Rain. Gray. Cold. 120 speedlimit. Belgian signs. And the last concert of the tour… =:-(
Of course we arrived much too early – and it’s definitely no fun to spend three and a half hours in a desolate outskirts of Antwerp…
At some point in time the doors opend – but the concert hall was much too big, the audience was weird, and – though it had been announced as a Kaizers show – the concert turned out to be a festival again, and Kaizers only had 60 minutes.
Finally the first band entered the stage. But they were awful… I guess it was supposed to be something like ska- or swing-style, but somehow none of the involved could play his or her instrument… *sigh* The second band was the same, just bigger, there were like 20 people with brass-instruments, and though they managed to play a little better technically, the playing together was still very very bad. But the audience was cheering enthusiastically, which made me fear the worst for this night…
And this is the moment where the tone of this report is suddenly changing to the complete opposite, cause then Pål Jackman entered the stage! And as always he delivered a great show, this time with even more songs than at the other concerts, again with Steffen at the drums. And even though there weren’t many people in the audience, they were applauding obediently. *g*
After that, Kaizers came on stage, and after a short phase of warming up they held the audience in a tight grip and totally convinced everybody! I don’t remember much about the concert, I guess I really was a little tired and in a bad mood, but the concert was terrific again, I was totally satisfied! I’ll put up the setlist in a few days, I don’t have it here right now. The Jackal was constantly emphasizing that they were playing at a Gypsy festival here, but somehow I had the feeling that there might have been a little irony in that… =;-) Also, he was pointing out all the time that they were selling CDs at the merchandise stand, I guess they wanted to get rid of them all before the tour ends, or something like that… *gg* And Kaizers and fans all form a big family, and we were part of it! “De involverte” was again announced as a very depressive song from a very depressive period, and what are you gonna do when you are so depressed and unhappy and you want to be happy again? Right, ask Dr. Mowinckel. *g* For the encores, the six guys came out dancing and fidgeting around, no idea what that was supposed to be, but at this time of the concert, the audience already belonged to the Kaizers-family, everybody was celebrating the Gypsy Finale and we were all saved!
So, this was our last concert of the tour, and even though band and crew had to leave at once to go to Vienna, they took the time for some kind words and some pictures (wow, thanks!). It was a terrific conclusion for a terrific tour, and I can’t wait for them to come back and play more concerts here in Europe! Luckily, they were always talking on stage about festivals they are gonna play in the summer. Hopefully the dates will be out soon. Many greetings go out to Joyce and Shirin, whithout whom the concerts wouldn’t have been half as much fun, see you again in summer!

Setlist:

1. Ompa til du dør
2. Bøn fra helvete
3. Hevnervals
4. Container
5. Veterans klage
6. Mann mot mann
7. Di grind
8. Kontroll på kontinentet
9. Medisin og psikiatri
10. De involverte
11. Dr. Mowinckel
12. 170
13. Gypsy Finale