A great and sunny day in Stavanger (hey, why that, where was the rain that the weather report had promised? *lol*), a signing session with a terribly long queue (but you HAD to get in line to enter Platekompaniet at all, right? *g*), then Jarle Klepp in the cinema (terrific!); and as a great conclusion to the day the second Kaizers concert at Folken! =:-)

The place was just as crowded as yesterday, and the audience seemed to be even louder this time! Of course, there wasn’t so much of surprise moment and “what will happen next???” today, so I could concentrate on the details a little more. And of course enjoy the new songs!

The setlist was almost identical to yesterday’s list, with two exceptions: KGB wasn’t played in the main set, but instead as first song of the encores (instead of Enden av november, which wasn’t played at all). And as last encore, they played Sju bøtter tårer er nok, Beatrice this time, instead of 170! And they announced it as a song they’d never played live before… Well, not on this tour, that’s right. =;-)

I already described the show yesterday, so today I’ll report a bit about the setting (and I’ll try to mention all the talk that I forgot to write about yesterday *g*). And how to start with that? Well, of course: with the Jackal’s hair style! *lol* Not short, not long, gray, in the beginning held up with a lot of hair spray in a terribly looking way. Okay, so then we covered that part now. =;-)

There’s not a lot to report about the first part: One song after the other, not much talk in between, just perfect to get the audience warmed up! Of course there was the typical “You are singing great! But well, it’s a Saturday, so of course you are a great audience!” And yes, as mentioned before, the audience was great and loud, and so we had to sing the whole verse in Resistansen (and lateron in Hjerteknuser as well, and I think also in other songs).

Just like yesterday, Kaizers announced they would hold their concert “nachspiel” at Egersund, which is probably THE new hip location in Stavanger. Even though the audience reaction suggested that it’s probably not that “hip” for everybody… *g*

At the beginning of the second part, during the start of Philemon Arthur, the audience went absolutely crazy again. Pure madness, really! And I _think_ the Jackal wiping his eyes just then wasn’t really a coincidence… which fits nicely in with Hellraizer’s statement yesterday that he had a bit of a lump in his throat at that point of the first concert… More than understandably, this audience reaction MUST be absolutely overwhelming!

By the way, the counting in Din kjole lukter bensin, mor actually isn’t THAT easy as you would imagine. At least if you don’t watch the Jackal closely… if you don’t, you might shout “four” at the totally wrong place. Ooops. =;-) Something I forgot to mention yesterday was how amazing the singing of the audience at the end of the song is! The Jackal didn’t even need to start it, the audience just started singing “Det lukter bensin…” on their own. =:-) And the only way to stop it was by starting the next song, namely En for orgelet. Wow, soooo nice! =:-D

And of course I paid attention to the whistling this time. The solution: Killmaster is standing at a… uh… thing (looks like an old tube radio) and regulates (I assume?) the backing accompaniment, which means the whistling, the beer flutes, and probably some of the rhythm as well. While Hellraizer is rapping and the Jackal is running around with the bass drum. By the way, he advises everyone to get their own bass drum, that’s just a whole lot of fun! *gg*

Before Svarte katter they explained that they had used a lot of time in the studio for this song. Which normally means that the result is either really great or rather mediocre… in their case, it means great, of course!

Kaizers’ first radio hit – which turned them from a no-hit-wonder into a one-hit-wonder! – had to be celebrated of course. So the Jackal decided to “hop in” Hjerteknuser – of course from the barrel!

And then it was already time for the “normal” part of the concert, where they also started talking a bit more. Which was partly due to the fact that the Jackal broke his microphone stand and had to get it repaired a few times. I just love how he looks when things don’t go as planned and for example, he suddenly holds not only his microphone, but also part of the stand… =;-)

Anyway, so we got to know the story about how they found Helge! They were looking for someone who could play the pump organ, and they were told that there is a guy out in Flesland who plays an old pump organ, wearing a suit and a gas mask. So they asked him to join, and he agreed. *lol* The only possible response to that was – of course – some “Helge” shouting, right?

And the Jackal continued to praise the band. During Killmaster’s solo in Kontroll på kontinentet, the Jackal stood behind him and animated the audience to shout and clap even louder and louder. But then, Killmaster was cut off again after his introduction with the advice to “start you own band then”. Well, maybe he’ll think about that! *lol* By the way, they are doing the introduction again because the fans want it: Just like yesterday, the Jackal asked whether he should introduce the band to us; they didn’t do it on the last tour, because the fans didn’t want it, but now? The audience clearly wanted it! So we got it. And afterwards we got to know how important the introduction is. Otherwise the only one who “shines” is the Jackal, and the rest of the band should get a bit of the fun as well, right? They just had a meeting about that a few days ago… *gg*

Just before the end, a round of thanksgiving: Thanks to the orchestra, to the crew, the club, the fans, … “Did we forget anyone? I remember there were ten things we wanted to mention…” But no, they really mean it, that wasn’t irony at all! *g* And Hellraizer made sure we’d all get home safely by mentioning that it might be slippery outside. *g*

Before they played Dieter Meyer, the Jackal explained that they would almost always play this song, because it is so great. Huh? (Ehm, “huh” because of the “always play”, not because of the “great”, of course!) But sometimes they are just sick of it… but of course not on the second day of the tour!

As mentioned before, the last encore was Sju bøtter tårer – a much better conclusion song than 170 in my opinion, because it is both quiet/atmospheric and fast and danceable.

And that was it… Well, so I guess I’ll look forward to five weeks of tour depression now – until the European tour finally starts! And until then, I’ll feed from a wonderful weekend which was pretty much perfect. Kaizers are and will always be the best band of the world… (yes, I’m allowed to write that, pff!)

I will never believe anything this band says again. Well, actually, I’ve always been quite skeptical about their statements (I mean, didn’t they say a few months ago that “sure, the new album will contain official translations into German and English”? *g*). But I did believe them when they said the show would be ALL new, TOTALLY different from before. They said it all the time, so there must be something about it!

And yes – the show IS different. And great! Did I say “great”? Of course I mean absolutely awesometerrificfabulousfantasticwithcreamontop! =:-D I love this band, no matter how much hot air they blow. *gg*

So the show is different, but not that totally and “never before seen” kind of different as they claimed before. So, here’s a spoiler warning for you – if you don’t want to know the differences between the “old” and the current show, don’t read on. But actually, I don’t think you’d loose anything by reading on – ’cause the concerts are a whole lot of fun in any case!

The stage looks just as it used to, except for Thunder’s foot organ (which he played by hand though, at least as far as I could see?). And the microphone cord isn’t red anymore, but I think it hasn’t been for a while anyway. *g* As backdrop, they used the Violeta-carriage-logo. At least in the beginning – and now we finally get to the differences!

The concert was made up of three “acts”. The 1st act was dedicated to gypsy music. Then, the Violeta logo in the back disappeared and revealed a white movie screen. The 2nd act presented the new album – almost completely even! And then for the 3rd act, the old, round gas mask Kaizers logo appeared again, and they continued with a wild mixture of rock songs.

But back to the start again. The intro was some piano plink-plonk, which is probably part of the album as well in some form. Hmm, I didn’t think that really worked; plus, it just wasn’t loud enough (or the audience was too loud *g*), so that you couldn’t clap along (or really hear it – I wouldn’t swear that it was a piano…). Then the band went on and played a gypsy-style intro, let’s just call it “Ho ho ho”, ’cause that was the only thing they were singing. *g* The Jackal joined them, and then they started right into the gypsy music with Katastrofen. I wasn’t really sure how to interpret the fact that the Jackal seemed groggy and out of breath during the first song already – hey, how’s he gonna do the rest of the concert?! But I guess that was just because of the song (Katastrofen IS really strenuous…), probably paired with excitement and tension, and starting with the second song, everything was like it’s supposed to be.

And we got our share of gypsy: Delikatessen, Djevelens Orkester, Senor Torpedo, Sigøynerblod, and Restistansen! Uh – waaaah?! Didn’t they say a while ago that they would NEVER ever play Djevelens Orkester again, and now it seems it’s got a fast place in the set again? And Mr. Torpedo? *gasp* Yay! I know for sure already that I will be able to listen to this part over and over and over again, I will still love it. ‘Cause yes, I still like Resistansen. Even after hearing it more than a hundred times… =:-)

Then it was time for act II – and the NEW concert. The video screen (canvas, not digital) was used in a really nice and impressive way, showing different animations, all related to the Violeta story. Together with the way of singing this created a real “show”. It had a slight impression of a musical, and in a way, it was even more intense than usual! Which probably was also, in a large way, due to the fact that the Jackal gave all he had under the singing; often it didn’t seem like it was “the Jackal” on stage, but Beatrice, Violeta, or Kenneth. Just… awesome! Sorry, I lack the words to say it any differently…

Part two started with Philemon Arthur & The Dung – of course. And the audience went _completely_ crazy! The atmosphere was great before that, but then it went up a few more notches, and they sang along EVERY word. Next up was Femtakt filosofi, which has been played live before, and then Din kjole lukter bensin, mor. This one worked out just great as well, with Jackal and Hellraizer singing together in the beginning. And the audience took over the counting in the end, of course directed by the Jackal. Worked like a charm!

And then the song that turned into my favorite at once: En for orgelet, en for meg. Honestly: I have no clue if/how they did the whistling in the beginning. I just didn’t pay attention to it – I was busy celebrating. *g* But they solved the “problem” with the Violeta rap part in the middle the best possible way, by having… Hellraizer do it. *rofl* And he did it perfectly! I guess I would have stood there admiring that part – if I hadn’t been rolling on the floor laughing, that is, uhem. *lol* And if that wasn’t enough for that song, they took it up another notch at the end, when the Jackal took a big marching bass drum (which actually was a concert bass drum if I saw it correctly, but… does anybody care? No? I figured… *g*) and climbed the oil barrel with it. Yes. You read correctly. And of course the drumming started once he was up there. Madness? Madness!

Then the next song would be the new radio single (and my secret favorite on the album – call me mainstream-girl… *g*): Diamant til kull. Waah, so nice! That of course could only be topped with Psycho under min hatt, right? =:-D

Well, and then they had obviously played all songs of the new album that could be played live… or so you’d think. ‘Cause then they actually played Svarte katter og flosshatter! It works without the Bond-brass in the beginning, and after the intro, Omen picked up a megaphone and screamed the first lines. And of course he did the same again later on… before he put down the megaphone, found a comb, dipped it into his (beer?-)glass, combed his hair in theatrical fashion and plunged the comb back into the glass. Uh, yeah. Psycho under min gas mask? *gg*

Finally, they played Hjerteknuser, of course, and the audience was singing along at the top of their lungs. Hach, concerts in Norway are just amazing! =:-D

And then it was time for act 3! So now, the “normal” Kaizers concert was about to start. First up was Ompa til du dør, followed by Bøn fra helvete and KGB. So everything “like it used to be” – and still: I hadn’t seen it for a year, and even though I didn’t really know I missed it, I obviously did. It was soooo great to get to see this again now, finally!

Not surprisingly, the next song was Kontroll på kontinentet. And now we reach the point were I decided that “I will never believe anything this band says”: They actually used the old band introduction, word by word the same as it used to be! The only exception was when the Jackal presented Thunder’s new hat. But even Hellraizer’s towel (and of course the fountain) was back. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE this introduction, and if I were to decide, they could do this without changing anything for the next decades. And Kontroll without the introduction just feels weird anyway. But if they talk for months about how DIFFERENT the new show will be and that they will do EVERYTHING in a new way, then they just can’t dig up the ancient introduction again?! That they never even buried anyway… No, sorry, I just don’t get it. But then, I’ll just stop believing them and enjoy the old introduction. =:-)

On a side-note: After Killmaster was introduced, he didn’t want to leave the spotlight – as we’ve seen before. Comment by the Jackal: “Well, if you want to play more guitar, you should maybe found your own band.” *rofl*

Slowly but steadily the concert was coming to an end. The last song was Maestro, but yes, of course there were encores! Namely Enden av November and Dieter Meyers Inst (yay!). Before the last one, Kaizers started talking about how they have only great songs and no bad ones… well, okay, maybe Til depotet would qualify as not soooo great. Basically, if you sort all songs by quality, there might actually be a Postgirobygget song between Til depotet and all the rest of the Kaizers songs… Self-confident? Hell yeah!

And that was it – some bowing and good-bye, but of course the audience didn’t want to go home yet, so they had to play a final encore: 170. I gotta admit that I don’t really like the song, but then: It just works perfectly well as concluding song.

And that was really the end. An euphoric audience found their way downstairs, stormed the merch stand, and whoever did not get away in time found herself in front of a local TV camera…

Next concert: tomorrow! And the Kaizers fever is back in full strength… =:-)

Hmm … Somehow, Kaizers have been doing lots of things lateley that I didn’t expect at all. For example this “studio tour” with exactly four shows to cover the album costs (and not more than four shows, because the four are sufficient, even though they could have easily filled Folken twice). Or the fact that they suddenly announced playing at EuroSonic festival (does that mean they are targeting Europe again? *startingrumors*). Or that they have posted new (and in my opinion still somehow immature) songs on their website the last few weeks, so that the audience at the studio tour has a chance to listen to them beforehand. Or that they, on the day of the first concert, feed information to the media that they will not only publish ONE album in 2011, but THREE – sorry by the way that I didn’t manage to pass that information on earlier (and that I don’t really have the time to translate anything right now), but hey, at the time the news came out, I was stuck at Copenhagen Airport without internet… *gg* ... read on!