschte dann zwar immer noch ein deutliches Loch hinter der ersten Reihe, aber als ich mich zu Bøn fra helvete das erste Mal wieder umdrehte, war’s besser geworden, und spätestens zu En for orgelet war das Ganze zu einem eng zusammenrückenden Tollhaus geworden. Ach ja, die Setlist: Da waren doch ein paar echte Überraschungen dabei, vom Einstieg mit KGB hin zu zwei neuen Songs (wurden gut aufgenommen, und Tusen dråper regn rockt ja live einfach auch mal sowas von…). Also: KGB – Bøn Fra Helvete – Delikatessen – Faen i båten – Din kjole lukter bensin, mor – En for orgelet – Diamant til kull – Psycho under min hatt – Tusen dråper regn – Svarte katter & flosshatter – Kontroll på kontinentet – Maestro — Sigøynerblod – Bak et halleluja – Resistansen… Auf der Setlist stand auch noch Hjerteknuser (vor Kontroll på kontinentet), haben sie aber weggelassen (zumindest kann ich mich beim besten Willen nicht dran erinnern und soooo betrunken war ich jetzt auch nicht).

Die Stimmung war zum Ende hin fast schon ekstatisch, und Kaizers haben es mal wieder innerhalb kürzester Zeit geschafft, ein Publikum, das ihnen prinzipiell skeptisch gegenüberstand, von sich einzunehmen. The Jackal gab sich dabei aber auch alle Mühe, verausgabte sich, sprang und turnte auf den Fässern rum, dass es eine wahre Pracht war (und wir dann mal das Faß vor uns sicherheitshalber ein bisschen zurückrückten nach jedem Lied). Es wurde schon ab dem dritten Lied eifrig kommuniziert, die Mädels der ersten Reihe persönlich begrüßt (“Hello! What is your name, Eva? Hello Eva, want to join the band for a beer later on?”) aber auch Zwischenrufer amüsant gemaßregelt (“You think you speak Norwegian… but I am sorry… you don’t”).

Der einzige Moment, wo das (österreichische) Publikum und Janove nicht in Harmonie vereint waren, war bei der Ansage zu En for orgelet, er rettete die Situation aber geistesgegenwärtig. Janove: “The next song, I want to sing to you in your language… you speak German here, right?” <Allgemeines Gemurre und ein paar ablehnde Rufe… das hört der Österreicher halt nicht so gern. Janove ist sichtlich irritiert.> “You don’t? You speak french?” <Noch deutlichere Ablehnung durch das Publikum. Janove für eine Sekunde richtig irritiert, dann aber:> “Well you all speak Norwegian, right?” <Jubel Jubel> “Well, I was told that you speak German and so the next song is called ‘Eins für das Orgel, eins für mich’, is that correct?” <Jubel Jubel> En for orgelet kam dann wie immer absolut blendend an, auch ohne große Trommel. Die Bandvorstellung wurde im Schnellverfahren nach Svarte katter durchgeführt und dafür bei Kontroll på kontinentet weggelassen, die Plektren hat Geir dann großzügig nach Maestro per Hand verteilt. Vor Maestro erläuterte Janove dann noch, das Terje heute Geburtstag hätte und 40 werden würde (aha…) und darum dürfe sich Terje jetzt das letzte Lied des Abends wünschen. Terje ließ sich à la “Der Preis ist heiß” vom Publikum beraten, bis jemand Maestro rief. 😉 Apropos Maestro: Janove pickte sich gezielt einen bereits das ganze Konzert durch Enthusiasmus auffallenden Fan aus der ersten Reihe und hielt ihm beim zweiten Refrain von Maestro dreist das Mikro unter die Nase. Der Mann gab alles und wurde dafür auch mit dem Publikumsapplaus entlohnt.

Vor den eifrig geforderten Zugaben stimmten Rune und Geir erst einmal ein Rock’n’Roll-mäßiges Happy Birthday an, und das Publikum besang Terje. The Jackal ließ sich dann zu einem besonderen Geschenk für Terje hinreißen und begann, Mädels auf die Bühne zu holen. Eifrig wurde durchgezählt, bis 20 da waren (wobei es nach meiner Zählung auch ein paar mehr waren), und es ging noch einmal richtig rund auf einer Männerherzen-erfreuenden Bühne zu Sigøynerblod, Bak et halleluja (bei dem Janove die zweite Strophe wegließ und dafür 2x die dritte sang) und Resistansen. Terje machte Fotos, die Band ließ sich feiern und ich stolperte absolut durchgeschwitzt und glücklich vor die Tür… 🙂

Im Nachhinein war es im Prinzip das beste Konzert, das ich dieses Jahr gesehen habe. Nicht von der Setlist her (Köln) oder vom Publikum her (Oslo) oder vom Partyfaktor her (mit 4 Kumpels in München), aber wenn man alles zusammennimmt und dazu die einzigartige Nähe in Feldkirch bedenkt (halt mal einer das Ölfass!), war Feldkirch absolut einzigartig gut.  Und 20 gutaussehende tanzende Mädels vor der Nase erfreuen halt auch das Herz 😉 😉 , da verzeiht man der Band auch kleine Flunkereien. (40??? Geburtstag???)

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11.08.2011 Kaizers Orchestra (Øya Festival, Oslo)

Friday, August 12th, 2011
11.08.2011 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Øya-Festival)
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Wohoo! Another trip to Norway that was soooo worth it! Concerts in Norway are just different – and this time, with the world premiere of Violeta Vol. II, even more so, of course.

Before the concert, I had been worrying a little if I would have anything at all to write about after the concert – usually, a new Kaizers song needs some spins for me before I can really enjoy it. And this time, I would get to hear each song only once, live, without lyrics to read along, and without even knowing the titles?! Well, nothing to worry about, as it turned out. It was just amazing! And my imaginary “list of things to report from the concert” grew longer and longer throughout the show.

Actually, it seems quite useless to report about a concert of which every fan has seen the stream, especially if the stream will probably be available for quite a while afterwards… But I’ll just ignore that for now. =;-) And _I_ haven’t seen the stream (yet), so it’s fully possible that I understood some things wrong that happened on stage.

Øya festival is REALLY huge (for Norway, at least) – however, it was no problem at all finding a nice space to see the show only twenty minutes before the concert started. And then it was time to mentally prepare for the new songs! And as expected, the beginning of the concert was a bit “weird”. I just feels strange to be at a concert of your favorite band and not know the songs. In addition, I was of course trying to somehow remember a bit of the songs and at least keep them apart… so I tried to give them some “working titles”. Kinda inconvenient if you hardly understand anything at all and you make up titles that are probably gibberish or at least really really bizarre… *g*

After the Russian Dance, they started out with the first song of Violeta Vol. II, I ett med verden. Or, according to my working title, “Du er meg”. It started out in rock style, and that’s how it was throughout the whole concert (except for the ballads of course). Or at least throughout the whole album, thus the first part of the concert. I noticed that the Jackal started getting the audience involved right away – making everyone clap along with a cowbell (the style of Vol. II: more cowbell!) or a tambourine or whatever. We always knew what we had to do, even though nobody knew the songs. Great!

The second song was Støv og sand (aka “Rett bak meg” or something like that). The two first songs were clear rock songs and were a lot of fun, but I’ll need to hear them more often to be able to say more about the songs.

For the third song, Kaizers welcomed the drummers of Bergen’s music corps on stage, who played a long and enhanced version of the intro of Tusen dråper regn. I hadn’t heard that song live before (they never play it in Europe…), but yes: It works great live! What I found very funny was how the audience screamed out in excitement (or relieve? *g*) when the song started. “Finally a song that we know!” =;-)

Kaizers thanked us for our patience – and explained that there was no need for us to worry or be nervous. They’ll guide us through the concert! Puuuh… how nice! *g*

Next up was the song that I decided was my favorite of the album right away. I had already heard it during the sound check in the morning (where I had been in line for tickets – NO, I wouldn’t get up early to listen to the sound check!), and I recognized it again right away: Drøm videre, Violeta (working title: Sommerfugl). A great ballad… And while they had already had guest drummers on stage before, it was now time for guest string players. Later on, there were also the “old” sax players joining in again, who had been supporting Kaizers at a few concerts a few years back.

Now it was time for a little change at the microphone. The Jackal took over the guitar, and Hellraizer put his hands on the microphone. Yes, his hands! He was actually dancing around on stage with the mike in his hand. Now that’s something new… And he announced the song Gresk komedie (so no working title for that one *g*). I liked that one a lot as well; danceable, groovy, and playful. I think. If I don’t mix it up with another one… =;-)

The next song was “Psycho under min hatt” – or rather Psycho in the Vol. II version, of course! Very fast, very punk-like, very incomprehensible. And really great! To me, the lyrics sounded like “Farten i bakken”, but the setlist had “Faen i båten”. Ooops.. almost the same… *cough* But I’m pretty sure this will be one of my favorites as well.

I’m not so sure about the following song, however. The Jackal took hold of a banjo (“I can play so many instruments… this time I’ll take the banjo!”), and the song started out almost in country-style. It changed into a clear rock song later. An important part of the lyrics was “Kom til papa” (I think), but the song is called Far til datter. And if I don’t mix it up with another one, it reminded me a bit of Auksjon and Toxic blod. Which are two songs I adore, but still, that one wasn’t really my favorite. At least not yet. Who knows what I’ll say after listening to it a few times. What was awesome about the song was Omen at the oil barrel. Absolutely motionless when he wasn’t hitting the barrel, and no expression at all when he was. Fantastic! (And not only then, but also during one of the first songs, when he was hitting something with two hammers; I couldn’t really see him then because he was hidden behind the barrel, the keyboard, and the drums; but I did see him swinging some hammers all around. *g*)

Next up was a pop song: Silver (or, according to my notes, Du skinner). Yep, it was much more pop than the other songs. I liked it, but I need to listen to it more often to really make up my mind.

And once more it was Hellraizer’s turn to sing; this time with his guitar, because the Jackal had to work out on the barrel. The song was called Domino – however, according to what the song sounded like, I was wondering a few times if he maybe wasn’t singing about the game, but instead about the male form of a dominatrix. *lol* He didn’t, of course, but that was what it sounded like. Yes, I am kinda influenced by the lyrics of a German band here, I must admit. *g*

And that was almost the end of Vol. II already! As last song, we got Den romantiske tragedien. Turned out this was the song that impressed me the least during this concert; let’s wait and see if it grows on me. Did the Jackal really read the lyrics? Or was he swaying so strangely on purpose? I did like the idea at the end, of having the middle part of Svarte katter at the end of this song (and album) again.

And that was it with Vol. II! And… uh, wait, I wanted to keep it short today, because I don’t have any time to write a report. Ooops. =;-) Anyway, for the next hour, we got a great “normal” concert – with a very enthusiastic audience. It seemed like everybody was really “relieved” now, and enjoying that they could finally sing along. At the beginning of Philemon Arthur, there was a scream of excitement again, and of course everybody sang along every single word. Next up were Diamant til kull, En for orgelet en for meg (including the concert drum of course), Svarte katter & flosshater, and Hjerteknuser (starting with the Jackal throwing the working glove). Some time in between, the Jackal introduced the band – or at least Omen, Hellraizer, and Killmaster… “we usually call the rest ‘accompaniment'”. Hey…! *lol*

And then they went even further back in time and played first Ompa til du dør, then Evig pint, and finally Maestro. And I have to admit – they caught me off guard with Evig pint! I really don’t know the lyrics for that one… *cough* Guess I should listen to that album again; by now I should even be able to UNDERSTAND it! =;-) But awesome that they dug out that song again! =:-D

And that was the end of the concert and Kaizers went off stage – just to come back once more, of course. And since the string players were there, we got “Die Polizei” as final song – and even though the Jackal asked us in the beginning to show that we can also be quiet, everyone was singing along loudly. At the end, the Jackal sat down at the edge of the stage with his bottle of wine, listening to the audience singing. He seemed to enjoy it even though the audience and the strings didn’t quite fit together… *g* And then Kaizers went off stage for good – and the audience kept on singing, until long after the music came on. Awesome, amazing, fantastic, impressive, wonderful – you name it. =:-D

So a fantastic concert, all in all – the only drawback about it is that I now have a very well-known thought in my head again: “Argh, I just HAVE to go to Stavanger and Rått & Råde!” Gnaah… they are just SO addictive. And they hook you up again and again, even with new stuff… =:-)

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30.07.2011 Kaizers Orchestra (Eier mit Speck)

Sunday, July 31st, 2011
30.07.2011 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Eier mit Speck)
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After a lot of festivals in Norway, it’s now time for some festival dates in Europe again. First one was Eier mit Speck festival in Viersen. Not really right around the corner for me, but well, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? =;-)

Even though traffic was bad this weekend, I made it to the festival grounds in time for the German band Phrasenmäher, and that was absolutely worth it – a very entertaining concert, and a very promising audience! And it continued like that throughout the evening with the bands Motorjesus and Betontod; the festival was nice and cozy, and there was a great atmosphere in front of the stage. And in the back, people seemed also interested in what was happening – so all in all, very promising!

Unfortunately, the band before Kaizers Orchestra, Triggerfinger, was a bit of a letdown, and it was obvious that quite a few people left the festival at that time. A pity! Luckiliy, however, it got more crowded again before Kaizers came on stage. They were about 15 minutes late; not much of a surprise, as the changeover time was very short with only 20 minutes. It had worked for the other bands, but it was just too short for Kaizers.

They had the Russian Dance as intro again. All afternoon it had been obvious that the audience did not or hardly know Kaizers – you could count the Kaizers T-shirts in the audience on the fingers of one hand, and beforehand, a lot of festivalgoers were asking “what kind of headliner is that?” Anyway, in time for the concert, the fans were gathering in the front!

But the rest of the audience had to be convinced first – according to the Jackal’s poll, at least three fourth of the audience were seeing Kaizers for the first time. And to cut it short: The concert was strange. It was fun, the audience participated willingly, but it didn’t quite catch on. One reason might have been missing communication… the Jackal hardly talked at all between the songs, and when he did, it was just the usual “hello” and “thank you” and “who has seen Kaizers before”. As soon as he did some more, like for example when the audience was cheering in Resistansen, the audience was totally into it. But it happened way too rarely… it seemed to me as if the audience was ready to play along and do anything and just needed a spark, but Kaizers didn’t give that spark. The concert was good, but it missed just a bit to be great. Of course you could argue that this spark should have been given by the audience, not the band – but then, if the major part of the audience has never seen a band, I don’t think you can expect that. Then it’s the band that needs to convince the audience, and that’s what I was missing. I’m kinda curious for feedback from people who’ve seen Kaizers for the first time at that festival.

The setlist: Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Delikatessen, Din kjole lukter bensin mor, Veterans klage, Sigøynerblod, Resistansen, Diamant til kull, Psycho under min hatt, Svarte katter & flosshatter, Hjerteknuser, Kontroll på kontinentet, Maestro.

There were no encores, even though the audience (including me) had absolutely expected them, and they were written on the setlist as well. Seemed like the audience didn’t call Kaizers back on stage enthusiastically enough. It really didn’t look and sound that quiet to me, as the audience response was good (at least in the front and considering that the audience didn’t know Kaizers), and so the end was rather abrupt and sudden. That’s not the way to gain new fans, I fear… And I have no clue why they didn’t play En for orgelet this time (which was clearly the best-known and most popular song at Southside festival).
Well, “de slutter aldri å overraske deg” – “They never stop to surprise you.” Right!

So there’s not a lot to report from the concert, since there was almost no talk, as mentioned. I was surprised by the middle part of Veterans klage, where there was some kind of strange sound effect on the organ – sounded funny. Then there were a few song announcements à la “if you know only one Kaizers song, then it’s this one” and “you’ve probably never heard that song before, but it’s a huge hit single in Norway”. The latter was Hjerteknuser of course, and it starts “like this” – just that, unlike at other concerts, “this” was just the Jackal pointing to start the song; not him jumping off the barrel or dropping a towel.

Towards the end of the concert, there were lots of crowd surfers coming in, and Hellraizer was complimenting the security guys because they were doing a good job. “It’ good to be nice to the kids! It wasn’t like that in Norway a few days ago.” Hmm.

But to finish on a more positive note: Whenever there was some audience interaction, everyone had lots of fun, and the atmosphere was awesome at least in the front. And they played Diamant til kull, yeah! =:-D

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18.06.2011 Kaizers Orchestra (Southside-Festival)

Saturday, June 18th, 2011
18.06.2011 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Southside-Festival)
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Okay, where to start? With a “yeah, finally Kaizers again!”? With the mud? With a cheer for the sun gods?

Or maybe better with the disclaimer: Generally, I just don’t like festivals. However, since I attend quite a few (being a concert junkie brings that with it…), I feel like I have a pretty good overview over festivals and their organisation. And one thing is crystal clear: Even though Southside is one of the largest festivals in Germany, it’s also the one that is worst organized. Security seems to be a foreign concept; during my last visits, I’ve seen a few situations where it was pure luck that no-one was crushed or otherwise seriously injured. This year, I didn’t see situations like that, luckily; but then I was there for only about five hours.

This year (just like last year, by the way), the problem was the mud. It had been raining all day Friday, and so the ground was soaked, of course. And the organizers didn’t do ANYTHING. No, I don’t expect a mud-free festival, not at all. Yes, I had wellies, and I definitely looked worse after other festivals. But obviously the organizers just don’t care at all about their visitors… if they don’t even try to do anything to spare everyone from walking through ankle-deep mud on all the main paths. There’s straw, mats, boards – none of these will be sufficient to keep a whole festival area mud-free, but at least the organizers could show that they care and TRY to do at least a bit. Or that they don’t.

Anyway, enough complaining. But a Southside report without complaining is just impossible… *sigh* Well, at least our whole visit to the festival was really funny and relaxed this time, nothing like our last, “will we get out of here alive?”

So, Kaizers! After two and a half months, I finally got to see them on stage again! It filled up quite well in the front – at least on the left side of the stage. On the right, there was a… lake. (Well, I’ve seen trees in the front row before, I don’t wonder about anything anymore. *g*)

As intro, they used the Russian Dance again. Nice that they are using that one for the festivals again. I was a bit overwhelmed in the beginning by the switch back from club shows to festival concerts; you just can’t compare these two. During the intro, the audience was just dead, and even when Omen entered the stage, with his gas mask on, there was hardly any reaction. A bit of applause of course, but that was it, and during the first two songs (Ompa til du dør and Bøn fra helvete), that didn’t really change much. The audience was really quiet and reserved. I was getting a bit afraid, I have to admit…

But then Kaizers played Delikatessen, and the audience started to wake up. Slowly, but steadily! And then – the sun came out! So Kaizers lived up to their reputation of being the sun gods, yeah! First reaction on stage: “Oh, I’m so sorry, now the sun is out… it’s so stupid if you have to look into the sun all the time…” But later in the concert, the Jackal explained that actually, they had brought the sun down with them from Norway, just for us. “Oh, don’t mention it, it’s nothing. You can keep it!” Uh… thanks! I’ll bring it back with me at Øya festival then, okay? =;-)

Kaizers continued with a couple of new songs, first “Din kjole lukter bensin, mor”, then “En for orgelet, en for meg” – or rather “Eins für das Orgel und eins für mich” (which got an AWESOME reception!), and finally “Svarte katter & flosshatter”. The atmosphere was just great, the audience extremely loud, and it filled up more and more. I was standing pretty much in the front, so I couldn’t really see the area; but judging by the loudness, a LOT of people obviously got stuck on the way to the other stage… =:-D

Next up was Kontroll på kontinentet with a vast band introduction and a lot (loud!) singing, before it was time for gypsy music. And it was obvious that people (at least in the front) had been waiting for just that. So accordingly, Sigøynerblod and Bak et halleluja were met with enthusiasm, and there were lots of clapping, singing, and of course mud pogo! As conclusion for the concert we got Maestro, which made people dance and sing as well, of course, and 170.

Yeah! And they conquered another festival, without any doubt. I’m really looking forward to the press reports here!

Hmm… not much talking during the concert, actually, mostly about the weather. And of course the question who had seen Kaizers before, but not a lot to report here. But there wasn’t any need for more. I was glad and happy about once again seeing Kaizers conquering a new audience in less than an hour, from zero to hero. And they did that, without any doubt! Oh, wait, I remember one thing that was quite sad, actually: During Svarte Katter, in Omen’s “I just shouted into the microphone and now I’ll have to comb my hair before I can continue playing the organ” break, the cameras were SO off. The pictures on the video walls changed all the time, but they didn’t manage to show Omen at all until he had sat down again. Messed up the effect completely… =:-/

But nobody noticed. =;-) Just like the “… sold a few horses, got a decent name”. *lol* And before I start giving away all the mini failures now, I’ll rather stress again how nice it was to see Kaizers gain and conquer the audience so quickly through hard work (’cause it can’t have been easy in the beginning…). Well, they just have it!

And finally, a huge THANK YOU to the nice stranger who helped us get out of the mud in the parking lot. And uhm… a shout-out to all the poor souls who have to spend another day in the mess… =:-/

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26.04.2011 Laternen-Joe (Roxy, Ulm)

Thursday, April 28th, 2011
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Mein zweites und letztes Konzert der Laternen-Joe-Tour, diesmal in Ulm. Und diesmal bin ich ohne den Hintergedanken “Waah, ich muss berichten, ich muss mitschreiben, ich muss alles mitkriegen” reingegangen – und wups hat es mir um Klassen besser gefallen. Wobei es auch objektiv besser war, allerdings nur teilweise. Das Gequatsche war in Graz eigentlich amüsanter. Dafür griffen DÄ – äh, Verzeihung, LJ natürlich! – tiefer in die Schatzkiste alter Lieder und gruben viele Perlen aus. Die zwar größtenteils nur kurz angespielt wurden, aber hey: Currywurst, Wie ein Kind, Lied über Zensur, Rettet die Wale, Was hat der Junge doch für Nerven, Erna P… ok, letzteres war ganz “normal” im Set, toll ist es aber trotzdem!

Los ging’s schon damit, dass Bela (also, Julia, is’ klar… *g*) dem LJ-Intro-Song ein paar weitere Strophen hinzufügte. Das war doch schon mal vielversprechend! Im weiteren Verlauf passierte aber ungefähr… gar nichts. Sie spielten Lied nach Lied runter, das war nett, das war okay, die Stimmung war gut, aber es war halt absolut nichts Besonderes. Und dann kündigten sie das letzte Lied an, es war klar, dass Unrockbar folgen würde – und plötzlich war nichts mehr wie vorher. Plötzlich fingen sie wild an rumzuimprovisieren, es wurde richtig viel gequatscht, und ab dem Moment wurde das Konzert genial! Es gab Lady in Black – das Publikum sang mit. Daraufhin wurden weitere Uriah-Heep-Songs angespielt – das Publikum sang mit. Und auch diverse andere Oldies kamen super an. Irgendwann später, wir sind jetzt schon beim lustigen Astronauten, verschwand Rod plötzlich von der Bühne, und die beiden anderen sahen sich an: “Du, Farin, wir sind allein auf der Bühne!!” Farin wusste sofort Bescheid und es folgte Die Einsamkeit des Würstchens… waaah! Und danach ein wildes Medley mit allem Möglichen – u.a. Sultans of Swing und Dolannes Melodie. Hach, bin ich froh, dass ich die NUK-Tour verpasst habe. *lol*

Gut, das alles war auch u.a. deshalb so amüsant, weil direkt vor mir zwei Mädels standen, die bei genau zwei Liedern mitgesungen haben: bei Lied vom Scheitern und Himmelblau. (OK, vermutlich auch noch bei Junge, aber da hatte ich sie noch nicht wahrgenommen.) Und ja: Man konnte das Unverständnis und die Verwirrung sehen. *lol*

Beim Gequatsche ging’s diesmal hauptsächlich darum, dass die Band offenbar recht wenig Schlaf bekommen hatte, denn neben dem Hotel quäkten irgendwelche Seehunde oder Robben. (Die Lokalpresse erklärte das mit dem Circus Krone nebenan…) Und über Farins Zimmer war jemand zwei Stunden lang mit einem Stepper zugange… Klar, dieser “jemand” war natürlich Bela, und daraus lassen sich viiiieeeele Kalauer reimen und in Liedern unterbringen! Ach ja, und die Robben war natürlich auch nicht echt, sondern das war in Wirklichkeit Rod. *g*

Außerdem waren LJ dieses Mal natürlich aus Reutlingen, und Farin resp. Jealousy dolmetschte die Ansagen vom Berlinerischen ins Schwäbische. Was er zugegebenermaßen deutlich besser hinbekommen hat als Bela. Wobei das nicht schwer war. =;-)

Und falls sich irgendwer fragt, was der Unterschied zwischen Krautrock und Heavy Metal ist – das können LJ erklären. Beim Krautrock dauern die Lieder 18 Minuten (“Geil, da müssten wir nur drei Lieder spielen!”) und beginnen mit einem gesprochenen Intro auf Englisch mit deutschem Akzent. Und je nachdem, in welcher Tonlage dieses Intro gesprochen wird, handelt es sich um Krautrock oder Metal.

A propos gesprochen – Unrockbar sollte es eigentlich in gesprochener Version geben, allerdings scheiterte Bela dabei grandios. Und das kurz nachdem er seinen eigenen Text nicht mehr wusste, er Farin aber auch das Vorsagen verboten hatte… *hüstel*

Ach ja, und die Freundin hat die Außerirdischen als Freunde geadded, nachdem sie statt eines Briefes einen Tweet geschickt hat. =;-)

Und das Fazit: Insgesamt hat das Konzert 20 Minuten gedauert – aber jede davon war 10 Euro wert!

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24.04.2011 Xutos & Pontapés (Rockhal, Luxembourg)

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

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21.04.2011 Laternen-Joe (Orpheum, Graz)

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
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Und mal wieder ein “Doppelbericht” – die detaillierte Konzertbeschreibung gibt’s vermutlich in der nächsten Prawda; die schreib ich jetzt nicht noch mal. Daher vielleicht eher das subjektive Empfinden, denn das war… hmm… ich weiß auch nicht?

Graz war toll – wunderbares Wetter, ein prima Hotel (obwohl’s eigentlich ein Jugendgästehaus war), strahlender Sonnenschein (hab ich mit “wunderbares Wetter” zwar eigentlich schon abgedeckt, aber es war so toll, dass man’s zweimal sagen muss *g*) und noch genug Zeit vor dem Konzert, um sich was Essbares zu suchen und sogar noch ein Eis hinterherzuschieben. Denn das muss bei solchen Sommertemperaturen einfach sein!

Dann ging’s zum Orpheum. Das Publikum passte klar zum Ärzte-Konzert, ich fühlte mich “zu Hause”, drinnen war’s winzig, aber nicht überfüllt – und dennoch, ich war so gar nicht in Ärzte-Konzert-Stimmung… Und das war insgesamt mein Problem mit dem Konzert. Objektiv betrachtet war das Konzert klasse. Ich hab ja gerade den “Detailbericht” geschrieben, und hey – die drei waren in bester Quatsch- und Laberlaune, und es war echt zum Schreien komisch. Und ja, ich hab mich amüsiert. Und ich war auch nicht genervt vom Publikum um mich rum, was mir sonst oft Konzerte versaut, wenn ich gerade nicht in Konzertstimmung bin. Nein, eigentlich war alles super… aber irgendwie fragte ich mich mittendrin mehrfach, was ich hier eigentlich mache… =:-/

Ich vermute, dass das zumindest teilweise mit der Kaizerstour zusammenhängt, die gerade zu Ende gegangen ist. Denn Kaizers- und Ärzte-Konzerte könnten unterschiedlicher nicht sein, und ich bin eben noch im Kaizermodus… Kaizers nehmen das, was sie auf der Bühne tun, zu 100% ernst und setzen ihre volle Energie ein, um dem Publikum eine perfekte Show zu bieten. Die Ärzte kommen auf die Bühne und unterhalten mit Schwachsinn und Dilettantismus. Um’s jetzt mal ganz krass zu formulieren. =;-) Das ist zwar auch super, und hey – ich liebe diese Band!, aber irgendwie… im Vergleich zu “echten”, ernsthaften Bands mag das unterhaltsam sein, aber auch irgendwie unfair. Ach mann, ich weiß auch nicht, einfach seltsam…

Andererseits kann es auch daran liegen, dass ich wahnsinnig viel Zeit und Arbeit in diese Band investiere. Und wenn die dann nach ausgiebiger Pause endlich zurückkommt und mit 90-Minuten-Konzerten quasi Arbeitsverweigerung betreibt (denn ja, gemessen wird an früheren Leistungen!) und ich mich außerdem mit Teilen der Fans weder identifizieren kann noch identifizieren will, dann frage ich mich schon ab und an, ob es das noch wert ist. Und ob es nicht viel einfacher wäre, nur auf Konzerte in der näheren Umgebung zu gehen, statt mal kurz nach Graz zu fahren (wobei der Auslöser dafür ja ehrlich gesagt in nicht unerheblichem Maße das hier war *hüstel*), und das Konzert einfach nur mit ausgeschaltetem Hirn zu genießen, statt im Hinterkopf zu haben, dass man ja darüber berichten muss und besser mitbekommen sollte, was passiert und gesagt wird und was wie ankommt und wie das Publikum reagiert und und und.

Hrmpf. Resultat war jedenfalls, dass ich nach dem Konzert einerseits begeistert war, da es objektiv betrachtet ein wirklich tolles Konzert war, dass ich subjektiv aber keinen Bock auf weitere Konzerte hatte; ohne wirklich zu wissen warum. Sehr seltsam. Mal gucken – vielleicht ist das nach dem Ulm-Konzert anders. Ich HOFFE ja, dass es simpel und einfach am Kaizers-Tourloch liegt, dass das Ärzte-Konzert nicht so gezündet hat… denn irgendwo liebe ich DÄ ja doch, ganz klar. Und jetzt denke ich erst mal über das kleine Babykamel nach! =;-)

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