Finally the Skambankt tour started for me as well! For various reasons, I couldn’t make it to the concerts the last two weekends – but this one had been in my calendar right from the start. Haugesund is maybe not the most obvious and logical town for me to travel to, and when you’re traveling somewhere, weekend shows make a lot more sense than concerts on a Thursday, but … I have this tradition of spending my birthday at concerts. And after Aalborg and Øystese, this was the third time Skambankt arranged my birthday concert! =:-D

So I basically spent my birthday on planes and airports, made it to Haugesund in a fantastic sunset, grabbed some food and met up with Helene for some pre-concert beers – and for catching up of course, it’s been a while since those Kaizer days! And I started feeling extra old when I looked up that my first Skambankt concert in Haugesund was in 2009. =:-O

When we got to Høvleriet (a really nice venue btw!), I was greeted with birthday wishes everywhere. This social media age is scary!! But really really nice as well. *g* I got a glimpse of the setlist before the show – didn’t really want to check it to keep the element of surprise, but when I figured out that “Levende legende” wasn’t on there, I just had to address that. Call it complain or insist or mase or “det går jo ikke an!!!”, but hey – this is my totally favorite song on the new album, they played it at (some of?) the previous concerts, and they want to leave it out ON MY BIRTHDAY?! No way! =;-)

But first off were Longfield & Super Skeleton (let’s see if I’ll manage to type their name without looking it up by the end of this tour …). I had seen them at Skambankt’s last Christmas festival and really liked it, and they lived up to my memory and played a fun, short show. And then it was time for Skambankt! It started to get more crowded in the front, and it was clear that this would be a fun concerts, ’cause people were excited. Not the reserved “let’s stand in the back and maybe nod our heads a little if we approve” kind of crowd. And this turned out to be totally true – at least in front of the stage. There were a lot of people sitting in the back, but they seemed to enjoy it as well, and everyone in the front was really having a great time!

I didn’t really take any photos at all this time, but check out the pictures that Grethe Nygaard/@photosbygrethe took at the concert – they are awesome!

Before the show, I had decided to not worry about taking notes or writing down songs during the concert – I could always revert to a “my birthday present to myself was to not write a detailed report this time” kind of report if I didn’t have anything else to write. =;-) And with a few exceptions, I managed to stick to that resolution – and I still have stuff to write about! Because the concert was really awesome, so much fun, and only slightly awkward. =;-)

It was off to a great start right away – “I dette huset” as opener works as expected. “Voodoo” next, and already by the third song I remembered why I love this band and their concerts so much … “Slukk meg (for eg brenner)”! <3 I was about to forgive them for not playing "Levende legende" since they took that one in instead. And they remembered my birthday and let everyone know that they are not only celebrating their new album, but also my birthday, and that people should buy me drinks. Well, I didn't get any drinks, but a weird drunk Janove-lookalike-wannabe trying to talk to me in the middle of the concert. In the middle of a song even! WTF?! Not sure if it was "Fremmed i en fremmed verden" or "Kommer snart hjem" though, one of the two I think. Next up was "O dessverre", awesome as always, followed by ... well, they had to make a little change to the setlist there, because someone came up to them before the show requesting they play "Levende legende" tonight. Yaaaaaaayyyyy! It was over way too quickly, but lived up to the expectations while it lasted. =:-) It was obvious though that not everybody knew the new album and the new songs - of course. That's a pity, and I understand Skambankt wanting to vary the setlist a bit. I still want "Levende legende" at all of my upcoming concerts, thank you. =;-P "Balladen om deg" was the next song, and I was positively surprised - I love the song, but I couldn't imagine how it could work live. It does though! It feels much heavier and cooler live than on the recording. "Vår bør" and "Mantra" were great as always and people knew them, and then it was time for ... a birthday song! Uuuh ... I already got all the shoutout and "my" birthday song, not sure if I need everyone staring and singing at me as well ... =:-O But it was really nice of them of course, and I was drunk enough to not run off into the corner and hide under a table. =;-) But still nobody bought me a drink. *pff* At least weird-Janove-guy had moved over to the front of the stage and teamed off with creepy drunk lady who started getting her hands all over whoever musician happened to come too close to the edge of the stage ... I'll never understand getting drunk the "Norwegian way", I guess. =;-)

Anyway, birthday song ended in “Me sa nei”, and after that, the PA died. Noooooo! =:-O Fortunately, it took only a minute or two to fix it, and we still got “Horisonten brenner”, “Gribben”, and “Dynasti” before Skambankt went off.

Of course they were back for encores! “Anonyme hatere” and “Malin” are not my biggest favorites (and where was “Stein for stein”???), but I loved the whole concert and the atmosphere and FINALLY seeing them live again. And of course they closed the show with “Skambankt”, after which the snare drum broke down as well, so that was it for the night!

Here’s the full setlist:

1. I dette huset
2. Voodoo
3. Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
4. Fremmed i en fremmed verden
5. Kommer snart hjem
6. O dessverre
7. Levende legende
8. Balladen om deg
9. Vår bør
10. Mantra
11. Me sa nei
12. Horisonten brenner
13. Gribben
14. Dynasti
    ———
15. Anonyme hatere
16. Malin
17. Skambankt

I couldn’t have wished for a better first concert of the tour – it was so much more intimate and relaxed than the tour opening at Folken could have been (of course I wasn’t there so I can’t judge it, but that’s the feeling I got). So nice they are back – and I can’t wait until next weekend when I’ll see them again in Oslo and Drammen!

Oh, and just for the record: I think this report already makes up for me writing “concert was great, here’s the setlist” for the next couple of shows, doesn’t it? =;-)