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10.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Vega, Kopenhagen)

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

The last day of the tour, the last club show in mainland Europe. After a pretty dull day spent at the airport, writing reports, we arrived rather late in Copenhagen and hurried to the concert. Therefore, my mood before the concert was quite … baaah. Vega is always awesome and I expected a great concert, but it was much too crowded already (the original plan was to see a calm and relaxed concert from the gallery), DJ Ralph Myerz was annoying (honestly: I really didn’t manage to find out what he added to the concerts – a mix CD would have done the same job …), and it was still one and a half hours until the concert started. Well, time to find an okay spot to stand – and I accidentally ended up behind some fans I knew, we chatted away the time until the concert (which of course killed my voice – but who cares, it was the final concert of the tour anyway) – and finally it was time for Kaizers!

After the first song, I suddenly had an awesome idea: Hey, today’s concert report will consist of nothing but “Well, how do you think the final concert at Vega was? Yes, exactly. Just incredible! And that’s how it was, no need to write anything else, and I’m taking the day off from writing a report!” – yes, after nine concerts and nine reports in ten days, you do start to get a little sick of it. =;-) But no need to worry – as soon as the Jackal started greeting the audience after a few songs and casually backheeled a flying paper ball at the same time (“Yes, I am a soccer player!”), it was time to get out my mobile again and take notes. Guess I just can’t do without. =;-)

The setlist was almost identical to the one in Cologne, just that it didn’t stop so abruptly and didn’t seem somehow “shortened”:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Støv og sand
  • Sigøynerblod
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Forloveren
  • Min kvite russer
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Svare katter & flosshatter
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Maestro
    ———–
  • KGB
  • Drøm videre, Violeta
  • Begravelsespolka

My first thought when Kaizers entered the stage was: YELLOW. ‘Cause Mr. Hellraizer was wearing his yellow shirt again, and actually, we had just discussed that before the show. =;-) But we did get an explanation for it later on: Copenhagen was the conclusion of the tour (well – even though “conclusion of the tour” means that Kaizers will have ONE off-day now …), and that caused some tears during the sound check (but Hellraizer mopped them up afterwards). And to cheer himself up, he needed to wear the bright yellow shirt. OK, if it helps? Honestly, there were a few times in the concert where it seemed like you could feel the dark shadow looming over the concert – concerts at Vega are legendary, and this was the last one for a long time. A good reason to shed some tears … even though I didn’t really feel like that that night. Instead, I was just happy because of the great concert. But it did hit me the next morning – who knows, that might have been my very last time at Vega …

Before they played Din kjole lukter bensin, mor, the Jackal told us once more how they tried to find a female artist to sing the duet. They called up five Scandinavian singers, but they all said no. “They said we were difficult to work with and we don’t have any hits – and they said it like it was a bad thing?!” So Hellraizer had to take over again. But only in the beginning – later on it was the audience singing. Without any encouragement, everyone just started and sang as loud as possible, on and on. Beautiful!

En for orgelet was translated into Danish of course, and of course we got the drum solo on the barrel as well. And in the next song, the Jackal was up on the barrel again, this time to dance up there. Barrel dancing instead of pole dancing, exciting. =;-) But he stopped the stripping part already after taking off his jacket. *g*

Keith Richards says that when a concert is at its best, you gotta play blues (thus Støv og sand) – the Jackal says that when a concert is at its best, you gotta play gypsy music (thus Sigøynerblod). “Put your hands up in the motherfucking air!”

During Bøn fra helvete, Omen had to fish out his steel rim under Hellraizer who was already banging on the barrel. And after his part, he was sent back to his organ by the Jackal very harshly …

After Forloveren, the Jackal admitted this time: “The new songs are much more complicated than the old ones!” That’s true – Kvite russer is simple, but just as good! And it worked out great live again, including the Jackal holding a note for a loooooong time (and Hellraizer carefully checking his pulse in between to make sure everything was okay with him) and some yodel improvisations at the end.

During Kontroll på kontinentet, Killmaster jumped into the audience and had them carry him through the whole hall, just like in Prague – this time it took even longer before the audience returned him to the stage. “The best stage dive ever!” And how do you feel after that, the Jackal asked? Killmaster: “Oh my god, I’m starting to cry!”

Before Hjerteknuser, the Jackal asked whether we are all “kjærester”, thus lovers, now – and of course he got a loud yes. “Hellraizer, did you want to say something as well?” – “Sure, that about the lovers …” *g*

To make up for that, the Jackal dedicated a song to him during the encores, namely Drøm videre, Violeta – because it was March 10 and therefore an anniversary, because Hellraizer met his wife 25 years ago! Uh, yes. =;-)

As usual, the highlight of the evening was the Begravelsespolka – and in the beginning, the audience did not only clap along, but stomp, as is typical for Vega. So impressive! You hardly noticed that the Jackal screwed up a little and wanted to start too early, and the audience loved the song. Well, I guess it really is the best live song of the best live band at the moment … =:-D

I would definitely have expected a second encore after that, because both the concert and the atmosphere were awesome. But no, the lights went on quickly after the last song, and even though they were turned off again for a moment (probably by accident), which made the audience scream for more even louder and longer – there was no more song. That was really sad – but then, they probably couldn’t have surpassed the Begravelsespolka anyway, but only add a calmer ending to the concert.

And that was the conclusion of a fantastic tour. Fantastic both according to what Kaizers delivered and just overall – there was not one single concert that you could call bad (or just “worse”) in an objective way. All venues were of the exactly right size, so that they were really crowded, the atmosphere was great, and the performance on stage was perfect. And if they hadn’t done that before, Kaizers imprinted their memory into the brains of the audience with the Begravelsespolka for sure – so we can only agree, with a little sigh: “See you next time, whenever that might be!”

For me personally, this tour was just amazing again. It is fantastic to meet so many people (again) in every city, get to know new friends, talk away the days, and enjoy the concerts together. Thank you all for the great company and for bearing my quirks (“No, we won’t leave until they kick us out!!” – “Gnaah. Gotta. Write. Report. And how the hell does ‘Arbeitssieg’ translate into English?!” – “Soap bubbles! Yes! But you have to do it as well, I’m not gonna do it alone, shame on you if I don’t see you, argh!” *gg*). And just as big a thank you to everyone approaching me about the fansite, for all the kind words and gleaming eyes – it is so amazing to hear that there are more lunatics like me, who love this band so much. Don’t be offended if I don’t manage to remember all faces – but the joy about the nice words will definitely be remembered. =:-)

And whatever the future will hold, we’ll meet again – at other bands’ concerts, without concerts, or maybe at the reunion tour in 2025. Or who knows, it might be in 2016 already. Let’s just cross our fingers, be grateful for this tour, keep the amazing memories alive, and softly hum: “Andre applauderer, og det er sånne som oss!”

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09.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Gloria-Theater, Köln)

Monday, March 11th, 2013

The next-to-last concert of the European tour, and at the same time, the last concert in Germany (unless they will play a festival in Germany after all …). I didn’t know the Gloria theater before, just from the outside, and I was pleasantly surprised – after I surpassed the first shock when coming in. The hall was great for Kaizers – an old theater, sloping down towards the stage, red velvet everywhere … just like in the opera, but with a standing audience! And it was packed (which was the reason for the shock when coming in); it was really hard to fight your way through the audience to get to the other side, were it was less crowded. But there it was easy to find a nice spot even just before the show started.

DJ Ralph Myerz warmed up for Kaizers – I haven’t mentioned him at all in my reports before. That’s because he wasn’t there before the concert in Berlin, because he was sick. In Berlin, Prague, and now Cologne I really wasn’t impressed by him, to be honest: They could have just played music without anyone on stage – that would have had the advantage that you could have conversations at the same time. The way it was, it was just loud, but not really interesting. Especially in Cologne the response to the DJ was really bad, and there was relieved and hopeful applause whenever a song ended. Not nice, of course – but I could understand it …

But then it was time for Kaizers – and they went full throttle right from the beginning. Totally awesome, I was overwhelmed! At the last concerts, they started out rather calmly and the atmosphere got better from song to song. This time, the Jackal talked and talked right from the beginning, and I could hardly keep up with taking notes. Very entertaining! But then there is a downside to everything – they couldn’t really keep that level throughout the whole concert. So this time, it started out totally amazing and then continued in a “normal” way. Which means that all in all, it was a very good concert, but if a concert deteriorates (even a little) instead of getting better and better, it feels a bit negative. Even though that’s not fair at all, because the concert was great.

All in all, I had the feeling that the concert was pretty short, and with just 17 songs on the setlist (for example, they did not play Svarte katter and Dieter Meyers, and these are extra long songs), the concert was definitely shorter than usual. I suspect that they had less time than usual because they had to leave as soon as possible – Copenhagen isn’t really that close.

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Støv og sand
  • Sigøynerblod
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Forloveren
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Min kvite russer
  • Maestro
    ———–
  • KGB
  • Begravelsespolka

And since there was so much happening especially in the beginning, here’s just a list of my notes:

– In the part of Det polaroide liv where the Jackal sings all alone, the audience started clapping this time – also through his “breathing pause”. As a result, he started breathing on the beats, which didn’t sound healthy. *g*

– “We’ve played in Cologne before, and we know you can sing, clap, and dance – all at the same time!”

– Already after the third song they got questions from the audience. Even though they usually take questions later on in the set! The first question: “Why don’t you play in Hamburg this time?” First, the Jackal pointed out that he doesn’t really need to answer that question. But okay, so … uh … well, why don’t they, actually? Hellraizer saved him: “We thought this was Hamburg?” And the Jackal managed to get back to the concert in an elegant way: “That was a good question, but … now we are in Cologne!” Cheers from the audience – and all was well. *g*

– Next up was a duet – or, to be precise, the first duet of ten! Which made Hellraizer protest at first, but of course he did sing along in Din kjole lukter bensin, mor.

– After Støv og sand and before Sigøynerblod, the Jackal explained: “Not only can we play the blues, but also East-European gypsy music!” – and that was very well received, of course.

– At the end of that song, in the “for hans far” part, the Jackal somehow messed up the lyrics and saved himself by singing something about which father he was talking about – well, not his father, but his father’s father, and so on. Very funny. *g*

– After Ompa til du dør: “That was an old song – just like you!” And with that the Jackal pointed at someone in the audience, who he also addressed again later in the concert – not really that nice, uhem. *g* But it was true, all in all the audience was rather old at that concert.

– By the way: Bøn fra helvete contained duet number 6 of 10. *g*

– After the barrel part in Bøn fra helvete, the Jackal and Omen started arguing/fighting somehow. It ended in Omen using the crowbar as sword and waving it in the air – you just had to be reminded of Star Wars. *lol*

– Jackal before Forloveren: “I like the old songs and the old fans, but I love the new songs and the new fans!”

– In Forloveren, the Jackal stabbed Hellraizer with the mike again, and Hellraizer tumbled off stage (but a beer made him feel better quickly *g*), and in the middle of the song, the Jackal tested his golf skills (like he already did at some other concerts), shooting an imaginary golf ball into the audience. And he also did the “tsch-k-tsch-k” – “It sounds like jazz – I don’t like it” again.

– Before Philemon Arthur: “And now back to the old songs, back to the old songs” – my interpretation is that Kaizers consider everything that they did not play in the opera and that is thus fresh in their minds as an “old song”.

– After his solo in Kontroll på kontinentet, Killmaster complained that his guitar was broken – all show, of course.

– “The next song was written on the roof of the biggest Norwegian pop star, Morten Abel. I had my pump organ up on his roof for a while – long story, don’t ask – and composed two songs there. One I won’t tell you. The other one is the one which will follow now: Min kvite russer!”

– The singing part worked much better than in Prague, it was both louder and more confident. But it seems like more and more women refuse to squeak “kvit kvit” – maybe it is time to switch the roles? =;-) But the Jackal cheered us on: “Allez allez! Use your stomach!” And the entertaining improvisations by the Jackal didn’t cause any problem for the audience this time.

– When they came back for the encores, Hellraizer imitated Omen again and followed him in sync – until Omen suddenly turned around and faced him, catching him in the act, which caused Hellraizer to duck and wander off disappointedly.

– Not sure what the Jackal was thinking about during Begravelsespolka – definitely not about the lyrics. He actually sang one of the lines three times, and there wasn’t really that much that was correct of the rest of the lyrics either. But that didn’t matter, and I doubt anyone noticed – and of course the audience loved the song!

All in all, another great concert, even though it felt a bit hurried in the end.

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08.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Roxy, Prag)

Saturday, March 9th, 2013

The concert in Prague was organized by a Norwegian student union – which meant that you basically didn’t hear anything but Norwegian after you entered the venue, and hardly any Czech at all. As a result, we got a Norwegian concert in the middle of the European tour, in a way. Okay, actually it was more of a “bygde concert” than a real Kaizers concert, thus a “happening” where everybody wanted to attend, no matter if they cared about Kaizers or not – but it was definitely impressive. And the venue was packed!

Right from the beginning you could notice that the noise level in the audience was very high – not everyone was there to see the concert, but it was an “event” for the Norwegian students in the Czech Republic. In addition, only some of the people actually knew the songs – except for the hits of course. Hjerteknuser, for example, was sung by the audience alone. But other Violeta songs or for example Min kvite russer seemed to be completely unknown to most of the audience. I found it really funny when the Jackal had to explain three times that the song title is En for orgelet, en for MEG, and then the audience didn’t manage to figure out the correct rhythm even until the end of the song. During Kvite russer, the Jackal started improvising a bit at the end, which caused the audience to lose track, so that they didn’t know anymore how to sing along.

And still – the atmosphere was splendid, of course! Right in the beginning, the Jackal asked who was from Norway – and after about 95% raised their hands, the Jackal decided to do the announcements in Norwegian. “If you don’t understand, just ask your neighbor!”

In the beginning, it seemed like the audience had to wake up a bit first (and like they didn’t know any of the songs), but throughout the concert, they got louder and more enthusiastic. During Kontroll på kontinentet, the Jackal told us that this was maybe the best audience on the tour – well, it is much easier for Norwegians to sing along than it is for Europeans. =;-) (But then, the Europeans usually do a much better job with Kvite russer …) And Killmaster proved the point by jumping into the audience for his solo, and the crowd carried him across the room. It worked almost TOO well, ’cause it took really long until he made it back on stage. The following hits got a great reaction, of course, and the grins on stage were basically as broad as they could get.

There was a reason to celebrate as well – not only because of the prominent visitor Bjørn Eidsvåg (if I understood correctly; didn’t see him), but also because of tour manager Marcus’ 50th birthday. Gosh, he looks young for that age. =;-)

So we got some cake! A birthday cake in Swedish colors after the concert at the merch, and another one with the Kaizers logo on stage after we passed the “Kaizer test” (to cheer enough for Forloveren). Kaizers worked on that cake with the crowbar to “cut” it into pieces. Or mess it up, that’s probably the more fitting way to describe it. =;-)

What I found surprising was that they did not play Svarte katter. They had played that one at all other concerts – but the Roxy is known for a strict curfew, so maybe there just wasn’t enough time to fit in all songs. They also had Drøm videre, Violeta on the setlist but didn’t play it.

Not much more to report, actually – all in all, it was a great concert with an awesome atmosphere. However, I really don’t want to compare it to any other concerts of the tour, because it basically was a Norwegian concert somewhere in Europe.

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Siste dans
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Støv og sand
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Min kvite russer
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Maestro
  • Forloveren
  • Hjerteknuser
    ———–
  • KGB
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.
    ———–
  • Begravelsespolka

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07.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Postbahnhof, Berlin)

Friday, March 8th, 2013

Ey, that’s mean! For more than half of the concert I was certain that I could write this report in just five sentences, without doing the concert injustice in any way. Just by saying: A great audience, amazing atmosphere, loud singing, lots of dancing everywhere, and a band in an awesome mood, concentrating on playing instead of talking.

The only notes that I took until then were that Killmaster – during his “dancing spot” in En for orgelet – attempted a moon walk (which worked more like so-so *cough*) and that Hellraizer was actually wearing a yellow shirt (no, no, no *g*).

But after that, there were a few more details that are worth reporting … =;-) Omen was really the best throughout the whole concert; obviously, he was in a great mood and willing to do anything. At some point in time, he started eating dinner out of his suitcase, he imitated the Jackal, he was basically lying on his organ when he was “frightened” in the middle part of Svarte katter, he took a call on the megaphone, cleaned his gas mask, and took notes all the time. Incredibly funny!

The Jackal explained they had been shoe shopping – eight new pairs! So Berlin has the best shoe shops ever.

According to the management, they were supposed to play a ballad in the middle of the set, but: “We’re not playing any ballads in Berlin!” Instead, we got Sigøynerblod.

At the end, they did the tap dance of Begravelsespolka down in the audience again. Unlike in Erlangen, this was quite a challenge though: a high stage, barrier between the stage and the audience, and quite a big crow. Apparently, there was some kind of altercation between the Jackal and a fan – she wanted to grab the opportunity to shoot a photo but obviously got too close, so the Jackal was very clear: “Get the fuck out of my face while I’m dancing”. From what I heard, that might have been a harsh way to put it, but definitely justified. But yeah … “from what I heard”. I couldn’t see anything – and this is my biggest criticism about the concert. Of course it’s a nice idea to do the tap dance in the audience, but when it is on stage, you can actually SEE it. In Erlangen, it wasn’t too crowded, so that most of the audience could at least see some of it; but in Berlin, they excluded more than half of the audience from the fun. Which is a big minus. Honestly, I was REALLY annoyed at that time … *grr*

But Helge delivered the explanation for why they chose to do it like that after the concert in a short conversation. And the answer is more than logical: Carpet on stage! OK, I understand, it really doesn’t make sense to tap on carpet. =;-)

So in the end, I wrote more than just five sentences after all, but the general tone is the same: an absolutely awesome concert, one of the best of the tour up to now!

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • Støv og sand
  • I ett med verden
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Sigøynerblod
  • Forloveren
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • KGB
  • Dr. Mowinckel
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Maestro
    ———–
  • Begravelsespolka
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.

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06.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (E-Werk, Erlangen)

Thursday, March 7th, 2013
06.03.2013 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (E-Werk, Erlangen)
More photos...

Unlike the last days, Kaizers played in a town where they had never played before tonight: in Erlangen. Such concerts tend to be a bit “different”, because for these concerts, Kaizers expect an audience that doesn’t know them at all, and so they sometimes deliver a “light version” of their concert – which is sufficient to get the new audience excited, and at the same time, it’s much easier to do and preserves energy.

That’s basically what I expected from the Erlangen concert. And that’s just what we got – at least during the first thirty or fourty minutes! Just like in Vienna, the setlist started with eight Violeta songs, until they finally played the first song that the audience knew – ’cause yes, even though Kaizers hadn’t played in Erlangen before, there were quite a few fans in the audience! And therefore, even though the beginning was also received very well, the concert didn’t really take off until Kaizers started playing some of the older songs. And of course until the Jackal noticed that the stage was very low and permitted for some trips down into the audience …

The first time the Jackal went into the audience was during Tusen dråper regn. Then, during the quiet part of Bøn fra helevte, he and Hellraizer sat down on the edge of the stage (while Omen was busy positioning the crowbars on the stage floor *g*). And in the end, almost the whole band ended up in the middle of the audience: during KGB, we got a battle of guitarists in the crowd (“Ted, come down here, they’ll love you!”), and in the Begravelsespolka, the Jackal moved the full tap dance off the stage and into the crowd. Yay!

Before Din kjole lukter bensin, mor, Hellraizer was ordered to the mike with the introduction “The king of Norway!”, and later on the Jackal referred to him as “Mr. Norway”. When introducing Jævel av en tango, the Jackal explained that he would now tell us a story – who understands Norwegian? 10 people? “To the rest of you: good luck!” *rofl* The song ended in a little test of how patient the audience was – at the end, the Jackal continued humming the ending, over and over again, waiting for the audience to interrupt him somehow. Which didn’t happen … A beautiful ending, and an unexpectedly great audience!

Hjerteknuser was dedicated to the front row (who is basically the same at all concerts), and the question “Do you feel alright?” to Freddie Mercury. The lyrics weren’t really that important – at the end of Svarte katter, the Jackal just sang “ba ba ba” instead of the real lyrics for quite a while. I guess hardly anyone noticed, and it sounded surprisingly cool. *g*

The most amusing part of the evening came when the Jackal “accidentally” did an announcement in Norwegian. Hellraizer pointed out to him that nobody understood what he was saying, and so he was ordered to translate what the Jackal was saying. Into German! Ridiculously funny … especially when the Jackal started to babble in incomprehensible Norwegian after a while and Hellraizer just invented stuff to translate. Just his “Bayern München will win the Champions League” didn’t really get the good reception he was probably out for – but then, it gave the Jackal the opportunity to use his one German sentence “Aber mein Vater hat in der Bundesliga gespielt”. But that was more than enough hassle – “That was enough German now. I’m sweating already!!”

The audience started singing Bak et halleluja in the break before the encore, so we got it as second song in the encore, after KGB. As mentioned already, the Begravelsespolka was even more awesome than usual since they did the tap dance in the middle of the audience this time. And then we even got Die Polizei as last encore – with the audience singing along very loudly. So impressive!

So all in all, an awesome concert, even though that was quite unexpected. I would never have expected that kind of ending after the first couple of songs. Really cool!

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Siste dans
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • Det polaroide liv
  • I ett med verden
  • Støv og sand
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Jævel av en tango
  • Enden av november
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Forloveren
    ———–
  • KGB
  • Bak et halleluja
  • Begravelsespolka
    ———–
  • Die Polizei

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05.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Freiheiz, München)

Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

Next stop: Munich! Just like Vienna, Munich has a reputation as a “legendary” place for Kaizers concerts. And also just like Vienna, Kaizers played in a smaller venue this time than the last few times – which fit perfectly well and was exactly the right size. Perfect! And while the Vienna concert didn’t really catch on for me, this concert was a hard-fought victory for Kaizers: They had to work really hard to convince the audience, but in the end it worked like a charm!

I must admit: I really don’t know if the two concerts differed as much as it seemed to me or if that was just due to my personal perspective … it might be just my perception. The setlists didn’t really differ that much: There were only a few changes, but those were decisive in my opinion. In Munich, they played Ompa til du dør as fourth song, as usual – and this was the first song that most people in the audience knew, so it was received very well. Right after it, Kaizers played KGB. That one doesn’t really fit in the middle of the set, but it is one of the best-known Kaizers songs in Germany (thanks to free demo CDs!). So by that time, Kaizers held the audience in their hands – people really enjoyed En for orgelet, Sigøynerblod, and Kontroll på kontinentet. And also the following Kvite russer fit in much better than yesterday. They did not have Forloveren on the setlist at all – and sure, that song is great, but noone here knows it and so there’s really no reaction to it. So all in all, there were just a few small changes in the setlist, but still a big improvement compared to the concert in Vienna!

The full setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Ompa til du dør
  • KGB
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • Støv og sand
  • Dr. Mowinckel
  • I ett med verden
  • Sigøynerblod
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Min kvite russer
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Maestro
    ———–
  • Di grind
  • Begravelsespolka

There wasn’t really that much talking in between the songs, but I did take quite a few notes nevertheless. En for orgelet – “a song with a beat” – was announced in German as “Hier ist ein Song mit das Beat!”. After that song, the Jackal noted that the audience in Munich loves to dance, and so they would have to change the setlist and include some danceable songs. For example Støv og sand (which accidentally happened to be the next song on the setlist *g*). And next, they wanted to combine the four most sexy things in music: beat, blues, cigarettes, and dancing! Killmaster had to wait for the White Russian to bring him his cigarette, though.

After that, they played Dr. Mowinckel, where Hellraizer (at least according to the Jackal) did the lead-singing for the first time in his life. During the intro of I ett med verden, the Jackal started tinkling around on the keyboard. And then they started wondering if we would like to hear some gypsy music? No problem for them, they know hundreds of Gypsy songs! Because of the Jackal’s grandmother, who loves especially Sigøynerblod. Actually, she loved it. She’s still alive, she just doesn’t love it anymore. Because she was drunk.

The Jackal was faszinated by the soap bubbles that someone in the audience was blowing up on stage. “We should have that more often!!” (Be careful what you wish for, har har har … *g*) Later, he wondered what day it was. Monday? No, Tuesday? But how should he know … “I’ve been on tour for 3 years now – for me, every day is a Saturday! And yes, I have the nicest job.”

They played Kvite russer because so many men in Munich had asked for it. And they made quite a show out of it! In the middle, the Jackal let out his inner diva – his idol is Marlene Dietrich. “She’s the best!”

During Svarte katter, Omen put the megaphone up to his ear this time to better hear the audience and played around with his moustache, until the Jackal asked him to sit down – “Setzen Sie bitte!” And after that, the Jackal wondered if Omen can maybe play more instruments than the piano and the organ, like for example the accordion? He went on to explain how Omen learned to play the accordion. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand anything because the very drunk people behind me decided that their discussion was much more interesting than whatever happened on stage. *grr* But that’s about the only negative thing I could say about the concert, and the only ones to blame for that are those idiots.

The Begravelsespolka was the final hightlight again – and this time it was also the best song that Kaizers ever wrote (because they didn’t play neither Forloveren nor Dieter Meyers *g*).

So all in all, it was a very entertaining and amusing concert – and even though the audience was sometimes a little lazy and quiet, they all got involved when Kaizers motivated them from stage. Thus it was just what I wrote in the beginning: a hard-fought victory!

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04.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Arena, Wien)

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

My fourth concert on this tour: Vienna! Known as a great place for Kaizers concerts, with a very loud and enthusiastic audience and sweaty, extravagant shows. This time as well? Hmm, tja …

Well, the part about the loud and enthusiastic audience was just as expected. Just like the other concerts, Arena had just the right size – it wasn’t quite sold out, but it filled up well and seemed crowded. The audience was much louder than you would have expected from the amount of people, and especially in the end, there was an incredible amount of cheering and applause. It doesn’t happen everywhere that everyone continues clapping and shouting for a second encore even ten minutes after the concert is over! We didn’t get another encore though, sadly, even though it would have made sense considering the atmosphere of the concert.

In front of the stage, there was a group of Norwegian girls that you could notice even before the concert started – at that time, they were screaming at the end of every song, expecting the concert to start, and later on during the concert, they were demanding Hjerteknuser all the time. And okay, in addition to that, they were of course also singing along loudly and having great fun. =;-) But I think that this is one of the reasons why this concert didn’t really catch on for me. In a way, I had the feeling that Kaizers directed the whole concert a lot towards this group of Norwegians – a few times, the Jackal asked the audience to sing along at places where someone who doesn’t know Norwegian just cannot sing along. And then, for the first time on the tour, they actually played Hjerteknuser …?! But okay, that one was “officially” on the set list, so they didn’t spontaneously decide to play it after the girls asked for it (which I had expected at first).

I was at the concert with a friend who saw her first Kaizers concert – maybe that made me experience the concert differently as well. I guess that if I had been there alone, I might have loved the setlist, because they had changed it up again a whole lot! And all fans I talked to after the concert actually loved the show and the setlist. I’m just not sure what “Ola Audience”, thus the common concert goer and not hardcore fan, thought about the show … My friend who didn’t know Kaizers at all before asked me in the middle of the concert if they wouldn’t usually play more up-tempo songs, and don’t they hit the oil barrels as well?! And I totally agreed – the first seven songs were exclusively Violeta songs, and those don’t really fit the “speed polka reputation” that Kaizers have in Europe (including Delikatessen, Djevelens orkester, or Bøn fra helvete would really have made a difference there). After that, they played Ompa til du dør and Di grind as “old hits”, before the Jackal explained that they had played a lot of the old songs up to now, and so it was time for a new one now, namely Forloveren. Uh … I think that was the moment when I was totally confused by the concert. =;-)

That might sound very negative now, but that wouldn’t do the concert justice. It was entertaining, the audience enjoyed it, it just felt really strange in a way … And I can’t really put my finger on why. There were hardly any “typical” announcements in between the songs, and I hardly took notes at all. The Jackal was very self-confident, called Kaizers “the biggest rock band in Norway” that has also written “the biggest hit” (Hjerteknuser, of course), so Dieter Meyers was suddenly down to the second best song ever written. Later on, he told us that he cannot only sing, but also play the guitar and piano and … well, everything! At least that’s what his mother says. And he invited us all into his garden, to have a barbecue or something.

Since we were in a German-speaking country, En for orgelet was translated into German again – and after a first try with “Eins für das Orgel”, he even managed the correct version. =;-) And once again, we were asked very politely: “Singen Sie bitte!”

What I found really weird was the placement of Kvite russer, in the middle of the set – I’m sure that works perfectly fine when there are up-tempo songs before and after it and they have to “calm down” the audience a bit. But after Forloveren? Naah, I don’t know. But then, most of the band actually stayed on stage during the song. Hellraizer took a seat on the barrel, Killmaster lit up a cigarette.

Omen’s solo part consisted of taking notes again. Nothing new there – but I was very amused when he was drinking water at some point in time. Pouring a sip at a time into the bottle cap and drinking from the cap. *lol*

Towards the end of the concert, it seemed to me that they got into the flow better and better; the setlist turned more “typical” as well and was more varied. At the same time, though, I had the feeling that the Jackal had problems with his voice and that the concentration was down a bit for everyone. Seemed like they almost messed up Svarte katter. But it all worked just fine in the end of course, and after the Jackal had to work very very very hard during Dr. Mowinckel because his oil barrel kept sliding and moving, that didn’t happen anymore during Dieter Meyers or Maestro.

So all in all, I thought this was a rather mixed concert. But definitely different from the ones before, and variation is always great. =;-)

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • Siste dans
  • I ett med verden
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Di grind
  • Forloveren
  • Min kvite russer
  • Dr. Mowinckel
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Støv og sand
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.
  • Maestro
    ———–
  • KGB
  • Begravelsespolka

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02.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Komplex 457, Zürich)

Sunday, March 3rd, 2013
02.03.2013 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (Komplex 457, Zürich)
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Uh … what was that?! =:-D

After two rather similar concerts you start to think that you understood the concept of the tour, and that from now on, the concerts will mostly vary in details and maybe a couple of songs and of course the audience. Well, not with Kaizers …! For Zurich, they mixed up the whole set list again, and the Swiss audience was extremely loud and eager to dance and party – as usual for Switzerland. Wow!

I brought my camera, and so I was a little distracted by taking pictures, especially in the beginning of the concert. To make up for that, I had already jotted down the first four songs of the “typical” set list – just to delete and correct them right away. *g* And that’s how it continued throughout the concert, more or less … =;-) And when I walked through the back of the venue after the first few songs to get to the other side, I was amazed: Not only because it was quite packed (and the hall really wasn’t that small!), but because EVERYONE was moving and dancing, even in the very back. Awesome! So it fit in perfectly when at some time during the concert, a group of Swiss fans held up a huge sign that said: “Please Kaizers don’t quit or split!!!” A great idea, and a great way to show the affection. =:-) Even though nobody will know how much we can rely on the answer “no, don’t worry, we’ll never do that” …

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Delikatessen
  • Djevelens orkester
  • Støv og sand
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Evig pint
  • Forloveren
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Dr. Mowinckel
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Maestro
    ——–
  • KGB
  • Bak et halleluja
  • Begravelsespolka

Actually, there’s not really that much more to report … The atmosphere was really great, the audience was singing along loudly, and Bak et halleluja wasn’t actually planned, but they just “had to” play it, because the audience started singing it several times. Already in the short break after Omen’s megaphone solo in Svarte katter, and then again in the break before the encores, of course.

The whole concert centered around Hellraizer’s birthday – which didn’t even stop after Hellraizer admitted that it wasn’t really his birthday. Still, he was responsible for all guitar solos (except if the Jackal asked him if he would maybe be so kind to give the solo to the other guitarist?), and he was ordered to the microphone a few times (“Not only can he play guitar solos, but he can also sing and dance! That is YOUR night!”).

During Forloveren, we had to do hissing sounds again, which the Jackal commented with a “This sounds like jazz!! I … hate it!”. Omen was busy taking notes again, and when the band entered the stage for the encores, Hellraizer walked right behind Omen and imitated him. Just tiny details, not really anything new, but still an incredibly good concert that was entirely different from the first two shows of the tour. Hach, I love this band … =:-)

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01.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Botanique, Brüssel)

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013

I still remember my first Kaizers concert in Brussels vividly: I drove there alone and was searching for the club without any clue of where it was (and where _I_ was!), After a while, I was completely lost, started navigating by the sun (which actually worked!), and finally parked my car anywhere so that I could walk around and find out where I needed to go – and then I peaked around the first corner and stood right behind the tour bus and in front of the venue. =;-) This time, I arrived by train and tried to somehow figure out how to get from the station to the hotel, with nothing but a bad printout of a map … and as soon as I was completely lost and had no clue where I was, I peaked around a corner and stood right behind the bus and in front of the venue. Yay!

So that was a pretty good start – to an awesome day in great company, with tasty wafffles followed by a fun multi-national Vorspiel, some partying for my birthday and my concert #150, and then it was time for just that concert!

All in all, the concert was pretty similar to the one in Amsterdam, with a few small but really nice suprises in the setlist (Dr. Mowinckel and Satan i halsen!!). The atmosphere maybe wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as in Amsterdam, but the (rather small) venue was packed, and as always, there were gleaming faces all around. =:-)

The setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • KGB
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • Dr. Mowinckel
  • Satan i halsen
  • I ett med verden
  • Sigøynerblod
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Forloveren
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Maestro
    ——–
  • Begravelsespolka
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.

In the beginning, they played song after song without a lot of breaks in between. But Omen knew how to entertain the crowd right from the beginning! No matter if he started counting his fingers after he put on his working gloves, or if he used the bass drum as mirror later on, to check if his gas mask was correctly in place. His performance after his solo in Svarte katter was a bit less spectacular this time, though, since he “only” played around with the megaphone a bit – and the Jackal started talking trash to him afterwards. Until Thunder jumped in and tried to pull the Jackal back. It took Hellraizer and Mink as well to get him off Omen – and honestly, I’m not sure I want to know what someone who maybe saw Kaizers live for the first time thought about that scene … *cough* I mean, I was more than amused, but you could also misunderstand that whole scene and take it serious! After the song, Omen started taking notes about what had happened (or maybe he was counting how many people there were in the audience?). According to the Jackal, he was calculating how much money he’s earning tonight, because money is all Omen thinks about.

Early on in the concert, the Jackal asked us to choose which oil drum bat he was supposed to use – the big one? Or the better one? ‘Cause the small one is much better to play music with! After some detailed explanations, the audience actually chose the smaller bat – a first!

Lateron the Jackal complained that he’s got a sore throat and that management suggested he should let the guitar player sing a song as well. Hellraizer was totally in for it – but it meant that the Jackal had to take over Hellraizer’s barrel and steel rim … but hey, no problem for the Jackal. He promised to deliver a musical performance on the barrel, in the way he usually does it down in his basement – but management said he should bring it out of the basement and up on a stage to make money with it. All of that he told us without his microphone, by the way (’cause Hellraizer was at the mike). Well, Hellraizer wondered a little bit if all this screaming was really a good thing for the sore throat? “Oh, I’m just getting warmed up!” – Well, then it’s probably okay … *g*

At some point in time, the Jackal was asked to take off his shirt. But he said that wasn’t necessary, since he already lost one of his shirt buttons at yesterday’s concert. And at every of the upcoming concerts, another button will follow – “and once the last button goes …”

There were only two encores this time – first the Begravelsespolka (where Omen and the Jackal got some company on stage for the tap dance; but actually, that was of course not as spontaneous as it looked, but even rehearsed in advance *g*), and then Dieter Meyers. And that was the end – rather soon and sudden …

But it was a great concert anyway, and the night went on for quite a while and was great fun. WE didn’t have to get back on the road right away and drive all night – we still have the whole day to get to Zürich …

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28.02.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Melkweg, Amsterdam)

Friday, March 1st, 2013

Nostalgia! I’ve seen a Kaizers concert at Melkweg in Amsterdam before – that was in 2004. Nine years later I was back at the same venue, and somehow … it was like back then!

I’ll try to keep my report a little shorter than usual because I don’t have much time for writing. But I’ll have to bring this to paper (or rather electrons) anyway: Kaizers seem to go “back to the roots” a bit for this European tour. While, during the latest tours, they’ve always played a somewhat “downsized” version of their Norwegian playlist, it seemed that they really targeted the songs for a European audience this time. For me, who has seen them so many times, that is a little annoying at first glance – oh no, not all the oldies and hits again, I want new stuff and songs that they don’t play that often! – but it worked perfectly.

Here’s the setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Det polaroide liv
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Bøn fra helvete
  • Di grind
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Sigøynerblod
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Forloveren
  • Maestro
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.
    ——–
  • KGB
  • Begravelsespolka
    ——–
  • Min kvite russer

The Jackal didn’t wear a tuxedo tonight, and everything else seemed a bit more “casual” as well. As was to be expected, the audience was very quiet in the beginning – but already during the second song, Det polaroide liv, Kaizers started to animate the crowd in “old fashion”, and they drew them along. In Ompa til du dør, the audience took over the singing – something that proved that it was absolutely the right thing to do to play all the old hits! ‘Cause those are the ones that the Europeans know and love, and they get the audience excited. So Di grind fit perfectly well as next song, even though the audience wanted a bit too much when singing along and was singing much more than they were actually “supposed to”. *g*

During En for orgelet, Killmaster did a little dance again, before the Jackal climbed the oil barrel, bass drum in front of him, and had the audience in his hands. During Sigøynerblod, the Jackal “did the Moses”, divided the crowd, jumped off stage, and sang a verse down in the audience – before he climbed back on stage and sat in front of the monitor box, singing intensively just to the monitor. Ridiculously funny!

“The old songs are just the best” – so next up was Kontroll på kontinentet. But the new ones are great as well! Of course, the response to Forloveren was a bit more quiet, but to make up for that, the Jackal made us sing “tsk-ch tsk-ch” in the middle. Well, there’s nothing like audience interaction! Yes, that’s how it used to be, that’s what was sometimes missing during the last tours, and that’s what was back this time. Yay! =:-)

During Svarte katter, Omen had to take some (or actually quite a few!) notes after his megaphone solo, before they could continue – the Jackal didn’t like that, but the audience did! *g*

What I found very interesting was the Begravelsespolka … in the beginning, the audience didn’t really seem to care. It seemed to me like everyone on stage was getting a little worried, ’cause hey – their best live-song, but hardly any reaction?! Well … they could definitely stop worrying after the tap dance! By then, the audience was totally into it!

As final conclusion, we got Min kvite russer – yes, that is a great song, and I was really impressed by how loud the audience was singing. But damn it: the first concert of the tour, and my voice is ruined. *grmbl* I really vote for switching the roles in the future and have the men squeak around. =;-)

What else? There were fans from China and the USA at the concert. The audience was incredibly loud for the hall, considering that it wasn’t sold out and the audience seemed very very quiet and lazy in the beginning, especially compared to Norwegian audiences. And as soon as Omen did anything strange, there were grinning faces all around – okay, the grins did look a little confused, but definitely entertained!

Hach – a great start of the tour, even though I would wish for a bit more variation in the setlist for the remaining concerts. =;-)

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