24.04.2013 Fozzy (The Garage, London)

April 28th, 2013

Fozzy! Fozzy! Fozzy! Fozzy! Fozzy!

Yep, Fozzy blew me away the first three times I got to see them. So I was more than happy when they announced the dates for their European tour – I had a week of vacation in London planned, with WWE events on Monday and Tuesday and a Kaizers Orchestra concert on Thursday. Fozzy announced their London gig for Wednesday – YAY!

I convinced some friends to come along; however, it turned out that they were too exhausted from sightseeing or got stuck in the Tube chaos that day, so I ended up going to the concert on my own. Which is something I’m used to, so I didn’t mind – but I really missed being able to share my “waaaaaaah!” feeling with someone afterwards.

The concert was just AWESOME! I arrived when Revoker were playing already, and the venue was packed. However, it filled up even more until Fozzy came on, and it seemed that most people in the audience where there for Fozzy. And – quite surprisingly actually, since WWE had been in town two nights before – it didn’t seem like a wrestling crowd, but there were much more Fozzy shirts than Y2J shirts. Good sign! And yep, you noticed it throughout the concert: People knew the songs and were singing along, there were no Y2J chants and no “Fandangoing” =;-), and people were REALLY into the concert.

The crowd was great – headbanging, fists in the air, Fozzy chants, all right from the beginning. Especially during the song “Enemy” the crowd was really loud, and we had to sing the chorus once more afterwards, without the band playing, which sounded amazing. “I think we should start a London chant now – that was fucking great!” – yes, it was! Right after, Jericho wondered if he shouldn’t just stay in London – “Can I crash in someone’s basement? Yes? Is you mom okay with it?”

So all in all, a fantastic show in front of a very enthusiastic crowd! It was sold out as well, and Fozzy definitely had their fans there, not everyone cared for Drowning Pool. Of course I stayed for their show as well, and it seemed that their fans were just as if not more enthusiastic, but their songs just aren’t that catchy in my opinion. Great show as well, but Fozzy definitely topped the bill. And they left me wanting more …

The setlist:
Spider in my mouth
Sandpaper
Pray for blood
Inside my head
She’s my addiction
God pounds his nails
Shine forever
Whitechapel / To kill a stranger
Sin and bones
Martyr no more
Enemy
Blood happens

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 24.04.2013 Fozzy (The Garage, London)

25.04.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (KOKO, London)

April 27th, 2013
25.04.2013 – Photos Kaizers Orchestra (KOKO, London)
More photos...

The next step towards world domination: Kaizers Orchestra take over London! And the fans are all coming along … =;-)

For me, that meant a week in London, filled up with lots of action – sightseeing in bright sunshine every day at daytime, and at night we went out to the O2 arena and some concerts. Yay! Quite exhausting actually, but a great vacation. Kaizers really picked the perfect week for their trip to London.

Finally it was Thursday and thus the day of the concert! After an extensive Vorspiel at our flat (where we – amongst other things – found out that both ladles and tea strainers are perfectly suited to fill up small bags of confetti *g*), we got on our way to the legendary KOKO. Just before the doors opened, there was quite a queue there, and right from the beginning it was obvious that there was only a small percentage of British fans in the audience. You heard mostly Norwegian everywhere – okay, with a bit of German blended in, and yes, of course also some English. =;-) But during the concert it was totally clear that most of the audience consisted of fans that had traveled to London to see the show. On the one hand, that meant of course that Kaizers probably did not win over any new fans or “conquered England” with this concert, but then: what other band manages to fill up a venue of 1500 people somewhere abroad? For most bands, it’s only a handful of “hardcore fans” that travel abroad for shows. So wow, that was definitely impressive!

Kaizers were supported by the Scottish singer Siobhan Wilson. Honestly, nobody really seemed to care or listen – I have to admit that I didn’t either. But then, I was still busy handing out the last packages. =;-) And of course admiring the venue – as if it was made for Kaizers! It seemed like an old opera theater, with galleries and boxes, three or four tiers, red velvet everywhere … just beautiful.

At 9:00 pm, the lights went out and the Russian Dance came on. It got more and more crowded in the front – and in my opinion, too crowded and a bit uncomfortable. That’s the problem if a venue is filled up with fans and fans only – everyone wants to be in the front. And where I was standing, we got regularly showered with beer from the galleries above … which means that I’ve definitely experienced more comfortable concerts. =;-)

It was obvious right from the beginning that this would be a legendary show – the atmosphere was indescribable, the audience incredibly loud, and EVERYONE was into the concert. Not like it usually is, that half of the audience is there for the party only. So considering the audience, this was a very good “Norwegian” concert with a very enthusiastic audience. But in London!

The Jackal mentioned a few times that this was the “first and last Kaizers concert in London”. Apart from that, there wasn’t really much talk at all – maybe because Kaizers just didn’t know what language to use? The poll in the beginning showed that there were about 100 people in the audience that did not understand Norwegian. Still, the Jackal switched to talking Norwegian after asking that. At least part of the time – I gotta admit, by that time I had been in England together with a group of Norwegians for five days; so I don’t have the slightest clue when he was talking English and when Norwegian. *g* But as I mentioned, there really wasn’t that much talking anyway. I would assume that this was due to the fact that KOKO had a strict curfew at 11, and even without talking, Kaizers easily played the two hours.

The setlist was pretty much standard: Aldri vodka Violeta, Siste dans, Tusen dråper regn, Din kjole lukter bensin mor, En for orgelet en for meg, Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Det polaroide liv, Sigøynerblod, Forloveren, Støv og sand, KGB, I ett med verden, Kontroll på kontinentet, Philemon Arthur & the Dung, Svarte katter & flosshatter, Hjerteknuser, Maestro. Encores Begravelsespolka, Bak et halleluja, and Die Polizei.

Right from the beginning, they made eager use of the barrels (even though some guitarist had to be encouraged – “Get your ass up there!”), the audience was singing along loudly (very impressive at the end of Din kjole lukter bensin), and quite early on in the show, we got a “Say halleluja! Say save me Kaizer! Say PLEASE save me Kaizer!” part. During Philemon Arthur, the Jackal seemed like a priest, standing in front of the crowd with his arms spread – so impressive! And they celebrated the break in Svarte katter for very very long again, which was also absolutely awesome. Or, to use the Jackal’s words: “Watch out West End, here we come!”

Oh yes, and then there was Forloveren =:-D – and there was confetti in the air …:

Thanks a lot to Linda for the video! And if somebody accidentally filmed this song as well, maybe even from the galleries, let me know! *g*

As encores, we first got the Begravelsespolka – what was quite surprising by the way was that the Jackal was not wearing a tuxedo and later a red shirt on stage, but the “normal” suit like on the European tour. Which of course didn’t hurt the atmosphere though. =;-) Next up was Bak et halleluja – even though originally, they had probably planned to play Dieter Meyers Inst. And as very last song, they played Die Polizei because “You were a fantastic audience; you must all be Norwegians!”. And the song worked perfectly as conclusion of the concert … and after Kaizers went off stage for good, the audience kept singing for quite a while. Awesome! =:-D

Unfortunately, there was no time for another encore, but the concert was fantastic as it was. Actually, it didn’t really mean that much that it was in London – but the audience was totally unique and special. The atmosphere was magical, and – if not before that – I’m sure there were a few tears falling during Die Polizei …

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 25.04.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (KOKO, London)

15.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

March 22nd, 2013

Report by Lena V.

I wasn’t going to go to this concert. I had my last concerts lined up, five more to go before Kaizers’ big break. I had a couple of friends from the USA that were going there, and they were going to stay here a few days before and after the show because they wanted to see a bit of Oslo when they were in Norway. I had actually only met one of them before, and only briefly during a concert at Ås last year, so I could only hope that the visit would be okay – you never know what to expect when you’re going to spend several days with someone you’ve barely met. 😉 So, they arrived here on Wednesday, on Thursday we were up late having some drinks when someone mentioned the words “I wish you were going to Trondheim with us”. Well, there went the last of my savings – again. Kaizers have cost me a lot these past years, I’m sort of glad they’re taking this long break. 😉 In no time tickets for the train next morning were bought, and guest list passes (!) were in place.

We arrived in Trondheim a couple of hours prior to when the doors should open, just enough time for dinner and getting the luggage safely stowed away at a hotel room – or so we thought. But when we got to the venue we had to wait in the main hall for an hour and a half – it’s a good thing time goes fast when you’re in good company. 🙂
Finally, we were let in to the “circus tent” – that’s what the concert hall looks like – and found a nice spot up front. And more waiting. 🙂 So we got to talk some more, and enjoy the quite relaxed and laid-back atmosphere.

With no warning, the lights dimmed and “Russian Dance” started playing. And I was completely blown away by the reaction of the audience. The room practically exploded! I can honestly not remember the last time I was at a show with that kind of energy and joy from the audience. And I kept being amazed for the rest of the show. Wow. Thank you, Trondheim!

And the setlist was perfect. Well, almost. I wouldn’t have minded if they’d swapped Støv og sand for something else. Not that I don’t like the song, I just think they have so many songs that are better… 🙂
And this is where it gets hard to write this report. I hadn’t planned to write anything, so I didn’t take any notes during the show. And unlike Susi, I’ve got crappy short term memory. 😛 I did try to write down some of the highlights afterwards, but if I’ve gotten them wrong or backwards please don’t kill me. *gg*

The show started with Aldri vodka, Violeta – a perfect opener – followed by Diamant til Kull (yay!), Tusen dråper regn and Din kjole lukter bensin, mor. As usual, not too much talking during the first songs. When it was time for the big drum part of En for orgelet, Janove almost couldn’t get up on the oil barrel. I think he usually steps on a monitor to get up, but it wasn’t at its usual place for this show. He almost fell down, but luckily there was a roadie there to give him a hand. 🙂

Janove pointed out several times that the audience was crazy! Really crazy! They had been playing at Samfundet for ten years, and they had never experienced an audience this great there before!

Janove had his usual “where are you from” routine, asking if there were people there from some random Norwegian cities. I remember some people next to me shouting at Janove, trying to get his attention to a guy that had come all the way from Tokyo – but they didn’t get through. *gg* Well, it’s on paper now, that’s gotta count for at least something? 😉
Terje went up to him and whispered something, and then Janove wondered if there was someone there from Molde? The Norwegian football season had started that same day, and Stavanger had won their game, over Molde.

Someone had told Janove once, that if you’ve played a blues song with a really good response, you had to follow up with another blues song. So naturally, I ett med verden was followed by Støv og sand. But if you’ve played two blues songs with great response, you should play something else. And Kaizers have played all types of genres: blues, rock, blues, dance, rap, blues, dub (yes – they were great at dub), classical etc. But the best follow up to two blues songs, would of course be some gypsy music, this time in the form of Resistansen!

Kontroll på kontinentet started with Janove throwing an (invisible) ball at the audience, I don’t remember the purpose behind it. But I think it was during this song that Terje decided that it was a good idea to go crowdsurfing. Maybe it was, but it looked to me like he almost was dropped to the floor a couple of times, and when he got back on stage it seemed like he’d hurt his back a little. Or maybe it was just for show. 😉

At some point, I don’t remember during which song, Janove placed an imaginary golf ball at the edge of the stage, and he “hit” it with an accompanying drum sound with perfect timing. Nice detail!

Helge did his usual stuff. Taking notes, swaying eerily during Svarte katter, and being mysterious about his briefcase.

The band left the stage, and while waiting for them to come back the applause was just overwhelming. For the hundredth time that night I was surprised by the energy the audience showed. It was beautiful!
They got back on for the encore, first up: KGB. And then: Begravelsespolka. This nights version of it didn’t include the first verse, instead we got verse number two twice! Performed excellently, you would almost think it was planned that way. *gg*
They said goodbye again, and once more the audience got to fill the hall with applauding and cheering! And the band came back! As a second encore we got Die Polizei. It wasn’t on the setlist, so I guess they decided to play it when they found out what a wonderful and crazy audience we were! At the end of Die Polizei, Helge picked up a book and started reading. He got so wrapped up in it, that he didn’t realize the song was over until all the others had left the stage. *gg*

To sum it up: A fantastic concert, with fantastic friends. It was worth every krone, and every minute of motion sickness on the train! And the best part wasn’t the great show or the great audience, or the great setlist, but getting to know new people and really connecting to them.
And all because of Kaizers.

Setlist:

  • Aldri vodka, Violeta
  • Diamant til kull
  • Tusen dråper regn
  • Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
  • En for orgelet, en for meg
  • I ett med verden
  • Støv og sand
  • Resistansen
  • Ompa til du dør
  • Forloveren
  • Drøm videre, Violeta
  • Philemon Arthur & the Dung
  • Kontroll på kontinentet
  • Svarte katter & flosshatter
  • Hjerteknuser
  • Dieter Meyers Inst.
    ——

  • KGB
  • Begravelsespolka
    ——

  • Die Polizei

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 15.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Samfundet, Trondheim)

10.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Vega, Kopenhagen)

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!”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 10.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Vega, Kopenhagen)

09.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Gloria-Theater, Köln)

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.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 09.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Gloria-Theater, Köln)

08.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Roxy, Prag)

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

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 08.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Roxy, Prag)

07.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Postbahnhof, Berlin)

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.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 07.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Postbahnhof, Berlin)

06.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (E-Werk, Erlangen)

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

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 06.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (E-Werk, Erlangen)

05.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Freiheiz, München)

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!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 05.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Freiheiz, München)

04.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Arena, Wien)

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

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Berichte, Events, Konzerte | Comments Off on 04.03.2013 Kaizers Orchestra (Arena, Wien)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »