Trondheim

15.08.2014 – Photos Skambankt (Pstereo, Trondheim)

Saturday, August 16th, 2014
15.08.2014 – Photos Skambankt (Pstereo, Trondheim)

15.08.2014 Skambankt (Pstereo, Trondheim)

Saturday, August 16th, 2014
15.08.2014 – Photos Skambankt (Pstereo, Trondheim)

Festival concerts just aren’t the same as “real” concerts. That’s why I didn’t really expect anything when going down to Pstereo festival tonight. On the program: Stein Torleif Bjella, Skambankt, St. Vincent, and Biffy Clyro. A very … hmm, let’s call it interesting mixture. =;-)

Skambankt’s last club show in Trondheim was absolutely awesome, but then, this was a festival. And even though the festival grounds were filled pretty nicely when Skambankt started, it didn’t seem like there were so many people in the audience that knew Skambankt and were looking forward to their show.

Except for a few guys in the front that were starting a mosh pit during the first couple of songs already! =:-o Wow, didn’t expect that. And neither did the security, obviously. One security guy actually jumped over the railing, made his way to the mosh pit, and told people to calm down. SERIOUSLY! I mean, I’m used to German festivals, which are a LOT wilder than Norwegian ones. And then, when someone actually moves a little, the security stops it?!

Well, they only managed to stop it until “Me sa nei” – as always, Skambankt wanted to see a Wall of Death during that song, and they got it. And after that, the security did not try to stop the mosh pit anymore. =;-) And it got wilder and wilder throughout the show, just calming down a bit for the slower songs, culminating with the last song “Stormkast #1”.

I know I’ve been criticizing the Wall of Death – and I still hate it, but that’s based on German festivals. I can see now why Skambankt are doing that … it really helps get the crowd into the concert, and it seems to work perfectly well. So thumbs up!

And as the crowd got more and more into it without much more initiative from stage, there was no “hey” part in “Dynasti” this time. But we got to sing the “Mantra” chorus! And at the very end, there was a bit of back and forth between band and audience again. Really nice. And I was very amused when Ted came back on stage after the drum solo, back to the crowd, leaned back and spat water into the air. Not sure if he stole that from Hellraizer or HHH. =;-)

Some time during the concert, Skambankt announced they would be back in Trondheim in October, then at Byscenen – where it is actually dark, so that the lighting guy can do his magic and doesn’t have to sit there with sunglasses on. *g* Yay!
Looking forward to that already. ‘Cause even though this festival show was really great, the next club show will be even better, I’m sure!

Here’s the setlist:

  • Anonyme hatere
  • Skambankt
  • O dessverre
  • Vår bør
  • Som en sirene
  • Me sa nei
  • Dynasti
  • Min eliksir
  • Tanker som mareritt
  • Voodoo
  • Mantra
  • Stormkast #1

15.03.2014 Skambankt (Samfundet, Trondheim)

Sunday, March 16th, 2014

After my last trip north and two Skambankt concerts that were even more awesome than expected I was really happy I had already booked my flight to the Oslo concert (that’s what happens if KLM unexpectedly puts out some extra cheap flights … *g*) – however, I had the feeling that this would still not suffice and I’d have to take yet another trip to Norway … =;-) Actually, I had set my eyes on Stavanger, but then I ended up going to Trondheim instead, for … reasons. The best part about that: it still leaves the option to go to Stavanger. *uhem*

Anyway. Arriving at Samfundet, I first found out that I was not on the guestlist. Well, nothing new here, that has happened before, and it’s usually not a big deal. This time it was no deal at all, because the answer was: “No, you’re not on the list … but hey, wait, I’ve seen you on TV! I’m sure you should be on the list. Here you go, just go in …” =:-o That felt very weird and very cool at the same time. *g*

I was there in good time for the support band Lydløs. And they sounded pretty good! Punk with Norwegian lyrics. And from what I read, their first concert ever, and for that it was really impressive. Thumbs up!

Also, I was kinda “impressed” with the sound – not that it was particularly good, but it was not particularly BAD. Which is good for Samfundet. =;-) Maybe because I was down on the floor instead of the stands for the first time there?

The Skambankt concert started out theatrically with the intro and the banner rising up. And it was clear from the beginning that this would be an awesome concert – the audience was REALLY into it, and everybody was loud and singing. There were mosh pits, hands and fists in the air, and the audience took over the singing quite a few times. OK, it didn’t always work out perfectly – we messed up the chorus in Mantra, and the “hei”-“hei” part in Dynasti took quite some practicing again (I still think that the audience is NOT to blame for that though; it’s just impossible to understand what Mr. Winters wants the audience to do there *g*). Still, the atmosphere was fantastic. Ted … argh, I think I’ll have to reconsider my style principles, writing “Ted” just feels awkward every time … – where was I? Oh right. Anyway. “Mr. Frontman” summed it up perfectly in the end: “Takk skal dokke faen meg ha!” An amazing concert in front of a fantastic crowd that was really into it. Perfect!

A funny little moment was the ending of Stormkast #1, where the audience was screaming hey, then the band would play, the audience would scream, the band would play … guess some things are just great fun, no matter which band is doing them and who is conducting. =;-)

In Me sa nei, Skambankt did their 2nd ever Wall of Death … Hmm, I know what I think about that. It does look amazing from above, I agree, and it might be great fun for some people to take part … but I guess they’ll soon stop doing it after the first fan hobbles out with a broken ankle. Or tibia. Which is just a matter of time …

Still, it was no problem to stick to the side and enjoy an awesome concert – everybody had a great time, the band went off stage with a “nå blir det fest!”, and everyone went out with big smiles on their faces. Yay, can’t be better! =:-D

The setlist was altered a bit on the spot – the planned list was the usual one they played every time, but they modified it a bit to fit the atmosphere. Here’s what they played:

  • Anonyme hatere
  • Skambankt
  • O dessverre
  • Vår bør
  • Som en sirene
  • Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
  • Sort blod
  • Me sa nei
  • Min eliksir
  • Gamle spøkelser
  • Voodoo
  • Dynasti
  • Tanker som mareritt
  • Stormkast #1
    —–
  • Mantra
  • Malin
  • Våre folk

Addendum: OK, after seeing the video I take back the broken ankle. Wrong scale. I was thinking more about this. But I still think WoDs are stupid. =;-p

24.08.2013 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Borggården, Trondheim)

Sunday, August 25th, 2013
24.08.2013 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Borggården, Trondheim)

24.08.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Borggården, Trondheim)

Sunday, August 25th, 2013
24.08.2013 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Borggården, Trondheim)

Suddenly deciding to book a short trip for the weekend isn’t always bad. Especially not if it’s a short trip to go and see a Kaizers concert. And even more especially not if you notice after booking that the release concert of Das Kriegsensemble happens on the same day and you can get to see that one as well … two birds with one stone! Add in fantastic summer weather in Trondheim, and you just have to have a perfect day. =:-)

First up was the Kriegsensemble concert. I have to admit that somehow, I had expected something entirely different – though I’m not really sure WHAT I had expected. But I was really confused in the beginning. And don’t get me wrong; it was splendid right from the start! Six really solemn (well, at least at the beginning *g*), serious musicians in suits, stand-up bass/cello/viola/violin/piano/accordion, and they started out with an overture. Which sounded quite “kaizeresque”, true, but that was all. And then they announced that this was supposed to be Resistansen – uh, whut? When they played the song again as encore (“Those were all the songs that are on the album. But we’ll just play the first one again, it’s been a while already …” *g*), I did recognize a few references to Resistansen. But I had expected something different when I heard they’d play cover versions – namely what they did in the following song, the “Siste Maestro Dans”. A clear mixture of Maestro and Siste Dans. =;-) But I thought the songs were supposed to be in German? Up until then, there weren’t any vocals at all, in no language. In 170, they had a “Ja ja, wir kommen ja zurück” at least, but Die Polizei consisted purely of humming. Anyhow, that was slowly but surely the point of the concert where they “had” me. This was so absurd, you could not NOT grin. =;-) And all of this presented in such a sincere way! And that’s how it continued, and I thought that the adaptation of the songs got better and better. Prosessen, with the lyrics read in form of a speech, was awesome, and Ompa til du dør finally made the audience sing along and dance. As I said – that whole concert was really absurd and abstruse. But awesome and entertaining at the same time! The only thing I found a bit of a pity was that the songs weren’t really sung in German; except for Ompa til du dør, which therefore was maybe a bit misleading as first and only pre-taste of the album. But on the other hand, it maybe wasn’t that bad to be spared more of the rather awful German. =;-)

Some hours later, the fun continued under open skies at the gigantic Borggården – fully sold out with 6000 people in the audience. When the support Peevish Penfriend played, it wasn’t that crowded yet, but while we all waited for Kaizers, it really filled up. Also in the front, towards the side … in my opinion, it got way too crowded already before the concert, but surprisingly, it was really okay during the show – except for two girls whose only plan it apparently was to ruin at least parts of the concert for some people around me. Why are they always a few of those idiots? But well, I managed to keep them off my back and could enjoy the whole show.

To keep it short: It was awesome! A great atmosphere on both sides, and … well, what else? After the concert we noticed that there really wasn’t anything worth mentioning in the report. Hmm … “Janove dropped the microphone and pulled it up on stage again?” Well, that’s not really THAT spectacular. During Bøn fra helvete, Omen directed the singing of Hellraizer and Jackal, he was obviously bored during most parts of the concert, and as he was missing a vase this time, he saved the flowers by wrapping them into a wet towel. His soap bubble performance in Svarte katter didn’t quite work out (he was blowing and blowing, but no bubbles *g*), and when he finally managed a few bubbles, Mink destroyed them with his drum stick. =;-) Then the whole band had to tell Omen to sit back down, and afterwards, the Jackal dragged out the pause forever, while the audience was screaming and cheering.

The beginning of Hjerteknuser was really funny when the Jackal wanted to “jump-start” the song once again. He got up on the barrel and looked like he was about to do a back-flip, but of course he ended up doing a very cautious hop down. *gg* Oh right, and during Støv og sand, he wanted the audience to sing in three voices at the end. But maybe it would have been smarter to explain what he wanted … as it was, it was quite confusing. First, he asked one side of the audience to sing “like that” – but of course everyone sang the “normal” tune and not the one the Jackal had asked them to sing. The second part of the audience had to sing as usual, and by the time it was time for my side, most people had understood what the Jackal wanted, so that we managed to sing the intended note. However, the Jackal just sang the first note and not the full tune, so that was a bit too much to ask. Consequently, there was only one try for the audience. I guess that was “planned” to sound a bit differently. *g*

Okay, seems like there was actually a bit to report after all. =;-) But the concert was a great example that an awesome concert doesn’t need a lot of clownery on stage. Just the right chemistry between band and audience – and with such a polite and well-mannered audience with a ratio of 60% women and 40% men, that works our perfectly, of course. =;-)

As conclusion, we got Die Polizei – and the audience continued singing loudly for at least ten minutes after Kaizers disappeared from stage. The perfect finish for a wonderful concert.

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Siste dans
  • Delikatessen
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • Forloveren
  • Støv og sand
  • I ett med verden
  • KGB
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Tokyo Ice til Clementine
  • Philemon Arthur & The Dung
  • Evig pint
  • Resistansen
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Maestro
    ———-
  • Begravelsespolka
  • Drøm videre, Violeta
  • Die Polizei

15.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

Report by Lena V.

I wasn’t going to go to this concert. I had my last concerts lined up, five more to go before Kaizers’ big break. I had a couple of friends from the USA that were going there, and they were going to stay here a few days before and after the show because they wanted to see a bit of Oslo when they were in Norway. I had actually only met one of them before, and only briefly during a concert at Ås last year, so I could only hope that the visit would be okay – you never know what to expect when you’re going to spend several days with someone you’ve barely met. 😉 So, they arrived here on Wednesday, on Thursday we were up late having some drinks when someone mentioned the words “I wish you were going to Trondheim with us”. Well, there went the last of my savings – again. Kaizers have cost me a lot these past years, I’m sort of glad they’re taking this long break. 😉 In no time tickets for the train next morning were bought, and guest list passes (!) were in place.

We arrived in Trondheim a couple of hours prior to when the doors should open, just enough time for dinner and getting the luggage safely stowed away at a hotel room – or so we thought. But when we got to the venue we had to wait in the main hall for an hour and a half – it’s a good thing time goes fast when you’re in good company. 🙂
Finally, we were let in to the “circus tent” – that’s what the concert hall looks like – and found a nice spot up front. And more waiting. 🙂 So we got to talk some more, and enjoy the quite relaxed and laid-back atmosphere.

With no warning, the lights dimmed and “Russian Dance” started playing. And I was completely blown away by the reaction of the audience. The room practically exploded! I can honestly not remember the last time I was at a show with that kind of energy and joy from the audience. And I kept being amazed for the rest of the show. Wow. Thank you, Trondheim!

And the setlist was perfect. Well, almost. I wouldn’t have minded if they’d swapped Støv og sand for something else. Not that I don’t like the song, I just think they have so many songs that are better… 🙂
And this is where it gets hard to write this report. I hadn’t planned to write anything, so I didn’t take any notes during the show. And unlike Susi, I’ve got crappy short term memory. 😛 I did try to write down some of the highlights afterwards, but if I’ve gotten them wrong or backwards please don’t kill me. *gg*

The show started with Aldri vodka, Violeta – a perfect opener – followed by Diamant til Kull (yay!), Tusen dråper regn and Din kjole lukter bensin, mor. As usual, not too much talking during the first songs. When it was time for the big drum part of En for orgelet, Janove almost couldn’t get up on the oil barrel. I think he usually steps on a monitor to get up, but it wasn’t at its usual place for this show. He almost fell down, but luckily there was a roadie there to give him a hand. 🙂

Janove pointed out several times that the audience was crazy! Really crazy! They had been playing at Samfundet for ten years, and they had never experienced an audience this great there before!

Janove had his usual “where are you from” routine, asking if there were people there from some random Norwegian cities. I remember some people next to me shouting at Janove, trying to get his attention to a guy that had come all the way from Tokyo – but they didn’t get through. *gg* Well, it’s on paper now, that’s gotta count for at least something? 😉
Terje went up to him and whispered something, and then Janove wondered if there was someone there from Molde? The Norwegian football season had started that same day, and Stavanger had won their game, over Molde.

Someone had told Janove once, that if you’ve played a blues song with a really good response, you had to follow up with another blues song. So naturally, I ett med verden was followed by Støv og sand. But if you’ve played two blues songs with great response, you should play something else. And Kaizers have played all types of genres: blues, rock, blues, dance, rap, blues, dub (yes – they were great at dub), classical etc. But the best follow up to two blues songs, would of course be some gypsy music, this time in the form of Resistansen!

Kontroll på kontinentet started with Janove throwing an (invisible) ball at the audience, I don’t remember the purpose behind it. But I think it was during this song that Terje decided that it was a good idea to go crowdsurfing. Maybe it was, but it looked to me like he almost was dropped to the floor a couple of times, and when he got back on stage it seemed like he’d hurt his back a little. Or maybe it was just for show. 😉

At some point, I don’t remember during which song, Janove placed an imaginary golf ball at the edge of the stage, and he “hit” it with an accompanying drum sound with perfect timing. Nice detail!

Helge did his usual stuff. Taking notes, swaying eerily during Svarte katter, and being mysterious about his briefcase.

The band left the stage, and while waiting for them to come back the applause was just overwhelming. For the hundredth time that night I was surprised by the energy the audience showed. It was beautiful!
They got back on for the encore, first up: KGB. And then: Begravelsespolka. This nights version of it didn’t include the first verse, instead we got verse number two twice! Performed excellently, you would almost think it was planned that way. *gg*
They said goodbye again, and once more the audience got to fill the hall with applauding and cheering! And the band came back! As a second encore we got Die Polizei. It wasn’t on the setlist, so I guess they decided to play it when they found out what a wonderful and crazy audience we were! At the end of Die Polizei, Helge picked up a book and started reading. He got so wrapped up in it, that he didn’t realize the song was over until all the others had left the stage. *gg*

To sum it up: A fantastic concert, with fantastic friends. It was worth every krone, and every minute of motion sickness on the train! And the best part wasn’t the great show or the great audience, or the great setlist, but getting to know new people and really connecting to them.
And all because of Kaizers.

Setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Diamant til kull
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Støv og sand
  • Resistansen
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Forloveren
  • Drøm videre, Violeta
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.
    ——

  • KGB
  • Begravelsespolka
    ——

  • Die Polizei

17.02.2012 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

Sunday, February 26th, 2012
17.02.2012 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

17.02.2012 Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

Saturday, February 18th, 2012
17.02.2012 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

Gnaah… the concerts on this Kaizers tour are really really inconvenient for people who don’t live in Norway. Lots of concerts in one city (which would be great!), but from Monday to Friday… yeah, sure. =:-( And on the weekends, Kaizers keep playing up in the VERY north… *sigh* But well, that just means you have to be really creative when planning your concerts and figure out that Trondheim and Levanger are fairly close! So like that, I managed to fit in two concerts and another evening with Sonny (this time in Oslo), with a reasonable amount of vacation days. Yay!

So I got on my way to Trondheim for the last of the concerts there. Samfundet is known for an amazing atmosphere and great concerts – yeah! But actually, it started out rather disappointing. Last time at Samfundet, we stood on the stairs and had a great view at the stage. This time, no one was allowed to stand there… So we decided for the stands instead, and got a good place with okay view there, but the sound was just awful! I’ve never experienced such bad sound at a Kaizers concert before… probably that was mostly due to where we were standing and it would have been better in the center, but where we were standing, it was almost impossible to even understand anything that was said on stage… And the setlist didn’t really hold any surprises in the beginning – at least no positive surprises. 9mm?! I mean, really…?! =:-/

After half the concert I started wondering what I should write in the report – up to then, Kaizers just played one song after the other, without any talking in between; and while the audience obviously was in a good mood, I’ve definitely seen a more enthusiastic audience before. And the bad sound… No, that wasn’t what I had expected and hoped for for my trip to Norway. =:-(

OK, there were some highlights – we got to hear Diamant til kull and Prosessen, but they were followed by Ompa til du dør and Bøn fra helvete. These two are great songs, no doubt, and I usually like to hear them, but considering that I could have gotten songs like På ditt skift and Tokyo Ice instead?!

And then the concert finally started. I mean, REALLY started! Hellraizer took over the microphone and started out with Rullett. =:-) And as a “mini encore”, we got another Hellraizer song, namely Dr. Mowinckel, yeah! (After the Jackal put on the required protective clothing – read: working gloves. *g*)

And then, from one second to the other, the concert turned absolutely awesome. No idea what the reason was that I couldn’t enjoy the concert that much before – maybe it was just me and my mood, maybe it was that the audience was too “reserved” (even though I don’t really think that; shortly after, the Jackal said that this was the best of the concerts in Trondheim), or if Kaizers themselves had to warm up a bit first – but well, it doesn’t really matter either. In any case, from then on we got a lot of talking between the songs, the audience didn’t just sing along but was fascinated by everything that happened on stage, and everything was just amazing! =:-)

The Jackal mentioned that Kaizers have the world’s best fans (and no, this is not just something that the newspapers write, but it’s true!) – but well, that’s not much of a surprise, since he himself is a big fan. He attended ALL concerts! And he actually knows the band! And he hangs out backstage!! *lol* Probably he even knows all the songs, pff… *g* And the best fans in the world don’t only like the old songs, but they like the new ones even better! We were about to protest when we found out that the next song was… Drøm videre, Violeta. So we didn’t complain. *g* And when the whole Samfundet waves their hands in the air in unison, this looks really really impressive…

Not sure, that might have been later when they played Hjerteknuser. Or during both songs, don’t remember. *g* Before Hjerteknuser, we were asked to decide if we wanted the French or the Russian opening for the song. Seems like this was not the first time that the Russian opening won – but we are supposed to tell everyone who’s going to attend a concert the next weeks to decide for the French opening, because they came up with a great intro there as well! So you know now. *g* And we got the Vodka opening, and the song started when the Jackal put down his glass. =;-)

Svarte katter was very impressive – in the beginning, Killmaster got up on his barrel (which works especially well if you’re busy writing down some setlist notes and don’t look at the stage until the song has started, and you’re completely surprised *g*). Since his hair is gone again, Helge did not take out a comb this time under his “big moment”, but wiped off his sweat. And anyway, he was the coolest guy on stage during the whole concert, as always. *g*

The Jackal stated once more that he definitely has the best job in the world. And we should get such a job as well! Don’t worry, that’s easy, no problem at all. “I mean, Hellraizer can’t play guitar either!” You just need some good ideas, and then it doesn’t matter, you can get this job even if you can’t really play the guitar… *lol*

As encore, we actually got the Gypsy Finale – even with the old “Do you want one more song? Or two more songs? Or THREE more songs?” to start it. Yaaaaaay! Nostalgia! =:-) And party! *g* By that time, Kaizers had the whole Samfundet under their control, absolutely. So it was no surprise whatsoever when the audience won the competition between band and audience about who was louder! But the band put soooo much more heart into it! At least that’s what they said… pff. We were louder and more heartily!! *g*

As conclusion, we got a beautiful version of Bris, with only the Jackal on acoustic guitar and Helge on the organ, and off they went… And then the boxes with shot glasses were sold out, grr… Let’s hope they find some more until Sunday!

But in any case: AWESOME! I WANT MORE!

And here’s the complete setlist:
I ett med verden, Tusen dråper regn, Femtakt filosofi, 9mm, Støv og sand, Din kjole lukter bensin mor, En for orgelet en for meg, Diamant til kull, Prosessen, Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Rullett, Dr. Mowinckel, Philemon Arther & The Dung, Kontroll på kontinentet, Drøm videre Violeta, Svarte katter & flosshatter, Hjerteknuser, Dieter Meyers Inst. First encore Sigøynerblod, Bak et halleluja, and Resistansen, second encore Bris.

2.5.2009 Kaizers Orchestra (Blæst, Trondheim)

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

After only three hours of sleep and seven hours on the train, we arrived in Trondheim – and the weather fit our mood pretty well… Cold, gray, rainy, and the last concert of the tour. Plus, there were rumors that too many tickets had been sold, which made us worry that the place would be so terribly crowded that the concert wouldn’t be any fun.
... read on!

02.05.2009 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Blæst, Trondheim)

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
02.05.2009 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Blæst, Trondheim)