“O Jul med din Vrede” – Skambankt’s Christmas festival – has been growing for the last seven years. This year was the first time I could make it, and by now, it’s a full-grown festival in a huge tennis hall … Which seemed a little scary at first (the bigger the venue, the more people that don’t really care about what is happening, more annoying people in the audience, and less fun during the concerts). But: no reason to worry! The hall was big enough so that everyone who wanted to talk could gather in one area, and everyone who wanted to listen to the concerts could do so in front of the stage. Add Christmas decorations (Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling), food and drinks without lines, and great bands, and everyone is happy. =:-) Except that “Silent night” is maybe not the most perfectest background music between the concerts, and that there were so many bands and so little time that each band – except for Skambankt of course – got only 30 minutes.

First up was Vrakfeber from Bryne, nice opener, followed by Hear Me Roar (a bit too calm in my opinion) and “the band with the difficult name” (quote Terje lateron) Longfield & Super Skeleton, who were the first band to really get the audience excited, and rightfully so! Next up were Cloroform as first headliner of the night – which made me expect them to get a little bit more time; but no, they were done after half an hour as well. Too bad! But hey, more time for Skambankt then! Finally it was their turn – after a short “surprise act”, which turned out to be O helga natt performed by some (local?) tenors. Nice! =:-D

Skambankt started out with Anonyme hatere, Dynasti, and Slukk meg for eg brenner (jaaaaa! =:-D), before they welcomed us to “O jul med din vrede 2017”. A little futuristic maybe, but I’m not gonna criticize that, since … “it’s not that easy to talk between songs, you guys should try it once!” Uh, no thanks. I’ll leave that up to you and just put it on the internet afterwards. =;-) But I did pretty much stop taking notes after that, so there you go. *gg* Or actually, not quite true: I did note down Hans’ back salto during the next song (Me sa nei), but only because it was so perfectly executed, just the way it was planned and practiced! =;-)

After Som en sirene and Vår bør (impressive as always!), Skambankt asked us if we wanted an old song or a brand-new one – quite a risky question to ask, and the audience was clearly split. But since they had practiced it, they wanted to show off their new baby! =:-D The first impression was definitely good, but it’s always hard judging new songs from one live performance. Here’s a little clip that I filmed:

After that, back to the songs everybody knows and loves: First O dessverre, then Voodoo, Malin, Skambankt (Btw, if you have a new phone that doesn’t have Skambankt in the auto correct yet, noting down that song name might result in a sudden giggling flash when the phone turns it into “Sjamantromme”. I want a song with that name!! *lol*) – and suddenly “the last song”! Wait, what, already?! Yep, Mantra and off they went …

But of course we got a (short) encore, starting with another surprise: A cover version of Dio’s Holy Diver with a special guest singer. I have no idea who it was (sorry, my knowledge of celebrity Jærbuer consists of Skambankt and Kaizers, uhem *g*). Still, great fun! After that, Stormkast #1 as very last song of the night, and that was it!

A great Skambankt concert, an awesome event, smiling faces everywhere, and I guess I ended up with a new Christmas tradition … =:-)

The full setlist:

• Anonyme hatere
• Dynasti
• Slukk meg for eg brenner
• Me sa nei
• Som en sirene
• Vår bør
• Horisonten brenner
• O dessverre
• Voodoo
• Malin
• Skambankt
• Mantra
  —
• Holy diver
• Stormkast #1