There seems to be some kind of curse on Skambankt concerts. At least if I want to go there… last year, the concert was moved to another date on very short notice. This year, the day before the concert, Germany drowned in snow… which wouldn’t have been a problem, if it hadn’t been a Friday with the streets crammed with stupid Dutchmen (sorry Dissident *g*) with summer tires. Argh. So it took me about eight hours to get to the airport, instead of two and a half as normal… But well, luckily I’m paranoid enough to not leave just in time for the plane, so I didn’t miss my plane but just several hours of sleep. And as we all know, sleeping is for dead people anyway… =;-)

The next morning, my flight was actually going, just some delay and no cancellation, yeah! The curse ain’t that bad after all, it seems. So I was on my way up north, and only six hours later I arrived in Oslo and spent my day running around and spending lots of money. Way too much. But well. At least I wasn’t the only one… =;-)

A short vorspiel at Dissident’s, and then it was finally time for the concert! There was no support band, so suddenly the lights went out, the intro started and then Skambankt were on stage…

From the very beginning, the audience went crazy. I can’t say how it was in the back, but in the front people were jumping around and singing along and screaming and whatever. Now, that’s something! Really impressive, and not only a much bigger crowd but also a much tighter atmosphere than at last year’s concert.
This was obvious throughout the concert. Lots of “Skambankt! Skambankt!” screaming, lots of clapping, and singing along. And Skambankt had their show worked out perfectly. Raw energy on stage, from the very first song, a lot of posing, jumping, kicking, you name it. And they had adapted their songs to be played live, including solo parts, breaks, and cool endings.

The heated up audience and the energetic live performance fit together perfectly. For example during “Me sa nei!”, where the band stopped in the middle of the song to take a break and have a beer – while the audience continued screaming “Det blei en del eksplosjona…” Waaaah, perfect! =:-)
And you could see how much fun they were having on stage, and that is also a great thing. So, even if I try really hard to come up with something about the concert that was bad, I don’t succeed… it was just awesome.

So, here’s the setlist (and the announcements I remember, which is incredibly much, taken into account that it was all in Norwegian and I was tired as hell *g*):
They started with Skambankt, followed by Panzersjokk and the first real super hit Me sa nei. (The announcement was something like “You like rock here in Oslo, right?” – “Yeah!” – “You like hard rock?” – “YEAH!” – “You like superhits?” – “NOOOO!” – “How about SKAMBANKT superhits???” Which the audience appreciated, then… *gg*)
Next was Revolusjonens Aggregat, then Mr. Ted Winters’ personal favorite Desertør. Then it was time for an alarm, a “rock alarm”, and the next song was of course Alarm.
After that, KKK was announced in sign language =;-), and then – “heilt ny sang, heilt ny gitar” – they played one of the songs that will probably be out on their next album in 2007, called “Angst”. With a new guitar with stars on it, cool. =;-)
Then they wanted to play something darker, and after waking up the light guy this actually worked, and they played Nok et offer. Followed by the last song Skamania.
Of course we didn’t let them get away this easily, so they had to come back and finish the show with Demoattakk and Systemets Makt. And that was it, only 1 hour… oh, cool, I found something to complain about! =;-) That is just TOO SHORT! *grr*

OK, what else do I remember… At some point in time, when they had just found out that we DO actually like superhits if they are Skambankt superhits, Mr. Winters asked if we were ready for a ballad. And when the answer was a clear NO, he tried with “how about a Skambankt ballad”? Which was okay then. It all depends on what you call a ballad. *g*
Then they were talking about the looooong tour they had just completed, and that this was the tour finale (well, not counting secret gigs, that is, I guess *g*). And of course also the best concert of the tour. I’ll just believe that. =;-)
And in the end when leaving the stage they announced they’d be back in 2007. Waaah – too long!! =:-(

So, the concert was just amazing. Too short, but every minute was worthwhile… too bad the tour is over and I only saw the last concert. Or well, probably good for me – and my wallet. =;-)

After the concert, John Dee started to fill up with weird people, I started talking something-like-Norwegian to other Germans (why not? *g*), we watched Skambankt pack their stuff, and after a while we decided the music is crap and went on to Internasjonalen. Where it was terribly crowded, I definitely did NOT regard it as “reasonably priced”, but the music was much better and we had a good time.

The next day I spent traveling again, on the bus, on the plane, in the car. But well, it was definitely worth it, and I’d do it again next weekend if there was another concert! (Well, at least if Kaizers weren’t playing then. *gg*)
Thanks to Dissident for hosting me, thanks to Skambankt for an awesome show, and a big hello to everybody I met (again)! See you next time… =;-)