That’s what you would call a triumph, I guess. But I’m getting ahead here. =;-)

A night in the car, a shower at the rest stop, and then looking for a parking space again. No, it’s not funny to direct people to a parking lot 10 kilometers away just to have a sign there that says “closed”. *grmbl* But I did actually find a place after a while, and the little punk I asked if it was close enough to walk to the festival from there did neither lie to me nor jump into my car. *gg*

But then it took a moment to switch from Rock im Park to “Pfingstopenair Hauzenberg”. =;-) Not only that there was mud instead of asphalt this time (but well, I’m used to that… St. Gallen, Haldern…). But after seeing the stage, the first thing I did was looking for the MAIN stage. Well, but then I found the Culturestage in a very very small tent and realized that the guy with the guitar on the “big” stage must be Götz Widmann and that this would also be the stage Kaizers would play on. Okay. Nothing negative here, it was just a tiny little bit different from yesterday. And the nightliner in the mud looked a little out of place as well. *gg*

Anyway. The sun came out, I didn’t really know what to make out of Mr. Widmann, and so I decided to walk back to the car and leave one of my sweaters there (MISTAKE!). Back on the festival grounds I met up with Jackie and Lena, and we spent our time talking and trying to survive Die Goldenen Zitronen. OK, maybe it was a mistake to know only one of their songs, “Für immer Punk”, which was about the exact contrary to what they played. I don’t even WANT to describe that, but at least it was so ridiculous that it was funny. Sick of it all were quite okay. I really liked those guys standing in the back of the stage whose only job it was (or seemed to be *g*) to clean the stage whenever a beer cup came flying. “What do you do for a living?” – “Oh, I’m beer cup catcher for Sick of it all!” *rofl*

Uhm. I think I’m getting a little off topic here. Anyway, then they were finished and now it was getting interesting. We had been wondering the whole evening whether after Soia, all people would disappear and then there would be 20 people with Kaizer shirts left in front of the stage, or whether they would stay and have a really great time then.

First it looked as if they would all leave – we had a lot of room in the front row. Actually, there was so much room there that suddenly there was a tree standing next to us. (Yes. I’m not kidding. Why didn’t I take a picture?!? *rofl*). But luckily it was gone (or “was getting gone”, of course *g*) again before the concert.

And then the concert started, and the crowd was hot from the first second. OK, they wanted to party, and they got all they could wish for. It became more and more crowded and uncomfortable in the first row, my knees are bruised and blue, but who cares, it was worth it. That was another one of those concerts where you leave afterwards with a grin stuck in your face and thinking: “perfect”. Actually, there wasn’t much “special”, but everything just fit together. The atmosphere in the audience, the atmosphere on stage, the setlist. Well, you get something special for your 50th concert, even if you don’t even ask for it… =;-)

Let’s start with the setlist (from memory): Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Hevnervals, Delikatessen, Container, Senor Flamingos Adieu, Blitzregn Baby, Mann mot mann, Kontroll på kontinentet, Evig pint, KGB, Katastrofen, Maestro, encore Gypsy Finale.

I even remember a few things this time. *g* For example, that Helge started cleaning his shoes in the middle of the show. Using the glove. =;-) But that was understandable, with all the mud around and white shoes… no white suit this time, by the way, but it was dark already anyway. *g* The Jackal announced Kontroll på kontinentet as the song that whoever has a radio has surely heard there before. Uhm… sure about that?!? *lol* And then he suddenly announced a “totally new song!” – that irritated me a little, but they played “only” Delikatessen. Which was more than enough to make the audience go crazy. *gg* Hellraizer was being teased during the introduction: “You look like a 6’5” hangover, with the towel.” Okaaaay. And the Jackal practiced his German by screaming “Singen Sie bitte!” a few times. *rofl* (Uhm, to explain why that is funny… it is correct German, it means “Please sing!”, but it’s the formal form that you would never use when addressing an audience – well, maybe if the audience is about 50 on average and wearing suits and ties. *g*) And I think I also heard “Schwing den Hammer” instead “Sving din hammer” during Maestro a few times, but I’m not sure about it, it’s so similar.

Towards the end it was really nice when the Jackal started to play with the applause of the audience again. Catching it, setting it free, catching it again, putting it in his pocket, getting it out again, blowing it away again… and then he caught it again, went over to Hellraizer and put it in HIS pants pocket. But he could hardly handle the applause, so he returned it to the Jackal (after it got away for a moment, of course). Haaah. Great.

So, all in all an amazing concert. No big “specials”, just a great atmosphere. And Kaizers were the highlight of the festival without any doubt – okay, I only saw one day, but there, Kaizers were the only band where everybody on the festival ground was just dancing and having a good time and you could see happy and smiling faces all around. Thanks so much for a perfect number 50!
And even though nobody came out afterwards (*grmbl*), that’s all I wanted. A marvelous concert, nice people, and some surprised faces on stage after the concert when I actually did reveal that it was my 50th show and there was no champagne to be found anywhere. *gg* Thanks a lot, you guys are the best, and now fifty more! =:-)

Oh yes, and the wisdom of the day: If you kick toilet paper into the audience, it will come back to you at once. =;-)