Review

02.06.2018 Skambankt (Trondheim Rocks)

Sunday, June 3rd, 2018

Time for my first Skambankt concert of this year’s festival season! And where else but at home, a twenty-minute walk from my place, and – the best part about it – in perfect summer weather without a single cloud in the sky? Trondheim rocks! <3

It was the first time this festival took place, and also the first time any event was arranged in that area. But all in all, things went smoothly (let’s just forget about the horrible drink queues during the first few hours …). With Volbeat and Iron Maiden as headliners, the festival was of course HUGE – 19.000 people a day. Of course they weren’t all there yet when Skambankt went on, but my guess would still be a five-digit number in the afternoon already. =:-o

This of course made this concert totally different from any of the indoor shows earlier this year. Such an impressive crowd! And it seemed like people were actually listening to the concert, even in the back (and believe me, that is NOT a given in Trondheim …). I was a bit concerned before the show that Skambankt would seem kinda “lost” on the huge Maiden stage, but no, they seemed right in place. And it was obvious that they enjoyed themselves up there. =:-)

A bit of technical trouble (but nothing bad), some small talk (“one thing about the nice and warm weather is that it gets too warm” – hysj da, there’s no such thing as “too warm”!!), and of course the plan to set the standard for the remainder of the festival weekend – with circle pits and a wall of death.

What I found really interesting was how differently some of the songs worked in a festival environment than at a club show! The most obvious was maybe Levende Legende – I love that song on the record, but at club shows it often seemed to kill the atmosphere a bit, because … not sure, maybe because people knew it a bit but not enough to sing along? Now at Trondheim Rocks, it was totally awesome. The perfect hymn for a summer night! =:-D

The full setlist:

  1. Anonyme hatere
  2. Skambankt
  3. Mantra
  4. Dynasti
  5. Levende legende
  6. I dette huset
  7. Vår bør
  8. Balladen om deg
  9. O dessverre
  10. Me sa nei
  11. Stormkast #1

24.03.2018 Skambankt (Sinus, Bodø)

Sunday, March 25th, 2018

The final concert of the tour! And conveniently for me, just a train ride away … okay, a 10-hour train ride, but who cares about such details. =;-)

So I made my way up north, and since I was going to the concert alone this time, it was a good opportunity to take along my camera. Taking pictures distracts quite a bit from the concert, so I figured it was a good idea to only take pictures at one of the shows this time. I’ll find out if that was smart when I actually look through my pictures… I haven’t used that camera in three years or so and it sucked when I still knew how to use it, so don’t get your hopes up high – but I think there should be like three, four, five decent pictures. Hopefully. =:-)

Check them out on Facebook!

When I got to Sinus about half an hour before the concert was supposed to start (thus 8.30 – wtf, is Northern Norway in a different time zone or something?!), it was completely empty. I found a handful of people on the balcony, reserving the seats in the front row, but that was it. =:-o So to be honest, my expectations for the concert were rather low …

However, half an hour later it was crowded! It took a while for the audience to get into the concert, and this time it was obvious that people knew the old stuff but not the new. But the old songs they knew and loved! The longer the concert lasted, the more everyone was into it. People on the balcony even got up towards the end! Unfortunately, the longer the concert lasted, the more Terje’s voice disappeared as well … =:-( Well, at least this was the last concert, so time for regeneration now.

As I said, I was distracted by my camera, and I also didn’t write down the setlist like I usually do. But of course I took a picture of it afterwards so I could post it – and also I had noticed in the middle of the concert that they were doing a change on the spot. And true – the setlist said “Låste dører”!!! But we got Mantra instead – not a bad replacement, but still a replacement … =:-(

The full list:

  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. Mantra
  12. Horisonten brenner
  13. Me sa nei
  14. Dynasti
    ———
  15. Anonyme hatere
  16. Malin
  17. Skambankt

THANKS so much to Skambankt for an amazing tour! Every time I go into a Skambankt tour, it’s with the feeling that “yep, that’s gonna be fun”. Every time after the first concert I say “WAAAAH! That was so awesome! That’s what I’ve been missing all the time!” – and add some more concerts to my list. =;-) And after each tour I’m blown away and thankful for being able to have so much fun every single night. <3

I cannot wait for the summer festivals. And the tour in fall. There WILL be a tour in the fall, right? RIGHT??? =:-D

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

A post shared by Kjell Breivik (@breivikkjell) on

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? =;-)

25.03.2017 Janove (Byscenen, Trondheim)

Sunday, March 26th, 2017

To be perfectly honest: I didn’t expect much from Janove’s solo concert. I mean, I like the album and there are some awesome songs on there (and a few that I don’t notice at all, which means they are pretty much made for skipping …), but from the live clips and photos I’d seen, I feared that the concert would feel quite a bit like “Kaizers wannabe”. Of course Janove is/was a big part of Kaizers, but he IS not Kaizers. And I was dreading to see him act like he was, just with another band …

And I mean, just look at that other band: An eccentric piano/keyboard guy (wearing a cape instead of a gas mask, duh), a guitar player that moves exactly like Hellraizer, a drummer with a hat (where have we seen that before, hmm?), and a bass player that – at least in some photos – looks like an older version of Killmaster with a beard. No wonder I went into the concert rather skeptical …

The first surprise was the audience: Way older than the average Kaizers audience. Maybe that was due to the fact that the concert was at Byscenen, not at Samfundet, where most other Kaizers concerts in Trondheim had taken place. Or maybe … well, I guess we’ve all grown four years older since the last Kaizers concerts, right?

The concert started with a rather weird intro – no idea what it was, and it just sounded strange and didn’t really fit anything. But “Aldri la de tro de er bedre enn deg” was a nice song to start the show with, as it has a long-ish intro where Janove could make the audience wait for him. =;-)

And then the next surprise: The audience actually KNEW the song! And not only this one, but all of them, and they were singing along! Okay, at least in the front they were. The live video that Janove posted during the show suggests that the people in the back were the typical Trønder-audience – chatting away even during the songs. *grr* But nope, not in the front, there people were really into what was happening. And rightfully so, because it was a lot of fun!

It didn’t feel like Kaizers wannabe. Of course the songs have a Kaizers feel to them, no question about it. But the show is more focused on groove than rock, more dancing and less jumping. So it is a different thing, which is really good – and even though I personally am much more on the rock/punk/jump/pogo side, I enjoyed the concert a lot. The only two songs that disappointed me a bit were my favorites from the album, the fast ones: Both “Trixing & fixing” and “Me vokser aldri opp” were fun live, but not as fun as they could have been. It felt like they kinda “softened up” Trixing & fixing – making it more groovy, true, but this killed the energy a bit. And while this was not the case for “Me vokser aldri opp” and it was played with all the energy I had hoped for, Janove wasn’t moving. Micke from Sweden at the keyboards was jumping around like crazy, but not the frontman … And just to make it clear: Those songs were still great. It’s just a little disappointing to know that they COULD have been not only great, but absolutely fantastic. Yes, sorry, my bar is high for Janove … =;-)

Another thing that struck me was that this is really a one man show. The band is there, you see them, but the only one you might notice once in a while is Micke from Sweden. Otherwise it’s just Janove. Which makes perfect sense of course, because it is his solo thing. And it’s another point where his solo show is different from Kaizers.

There wasn’t a lot of talking in between the songs, just very short announcements, but of course Janove was animating the audience to clap and sing along right from the start, and then in pretty much every song. Which worked really well! Except maybe at the end of Perler & svin, where the melody seemed a bit too complicated. =;-)

And one final remark: The light show was awesome! =:-) You can see a little bit of it in the videos I streamed on Facebook (I siget, Regnbuen treffer oss ikkje lenger, Spinner for deg, Et hjerte som sloss), but that doesn’t give it justice. It was great!

Here’s the full setlist:

  1. Aldri la de tro de er bedre enn deg
  2. I siget
  3. Marlene
  4. Regnbuen treffer oss ikkje lenger
  5. Mine siste berømte ord
  6. Om me går ned
  7. Spinner for deg
  8. Trixing & fixing
  9. I natt blir du fri
  10. Me vokser aldri opp
  11. Et hjerte som sloss
  12. Perler & svin
    ————–
  13. Verden går til helvete, tralala
  14. Vår uendelige sang

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

23.07.2016 Skambankt (Fjellparkfestivalen, Flekkefjord)

Sunday, July 24th, 2016

This year, Skambankt are playing only a handful of concerts; and next year, there will probably be even fewer. So of course I had to try to fit in at least one of the festivals, and Fjellparkfestivalen was clearly the one that fit my schedule best. Just … how to get there?! Well, after a lot of planning and googling and comparing (I should really start a concert trip travel agency …), it turned out that it just took two flights and a two-hour bus ride each way! =;-)

I had heard that Fjellparkfestivalen is a very nice and cozy festival (and it’s also the oldest festival in Norway, celebrating its 35th (!!) birthday this year). I had no idea what to expect though, and I was quite surprised when I got there and there were benches in front of the stage (except for the very front, of course). But it turned out that this just added to the nice atmosphere, and for the headliner, people were standing anyway – so who cares about the benches then? =;-) The only let-down was that the sound right in front of the stage was horrible – and if you escaped that and did NOT want to sit, you had to stand on the slope that was just too uneven to dance. =:-( I was quite annoyed about that during the Razika concert (oh by the way, just jump ahead to the fourth paragraph if you want to read about the Skambankt concert *g*) – I was really looking forward to see them, but you couldn’t hear the singing at all when you were down in the “pit”, and since the concert was rather early in the evening, people on the slope took their time getting into the concert. But Razika definitely got them in the end, and their concert was great fun even from further away!

What was really awesome about the festival was the tiny little stage on the hill. Pstereo in Trondheim has such a small stage as well, but they use it pretty much for music that … uhm … nobody wants to hear anyway. Fjellparken used it for good bands that just weren’t big enough for the big stage yet. Huge shout-out to Oakland Rain who were absolutely killing it up there. Amazing voices! =:-D

OK, so after a lot of great bands in fantastic summery weather, it was finally time for the headliner: Skambankt! And what a headliner they were!! =:-o I mean, don’t ask me why, but somehow I had expected a situation like at several festivals I’ve seen lately – where the co-head was the actual headliner, and the last band (especially if they start so late) plays in front of only the “left-over” people who haven’t managed to go home yet. That can still be great fun (like bob hund at Steinkjerfestivalen) – but it’s not what you want. Anyway, nothing like this was happening. Everybody was hot for Skambankt, people got up from their seats right away, and the security actually tolerated the mosh pit. In Norway! At a festival!! I … wow! Yep, I guess that is part of “nice and cozy” … and actually, the whole festival felt quite a bit like Mini Rock (which, by the way, is also a festival arranged by young people for the locals, so I guess this is just the spirit! =:-D ). In the end, people were actually crowd surfing. Or, more precisely “crowd laying” I guess, ’cause they didn’t really move, but still. Awesome!

And – of course – that didn’t just happen, but there was a band on stage that made it happen. And perfectly so! A very nice setlist with all the hits, no pushing new songs down people’s throats, giving them all they wanted to hear. And delivering a full show filled with energy of course, plus a great light show and ROCK. It’s hard to write much more about it, but it was just amazing and a perfect conclusion for a long evening of great rock shows!

My notes say that it was the third time Skambankt played at the festival (and we all know that “third time is a charme”!). And that they’ve been at the festival as spectators many more times, and Terje hopes that the festival still exists in ten years when his son is old enough to go, and in fifteen years as well when his soon-to-be-born daughter is. Well, if the festival is always like it was this year, there’s nothing to fear, I would say! =:-)

The only thing to criticize about the Skambankt show is that it just doesn’t work to storm to the front of the stage, right towards the audience, stare at them intensely and expect them to know what you want them to do … I mean, I have seen Skambankt quite a few times by now – and I still don’t have a clue what Terje wants from me. Clap? Sing? Shout?? Hey, whatever, I’ll do it if I can figure it out! =;-) But it always feels like we in the audience either didn’t do anything/didn’t do enough or did the wrong thing when he returns to the mike. Please – just tell or show us what do do and don’t just stare, okay? *gg*

But well, we’ll just assume he wanted us to shout, sing, clap, and hop around like crazy. Which is what we did, so we should be cool. =;-) Oh, and before the encores, they even found a bra that was thrown on stage, and they seemed satisfied with that response. *g*

Here’s the setlist:

  • Anonyme hatere
  • Skambankt
  • Voodoo
  • Slukk meg for eg brenner (JAAAA! =:-D)
  • Me sa nei
  • Dynasti
  • Vår bør
  • Som en sirene
  • O dessverre
  • Malin (“a song that we wrote about a lady that left quite an impression on us last time we played here”)
  • Bak låste dører
  • Mantra
  • Stormkast #1
  • Desertør

I have to admit I was a bit in doubt if it would be worth travelling two days for just one festival day (with only two bands I was really interested in), but the answer is definitely: HELL YEAH! That was awesome. Thanks so much to Skambankt and thanks to Fjellparkfestivalen!! =:-D

19.03.2016 Skambankt (John Dee, Oslo)

Sunday, March 20th, 2016

Last year, Skambankt played a one-off “nostalgia” show at Ranglerock, playing their full first album. I couldn’t go. Nooooo! =:-( A few months later, they announced that they would do the same thing again, this time in Oslo. Yaaaaay! =:-D

No question: I wouldn’t miss that. I’ve been a Skambankt fan since they started out, and while I don’t think that the first album is their best one (that place is shared by Hardt Regn and Søvnløs … just kidding, Hardt Regn and Eliksir of course! *g*), it is definitely this one that works best live. So that concert just had to turn out awesome! Plus, it was at John Dee, where I also saw my 4th ever Skambankt concert more than 10 years ago. Oh gosh … I’m old.

Anyway, John Dee was packed, and Hold Fast played a great warm-up show. (Except that you can’t really expect people to know your songs and sign along if you are the support act …) And when the change-over started, you could see that Skambankt were not only playing the old songs – they went ten years back in time! With the camouflage net all over the stage, the old cap hanging on the drum set, and yes: even the old military shirts and jackets. Waaaaah!! <3 If you do it, do it right, and Skambankt got full score on that one. =:-) I had expected them to play the Skambankt album in order, so I felt really smart that I had already copied the setlist to my phone and wouldn’t need to take notes for once … Well, I was wrong on that one. And concert wise, it was probably a smart move from Skambankt to mix up the order a bit and “save the best for last”! Even though it gave me a bit of a bad feeling in the beginning … the first four, five songs were not the ones you remember from previous concerts, and while the audience enjoyed it, they were far from going crazy. That was more the typical Norwegian “sipping your beer and applauding when the song is finished” type of response … and NOT what I had hoped for for this concert! But then Skambankt played Me sa nei, followed by the song that they thought was way too difficult to play live – until they practiced it and found out it isn’t *g* (Våre fiender). And then: Desertør, KKK, Alarm – victory! The audience went crazy and now, it really felt like ten years ago, with people jumping around and screaming along. Yaaaay! Even though we didn’t get the last part of Alarm. *grr* Instead of counting in again, Ted asked us who had heard the second EP they released, which contains the first song they ever made. “Do you know which one?” Everyone screamed “Skamania” – which I would have loved to hear, but was that their first song? Wasn’t that Demoattakk? But they surely won’t play that one. Or will they? WILL THEY?!?
 

Yep. They did!! =:-) Demoattakk, Skambankt, and off they went … The net was taken down, the guys changed into their modern black shirts (no leather west behind the drums though, pff … =;-)), and after the Sirene intro, it was time for the second part of the concert: “the greats”.
 

We had speculated a bit which “hit” songs they would play, and except for Mantra (which I always forget is a Skambankt song *g*), my assumption was pretty spot on. Here’s the full set list that they played:

  • Systemets makt!
  • Poltistat!
  • Revolusjonens aggregat!
  • Panzersjokk!
  • Kapitalens spel!
  • Me sa nei!
  • Våre fiender!
  • Desertør!
  • KKK!
  • Alarm!
  • Demoattakk
  • Skambankt!
  • O dessverre
  • Vår bør
  • Voodoo
  • Dynasti
  • Mantra
  • Stormkast #1

The new songs worked fabulously as well – especially Vår bør, where the audience gave me goose bumps by singing the whole intro by themselves. But also the other songs were received with loads of enthusiasm! And no, there was no way the audience would have let Skambankt finish the concert without an encore. An awesome atmosphere, and a concert that suddenly made me feel 10 years younger again … Thank you Skambankt! =:-D