Of course I couldn’t keep myself from checking the remaining tour dates after my last Kaizers concert at Månefestivalen after all… And it didn’t take long until I found the perfect date! Especially as it was the last concert for this year (and who knows for how long…). OK, maybe I shouldn’t have based my decision on the date only, but also considered where in Norway the concert would take place? =;-)

Anyway, it just took a short while to decide I would get on my way to Mo i Rana: Northern Norway, about 80 km south of the arctic circle… and it would take me “only” three flights plus three hours in the car to get there! That’s nothing… *g* But I knew I would have great company (and I did! Thanks so much for en fantastisk helg, Lena! =:-D), and a day of sightseeing was included as well. Oh, right, and a great, new festival with a lot of good music (actually there were much more really good concerts than usual!). And the highlight on the second and last day: Kaizers!

We were really excited and couldn’t wait, and by then, we had gotten used to the cold as well. The only downer was that I was so stupid to forget my memory card at the hotel… so: no photos this time. During Ghost:Dog (which I liked a lot) we were still hoping to make it into the front row, but it didn’t really look that good, actually – but we did make it! And so it was clear that this night would be perfect! (Okay, except for a few bullies behind us who tried all the time to get in front – well, they would have had bigger chances everywhere else, hehe.)

Then it was time for The September When – and even though I’d seen them before this summer, I didn’t remember more than one song. So no, I wasn’t really excited, I gotta admit. But it was nice anyway! And then suddenly another microphone stand was placed on stage, and Mr. Abel announced “a prince, or no, a king, or actually a Kaizer!” – and yep, the Jackal walked up on stage and sang along during the following song. Actually, he announced the song (“It’s a childhood dream coming true!”) and took over almost all of the singing. More about that later…

The break after The September When took forever (and longer than planned, obviously, because otherwise I guess Kaizers wouldn’t have had to skip two songs that were on the setlist… =:-(), but then the waiting was over – Russian Dance!

First, a bit about the audience. I had the feeling the audience was pretty calm and quiet – but okay, I was right in the front, so I didn’t really get to see a lot. And there was no way to turn around and check how many people were there. Seems like the major part of the audience wanted to stand up front in the first two rows… =;-) I do think it was crowded, but a lot of people didn’t really know Kaizers. So, as a result, there wasn’t a lot of interaction with the audience, hardly any talk, and there was only one short time during Maestro where the audience had to sing. So that was a bit sad, actually, but fortunately, Kaizers didn’t mind and the atmosphere up on stage was good as always, so we got a typical Kaizers show! Nothing that would have been absolutely unique, but totally worth traveling 2000 km for! =;-)

They started with KGB, which should have been followed by På ditt skift – but no, that was the first song they couldn’t play because the time was too short. The other one was Mann mot mann afterwards, but well, I didn’t mind missing that one so much… =;-) So song number two was Ompa til du dør, followed by Bøn fra helvete. I can’t really remember that they greeted the audience afterwards, so I assume that this wasn’t very spectacular. =;-) But then, the next song was Knekker deg til sist, which wasn’t played so very often during the last tours, and then Veterans klage (1:46 min this time). And after this, the song they have played way too much: Prosessen! (Huh?!?) Yippieh! Really great, even though I had the feeling the audience didn’t really go along. Lena and I were the only ones we could see that were actually clapping in the right places. *grmbl* But still, it was just great to hear the song again – I had assumed that it was buried at the end of the Våre Demoner tour. Fortunately not!

Afterwards, the Jackal explained that in every band it happens at some point in time that for example the bass player wants to play drums, and the singer wants to take over the guitar – in Kaizers, it’s the guitar player that wants to sing! And because the Jackal has such a big heart, Hellraizer was allowed to step up to the microphone under the next song. Which of course was way too high, and then it didn’t work, but well – there’s people who can help you out of such technical difficulties, such like the Jackal, for example. *g* So the next song up was of course Dr. Mowinckel – or rather first a loooooong intro with drums, bass, and the Jackal on the barrel. And yes, it really was loooong this time. =;-) Finally, Hellraizer asked desperately “Now, is THAT music?!?” Well, they could prove that to him easily, ’cause the intro suddenly turned into “Eye of the tiger”… *g* And afterwards, the song actually STARTED! =;-)

And then the payback – the Jackal had been up on stage together with The September When, so now Morten Abel entered the stage to sing along on Kontroll på kontinentet! A great idea, and he knew how to move on stage – but that was about it… He had actually written down the lyrics and brought them along, but he didn’t sing more than a few lines of the chorus (and of course it was plain out IMPOSSIBLE to remember those!), and nope, the melody was way off… At least he didn’t manage to confuse the Jackal. Not even when he stood in front of him repeating over and over “eg ser det for meg”. *g* Well, who knows, maybe you must be Norwegian and adore Morten Abel, but I found his appearance highly out of place and unnecessary – especially because you could see before during the Jackal’s guest appearance how an appearance as a guest singer could look like…

Then the concert continued with “only” Kaizers – first Sigøynerblod and then, after Killmaster helped Hellraizer down from the barrel, kissing his hand first, of course *g*, Resistansen. This was the song where I missed it most that the audience didn’t sing along, at least not in a way that you could hear it… but then, it was like that throughout the whole festival, and so it might have been due to the area that you just couldn’t hear any of the singing and applauding. Then the only song that Kaizers ever wrote on a tambourine: Di grind. Next up was Die Polizei (after Mink managed to even out his drum “wiper”, or however you call those metal things used to wipe over the drums, by hitting on it with the crowbar). And the conclusion was of course Maestro, where the Jackal found out that you can just as well sing “Mooooo (i Rana)” instead of “whoo”. *g*

And that was the end of the concert, even though it had just started! At least there was a nice and hearty good bye, the band seemed satisfied, the audience as well, and no doubt about us! It might be crazy to travel so far for less than 90 minutes of Kaizers – but the weekend was just plain out great. And it’s always so much fun to see Kaizers on stage, that I would do it again right away, without doubt! But probably, I’ll have to wait quite a bit for the next time now… =:-( At least if the winter tour isn’t gonna work out. But well, let’s wait and see and hope! =;-)