2012 is almost over – which means it’s time to look back at this year’s concerts! All in all, I saw 60 concerts this year; plus two musicals and three WWE events.

The “first place” is shared between Kaizers Orchestra and Die Ärzte this time, with 15 visited concerts each. But they share the first place only if you look at nothing but the numbers. Most of you know where my sympathies are … =;-) And not only the general sympathies, but Kaizers’ concerts were so much more fun as well. In the competition about the worst concert of the year, I really cannot decide between Mas Shake (absolutely uninteresting, boring dance music without any profile) and Die Ärzte in Zwickau (audacious to actually take money for what they delivered there!).

It’s even harder to determine the best concert of the year … if I had to come up with an answer, I would have to decide between the Kaizers concert at Nordic Sounds (the first Kaizers concert after several months, and again they managed to turn an unsuspecting crowd from “what the hell do they want” to “waaah, they are awesome” in the course of minutes) and Kaizers in Oslo on March 1st (my birthday concert *g*). But there were more amazing concerts, apart from Kaizers, in 2012: Thees Uhlmann – always amazing, over and over again. Herrliche Jahre – our DÄOF birthday; oh, excuse me, the DÄFC birthday of course. Krafklub, Kraftklub, and Kraftklub again – six times all in all, and none of that was boring. Xutos & Pontapés – a little vacation in Portugal, but in Switzerland. H2O – during the soccer cup, watching the Germany game without any jerseys or “Schlaaaand” chants, outcasts among themselves; and a great concert after the game. Madsen, Bakkusan, and Die Toten Hosen – German punk is not dead. Fozzy – hach, Fozzy … =:-)

In the summer, I attended six different festivals. The nicest of all was by far Odderøya live – and totally unexpected! The festival was so nice and relaxed, and so absolutely professional at the same time. But the other festivals weren’t far behind. And even though this summer was rather cold and rainy – looking at the music, it was perfect!

As always, let’s take a peek at the map: The northernmost concert this year was probably the Kaizers concert in Levanger (where we actually wanted to drive back to Oslo during the night, but that was prevented by a snow storm …), the westernmost was Helmet at House of Blues in LA (which was a rather unspectacular concert, but well, if you are a concert junkie and you are in LA, you just HAVE to see at least one concert, not matter which!), the southernmost was LA as well, of course, but apart from that one, it was Nordic Sounds in Zurich, and the easternmost was Die Ärzte in Vienna (old men flagrantly using their popularity, and the young girls don’t even notice … how appalling! But a nice sunny weekend in Vienna *g*).

And finally, a short outlook into the new year 2013: As always, the year will start with some Busters concerts, before the Kaizers tour starts. First in Oslo, then all around central Europe, and finally the conclusion in London. Where WWE will have some events in the same week – how convenient! =;-) In the summer, there will probably be quite a few Kaizers festivals in addition to the yearly festivals. So I guess I won’t get bored next year!