I was quite surprised when I received a newsletter announcing a Honningbarna concert in Stuttgart. Seriously? Honningbarna? Why would they tour in Germany?!

Just a little bit of background: Honningbarna is a Norwegian punk band that has been strongly influenced by Skambankt. I – as a Skambankt fan – have always seen them as a rip-off of Skambankt. However, after seeing them play at Odderøya Live last year, I have to admit that it’s not “as bad” as feared: Yes, they play punk songs with Norwegian lyrics, yes, they have a song where they mostly shout their own name, yes, that is quite like Skambankt. But then, their songs are different and they use a cello in addition to the usual instrumentation. And, just like Skambankt, they have a great energy on stage and their concerts seem to be really fun.

Still, an unknown band singing in Norwegian … I wouldn’t expect them to tour Germany. But hey, if the come, I’ll go and see them! I even got my ticket beforehand, because I returned from New York City the day before, and I knew that without a ticket, the sofa would win that night …

I arrived pretty late, when the support band was already playing. There were about five people outside the venue and – except for the band on stage – about five inside. *uhem* Subtracting the guys from Honningbarna, that left about four or five paying (?) guests. Ooops.

It did get a little bit better until Honningbarna went on stage, but still there weren’t more than 10-15 people there. And honestly: If I had been in charge, I would have forced the support band to watch the concert instead of standing outside or hanging out backstage. But well.

Honningbarna didn’t care about how many people were there (or at least they didn’t show it). They delivered! Full energy, jumping around, screaming – impressive, especially with such a small audience! It might have been a bit too much in the beginning though … I mean, I would have come forward and stood closer to the stage, but I don’t want to jump, I don’t want to mosh, I don’t want to watch out for anyone suddenly jumping into me. And during the first song, singer and guitarist left the stage and started jumping around wildly in the front – which was awesome and is probably typical “them”, but it made all the spectators draw to the back and to the sides to get out of the danger zone. 😉 Uhm, probably not what was intended.

Anyway, it was an awesome (and intimate *g*) concert and great fun. I’ll really need to get the albums – because even though I speak Norwegian, I didn’t have a chance to understand anything they were singing. Next time I’ll come better prepared. 😉