This year, Skambankt are playing only a handful of concerts; and next year, there will probably be even fewer. So of course I had to try to fit in at least one of the festivals, and Fjellparkfestivalen was clearly the one that fit my schedule best. Just … how to get there?! Well, after a lot of planning and googling and comparing (I should really start a concert trip travel agency …), it turned out that it just took two flights and a two-hour bus ride each way! =;-)

I had heard that Fjellparkfestivalen is a very nice and cozy festival (and it’s also the oldest festival in Norway, celebrating its 35th (!!) birthday this year). I had no idea what to expect though, and I was quite surprised when I got there and there were benches in front of the stage (except for the very front, of course). But it turned out that this just added to the nice atmosphere, and for the headliner, people were standing anyway – so who cares about the benches then? =;-) The only let-down was that the sound right in front of the stage was horrible – and if you escaped that and did NOT want to sit, you had to stand on the slope that was just too uneven to dance. =:-( I was quite annoyed about that during the Razika concert (oh by the way, just jump ahead to the fourth paragraph if you want to read about the Skambankt concert *g*) – I was really looking forward to see them, but you couldn’t hear the singing at all when you were down in the “pit”, and since the concert was rather early in the evening, people on the slope took their time getting into the concert. But Razika definitely got them in the end, and their concert was great fun even from further away!

What was really awesome about the festival was the tiny little stage on the hill. Pstereo in Trondheim has such a small stage as well, but they use it pretty much for music that … uhm … nobody wants to hear anyway. Fjellparken used it for good bands that just weren’t big enough for the big stage yet. Huge shout-out to Oakland Rain who were absolutely killing it up there. Amazing voices! =:-D

OK, so after a lot of great bands in fantastic summery weather, it was finally time for the headliner: Skambankt! And what a headliner they were!! =:-o I mean, don’t ask me why, but somehow I had expected a situation like at several festivals I’ve seen lately – where the co-head was the actual headliner, and the last band (especially if they start so late) plays in front of only the “left-over” people who haven’t managed to go home yet. That can still be great fun (like bob hund at Steinkjerfestivalen) – but it’s not what you want. Anyway, nothing like this was happening. Everybody was hot for Skambankt, people got up from their seats right away, and the security actually tolerated the mosh pit. In Norway! At a festival!! I … wow! Yep, I guess that is part of “nice and cozy” … and actually, the whole festival felt quite a bit like Mini Rock (which, by the way, is also a festival arranged by young people for the locals, so I guess this is just the spirit! =:-D ). In the end, people were actually crowd surfing. Or, more precisely “crowd laying” I guess, ’cause they didn’t really move, but still. Awesome!

And – of course – that didn’t just happen, but there was a band on stage that made it happen. And perfectly so! A very nice setlist with all the hits, no pushing new songs down people’s throats, giving them all they wanted to hear. And delivering a full show filled with energy of course, plus a great light show and ROCK. It’s hard to write much more about it, but it was just amazing and a perfect conclusion for a long evening of great rock shows!

My notes say that it was the third time Skambankt played at the festival (and we all know that “third time is a charme”!). And that they’ve been at the festival as spectators many more times, and Terje hopes that the festival still exists in ten years when his son is old enough to go, and in fifteen years as well when his soon-to-be-born daughter is. Well, if the festival is always like it was this year, there’s nothing to fear, I would say! =:-)

The only thing to criticize about the Skambankt show is that it just doesn’t work to storm to the front of the stage, right towards the audience, stare at them intensely and expect them to know what you want them to do … I mean, I have seen Skambankt quite a few times by now – and I still don’t have a clue what Terje wants from me. Clap? Sing? Shout?? Hey, whatever, I’ll do it if I can figure it out! =;-) But it always feels like we in the audience either didn’t do anything/didn’t do enough or did the wrong thing when he returns to the mike. Please – just tell or show us what do do and don’t just stare, okay? *gg*

But well, we’ll just assume he wanted us to shout, sing, clap, and hop around like crazy. Which is what we did, so we should be cool. =;-) Oh, and before the encores, they even found a bra that was thrown on stage, and they seemed satisfied with that response. *g*

Here’s the setlist:

• Anonyme hatere
• Skambankt
• Voodoo
• Slukk meg for eg brenner (JAAAA! =:-D)
• Me sa nei
• Dynasti
• Vår bør
• Som en sirene
• O dessverre
• Malin (“a song that we wrote about a lady that left quite an impression on us last time we played here”)
• Bak låste dører
• Mantra
• Stormkast #1
  —
• Desertør

I have to admit I was a bit in doubt if it would be worth travelling two days for just one festival day (with only two bands I was really interested in), but the answer is definitely: HELL YEAH! That was awesome. Thanks so much to Skambankt and thanks to Fjellparkfestivalen!! =:-D