Kaizers Orchestra won’t play any concerts for one year – well, I never really believed that. But I was surprised when word got out that one of the few concerts they would play during their live break would actually take place in Germany! And – even though I had to skip a Madsen concert for it – this was perfect. Kassel is not really “next door” for me, but well… it is fair, in any case. So nobody in Germany could complain about the concert taking place too far away, ’cause Kassel is right in the centre of Germany.

Right after work I got into the car. First picking up Moritz and Tobias, and then off to Kassel! We had planned to be on the road between 4 and 5 hours – but in the end it took us 6 hours… well, if some people live in the middle of nowhere… *sigh* Anyway, no problem, no reason to be there when the “doors” open, it’s good enough to arrive before it starts… So we left the car in the city and took the tram up to the concert area. And by now, it was eight thirty already… We didn’t remember whether it was supposed to start at nine or nine thirty, but well – we were kind of annoyed and hoped to make it in time. It didn’t really help that the tram stopped at every station – even though it was so full that nobody could get in anyway. But someone had to try at every station, so we were standing most of the time… *gnaah*

When we finally arrived, we first had to climb up the hill… To be a bit quicker, we chose the direct way (alongside some rice fields *g*), and we finally arrived at the stage ten past nine. I was completely worn out by then, I’m not really the person that enjoys running up hills. =;-) And then it turned out they were late anyway, so Kaizers didn’t start until nine thirty after all… But: We were there in time, yeah! *gg* And like this, there was also a bit of time left to say hi to all the others. It was great meeting all of you again!

I didn’t expect anything from the concert. One reason was that I have so much work around other bands at the moment that I didn’t really have time to look forward to the concert, another one was, that I expected that – apart from a few fans – the audience would consist only of people who have no clue about what Kaizers “mean”. And especially with this weather (there were storm warnings and it was raining all night) I didn’t expect more than maybe a few hundred people to show up, which would then cause the band to be disappointed.

But all this was completely wrong. Even though it was pouring down all night, the place in front of the stage was filled, and the atmosphere was really good. And even though I guess that only people in the first few rows had ever heard of Kaizers before, people enjoyed the concert. The sound was really bad, unfortunately – especially right in front of the stage, it was just not loud enough. But like that you could hear the audience a lot louder, so that wasn’t too bad actually. =;-) The lights were a bit weird and went off completely in the middle of the concert. Seems Kaizers only brought part of the crew this time. But this didn’t matter.

There were no big surprises in the setlist: Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Hevnervals, Container, Veterans klage, KGB, Senior Flamingos adieu, Blitzregn Baby, Mann mot mann, Kontroll på kontinentet, Dieter Meyers Inst., Maestro, encore Gypsy Finale. (This is completely from memory, so no responsibility is taken for the correctness of this information. *g*)

The first song was a bit slow and “tentative”, but then Kaizers really got into it, and the audience went crazy! Well, okay, the first three rows did. But the rest obviously enjoyed it as well. =;-) Of course, the Jackal started off by welcoming the audience and wishing a nice festival – and of course he said it was good to see the rain had stopped now. It never rains at Kaizer concerts! I’d really love to know who told him that…. =;-) It had been raining all the time, and right at the moment he said that, the rain got heavier again… And it kept on raining throughout the concert, so that even I (who had arrived only right before the concert) was completely wet in the end. But nobody really minded. Not in the front, at least, and the people in the back had their umbrellas. During Maestro, they actually had to spin them to give some “circus feeling”. Which looked pretty nice! =:-)

Kaizers had come directly from their vacation, ’cause they only play two concerts this year. I kept wondering whether the second one was the one in Stavanger or the one in Budapest, but well. *g* Hellraizer came directly from London (“right from Trafalgar Squaaaaare”), Mink from Madrid, Killmaster from Denmark, Omen has been working in the steel industry all the time, and Thunder… is the bass player. He can’t afford a vacation. =;-)

There’s not really much more to report. The concert was pretty much “standard”, which sounds negative, but I don’t mean it like that. Hardly anybody in the crowd knew Kaizers, and they delivered. I think a lot of people got infected with the Kaizer virus that night. *g* There wasn’t much talk, but a lot of music. And even though I didn’t feel like I missed anything during the last months – well, I guess I did. It felt so good to see them again, and I had so much fun. Or well – there’s limits to everything… When Hellraizer threw his towel into the audience after the introduction and a group of girls jumped towards it, shrieking, I suddenly had the feeling to be too old for all of that. *gg* But well, smiling broadly at the same time. *lol*

At the end there was a short moment where you could notice they hadn’t been playing together for a while. During Dieter Meyers (which I definitely hadn’t expected in the setlist!), there was a huge confusion on the stage at the end. You basically could read in Killmaster’s face that he was thinking “oh shit, how did that go???”. They figured it out quickly, but somehow, Omen couldn’t fit in his “Legg meg inn på Dieter Meyer, Baby”, and suddenly some Kaizers where finished while others were still playing. Guess we should have practiced after all, hmm? To say it in the words of a famous blond guy from Berlin… *fg*

But – I really didn’t mind that at all. If I want to hear perfect music, I turn on the cd. And I doubt that any of the people that didn’t know Kaizers even noticed the error.

As encore, we got the complete Gypsy Finale, and it seemed that everybody really liked it. After that, they came out once more to say good bye. Haaaach… it was just great!

Then down the hill again, Nachspiel at a “noble” Kebap, and six hours on the road again the next day… but well, what are you gonna do. And it was so worth it! Thanks to Moritz and Tobias for the nice company, thanks for the great housing, and haaaaaaa… NOW I’m really looking forward to the Sziget! =:-)